Africa is centre of a ‘wildlife war’ that the world is losing

A year on since 46 countries signed up to the ‘London declaration’ to eradicate the trade in horn and ivory, rhinos and elephants are still being pushed closer to extinction
A rhino killed for its horn last month in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Photograph: Salym Fayad/EPA

Elephant tusks, ivory trinkets and carvings are burned in Addis Ababa to discourage poaching and the illegal ivory trade. Photograph: Michael Tewelde//Xinhua Press/Corbis

David Smith-Saturday 21 March 2015

The northern white rhino is heading the way of the dinosaurs. With only five left on Earth – three in Kenya, one in America, and one in the Czech Republic –extinction is now inevitable. It survived for millions of years, but could not survive mankind.

Africa is Centre of a ‘Wildlife War’ That the World is Losing by Thavam Ratna

UN warns world could have 40 percent water shortfall by 2030

 By KATY DAIGLE-March 20, 2015

NEW DELHI (AP) — The world could suffer a 40 percent shortfall in water in just 15 years unless countries dramatically change their use of the resource, a U.N. report warned Friday.

Many underground water reserves are already running low, while rainfall patterns are predicted to become more erratic with climate change. As the world's population grows to an expected 9 billion by 2050, more groundwater will be needed for farming, industry and personal consumption.

The report predicts global water demand will increase 55 percent by 2050, while reserves dwindle. If current usage trends don't change, the world will have only 60 percent of the water it needs in 2030, it said.

Having less available water risks catastrophe on many fronts: crops could fail, ecosystems could break down, industries could collapse, disease and poverty could worsen, and violent conflicts over access to water could become more frequent.

"Unless the balance between demand and finite supplies is restored, the world will face an increasingly severe global water deficit," the annual World Water Development Report said, noting that more efficient use could guarantee enough supply in the future.

The report, released in New Delhi two days before World Water Day, calls on policymakers and communities to rethink water policies, urging more conservation as well as recycling of wastewater as is done in Singapore. Countries may also want to consider raising prices for water, as well as searching for ways to make water-intensive sectors more efficient and less polluting, it said.

In many countries including India, water use is largely unregulated and often wasteful. Pollution of water is often ignored and unpunished. At least 80 percent of India's population relies on groundwater for drinking to avoid bacteria-infested surface waters.

In agriculture-intense India, where studies show some aquifers are being depleted at the world's fastest rates, the shortfall has been forecast at 50 percent or even higher. Climate change is expected to make the situation worse, as higher temperatures and more erratic weather patterns could disrupt rainfall.

Currently, about 748 million people worldwide have poor access to clean drinking water, the report said, cautioning that economic growth alone is not the solution — and could make the situation worse unless reforms ensure more efficiency and less pollution.

"Unsustainable development pathways and governance failures have affected the quality and availability of water resources, compromising their capacity to generate social and economic benefits," it said. "Economic growth itself is not a guarantee for wider social progress."

Do you Have Problems with your Veins? We have an Effective Remedy for you

March 20 2015

In recent years, this plant has a major role in the treatment of veins, heavy and tired legs, problem that many people, who spend a lot of time standing, have.

We are talking about a plant called hypoglossal. It belongs to the lily family. Its Latin name is Radix Ruscus.

This plant is a natural astringent, antiphlogistic, anti-inflammatory, appetizer, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, hemostatic, laxative, purgative and venous vasoconstrictor.

In recent times this plant has a major role in the treatment of leg veins, heavy and tired legs, problem that many people, who spend a lot of time standing, have. This plant also helps people who are suffering from gout. From the fluid of this plant you can make an ointment for hemorrhoids. The powder of the dried, crushed roots of hypoglossal is used for the treatment of veins or if you mix it with grease, you will get an ointment that can help you in the treatment of hemorrhoids.

The fruit of hypoglossalacts like a diuretic. However the seeds of hypoglossal can be used as a purgative agent. Ruscorectal, a drug that is made from the roots of hypoglossal, is the official medicine used to treat varicose veins, ulcerative veins, venous insufficiency, open wounds, edema, inflammation of external and internal hemorrhoids, bleeding and itching. Ruscorectal has an excellent effect on the venous system, primarily on the venules and veins, which ultimately increases the medium circulatory pressure. It also affects the venous return, the cardiac output and reduces arterial resistance.

