Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations

Budget spells out economic revolution..! Era concealing caste is over..! Amazon, e-bay, Pay-Pal in SL !!

By Sandaruwan Senadheera

(Lanka-e-News -13.Nov.2016, 11.30PM) This year’s budget has brought sensational and inspirational news to the doorstep of those who are seeking to market their products via the internet. Accordingly , they can sell their products by linking themselves to super internet markets such as the Amazon and e bay .In simple terms avenues have been opened in this budget for small scale businessmen to conduct on line business with world famous establishments without any hindrance or impediment.

Hitherto this on line business activity was restricted to a small elite group only . That group included companies which can make large payments to banks and businessmen who can maintain foreign bank accounts. Banks too charged a huge annual fee. Those who did not transact huge volumes of business were stymied, as they could not pay such large amounts since the popular Pay pal mode of payment was not available in Sri Lanka . Though payments could be made via Pay pal from SL , payments could not be received in SL. This was because , if the bank account that is requested is Sri Lankan , opening a Pay pal account was impossible.

What is Pay pal ? Central bank governor himself questioned in amazement

12 years ago when Lanka e news was launched (at that time even face book was non existent) , we had discussions in this regard with all the banks we had dealings, yet we could not get a positive answer. When we asked Cabraal the notorious Central bank governor at that time about this , he in return in amazement posed the question ‘ what is Pay pal?’ Thereafter , Lanka e news for 3 -4 years tried to look for an individual who had the capacity to understand the value of this , yet there was none. Consequently Lanka e news had to abandon the marketing network which we had created at the same time as our news website was commenced .

At that time what concerned the financial administrators was , searching for an answer to the issues relating to taxes that can be levied on the goods exported and imported via on line transactions . Nevertheless , they could not find a solution.

In this year’s budget speech Ravi Karunanayake revealed that a solution has been found for this. That is , the tax which ought to be collected by SL’s financial administrators be allowed to be collected by Amazon and e bay hereinbefore mentioned , and the SL government collecting from them thereafter. These transactions will be monitored by the treasury. Truly speaking , other countries in the world already follow this procedure. It is a pity this simple mechanism could not be understood by the erstwhile moronic and corrupt rulers whose focus was solely an wholly on illicit transactions and collecting commissions thereof.

Pay pal in SL from February next year

Prior to the budget when Lanka e news questioned Ravi Karunanayake in regard to pay pal , he disclosed , discussions are being held with ‘Pay pal ,’ and by February next year all the issues will be ironed out, meaning that Sri Lankans can directly transact through pay pal thereafter.

Era of Middle east migrant workers engaging in menial work is over …

The monumental worth of the pay pal : It enables a person who is somewhere in Sri Lanka doing a wall decoration here to sell that instantly to somebody in New York, America, or in London ,England , and obtain payment by pay pal.

There is a demand for handicrafts in America alone to the value of US dollars 3 billion! This is because those cannot be mechanically made, and have to be done by hand.

Hand made beeralu (lace) wall decorations or table décor can easily be sold to a customer in the city of London at a price of Rs. 100,000.00 and a hand woven woolen winter cloak can be sold for a minimum price of Rs. 200,000.00. The present Middle East migrant workers (women) by learning the art of spinning beeralu and wool can earn three fold more in the future than what they earn by engaging in menial work in Middle East ,without any trace of doubt.

Not only handicrafts , this applies to farming too. A bag of vegetables grown sans chemicals in his/her private farm can be sold to a family in Europe. In Sri Lanka , the value of such a bag of vegetables is about Rs.5000.00. So are fruits. In England just six seeds with the covering flesh on of a Jak fruit fallen on the ground fetches Rs. 250.00 .Therefore one can imagine the price a whole Jak fruit would fetch in England.

A new era in which hidden ‘caste ‘ can be marketed

Based on the handicraft abilities, ‘castes’ have sprung up . That is , those abilities are innate and ancestral in those who have that talent.

Therefore in the future it is not the era of concealing the ‘caste’ , it is the era in which sales can be made placing a high value on the ‘caste’. Say , if one is a goldsmith , one can say ‘yes , I am of the ‘achari’ caste , and we have been making jewelry for generations since the time of Sri Lankan Kings ’, and get a higher price for the pendent or earrings . This is quite a natural method in the global market.

Artistes can also attract foreign clients with ease, while there is a huge market for live productions and musical instrument productions . Writers too can augment their income by publishing their books in the form of e books. Cinema owners can leave aside their Sri Lankan cinema halls , and can present their cinema productions via the Netflix, Amazon and google play, and earn money.

End of Bogus ‘mang poras’ (I am the great)…

When these are in motion and action , genuine production and international standards become important. When that happens , those in the Island writing ‘mang pora jathakaya’ cannot but know their true standard and ‘size’

The budget presented on the 10 th has opened wide the doors to these astonishing facilities. The era in which only payments could be sent has now been transformed into an era in which payments on line too can be received. It is now possible for you to purchase a small space in the e bay and Amazon on line super market and sell your products through those . It is significant to note the e bay and Amazon are taking full responsibility in respect of their transactions in this regard!

Lanka e news earnestly anticipated this new mode for the last 12 years which will keep intermediaries, cheats and liars at bay while the workers can continue non stop and now Sri Lanka has been blessed with such a climate. What this government which had brought in the most salutary change for the benefit of the country must do now is , disseminate this information among the people via a program that will enlighten them . If this is done , without an iota of doubt country’s economy is headed for a most welcome revolution . The Neanderthals and primitive creatures who are blabbering about global Octopuses will turn mute thereafter.