Dams Hold Neither Water Nor Power

Samanalawewa was doomed from the start

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

(December 14, 2013 – London - Sri Lanka Guardian) Camelia Nathaniel has re-opened the can of worms afflicting our country’s foolhardy dam projects. While Chogm and war crimes hit the headlines in the last few weeks she wrote an investigative story on the Samanalawewa Dam in the Sunday Leader recently which was obfuscated by politicians and their shenanigans.

Her reporting is a matter of fact and no fluff journalism. “Dam in Danger” she wrote did not attract the attention it deserved although it is of national importance and a serious cause for our environmental concern.

Sri Lanka has already lost two of its landmark waterfalls, Devon and St Clairs, thanks to the then Power and Energy Minister, Anududdha Ratwatte, who believed these natural beauties should be forfeited for small scale hydro-electric power projects. It is heart-breaking to watch these breath-taking waterfalls in all its natural splendour – St Clairs flowing like seven bridal veils and Devon cascading in full strength in the Hatton area - disappear.

Victoria Dam commissioned by Britain with the Queen gracing its opening displaced thousands of farmers whose very sustenance depended on the rivers which provided them with agriculture and its produce to sustain them. Their wails were described in her book Paddy Birds , written by Lalitha Withanachchi, a senior journalist at the Daily News in the nineties. Mahaweli diversion during JRJ’s tenure with Israel’s contribution deprived Kandyan farmers of their livelihood and dispersed them to the East where they became strangers and exposed to unfamiliar territory they never envisaged.

Kandy went under water during the construction of Victoria Dam and we are about to see another flood disaster through the myopic vision of a government whose sight is set on short term profits to the detriment of villagers who co-existed in their simple farming way; close to nature and close to earning their rightful living. While they farmed several acres and were self-sufficient, the then Mahaweli Minister Gamini Dissanayake compensated them with 1.5 acres of degraded tea land. Unlike rice and vegetable, tea cannot be grown on a small scale, and its yields do not bring immediate profits. These were neither planters not speculators who could grow tea but down-to-earth paddy and vegetable farmers and dirt-poor.

Victoria Dam was also a cunning showpiece to procure international funding for purposes other than agriculture. It was only a façade for JRJ to procure arms to quell JVP and LTTE rebellion. Victor Ostrovsky, a former MOSSAD (Israeli secret service) agent, revealed in his book –By way of Deception – co-authored by Clare Hoy - that Israel with the connivance of US provided World Bank and IMF funding ostensibly to support Mahaweli Project but in fact diverted the funds to arm Sri Lanka with weapons to fight the rising insurgency.

President Premadasa set up the Mossad Commission in 1991 with seven eminent judges presiding to inquire into Ostrovsky at the BMICH who branded Sri Lankan soldiers sent to train in Haifa along with Tamil insurgents as apes and that they believed the industrial vacuum cleaners exhibited were weapons. Premadasa took umbrage Sri Lankans were compared to apes and not that Ostrovsky revealed Israelis trained both government soldiers and Tamil militant groups side by side without each other knowing they were from the same country. Presidential commissions have come and gone with nary a report in sight to this day despite several lakhs of rupees spent on the proceedings which were held daily for nigh on 12 months.

As a child, I spent most of my holidays at Stellenberg and Loolecondera estates in Pupuressa and Gampola respectively. They were in stark contrast to Jaffna’s arid climate and we enjoyed the waterfalls, bathing in the cool rivers, visiting tea factories and plucking tea along with the plantation workers there. Jaffna and the upcountry were two different worlds and Kandy made us forget the horrible nuns in the convent we were forced to return to after a blissful holiday. I also remember feeling sorry for the tea-pluckers who supplied my dad’s uncle, a medical practitioner, with fresh vegetables while they subsisted on left over cabbages, leeks and carrots living in line rooms with the whole extended family and farmyard animals sharing their dwellings. At the age of 12, I felt coolies by which term the British branded them was grossly unfair since they were also our brethren and Tamils. By God did they enjoy life. During those holidays I only saw festivals with singing and dancing.