Western folk medicine recommends hypoglossal for the treatment of blood vessel diseases, urinary system diseases, skin conditions, gynecological diseases and PMS, edema, diabetes, fever, hemorrhoids, pneumonia, poor circulation, heart disease, thrombosis, and sprains. It’s recommended for prevention of postoperative, blood thinners, phlebitis, leg veins, varicose veins, venous infections, vascular diseases, joints, jaundice, as well as for treatment of liver, kidney and bladder.

Army blocks displaced Tamils from viewing seized land in Jaffna
 20 March 2015

All photographs: Tamil Guardian

The Sri Lankan military blocked displaced Tamils from visiting land that had been seized by the military in Jaffna earlier today.

Villagers from Vasavilan and Palali attempted to view 197 acres of land that had been taken over by the Sri Lankan military. The seized land has been marked as a “High Security Zone” for the last 25 years. However, the military stopped the villagers from accessing their land at the barbed wire border.


Despite announcements that land in Tholakaddi, Vadamunai, Thenmunai and Ottakappulam would be released, only a section of the area was released claimed the villagers, with some 75% having been taken over by the military.

Plantations in crisis; estates suffer Rs. 2.85 b losses in 2014

• Producers gravely concerned of loss of Rs. 35 on rubber and Rs. 30 on tea per kg sold last year 

Pluckers at a tea estate

 March 20, 2015

Plagued by plummeting tea prices, a rubber market at an all-time low and high production costs, 19 Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) collectively made a staggering loss of nearly Rs. 2,850 million on rubber and tea in 2014.

Plantations in Crisis Estates Suffer Rs. 2.85 b Losses in 2014 by Thavam Ratna

After the Modi visit

By Izeth Hussain-March 20, 2015, 12:00 pm 

The recent visit of Prime Minister Modi seems to be generally seen as a triumphant deployment of Indian soft power, as a highly sophisticated exercise in Indian diplomacy. But I am left with an uneasy feeling about some of what actually transpired during the visit. The soft glove of Indian diplomacy was certainly much in evidence, but I and doubtless many others could sense behind it the iron fist of a regional great power dealing with a small and weak regional neighbor. The assumption behind the deployment of Indian soft power seemed to be that the small neighbor belonged to the sphere of influence of the regional great power.

Consider the implications of former President Rajapakse’s charge that he was unseated from power by an international conspiracy in which central roles were played by India’s RAW, British intelligence, and the CIA. He seemed to be giving particular emphasis to the role played by RAW. He declared, for instance, that he had actually asked for the removal of the RAW agent in Colombo but by that time the conspiratorial plot had been advanced too far. Most important for the purposes of this article is that he was asked – by an Indian journal in the course of an interview – about the Modi Government’s role in the conspiracy. His response was that they had nothing to do with it because the plot had been hatched and set going long before Modi and his Government came to power. For sheer disingenuousness, surely, that response is hard to beat. MR affects to believe, and ostensibly wants others to believe, that RAW played a cardinal role in overthrowing MR without the knowledge of Prime Minister Modi and his Government. The truth rather is that MR dared not make charges against Modi and his Government without being able to produce a shred of evidence. In other words, he made obeisance to India’s power.

I had the impression during the Modi visit that we were witnessing a replay of 1987. President JR failed disastrously to understand the geopolitics of his time. He believed that he could get closer and closer to the US without there being adverse repercussions on our relations with India. He failed to understand that in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan such relations would be seen as inimical to India’s vital interests. What happened thereafter was that by 1987 the Soviet troops had been withdrawn from Afghanistan, the US made up with India and both joined hands in imposing the Peace Accords on Sri Lanka. JR declared in public that he had no alternative to accepting Indian diktats because Sri Lanka found itself isolated in the world. President MR, in his turn, got closer and closer to China, even to the extent of agreeing to cede a slice of Sri Lankan territory for China to hold in perpetuity, and complains that he has been overthrown by RAW, that is by India. That charge has not been echoed by any other country, not even by India’s hostile neighbors. MR had isolated himself internationally just as JR did.

