The President has no other option but to refer the impeachment matter to the Supreme Court according to the Constitution under Article 129 if passed by the Parliament

The Sri Lankan Supreme Court has more power than the United States Supreme Court

(Lanka-e-News -23.Dec.2012, 11.50PM) The President must refer to the Supreme Court his doubt about the impeachment proceedings and the Constitutionality of the Parliamentary select Committee under the constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court has no consultative jurisdiction under the U.S. Constitution. Whereas the Sri Lankan constitution Article 129 specifically stated that the Supreme Court has Consultative jurisdiction. Even though the U.S. Constitution has not mandated the consultative jurisdiction the Supreme Court stated that “but courts cannot avoid their respon¬sibility merely because the issues have political implica¬tions” “And even assuming that the recognition power was the President’s alone, the Constitution did not commit to the Executive “the power to determine the constitutionality of a statute.” Instead, that category of question has for centuries been “emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department.” That duty may have political implications, Chief Justice Roberts conceded, but the judiciary nevertheless has a “responsibility” to adjudicate such conflicts when they arise”. He further stated “That duty will sometimes involve the “[r]esolution of litigation challenging the constitutional authority of one of the three branches,” but courts cannot avoid their respon-sibility merely “because the issues have political implica¬tions.” INS v. Chadha, 462 U. S. 919, 9 In this case, determining the constitutionality of §214(d) involves deciding whether the statute impermissibly intrudes upon Presidential powers under the Constitution. If so, the law must be invalidated…..” “No policy underlying the political question doctrine suggests that Congress or the Executive . . . can decide the constitu¬tionality of a statute; that is a decision for the courts.” ………” See: Zivotofsky v. Clinton 566 U. S. (2012) Therefore the U.S. Supreme court accepted to render decision on a case by case basis. Interestingly the makers of the Sri Lankan Constitution were aware of this concept. They drafted the constitution creating an article (129), granting the power to the Supreme Court to give opinion regarding any matter it appeared before the President. This concept is not a new one; there are many other constitutions around the world that the above concept has been inserted to their constitutions. Consultative jurisdiction in the Sri Lanka Constitution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 129. (1) If at any time it appears to the President of the Republic that a question of law or fact has arisen or is likely to arise which is of such nature and of such public importance that it is expedient to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court upon it, he may refer that question to that Court for consideration and the Court may, after such hearing as it thinks fit, within the period specified in such reference or within such time as may be extended by the President, report to the President its opinion thereon. (2) Where the Speaker refers to the Supreme Court for inquiry and report all or any of the allegation or allegations, as the case may be, contained in any such resolution as is referred in Article 38 (2) (a), the Supreme Court shall in accordance with Article 38 (2) (d) inquire into such allegation or allegations and shall report its determination to the Speaker within two months of the date of reference.  (3) Such opinion, determination and report shall be expressed after consideration by at least five Judges of the Supreme Court, of whom, unless he otherwise directs, the Chief Justice shall be one.  (4) Every proceeding under paragraph (1) of this Article shall be held in private unless the Court for special reasons otherwise directs. Therefore by law the President must refer the impeachment of the Chief Justice to the Supreme Court as he himself does not know what to do. He should not act according to his conscience as he has stated, instead he should act the way the constitution mandates him. There is a genuine question of law or fact has arisen with regard to the PSC proceedings. Therefore the President has no other option but to refer the impeachment matter to the Supreme Court according to the Constitution. Otherwise the President’s decision to refer the matter to another commission or authority is a direct and intentional violation of the constitution and the ultimate result would be to invalidate his decision by the Supreme Court creating an embarrassment to his Presidency. By Premalal Ranasinghe (New York)

A Stinging Judicial Rebuke To The Government

By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -December 23, 2012 |

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

As Sri Lanka heads into a New Year made dangerously uncertain by the precipitation of the worst constitutional crisis since independence, mindless revelry needs to be replaced by this Government’s sober rethinking of where it wants to take this country and its people.