Reminiscing aside, way back in 1992, Samanalawewa was breaching its bunds through an off-sight of the contractors who disregarded warnings from expert engineers. Built in 1987 with a six billion rupee (US$ 16 million) loan from the Japanese Government, the dam was intended to supply more than one-third of the country’s electricity needs. In September 1992, the dam sprang a leak. State media played it down calling it a `trickle’. The `trickle’ happened to be a 7000 litre per second gush from the right side of the dam. Foreign consultants hired to conduct feasibility studies had consistently ignored warnings from local scientists that the Udawalawe Region’s soft, porous calcium deposits made it unfit for a massive three-mile long structure. The dam holds a tank designed to generate a maximum of 120megawatts of electricity. The leak put paid to that euphoria and it failed to produce a single micro-watt of power.

The rest is history repeating itself with short-sighted policies of ill-informed politicians hiring ill-advised foreigners who are bent on making a fast buck bribing them. Dams are damp squids not unlike the re-awakening of the Hambantota electorate with its port and airport not making any profit but draining the country of its funds all because the President hails from this outback and he desperately wants to etch his name there in double-quick time. 

(The writer has been a journalist for 24 years and worked in national newspapers as sub-editor, news reporter and news editor. She was Colombo Correspondent for Times of India and has contributed to Wall Street Journal where she was on work experience from The Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley, California. Currently residing in UK she is also co-founder of EJN (Exiled Journalists Network) UK in 2005 the membership of which is 200 from 40 countries. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)

Sri Lanka Not In Ethical Travel Destination List

December 14, 2013

Sri Lanka is not included in the list of Ethical Travel Destinations for 2014.

Ethical Traveler conducts a survey of developing nations—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe— to identify the world’s best travel and tourism destinations. “We begin our research by focusing on three general categories: Environmental Protection, Social Welfare and Human Rights. For each of these categories we look at information past and present so that we understand not only the current state of a country, but how it has changed over time. This helps us select nations that are actively improving the state of their people, government and environment. ” says Ethical Traveler.

According to the CNN, Every year, the California-based team reviews policies and practices in the developing world, then selects the 10 countries that are doing the most to promote human rights, preserve their environments and support social welfare — all while creating a lively, community-based tourism industry.

“By visiting these countries, we use our economic leverage as travelers to support best practices,” says Ethical Traveler in its latest report publsihed on December 02, 2013.

In alphabetical order, the 2014 top 10 are:

1. The Bahamas

2. Barbados

3. Cape Verde

4. Chile

5. Dominica

6. Latvia

7. Lithuania

8. Mauritius

9. Palau

10. Uruguay

“Once again, no Asian country qualified for our list,” says Ethical Traveler.

“In this first phase of our process, we consider country scores from a variety of databases related to one of the three categories, using information from sources like Freedom House, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Reporters Without Borders, UNICEF, GLBT resources and the World Bank. After identifying about two dozen “short list” performers, we turn to detailed case research, focusing on actions these governments have taken over the year to improve (or in some cases, weaken) practices and circumstances in the countries. This year, responding to requests from our members, we also added Animal Welfare to our list. Although this issue not as codified in our candidate nations as it is in fully developed countries, we found the research revealing.” it said in its report.

Read the full report here

Heroin haul: Now, JHU tells IGP to probe PM and aides

By Madura Ranwala-December 13, 2013

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has said the massive drug smuggling bid from Karachi was a national crime and urged the IGP to conduct a full scale investigation and prosecute the culprits.

Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana told The Island yesterday that JHU leader Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobitha Thera had, on Thursday, written to the IGP N. K. Illangakoon urging him to conduct a full scale investigation into the attempt to smuggle into the country a large stock of heroin from Pakistan as it was a ‘national crime’. He has urged the police chief to probe Premier D.M. Jayaratne and his aides accused of having issued a letter to the Customs seeking the release of the container with heroin.

The shipment reached Colombo on June 6, though it was opened only three months later.

The Thera had also requested the IGP to apprehend all the suspects connected to the smuggling attempt.

Asked why Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne’s coordinating secretary, Keerthi Sri Weerasinghe, accused of allegedly directing the Customs to consider reducing demurrage charges on the container that brought in the heroin, on a request made by Gampola Urban Council member Tharanga Wittachchi,

had not bee arrested, he said the Police Narcotic Bureau

was conducting investigations and the secretary in question and the urban council member would be questioned.