It is important for the purpose of maintaining good relations with India to try to make sense of the charge that RAW played a central role in overthrowing MR. In recent years Sri Lanka has acquired a geopolitical importance as never before. China is establishing a Maritime Silk Route in which Sri Lanka has a pivotal position as part of a strategy that has been causing concern to India and the West as well. Much earlier India had been expanding its naval power and showed clearly that it wished to establish a predominant position in the Indian Ocean. A conflict of interests between India and China is implicit in these developments, and it would be understandable if India wanted a change of regime in Sri Lanka whose Government was seen as getting too close to China. India could have wanted a change of regime also because there was not the slightest prospect of moving towards a political solution of the Tamil ethnic problem as long as MR was in power. It had to be expected, perhaps, that RAW, the CIA, and British intelligence conspired to overthrow MR. But to jump from that to the conclusion that that was why MR was actually overthrown is a huge non sequitur. It is a hard undeniable fact that the elections were held under the auspices of the MR Government, that the resources of the state were used illicitly to promote MR’s candidature, and that the elections have nevertheless been regarded as free and fair. The outcome was that MR was outvoted by a solid minorities vote together with a substantial proportion of the Sinhalese vote. A majority of the Sri Lankan people wanted democracy and an end to our ethnic problems, and therefore MR had to go. The notion that he was overthrown by secret service plotting is nonsense. We must all hope that the Indian political bigwigs have the good sense to laugh off MR’s wild allegations.

It has to be expected, as a matter of hard reality considering the actual norms of international relations, that India would want something like a predominant position in relation to Sri Lanka. That certainly does not mean the satellisation of Sri Lanka or any kind of attaint on its sovereignty. For decades we managed to have excellent relations with India by observing one cardinal principle: Sri Lanka cannot by itself pose a threat to India but it could do so if it gets together with some other country against India. President JR did not understand that principle, and President MR did not quite understand its practical implications, as shown for instance by the Indian reaction to the visits of those Chinese submarines. In such situations we have to sense the hard iron behind the soft glove of diplomacy. However the new Government should have no great difficulty in working out satisfactory relations with both India and China provided it bears in mind the cardinal principle that I have mentioned and two important facts: there is no reason why India should want to dominate Sri Lanka, and there is no reason why India and China would want their mutual good relations to be spoilt because of Sri Lanka.

The irritant of Indian fishermen intruding into our territorial waters remains, and so does the major problem, the Tamil ethnic one. I found Prime Minister Modi’s position on the latter quite disappointing. Obviously the Indian side fully appreciates the fact that there is a prospect of a political solution under the new Government whereas there was none under MR. Prime Minister Modi quite rightly placed his emphasis on the need for patience and flexibility on the Tamil side. But he also advocated going beyond 13A, not in a tentative manner but quite categorically. The problem is that "going beyond 13A" could mean anything if it is left undefined, including even a confederal arrangement. He also referred in a positive way to what he called "cooperative federalism", forgetting that federalism has been an F word in Sri Lanka, as indeed it has been in India itself. Perhaps an explanation for what look like faux pas might be found in the fact that Modi has never held office at the Centre, only at the Provincial level, and that as a doer of exceptional ability he is mindful of what more can be done through a wide measure of devolution. That may be the explanation, but it is not the best frame of mind in which to contribute towards a solution of Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem.

izethhussain@gmail.com

PM Appoints Exploratory Committee – Jaffna HSZ Land Release

21/03/2015 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a three-member committee to examine the fullest extent of land, currently under the custody of Security Forces in the High Security Zone (HSZ) in the Northern Province, that could be released to the legitimate owners, Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan revealed.

Swaminathan said the committee comprises Resettlement Ministry Secretary, Ranjini Nadarajapillai, Secretary to the Ministry of Land and Land Development, Dr. I.H.K. Mahanama and Defence Secretary B.M.U.D. Basnayake.