Is it down the road of quasi-dictatorship pitting itself with an increasingly angry and mutinous populace, with the courts and the legislature in an open clash or is it to step back from the precipice that yawns before us?

Wise reflection is therefore needed even though such calls to sobriety may be but calls in the wilderness. The alternative course of action may lead to consequences that are too monstrous to contemplate.

Monstrous consequences of adverse actions

Concerns arising from this week’s shooting incident outside the house of the Bar Association President as well as threats issued to other lawyers involved in the anti-impeachment struggle cannot be assuaged by a visit of the President or empty promises to investigate.

These assurances have become ludicrous given legion past incidents where no perpetrators have been apprehended. The attackers of the Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission as well as those involved in the attack on the Mannar Magistrate’s Court remain at large.

This Friday, in response to a writ petition filed by the Chief Justice against the adverse findings of the majority government members of the Parliamentary Select Committee, the Court of Appeal issued a stinging rebuke to the Government. As much as a previous order by the Supreme Court stopped short of issuing a stay on parliamentary proceedings, the Court of Appeal also refrained from granting interim relief but warned in no uncertain terms that any steps taken in consequence of the parliamentary findings would be void if the Court finds it appropriate to grant writ at the conclusion of argument.

In assuming the power of judicial review to examine the plea brought by the Chef Justice, the authorities were adjoined by the judges to ‘advise themselves’ to refrain from acting in derogation of the rights of the Chief Justice until the final hearing. Moreover, the Court reminded the Government that it was its legal obligation to issue notices on the Members of Parliament cited as respondents in the petition in order to enable them to put forward their point of view.

Greater good of the country

These are measured judicial views that ought to be hearkened to. The immediate response by Parliamentary officers and by some government ministers that they would disregard this judicial order was unsurprising. However, this view should be rethought for the greater good of the country.

Meanwhile vituperative rhetoric peddled by government propagandists to confuse the discussion and to muddle the primary issue of justice not only being done but being seen to be done to the Chief Justice, needs to yield to commonsense and rationality.

Some of these misconceptions are indeed laughable. One prominent allegation, for example, is that advocates leading the anti-impeachment struggle are the very same as those who pressed for the impeachment of retired Chief Justice Sarath Silva some years ago. This is a ridiculous canard. On the contrary, chief actors in this drama (including members of the legal team of the Chief Justice) certainly did not take such fiercely consistent views in the context of the investigation of the misconduct of retired Chief Justice Silva. Excepting for a few dissenting voices at that time, the legal community itself was largely silent. Now, ten years down the line, it is heartening that, at last the Bench and the Bar has realised what is at stake for its own survival.

A more compromising but still inaccurate view put forward by some is that the Chief Justice’s supporters see her as an angel whilst those who are against her, paint her as the devil. This depiction of the extreme is also not correct. Anti-impeachment contenders only insist that the Chief Justice ought to be given the right to a fair inquiry. Surely is this something that Sri Lanka has to debate so ferociously at the expense of the country’s good name?

To argue this point is not to contend that the Chief Justice should not be subjected to any inquiry at all. As a friend queried from me the other day ‘do you see the Chief Justice as blameless?’ My answer to this question was short and to the point. ‘No Chief Justice since 1999 can be considered as blameless in regard to the current plight of Sri Lanka’s judiciary.’ On Saturday, former Justice of the Supreme Court, CV Wigneswaran put the matter very well when speaking at the meeting of the Judicial Services Association and after dwelling on the evils of the 18th Amendment, he reminded that ‘honest reflection’ shows that the judiciary itself played a part in the gradual aggrandizement of the executive.

Redeeming a forsaken courage

The Chief Justice’s admonition at this same meeting was that sitting judges should stay out of politics. Certainly when the judiciary becomes politicised internally, it is worthless talking of ideals and principles. What needs to be done is now to save what we have left and to painfully work back to regain what we have lost. Perhaps that task may be impossible. Yet we need to try. In that process, educating the ordinary citizen in regard to the value of an independent judiciary may be insuperably difficult when the practical meaning of that word has been lost to us for the past so many years.