When repeatedly asked why the PM’s secretary and Urban councilor had not been arrested and questioned, the police spokesman said that he would not be in a position to answer that question until Inspector General of Police returned to the country.

The PM’s secretary has gone on record as saying that he first met the urban councillor concerned, Wittachchi, when he worked with the Prime Minister in Gampola.

Wittachchi has said that he wanted to help a person whom he had met and become friendly with while having a meal overseas. He said that the person was a Pakistani national, who introduced himself as an importer and exporter of spices and tea.

PNB sources said that they had given statements and they had only written letters seeking to facilitate the waiving of demurrage charges and the release of a container without knowing its actual content. Therefore, they could not be arrested on that basis, without establishing their involvement in the drug racket.

PNB sources said that they would not hesitate to prosecute the real suspects, big or small, if they came across the man behind the deal and who wanted the deadly narcotic distributed in the country.

Police Narcotics arrest 148,966 persons in drug raids 

December 14, 2013
The Police Narcotics Bureau have arrested  148, 966 persons in various raids and investigations conducted from 1st of January 2011 to December 2013, Police Media Spokesperson SP Ajth Rohana  told during a media briefing today.
 
He went on to say that around 385 Kg of heroin, 176.718 Kg of weed and 30 Kg of other drugs have been seized during raids conducted from 2011 to present (2013).
 
SP Ajith Rohana requested the public to inform the Police Narcotics Bureau with regard to information on such incidents through the following telephone number -011 2 343 333. (Ceylon Today Online)

Governing party continues with its losing trend

 Saturday, 14 December 2013 

The 2014 Budget of the governing UPFA ruled Kesbawa Urban Council was defeated for the second time today (13).

The budget proposals received eight votes in favour and nine votes against it.

The Vice Chairman and another member from the ruling party in the local governing body had voted with the opposition against the budget.

The Chairman of Kesbawa Urban Council is to also lose his position as a result.

The budget was earlier defeated on the 3rd of this month.

Meanwhile, the 2014 Budget proposals in three other local governing bodies headed by the UPFA have been defeated.

The budget presented at the Galle Bentharea Pradeshiya Sabha was defeated by four votes.

The 2014 budget proposals presented at the Matara and Medawachchiya Pradeshiya Sabhas were also defeated.

The budgets at these two local government bodies were defeated for the second time.

Singapore Bans its First Internet Website

 by OurCorrespondent-THU,12 DECEMBER 2013

Shutdown ends hands-off policy put in place in 1996

Singapore’s Media Development Agency has shut down its first Internet site, an innocuous fledgling called the Breakfast Network that was run by Bertha Henson, a former journalist with Singapore Press Holdings who now is a journalist in residence at a local college while acting as a media consultant.

The action was taken under media guidelines published in May that required all Internet sites to register with the government if they have 50,000 unique visitors a month. They must put up S$50,000 bond if they report more than one article a week on Singapore-related news over a period of two months. If the government objects to an article, it must be taken down within 24 hours.

The registration and banning puts an end to 17 years of so-called “light touch” regulation put in place by the Media Development authority to foster the country’s image of high-tech communications to lure western technology and communications companies.

The Breakfast Network didn’t appear to be doing anything sinister beyond not bothering to register – which may have been more out of not being prepared than any defiance. Henson said in a parting posting that she had only started the website to give journalism students at her college the opportunity to write and publish under professional guidelines and standards.

“Singapore’s vibrant ecosystem of socio-political blogs was spared the discretionary licensing regime that has blocked the development of alternative print and broadcast media, wrote blogger and media critic Cherian George. “Blogs could be punished if what they published broke the law – but they were never expected to persuade regulators that they deserved the right to publish before they were allowed to do so. Until today.”

"I got the ball rolling sometime in August,” Henson said in a farewell note. “I incorporated a company and started to work on the legal and business end of things while everyone, except for one paid full-timer and a couple of interns, contributed articles pro bono. I had pro bono help from experts. I hired a team to do a new, improved website. So it was a bit of a surprise to get an email from the Media Development Authority about three weeks back about having to register the site. I hadn’t even begun to pull together a business plan to show the network contributors.”

The government has never interfered with the website’s operation or curbed content, Henson wrote.