Government has already announced the release of 1,000 acres of land in the Valikamam North High Security Zone, 400 acres of which will be initially given back to the people on 23 March.

“We have ordered the release of the 400 acres of the 1,000 acres since deeds relating to the other 600 acres are yet to be examined for authenticity by the committee. The committee will simultaneously examine the rest of the land apart from the 1,000 acres, since it is believed that more acres can be released for resettlement in Valikamam North,” Minister Swaminathan said.

Asked about the resettlement process in Valalai and clearing of the deserted areas, he said 236 acres of land had been released for resettlement in the area while large tracts were also been cleared to enable immediate resettlement.

Swaminathan added that a further 800 acres in Sampur would also be released shortly for resettlement where some extents vested in the Board of Investment (BOI) remain unutilized.

“There will be also a discussion in Trincomalee on 20 March with Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando to expedite the release of 800 acres of land in Sampur,” he said.

Sri Lanka Must Emerge From Its Tragic Contemporary History

By Lasantha Pethiyagoda -March 21, 2015

Lasantha Pethiyagoda

Passing an age of decimation of civil liberties and individual freedom, carried out in the name of fighting manufactured enemies of choice, any civic choice will have shackled citizens to an interconnected police and security state, unprecedented in contemporary Sri Lankan political history before the previous regime.

In a tyrannic serfdom, the freedom of the wild ass is no freedom at all, as the popular dictum exclaims, while the search for unbridled power and unlimited terms of office, symbolised these in explicit form.

Modern tyrannies are deceptive. In the age of technology, it has to do with the need to hide its true nature from the eyes of those on whose support and indifference its maintenance depends. Successful tyrannies excel at hiding reality from public view, turning the truth on its head and criminalising its manifest victims.

The greatest purveyor of corruption, vice and violence in the country must surely have had state patronage not merely to survive but thrive. Its varied mechanisms, as well as being the leading exponent of the deadly arrogance that has poisoned the atmosphere for so long and having been whitewashed from the discourse must constitute the biggest threat to civil society.

If not for its timely end in January it would have installed a far deeper malady within the Sri Lankan spirit than had hitherto been experienced. No significant social problem – wealth inequality, underworld violence, racial and religious disharmony- could be resolved while the state remained an entity that continues year in year out, spending more money on military “defence” and grandiose projects than on programs of social upliftment – a most certain recipe for a spiritual death of the nation. It should be incandescently apparent that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of Sri Lanka could have ignored that status quo.Read More

Perverting the Yahapalana mandate

March 21, 2015, 7:58 pm 

With each passing week, the stresses and strains within the yahapalana coalition that formed the present government are coming more and more out into the open. Last week, at a seminar at the OPA auditorium,  Dr Jayampathy Wickremeratne who is an advisor to President Maithripala Sirisena alleged that some people in the government were trying to destroy the president’s credibility by blocking the abolition of the executive presidency. Dr Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, the spokesman of Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha’s National Movement for a Just Society, who spoke at the same seminar was more specific and pinpointed minister Champika Ranawaka as the person blocking the abolition of the executive presidency.

Perverting the Yahapalana Mandate by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lankan National Anthem: Symbolism, Nationalism, Racism and Other Stories

Photo by REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte via Channel 4

by Danushka S. Medawatte 

- on 03/22/2015 

To write a piece of this nature while holding an academic position in a state university is quite a controversial move. Those who read this piece purely for the sake of critiquing it might find ample fuel in it to provoke the fires. Some may perceive this to be a nationalistic piece. Hence, I feel the need to explain a few basics before I delve into the topic at hand. Yes, I am a nationalist. But what is nationalism? For me, I am a Sri Lankan. Not a Sinhalese. If one’s sense of nationalism comes from hinging on to his / her race, such person will no longer be a nationalist but a racist. All those who are citizens of Sri Lanka are Sri Lankans irrespective of their respective races. To be a nationalist is to have a unified sense that one pledges allegiance to one’s own country although liberatarians may not agree to pledge allegiance to anything. Maximizing the freedom of choice, even as a liberatarian, does not negate one’s ability to choose to pledge allegiance to one’s own state. Some may consider me a traitor after reading the piece. However, my only hope is that Sri Lankans will be able to live in peace and that one day, I and my mixed group of friends will be able to bring forth our children into a country which is no longer divided along meaningless racial lines.