But it is imperative that this is done.Otherwise, if the anti-impeachment struggle is merely seen as an abstract clash between the judiciary and the legislature/executive, then its sustainability will inevitably be doubtful. The next few months will prove these truths in good measure. But for the moment and for the first time in years, we can rest assured that this Government has been taken aback at the ferocity of the opposition that it has seen so far. At the closing of the old year, these slim victories will

Regime Change Without An Election – How Do You Effect It?

By Emil van der Poorten -December 22, 2012

Emil van der Poorten

There is a groundswell of opinion developing in this country for regime change.

The “ground realities,” as our pseudo-intellectuals call them, are several in number and, in order to provide some focus to this presentation, let’s name the major ones.

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s popularity

I am not the only commentator on the Sri Lankan political scene who has referred to the fact that our new monarch has built up a considerable fund of personal popularity.  However, I do not subscribe to the theory that this is due to his heroism in battle as popularly accepted, particularly by the RajapaksaSycophancy.  Considering that I advanced this fact a considerable time before the defeat of the Prabhakaranhorde, it can hardly be defined as hindsight.  The annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could have been achieved with significantly less bloodshed (both Sinhala and Tamil) and the war ended several months before the butchery at Nanthikadal.  However, a swifter end to that conflict would not have served a well-orchestrated publicity campaign with a mushrooming number of enormous “cut-outs” of the President, his brother of the intemperate tongue and an army commander described by the Rajapaksa siblings as “the best in the world” then.  Let me emphasize the fact that what had ended up as a rag-tag bunch of nihilists, surrounded by the armed forces on three sides and with a sea of which they’d lost complete control on the fourth, did not have the capacity to resist, for any length of time, one of the largest armed forces in the world.  Add to that disadvantage the fact that all those countries with the technical capacity to provide marine military intelligence were readily supplying it to the government of Sri Lanka which began to sink Tiger supply ships thousands of miles out of our territorial waters.  No, the prolongation of “the war,” with the attendant casualties, was deliberate and the icing on that cake was a returning Chief Executive, kissing the tarmac at Katunayake airport in a gesture laden with symbolic importance if not originality given that it was pioneered by a pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church  a long while back!  Make no mistake, the Rajapaksa government deserves to be elevated to Public Relations Heaven for its masterly execution of a P.R. campaign that has had no equal in the history of Sri Lanka.  Building on that popularity, every illegal act, totally contemptuous of even minimal democratic norms, became the reality in elections that the President called with monotonous regularity.   To describe the UNFPA government as a political juggernaut during this time would be to understate the Sri Lankan reality!

The deliberate destruction of the Rule of Law

In addition, to fortify that dominance, the message went out, loud and clear, that whatever the Rajapaksa horde wanted to do, it would, any vestiges of democratic practice notwithstanding.  The steady erosion of the rule of law was accompanied by an “in your face” arrogance, particularly by the most violent of its acolytes such as Mervin Silva.  The power of the lowest in the Rajapaksa Hierarchy was constantly reinforced by the permissive impunity with which their every transgression was met.  These were not only ignored but were often extolled!

The racist euphoria and triumphalism that followed Prabhakaran’s defeat has been followed by an erosion of the rule of law, deliberately driven by a government that wanted that euphoria replaced by an abject fear of rulers who would brook no opposition, not even the most minimal kind, and destroy anyone not prepared to bend the vassal knee to its corrupt machinations.

This segueing of euphoria into abject fear has been successful primarily because of a war-weary populace who was a stereotypical example of a population expressing a collective thankfulness at being hit with a five-pound hammer after being subjected to assault by its ten-pound sibling for nigh on three decades!  As that old cry has it, “Anything for peace!”

That is the current “ground reality” facing those living in this country with no prospect of anything resembling relief, leave alone change for the better, in the immediate future.

The Rajapaksa Regime must go, but the question is how does one accomplish this without recourse to undemocratic violence?  How does one effect “regime change” democratically after the electoral process has been perverted beyond recognition?