Websites have been anticipating government action since the MDA’s guidelines were published in May. More prominent websites including The Online Citizen and TR Emeritus have not registered with the authority. Kumuran Pillai, editor of the newly-fledged news site The Independent, told Asia Sentinel his publication had registered.

“There’s no fallout now that I know of” so far from the shutdown of the Breakfast Network, Pillai said. “We have registered.” The site was required to make a statutory declaration that it hadn’t received any foreign funding. Yahoo, which some observers believe was the initial target of the government’s move to license websites, comes under a different licensing regime.

The operators of more than 160 Singaporean websites rallied after the measure was passed, calling for concerned citizens to assemble at Hong Lim Park, the site of the city's Speaker's Corner, to protest the new requirements, with the bloggers closing down their sites for 24 hours to protest the implementation of the new laws.

The bloggers launched a campaign using the Twitter hashtag #FreeMyInternet to spread the word about the campaign. Online commentators expressed concern over the breadth of the definition of "online news sites," warning that it could sweep in blogs that discuss a wide range of issues, and websites that enable users to discuss online content.

The regulations, promulgated at the behest of Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, have been condemned internationally by Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, saying the rules would further discourage independent commentary and reporting. Yaacob, however, later said the government intended to keep its light hand on the Internet.

Singapore's mainstream media have long been cowed into submission by the government through libel lawsuits, contempt of court cases and outright intimidation. Although the Media Development Authority said the new law was only meant to bring Internet sites into compliance with existing press regulations, Singapore's tame courts have been used to bludgeon the press into not reporting at all on the country. The Internet sites can be expected to face the same fate.

Many international news outlets including the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review and AsiaWeek, Time Magazine and others have been sued successfully by the family of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, Lee Kuan Yew. All have reacted by shying away from critical reporting on the country.

According to the Human Rights Watch report: "In response to criticism, the Media Development Authority clarified on its Facebook page on May 31 that, “An individual publishing views on current affairs and trends on his/her personal website or blog does not amount to news reporting.' However, in a separate statement, the Authority undermined this claim by asserting that, "If they [blogs] take on the nature of news sites, we will take a closer look and evaluate them accordingly."

The Media Development Authority also asserted that the framework is "not an attempt to influence the editorial slant of news sites" and that it will only step in "when complaints are raised to [their] attention, and [they] assess that the content is in breach of the content guidelines and merits action by the website owner."

“Breakfast Network” cannot operate on other Internet platforms: 

A year since Delhi gang rape, women see key changes

By Nirmala George  The Associated Press-December 13, 2013 

iNEW DELHI – The phones were ringing nonstop in the tiny, windowless office in downtown New Delhi, with urgent appeals from desperate women.

One caller, speaking in whispers, said her husband beat her regularly because she failed to bring in enough dowry. Another woman said her teenage daughter was being stalked by a neighbour and needed legal advice.

A Year Since Delhi Gang Rape, Women See Key Changes by nelvely

manithanaal thangik kolla mudiyaatha aayutham

பள்ளி, புத்தக படிப்பையும் தாண்டி மனிதர்களாகிய நாம் படிக்க வேண்டிய பாடம் ஒன்று இருக்கிறது. அது என்ன என்று தெரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டுமா. இந்த ஒளிப்பதிவினை பாருங்கள்.

https://www.youtube.com/user/karpagamaraan/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0

US contemplates imposing sanctions on ruling Rajapakse regime to control latter’s mule like recalcitrance

(Lanka-e-News- 13.Dec.2013, 7.30PM) Since the Sri Lanka ruling Medamulana Rajapakse regime is conducting its international diplomatic affairs like a recalcitrant mule day after day , the US is contemplating imposing economic sanctions on Sri Lanka(SL), state diplomatic sources reveal.

More than the accusations of war crimes during the last phase of the SL war that are leveled internationally against the regime, what is engaging the international attention now more and gravely is the obnoxious indifference shown by the SL government towards investigating these alleged crimes . The US international diplomatic circle is most disillusioned with the recalcitrant conduct of the government of SL even after its President was appointed as the chairman of the Commonwealth countries , the international organization. The President’s dictatorial attitude is frowned upon by the US state diplomatic circles.