Sri Lankan National Anthem Symbolism, Nationalism, Racism and Other Stories by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lankan national anthem being sung in Tamil comes under attack

Mar 21, 2015

FIRSTPOST.Colombo: A decision by President Maithripala Sirisena to allow the singing of the Sri Lankan national anthem in Tamil has sparked a row, with the move coming under attack from his own Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP).

Sri Lankan flag. Reuters.

"This is nothing but a betrayal. A decision to please just a 2 million (Tamil) population," Sarath Weerasekera, who was a senior commander of Sri Lankan Navy before entering politics, told parliament.

He said that in India, with over 65 million Tamil population, the national anthem is sung only in Hindi. "It is clear in our Constitution that the national anthem must be sung only in the state language," he said.

Dilan Perera, a former senior minister and the current SLFP spokesman, said: "That is his private view and not that of the SLFP. We believe in the constitutional provision that Tamil version of the anthem is allowed."

"It was because of this kind of racist attitude that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated," Perera stressed. However, former languages minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said there was no harm to allow a Tamil version of the national anthem.

In what was being seen as a major reconciliatory move, President Sirisena announced last week that he intends sending a circular to all institutions saying that there is no bar on singing the Lankan national anthem in Tamil. His predecessor Rajapaksa had placed an unofficial ban on the anthem in Tamil since 2010.

In 1951, Sri Lanka adopted Shantiniketan-trained Ananda Samarakoon's Sinhalese-language song 'Sri Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka' as the national anthem. Simultaneously, a Tamil version 'Sri Lanka Thaaye Nam Sri Lanka' composed by Lankan Tamil poet M Nallathambi was also adopted.

For decades, both versions were sung, although only the Sinhalese version had constitutional sanction.

PTI

Mahinda Lost Presidency Due To His Ego; Maithri Never Promised To Abolish Executive Presidency: Champika

March 22, 2015
Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says former President Mahinda Rajapaksa lost the Presidential poll despite wielding unlimited powers and resources, due to his ego that rendered him unwilling to implement the kind of political reforms that were demanded by the masses.

“Former President Rajapaksa spent Rs. 43,000 on every vote during the past election. Although his allies boast of the 5.7 million votes he received, each and every vote he obtained was won through heavy voter bribing. Now they blame that defeat on foreign spy services and conspiracies,” Minister Ranwaka said speaking at the JHU’s National Convention held this week.

In his speech, the Minister was also quite critical of the constitutional reforms, the 19th amendment and its contents.

“In President Sirisena’s manifesto, it has been very clearly stated that no tampering will be done on sections of the constitution that call for a referendum. Certain individuals are referring to a ‘schedule’ and various other documents but they are not what we approved. The manifesto is the ONLY document that received the unanimous consent of all the parties that were involved with the common opposition movement,” he said.

He said therefore those who formulated and presented the 100-day program should bear responsibility of implementing the necessary changes according to the schedule set in the program. “We are not answerable to that program – our only focus is on implementing the promises we made and doing justice to the mandate given by the people,” he said.Read More

Netanyahu and Rajapaksa: A tale of two leaders, two elections and two polities

by Rajan Philips-March 21, 2015, 7:01 pm 

I was ready to rock and write to celebrate the defeat of Benjamin Netanyahu in last Tuesday’s elections in Israel. I was joking with my friends that Netanyahu’s defeat in Israel would make me even happier than I was after the opposition victory in Sri Lanka more than two months ago. All of this was not to be. Bibi, as he is known in Israel, managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, different from Mahinda Rajapaksa who pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. Both men went for elections two years too early – one dictated by astrology and the other driven by hubris; both hallucinated about foreign conspiracy against them; and they blamed the minorities for their downturns. Most pundits in Israel expected Netanyahu to come up short, while no one in Sri Lanka would openly say that Mahinda Rajapaksa could lose the election.