Peaceful protest and non-violent resistance is the only option available to those who still believe in the validity of human dignity and democratic practice.

In the matter of getting rid of a far more powerful adversary, the Indians, led by The Mahatma, showed the way.  While India, sixty-five years after throwing off the imperialist yoke, is not where it could or should have be in the matter of social justice and equity, it is still one of the two behemoths-in–waiting in the matter of international economic dominance and that should tell us something about the possibilities for our small island nation.  There is a way and it is one of non-violent protest and civil disobedience.  In fact, I would suggest that it is, particularly given our predicament, the only one open to us.  Whether Sri Lankans bowed and bent by years of conflict, have the will to engage in what is going to be a slow and painful process is anyone’s guess but I would venture to suggest that they have no other choice and would be far better off voluntarily engaging in such an effort rather than responding reactively and from a position of weakness when that option is forced upon us.

Make your choice – act pro-actively or reactively, but act you must if your human dignity is to be salvaged!

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ONGOING IN SRI LANKA - AMNESTY

December 22, 2012 

Sri Lanka needs to face an “independent international” investigation into the killings towards the end of the war against the Tamil Tigers, the Amnesty International chief says.

“We need a full and independent international inquiry to bring (guilty) people into account,” Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty told IANS.

He said investigations ordered by the Sri Lankan government into the killings of 2008-09 were not adequate.

But Shetty, an Indian, quickly added that the investigation must cover “both sides” -- including the Tamil Tigers who too were accused of killing many non-combatants under its control.

“And it is not just about 2009. The human rights violations are ongoing (in Sri Lanka),” he said. “There is a current problem too.”

Shetty, the first Indian and the third from the Third World to head Amnesty, said “what happened during the end of the (Sri Lanka) war was by any standard a gross violation of human rights”.

He said India had been mostly silent on the Sri Lanka situation. “The time has come for India to take a fresh look.” - IANS

Sinhalese too bred Tigers.

Saturday , 22 December 2012
Government and forces are making statements that tigers were generated

by university students and Tamils, however Sinhalese and politicians like Premadasa jointly bred tigers.

Tigers originated because Tamils basic crisis were unheeded. If attempts are advanced to resume tigers, the cause is due to basic issues not settled.

These statements were made personally by Mathematics Prof.S.Sri Satkunaraja to Jaffna District Commanding Chief Hathurusingha

Concerning to  the arrest of four university students, to resume the education activities which have got paralyzed Jaffna university Vice Chancellor, Faculty Deans, parents of arrested students met Jaffna district Commanding Chief Hathurusinghe at Palay base.

At the discussion, Commander was frequently mentioning that the university society was the cause for the origination of Tigers which was bred by the Tamils which caused the 30 years destruction.

Prof.Sri Satkunaraja intercept the conversation and said,it cannot be  reason out that only tigers were solely responsible for the devastation, but tigers were originated because of the continuous indifference in solving the Tamils elementary problems.

During the year 1981, when you joined the forces, the military strength was 12 thousand which you have mentioned. At that time the tigers figure was only 20. The amount which was much less expanded because it is not by Tamils or university students, but due to the continuous indifference of solving the elementary problems and Sinhala politicians.

At the time Indian military was in a state of eradicating the liberation tigers, former Sri Lanka President Premadasa was supplying weapons and obstructed the eradication of tigers.

 This is history.  Is it fair the Tamil people and university students can be accused of raising tigers?

 I personally know the arrested science faculty student, as he is my student. I will not accept that the student has connections with terrorism activities which you say. Because he is not that type.

Without solving the elementary crisis, you'll are contemplating of finding a reason to settle it. However if the elementary crisis is not solved, the consequence will continue.

University society shocked by the statement of Jaffna District Commanding Chief

Saturday , 22 December 2012
Jaffna university will resume to function, if the four arrested university students are released, if it so,  it would not happen at all”. Such statement was stated yesterday by Jaffna district military commanding Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe.

 

A statement from a military official petrified the university society. A professor commented on this said, “this is a military act to threaten and suppress the democratic right which people had to protest”.