Hence , with a view to bringing greater pressure to bear on the SL government , moves are ahead to table a resolution in the US Congress Council to impose sanctions on the ruling SL regime. It is the US congress sub committee , that is the Congress human rights sub committee that is going to table this resolution. According to US Diplomatic sources this resolution is to be tabled before the US Congress after the Geneva human rights conference in March.

It is the view of the US Congress that it is against SL most evidence of war crimes have emerged vis a vis other countries which experienced wars . Yet the SL government is conducting itself with reprehensible stubbornness without probing whether these accusations are true or not though the SL government cannot disclaim its responsibilities in this connection under any circumstance , adding that the international community cannot therefore any longer remain in silence .

Already they have assessed that if economic sanctions are imposed , the ruling regime will exploit that to describe themselves as ‘patriots’ , and parade as self proclaimed ‘patriots’ to achieve their cheap political agendas.

In all probability the economic sanctions if imposed will relate to bans in spheres except food and medicines. Those will include embargo on foreign transactions with SL; denial of visas to Sri Lankans seeking entry to foreign lands and banning of foreigners from entering the country, or limiting them; curtailing supply of fuel; and restricting exports from SL and so forth.

If the ruling regime is to ward off these threats , it has only one option, that is, launch an impartial and responsible investigation into these war crimes before the Human rights conference in march , in keeping with its promise to the international community.

Mandela's body arrives at Union Buildings to lie in state(video)

Jaffna.tv -Thursday, 12 December 2013 

The body of former South African President Nelson Mandela has been moved to the seat of government in the capital, Pretoria. It will lie in state there for three days ahead of the funeral and burial on Sunday.

Thousands of people lined the streets on Wednesday as Nelson Mandela's funeral cortege proceeded through the streets of Pretoria from 1 Military Hospital to the Union Buildings, the seat of the South African government.

The coffin is to be moved back and forth from the hospital to the Union Buildings every day for the next three days, and the casket with Mandela's body will be on display for the public to pay its respects at stipulated times.

The Union Buildings are where Mandela was inaugurated as the country's first black president in 1994 after the end of South Africa's apartheid system, which segregated whites and blacks under white-minority rule.

The lying-in-state comes after a memorial service in Soweto's World Cup Stadium on Tuesday in which US President Barack Obama was among those to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Mandela.

On Friday evening, his body will be flown to Eastern Cape province for a traditional service on Saturday. On Sunday, there will be a state funeral and burial at Mandela's ancestral village of Qunu.

Mandela's death last Thursday at the age of 95 has sparked mourning and expressions of grief both in South Africa itself and in the international community, where he was widely seen as an icon of racial reconciliation and a moral authority.

Present Provincial Council Cannot Be A Vehicle Of Change For The Betterment Of The Tamil

By C.V. Wigneswaran -December 13, 2013 |

C.V.Wigneswaran

Hon’ Chairman, Hon’ Ministers, Hon’ Members of the Provincial Council belonging to the ruling party as well as the opposition!

Before presenting the draft of the Annual Financial Statement and Appropriation statute for the year 2014, I have made a statement in Tamil. I think it is appropriate to translate the said statement to English too and deliver same.

It was the political agitation by the minorities that resulted in the establishment of the Provincial Council. More specifically it was for the benefit of the Tamil speaking people of the North and East that Sri Lanka and India formulated the Provincial Council system which resulted in theThirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

But the then Government made the Provincial Council System applicable to the whole Island and thus stultified the whole concept of power sharing essential for the Tamil speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces. Thereby nothing was given specially for the Northern or Eastern Provinces when power sharing was urgently needed by them rather than the other Provinces. In fact the political need to devolve power for the North and East was effectively scuttled. The political needs, aspirations and the special interests of the people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces were thus overlooked.

The Provincial Council System, it must be noted has been identified by all as a means to devolve power to the periphery. But the Thirteenth Amendment in fact has strengthened the hands of the Executive President and widened his powers.

The Governor is the representative of the Executive President. No appointment is possible within the Province without the approval of the Governor. From the Secretary to the Minor Employees, it is the Governor who holds the whip hand. Even though the law says the appointment of the Chief Secretary shall be by the President with the concurrence of the Chief Minister, the present Chief Secretary was not appointed in conformity with the Law. She did not consider it necessary to resign when the new Administration came in. This applies to other Secretaries too.