Netanyahu and Rajapaksa a Tale of Two Leaders, Two Elections and Two Polities by Thavam Ratna

Change in Government Priorities, Project Review and Public Information – Friday Forum

21/03/2015 

Friday Forum welcomes the new opportunities for good governance that dawned with the Sirisena administration, established in early January this year. An essential feature of a democratic society is that government share with the governed all information relevant to government except that which must be kept secret for reasons of security. Certain information pertaining to urgent decisions to be taken by government and affecting the people on a wide front now needs to be given to the public with as little delay as possible.

This is urgent in view of the decision taken by government to cut down substantially expenditure on infra-structure development, and to increase expenditure on education and health. Two particular instances have emerged already. The Uma Oya project has been suspended and there is much anxious debate about the Colombo Port City Project. Friday Forum’s concerns cover the entire spectrum of projects that will be affected by the decision of government to cut down and to change priorities regarding government expenditure.

An essential feature of good governance is that expenditure is planned, undertaken, and reviewed on completion, to ensure that resources are used efficiently. The recent revision of expenditure plans by government demands that when major changes are made, they are made with as good knowledge as possible of the consequences. For instance an arbitrary decision to cut expenditure on a bridge two thirds built in preference to a bridge for which only land clearing has taken place would lead to unnecessary waste of capital, avoidable with better management. This aspect needs attention in respect of vast projects such as the Uma Oya scheme, the Colombo Port City, and large highway and railway projects that had been planned under the previous administration.

The public also needs to be informed about all mega-projects that have been recently completed, including those in and around Hambantota, the construction of expressways and railways, the Norochcholai power plant, and the Nelum Pokuna theatre and Nelum Tower in Colombo city. The people have been kept in the dark by the last administration about the costs and benefits, including any ill effects, of these projects.

Friday Forum considers it vital that the present government put before the public all information relevant to these projects, whether completed, on the way or planned.

There is expertise in our universities and other institutions that teach management which is adequate to undertake the work involved in monitoring and reviewing such projects. Besides, students who collaborate with their teachers in such exercises will find most rewarding work experience otherwise rarely available to them. High quality output will produce case studies useful not only here but all over the world.

The work of research and analysis, as suggested here, will also need to be established on a regular basis to assist the Parliamentary Oversight Committees proposed to be set up to assist Parliament to fulfil more satisfactorily its responsibilities in matters of finance, entrusted to it in Chapter 17 of the Constitution. Friday Forum emphasises the need for Parliament to set up facilities adequate to advise these Committees with background papers to conduct their business. Ad hoc and casual arrangements as now will nullify the value of these oversight committees

Substantial changes in government expenditure on education and health pose equally difficult questions. Normally expenditures in a budget are the result of sustained background work extending back several months or years in the responsible ministries and other institutions. Unforeseen large changes in expenditure, denied the benefit of such preparatory work, pose problems of planning and undertaking expenditure that could result on the one hand in large scale waste and on the other in failure to meet genuine and urgent needs.

Friday Forum regrets the practice of several previous administrations to withhold information which was previously made available in White Papers and more definitively in Sessional Papers. One glaring instance is the failure to issue the report of the last Taxation Commission chaired by Professor W.D.Lakshman. All previous such reports were issued as Sessional Papers that, apart from informing the public of government policy, were useful to students and scholars engaged in research in these disciplines. Communications of this nature with the public will make a distinct contribution to good governance.

Dr. G. Usvatte-aratchi

Ms. Suriya Wickremasinghe

Dr. G. Usvatte-aratchi, Ms. Suriya Wickremasinghe, Professor Arjuna Aluwihare, Mr. Priyantha Gamage, Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran, Dr A.C.Visvalingam, D. Wijayanandana, Mr. Danesh Casie-Chetty, Mr. Saliya Peiris, Professor Gananath Obeyesekere, Mr. Faiz-ur Rahman, Rev. Dr. Jayasiri Peiris, Dr.Upatissa Pethiyagoda, Mr. Pulasthi Hewamanna, Professor Camena Guneratne, Mr. Javid Yusuf, Ms, Damaris Wickremesekera, Professor Gameela Samarasinghe, Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Mr. Suresh de Mel, Dr. Deepika Udagama, Ms. Manouri Muttetuwegama, Rt. Reverend Duleep de Chickera, Professor Ranjini Obeyesekere , Mr. Chandra Jayaratne

Access Director Theo Fernando to be questioned by FFID, Sumal Perera next... 