 

University Vice Chancellor, Faculty Deans, Student Union representatives, arrested students’ parents met Commanding Chief at the Palaly headquarters and such statement was made.

 

He further said, many are comparing the Jaffna university incident with JVP. This is erroneous. JVP is an approved party which everyone should understand.

 

Jaffna people and Sri Lanka people suffered for the past 30 years. When I was in Jaffna  in year 1981 the situation which was and now it differs.

 

What did people get from this war?

 

 Defense Secretary has explicitly said, the activities processed in Jaffna university cannot be permitted at all.  Activities which disrupt peace cannot be permitted.

 

Military did not disturb the November lightning of lamps religious events. It did not interfere. However Pirabakaran photograph was hanged inside the Jaffna University and a disturbing situation prevailed. This caused the police to enter the university compound. They called the military for assistance.

 

Sinhala military did not enter the university, but it was  Sri Lanka military. Tamils were in the military in year 1980. But they left the military due to threats from tigers.

 

We will not permit for terrorism activities.

 

Persons like Amirthalingam, Nawathinam instigated ultimately what is the outcome?

 

Attempts are to originate the former situation which was before 30 years.

 

University students are engaged in such activities and Uruthirakumaran, Emmanul and Vinayagam are in the backdrop. They try to create minor disturbances in the country. Their attempts are to destroy the country.

 

Separate Tamil Eelam will not in this country. Certainty self-rights would be given. America or Europe will not give you anything.

 

At present 15 thousand and 100 military are positioned in Jaffna. Do you all have any problems due to military presence? Just feel you’re conscious and say

 

Ultimately I am saying, if the four arrested university students are released the Jaffna university would resume, if it so, it would not happen at all was mentioned by him.

Ministry Of Defence Intimidates Jaffna University Teachers – FUTA

By Colombo Telegraph -December 21, 2012

Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) says it has been informed that Mr. Amirthalingam Rasakumaran, member of the Executive Committee, FUTA and the President, University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association (UJTA) which is affiliated to FUTA has been asked by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) under the Ministry of Defence to come to Vavuniya for inquiry at about 9.00 am tomorrow (22/12/12).

Gota - Secretary to the MOD

“We believe that the reason that Mr. Rasakumaran has been required to appear at the TID is his involvement as the President of the JUTA in taking action against the assault on Jaffna University students by SL army on 28.11.2012 and related issues.” says Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri.

The FUTA President says; “ We believe that the action of UJTA presided by Mr. Rasakumaran in this connection has been legal and above board and hence requiring him to appear at TID amounts to intimidation of lawful activities carried out by the UJTA and other teachers’ unions in Jaffna University affiliated to FUTA to restore an environment within the university where both the students and teachers feel safe to carry out their academic activities.”

“FUTA strongly urges the authorities to immediately stop intimidating the academics and students of the University of Jaffna who are acting democratically and lawfully within the rights all citizens of Sri Lanka should be able to enjoy and help restoring the normalcy within university immediately.” he further says.

Related posts;

Charge The Jaffna University Students Detained In Court Or Release Them Forthwith – FUTA

Civil Society Condemns Unlawful Detention Of Jaffna University Students

‘Ensure The Personal Security Of Dr. Dewasiri And His Family’ The FUTA Asks Rajapaksa

‘I Don’t Know You, Don’t Accuse MOD’ Gota Threatened Dr. Nirmal

SL military begins war on Jaffna University teachers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2012, 09:37 GMT]
The telephone summoning of the Jaffna University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) president and head of English language teaching at the university, A Rajakumaran, to the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) of occupying Sri Lanka on Friday is widely seen in the university circles as the beginning of a direct war on the Tamil university teachers by the occupying State. Rajakumaran is summoned in connection with his media statement, especially to the BBC, on the student protest in the university and in connection with his reported comments on the views that in future the teachers’ union and the students’ union should jointly observe the Heroes Day as a measure against situations such as the one unfolded this year. 