In our Northern Provincial Council it is the former Jaffna Commander of the Armed Forces who has now taken on the mantle of the Governor. He naturally goes on unhindered as if the Army is administering the Northern Province. The officials of the Provincial Council therefore fear to cooperate with the Peoples’ Representatives. They shudder to think of the consequences of displeasing a former Northern Commander of the Army and the present Governor.                                                 Read More

Mandela And The African Liberation Struggle

by Horace Campbell

Counterpunch

(December 13, 2013, Beijing, Sri Lanka Guardian) On Thursday December 5, 2013 the people of South Africa lost one of the foremost freedom fighters and revolutionary who made his mark on humans everywhere. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in South Africa in 1918 and matured as Africans in South Africa rose to the challenges posed by the most brutal social and economic system of that moment, the system called apartheid. Mandela has now joined the ancestors and he has left his mark beside those great humans (such as Mahatmas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Umm Kulthum, Che Guevara and Rosa Luxemburg) whose greatness emerged from the movements that created them. The forms of struggle that emerged from South Africa inspired the refinement of the philosophy of Ubuntu. This is a philosophy that says one’s humanity is being enriched by another’s and that as humans we are linked to a wider universe and spiritual world. Mandela had said clearly of Ubuntu, “The spirit of Ubuntu – that profound Africa sense that we are human beings only through the humanity of other human beings – is not a parochial phenomenon, but has added globally to our common search for a better world.”

Mandela and the African Liberation Struggle by nelvely

NPC Governor May Be An Expert On Extra-Judicial Killings, Not On The Constitution: TNA Hits Back

December 13, 2013 

The Tamil National Alliance today came out all guns blazing against the Northern Province’s Military Governor G.A. Chandrasiri in Parliament, saying that while he may have expertise in extra-judicial killings, he was certainly no expert on constitutional affairs.

The onslaught by TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran came after Chandrasiri accused the TNA run Northern Provincial Council of violating the constitution for attempting to set up departments of transport and housing, in the lead story of the Daily News yesterday.

Sumanthiran

“The Governor, being a military man is an expert in some areas. Under his command there were several extra judicial killings – he may be an expert on that. But he must know to leave matters constitutional to the constitutional experts. And not go around making pronouncements like this and making himself a fool,” Sumanthiran told Parliament in a hard hitting speech earlier today.

Sumanthiran said that under the constitution, the subjects of provincial and inter provincial transport and housing services were subjects listed under the provincial councils. Quoting from the relevant sections, Sumanthiran said the NPC was well within its rights to set up the departments.

“How dare the Governor say that creating departments for these two services is a violation of the constitution?” Sumanthiran charged.

“This is the reason why we want the Governor removed. You must have a civilian who will have some respect for the law. Who will at least read and understand the constitution,” the TNA MP told the House.

Quoting from Article 154 A constitution, Sumanthiran said that intentional violation of the constitution was one of the reasons why the Provincial Council may pass a resolution calling for the removal of the Governor, if he has intentionally violated the constitution. “I hope the NPC will take the necessary steps in this regard,” he said.

According to Sumanthiran, it was the Central Government and its agents, like the Governor of the Northern Province who were violating the constitution. The Government had appointed a new DIG for the North without consulting Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, even though the constitution clearly stipulates that Provincial DIGs should be appointed by the IGP with the concurrence of the Chief Minister, Sumanthiran said. He added that according to the constitution the Chief Secretary to the Province must also be appointed by the President with the concurrence of the Chief Minister. The current Chief Secretary appointed before the NPC was constituted remains in office despite several letters in this regard from the Cheif Minister to the Presdient they have gone unanswered, Sumanthiran explained.

“Who is violating the constitution? You make a Chief Secretary appointment and you don’t change the appointment when there is a new Chief Minister. The law requires that the Chief Minister’s concurrence must be obtained. You don’t do that. You appoint a DIG now, a few days ago when the Constitution says you have to obtain the concurrence of the Chief Minister,” Sumanthiran charged.

“And you have the gall, you have the brass to accuse the NPC of violating the constitution because they want to appoint departments for transport and housing. As I read out to you both transport and housing are in the pC list. So why can’t they appoint departments?” he said.