 Saturday, 21 March 2015

Access Director Theo Fernando to be questioned by FFID, Sumal Perera next... President cancels Access Group's Rs.1 mil per cow deal with Basil and Thonda, totalling Rs.15 billion

President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered that a highly questionable and controversial mega deal to import as much as 22,500 Milch cows from Australia be cancelled immediately. He had been visibly shocked when he heard the full details of this colossal expenditure from the new Minister of Social Welfare and Livestock Development Mr. P. Harrison.

Positioning at the 'right place and right time', Sumal Perera's Access Group chartering in unfamiliar territory and on behalf of the former Minister of Economic Affairs Mr. Basil Rajapaksa's infamous Economic Development Ministry and acting as agents by opening a 'fly-by-night' company called FORESIGHT, a few years ago had been
awarded the highly controversial government contract under the Divi Neguna programme to import 22,500 young female cows (heifers) for a mind boggling amount of US$ 100 million from Wellard Group in
Australia. "Each imported cow was costing the government an exorbitant price of approximately one million rupees" said Minister Harrison. He added that each imported cow would have to produce at least 80,000
more liters of milk than the local ones in its lifetime in order to justify and cover this exorbitant cost! Each cow would have to live another 10 more lives for this to be feasible, added the Minister in jest. This controversial deal was even brought up in parliament by the opposition some time back, but as usual nothing was done to
investigate during the corrupt Rajapakse regime period.

FORESIGHT is headed by Access Board Director Theo Fernando, the newest billionaire of the Access Group of Companies after the vast millions he together with his Chairman Sumal Perera had fraudulently profiteered by importing thousands of these milch cows from Australia over the last few years with the full blessings and support of their "God Father" Basil Rajapakse who has now surreptitiously fled the country a day after the presidential elections in January.

Mr.Harrison stated that the previous government during its last days had also hastily imported some 2,000 milch cows from Australia spending Rs.1 million for each of the animals with loans taken from state banks and had hurriedly placed another order for 2,500 just before the elections. This entire deal had now been fully cancelled by President Mr. Maithripala Sirisena who understood the utter wastefulness of this project as a person hailing from a farming background in rural Polonnaruwa.

Access Director Theo Fernando to be questioned by FFID?
The Economic Development Ministry's former secretary Dr.Nihal Jayatileka was yesterday interrogated by the Financial Frauds Investigation Division (FFID) Police said. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said the the interrogation was over a number of allegations of financial fraud in the Divi Neguna Department this Aussie Milk cow project was coming under.

Meanwhile the Divi Neguna Department's former director R.K.Ranawaka was also interrogated by the FFID on March 13th related to a series of allegations of fraud. Reliable sources at FFID confided that they will
have to summon Mr.Theo Fernando for interrogation in due course to answer some of these allegations leveled at his hastily formed "Fly by night " outfit called FORESIGHT to handle the importation of Australian cows.

Questions to be asked from Former Livestock Minister A. Thondaman, NLDB Officials and Access Group are to provide details such as,

1) Specifications on which these animals were selected such as pedigree, expected milk yields , parity, vaccination status and pregnancy stage.

2) Were these animals vaccinated against specific diseases prior to shipment?

3) Who selected these animals and how many were rejected?

4) Duration and location of quarantine in Sri Lanka.

5) The post- arrival feeding and Vaccination program.

6) Postmortem findings on the animals that died.

7) The symptoms and diagnosis on the animals that were or are sick.

8) Hosing conditions in Sri Lanka.

Australia is endemic to many serious diseases affecting dairy cattle and extreme precautions should be taken when importing animals from there. Further, it is both stupid and a crime to import stud bulls from Australia, when high quality frozen semen and sexed embryos are available at very competive prices from the US, Canada and the EU.