The mood of the Jaffna University academics listening to the occupying SL Commander Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe at Palaali on Friday

The occupying SL military commander calling the Vice Chancellor, Deans and Heads of the Departments to Palaali, and the summoning of the university teachers’ union president to the TID show the beginning of a new phase of SL militarisation of the university education of Eezham Tamils, Jaffna University circles said. 

The Heads and Deans who went with the Vice Chancellor and parents of the detained students to meet the SL commander Hathurusinghe at Palaali in the hope of getting the release of the detained students were thoroughly dissatisfied by the treatment meted out to them.

The way Mathematics Head, Professor K. Satkunarajah and Christian Civilisation Head, Rev. K. Pulendran telling their opinion were interrupted and stopped by Hathurusinghe has shocked the academics.

Arts Dean, Prof V.P. Sivanathan, Science Dean, Prof Kandasamy, Commerce Dean, Prof Vel Nampi, Graduate Studies Dean, Prof S. Sathiyaseelan, Prof Mihinthan of the Agriculture Faculty, History Head, Prof P. Pushparatnam and Fine Arts Head Prof Krishnaveny were among the academics who went to Palaali on Friday.

On Wednesday the student union representatives have said that the students would not drop the protest and attend the classes unless the detained student leaders sent for ‘rehabilitation’ by the SL military are released.

The Arts and Science faculties have most of the students of the university

Meanwhile, the Medical Faculty students are silently attending classes on a tacit understanding, university circles said. The General Hospital in Jaffna is also a Teaching Hospital of the university. 

Occupying SL military and a paramilitary collaborating with it entered the Gents and Ladies Hostels of the university and attacked students when they were silently observing the Heroes Day on 27 November. The following day, when the students were protesting the attack in a peaceful demonstration, the SL military, police, and paramilitary again attacked them.

As the public opinion and international opinion were mounting against the SL government and its military in Jaffna, with sheer disregard the SL government went further in arresting and detaining the student leaders and activists under fabricated ‘terrorism’ charges.

Colombo also accuses the students that they are directed and funded by the diaspora.

Releasing the detained students is our discretion. They have been sent for ‘rehabilitation’. Don’t wait for their release to resume classes. The university administration and departments should start classes immediately even if no students come, is the position of the SL military occupying Jaffna and the SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The boycotting students and the teachers showing solidarity are intimidated individually and collectively by the occupying military.

Losing all faith in the government in Colombo, the students have appealed to the International Community.

The Jaffna University situation has evoked sympathy and solidarity for the students from several quarters, locally and internationally.

But, two key players, New Delhi and Washington are still playing along with the genocidal government in Colombo against Eezham Tamils, political observers in Jaffna said.

The Heroes Day oppression in Jaffna by the occupying SL military started in Nov 2009, when the Indian foreign minister chose to visit Jaffna on that day. In this year November’s incidents an allegedly India-backed paramilitary collaborated with the SL military, news sources in Jaffna said.

The US embassy in Colombo that came out with one-sentence concern on the students issue treated it secondary to the attack on journalists the same day.

Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe’s placement in Jaffna by Colombo, as the commander of the occupying Sinhala forces with a deep plan of militarising the rule on Eezham Tamils, enjoys understanding and blessings of the international abetters of Colombo, political observers say. Hathurusinghe, within few months of his appointment in Jaffna, was awarded Gucci Peace Prize at a function in Philippines. SL military website said that this was an Asian equivalent of Nobel Peace Prize. 

British Tamil youth petition Prime Minister over Jaffna attacks
21 December 2012

British Tamil university students handed over a statement to the British Prime Minister’s residence on Thursday afternoon, condemning the attacks by Sri Lankan state forces on Jaffna university students and call for the immediate release of detained students.

The statement, which was initially drafted by the Tamil Youth Organisation UK, has grown to include 18 university Tamil societies from across the United Kingdom.

Representatives from University College London, Imperial College London, King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London and the Tamil Youth Organisation UK delivered the statement as the British Parliament prepared to take recess for the Christmas period.

In addition to condemning the attacks and continued detention of Tamil students, the statement went on to say,

“We present 5 basics demands to the United Kingdom, United Nations and international community.
1. Pressurise the Sri Lankan government to immediately release the detained students.
2. Recognise the Tamil nation’s right to remember those that had given their lives fighting for Tamil rights.
3. Secure an environment for Tamil youths to freely express political aspirations.
4. Secure an environment that will allow the free exercise of democratic rights in Tamil territories.
5. Demand a political solution on the island that takes into account the Tamil nation’s grievances, demands and right to self-determination.”

See the full statement on the TYO website here or download the pdf here.

British university Tamil societies who signed the petition have been listed below.

[more]

People in welfare camps located in Sambur face catastrophe. Continuous rainfalls

Saturday , 22 December 2012

Due to the continuous torrential rainfalls in the Trincomalee district, Sambur people living in temporary welfare camps are facing misery.

 

Thousands of persons displaced for the past 7 years from Kilivetti, Pattithidal, Manachenai, Kattaiparichan located in the Sambur locality coming under the Mutur divisional secretariat were sheltered in temporary welfare centers.

 

Due to the reasons of improper facilities in discharging the waste water from the Kilivetti welfare center, water is getting stagnated in front of the camps. Hence there is a danger of contagious diseases getting spread.

 

Meanwhile due to continuous rainfalls in Mutur, Kinniya, Thambalagam, Kilivetti, Verugal and Eechalpattu many thousands of acres of paddy lands, and there is a danger for these cultivations getting affected, hence the cultivators are much perturbed.

 

People’s normal life and many factories have got affected. Due to bad weather conditions, fishermen are not going to the sea; hence there is a scarcity for fish.

The Galaxy, Three Big Ones And The Mother Lanka

By Kumar David -December 22, 2012

Prof Kumar David

That you are reading this is proof that we survived the Winter Solstice two days ago and that those Mayan chaps got their sums a bit wrong; but only a bit as the state of the planet is pretty lousy. It is astonishing how right the Maya’s were about galactic conjugations more than a thousand years into the future, and, coincidentally, I would like to think, put their finger on a troubled period of world history. Had they forecast the end of capitalism as we have known it and not the whole world, they would have been spot on. As befits a piece by a survivor of 11.11am GMT on 21 December 2012 (this year’s solstice) I offer you a potpourri of short accounts of the state of the world in selected quarters, including our troubled Isle, and sign off with a few knickknacks about galactic alignments.

Three big ones

If you count the EU in, the four largest economies in the world are the EU, the US,China and Japan in that order; three of them capitalist,China still an amorphous neither here nor there creature. The economic woes of the EU and Japan deteriorated markedly in 2012 and the signs are 2013 will be worse. The grand old Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) returned with a resounding 300 seats in the 480 member Japanese Diet having lost just as massively to the Democratic Party just three years ago. The caveat is that in a first past this post system the LDP polled only 30% and the polling rate was only 60% – meaning the LDP secured approval from a mere 18% of eligible voters. There is economic, social and political despondency inJapan, and rightly so. There is little Shinzo Abe in his second try as premier, or the LDP, or moribund Japanese capitalism can do to pull the greying country out of the quagmire of systemic decline.

The LDP’s economic programme is weird; as though it were crafted before Weimar induced hyperinflation propelled the Nazis to power. Hard to take seriously is the demented pledge of monetary stimulation to the point of unlimited yen-printing, and negative nominal interest rates (we pay the bank for keeping our money). Desperation Japanese capitalism aims to compel consumers to spend, launch humongous public works, again, (Japanis replete with “bridges to nowhere”) and let state borrowing rise above its current 235% of GDP.  It will all end in tears; there is no way out for Japanese capitalism, but an abyss of irreversible decline.

Economic morbidity is steering Abe, LDP, and a many Japanese into right wing nationalism. It is likely that Chinese provocation in the seas near the disputed islands will be resisted and the 1% GDP cap on defence spending lifted. Abe is likely to engineer a turn around on the admission of guilt by the Imperial Army during the war, turn-on jingoism, visit the Yasukuni Shrine, and try to repeal the pacifist articles in the constitution.  If China and Japan have a go at each other in their littoral waters, it will muddy the surrounding oceans for all Asia.

What is fascinating about the Eurozone is the unabashed mix of money printing and severe austerity. A cacophony of Keynes and Hayek simultaneously on steroids! The prescriptions forced down the throat of individual countries are agonizing austerity and severe market discipline. But at Eurozone level, supranational state-capitalism prevails on a scale that would have taken Keynes’s breath away. Policies for Greece and nearly all for Spain are made in Brussels by the European Central Bank, EU institutions and German and French leaders; trans-national state-capitalism on a grand scale. Europeis confused, pointing this way and that; year 2013 will be more pain and recession.

Interestingly, the one portion of the greater capitalist world where 2013 may allow a ray of sunlight to flicker in is the USA. I do not take the so-called fiscal-cliff seriously. In a piece after Obama’s victory I exhorted him to drive the nail deep into the Republican coffin and confront them at every opportunity. The Republicans are in disarray and on the run; they can see that suckling the ultra rich, the Bible-belters and the reactionary old white working class in the rust belt, is a dead end. This is why House Speaker John Boeher has caved in on tax increases for the above $1 million income earners. Democrats have been asking for a lower ceiling of $250, 000 and resisting expenditure cuts in entitlement (medical assistance and social security payments) that the Republicans demand as quid pro quo.  A last minute deal will be struck; forget the cliff, it won’t bury American capitalism.

The medicine engineering growth (say 2%) and decline in nominal unemployment (say 6.5%), is supra-Keynesianism. Monetary infusion into the economy since the late 2007 collapse is already in excess of $2 trillion. QE3, the next stage, was held in abeyance by Fed Chairman Bernanke earlier this year, but last month the Fed started injecting $40 billion a month into the economy buying mortgage backed securities. This will have an effect next year, and now that the electoral scuffle is over, consumer spending may rise and business confidence may improve. Disengagement in Afghanistan, the awaited overthrow of Syria’s Assad, and relative quietude in banking and financial sectors, may promote respite from the prevailing gloom, albeit temporary.

Temporary because the big questions have not been addressed. US standard of living, the footprint Americans leaves on the globe, has not been brought into alignment with what Americans contribute to the world. In economic speak: Consumption is disproportionately above productivity. America continues to feed off the rest of world and its living standards have to fall till correspondence is achieved – a monumental rise in comparative productivity is impossible. This cannot be resolved short of global restructuring; hence America’s comparative decline, its debt problems and on a shorter timescale, an inflationary spiral spurred by monetary expansion, will all catch up.

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Iran launches $106-million power project in Sri Lanka
Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by to 73GW by 2015.
Fri Dec 21, 2012 

An Iranian private company has launched a USD106-million project in Sri Lanka to transfer electricity to 180,000 families in the rural areas of the South Asian country.

The deal, nicknamed "RE8," was signed into contract during a ceremony attended by the Managing Director of SUNIR (Iran Power & Water Equipment and Services Export Company) Mohammad Parsa and Sri Lanka’s former Deputy Energy Minister Sagala Ratnayaka in Colombo in June 2009. 

According to the agreement, SUNIR will construct six hundred 33-kilovolt (kV) electricity substations, and build a network consisting of 600 kilometers of 33-kV transmission lines, 3,000 kilometers of low voltage three-phase lines as well as 600 kilometers of single-phase lines.

The Export Development Bank of Iran will fund the project, and the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran will provide the insurance coverage for it. 

According to a World Bank report released in April 2012, entitled ‘More and Better Jobs in South Asia’, electricity is the number one constraint for enterprises in Sri Lanka. 

More significantly, electricity outranks other constraints in Sri Lanka and available figures indicate the severity of electricity-related issues for the commercial sector in the country. 

Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW at the end of the 5th Economic Development Plan (2011-2015), according to Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou. 

The country is currently exchanging electricity with neighboring Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey. 

MP/HMV/SS