* European Parliament passes resolution asking Sri Lankan government to fully implement LLRC recommendations

Fri, Dec 13, 2013, 12:40 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Dec 12, Strasbourg: The European Parliament at its plenary session in Strasbourg Thursday passed a resolution asking the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee in full.
Issuing a statement the European Parliament said the Members of European Parliament (MEPs) appreciate the restoration of peace and welcome the first ever elections in the Northern Province.
However, they noted with concern that "the presence of government military forces in the former conflict areas remains considerable" and that there are continuing reports of intimidation and human rights violations.
Speaking at the debate on the current situation in Sri Lanka, British Conservative MP Geoffrey Van Orden raised the issue of the Tamils in Northern Sri Lanka.
Pointing out that four years have passed since the end of the conflict between the government forces and the Tamil Tiger terrorists, British Liberal Democrat MP Phil Bennion said the people of Sri Lanka deserve to know what happened to friends and family during the civil war and called for an independent inquiry into the actions of both sides.

The EP in its resolution said the Sri Lankan government must intensify its efforts to fully implement the LLRC recommendations concerning credible investigations, demilitarization, and the establishment of land dispute resolution mechanisms, amongst others.

Governor Holds The Whip-Hand In The North Says Wigneswaran

December 13, 2013

Bemoaning the impediments placed on his provincial administration, Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran says the Province’s Military Governor was calling all the shots despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing the Chief Minister the right to concur on major provincial appointments.

Wigneswaran

Presenting the Annual Financial Statement and Appropriation Statute to the Council for the year 2014 two days ago, Wigneswaran said no appointment is possible within the Province without the approval of the Governor. “From the Secretary to the Minor Employees, it is the Governor who holds the whip hand. Even though the law says the appointment of the Chief Secretary shall be by the President with the concurrence of the Chief Minister, the present Chief Secretary was not appointed in conformity with the Law. She did not consider it necessary to resign when the new Administration came in,” the Chief Minister said.

Wigneswaran said that in the Northern Province, it is a former Jaffna Commander of the Armed Forces who has now taken on the mantle of the Governor. “He naturally goes on unhindered as if the Army is administering the Northern Province. The officials of the Provincial Council therefore fear to cooperate with the Peoples’ Representatives. They shudder to think of the consequences of displeasing a former Northern Commander of the Army and the present Governor,” the Chief Minister explained.

He said the NPC has not been able to present a single statute the Council because his administration was lacking the required high level human resources and institutional arrangements. “It is by effluxion of time that our present cadre of senior officers got to where they are now. May be political patronage in the case of some cannot be over ruled. But we are unable to expect a high level of efficiency and proficiency in certain quarters. There is no system by which we can induct high level human resources,” Wigneswaran complained.

The former Supreme Court Judge said 20 odd years of Military Rule has trained provincial officers to act parrot like and to do things as they are told to do only. “But I do not criticize them. I feel aggrieved. There is a gap in the capacity for governance and development inside and outside the Administration,” Wigneswaran said.

He said there could be no reconciliation and regeneration in the Northern Province as long as the region was under military rule.

read the full speech here

UN FAO accused over Sri Lanka kidney illness

By Charles Haviland

The agriculture ministry says that it is doing all it can to reduce the use of harmful farming substances

13 December 2013

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has been blamed for the spread of a kidney disease which has affected nearly half a million people in Sri Lanka.

Scientists believe the illness is caused by pesticides and fertilisers.

The FAO is accused by campaigners of encouraging the use of agrochemicals on behalf of multinational companies.

But the FAO strongly denies it is to blame for the spread of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Aetiology (CKDu).

For at least 20 years many Sri Lankans in farming communities have been suffering from a mystery kidney disease - 20,000 are reported to have died while 450,000 are affected.

The government a few months ago banned three major imported agrochemical products

A few months ago, after a careful study, local and foreign scientists concluded that the excessive use of pesticides and fertilisers using toxic metals - cadmium and arsenic - was the main cause.

A development campaign group, the Swarna Hansa Foundation, has now started a campaign against the FAO, saying it is to blame for "promoting agrochemicals" on behalf of multinational companies.

It is demanding the FAO compensate those affected and has warned that if this is not forthcoming, it will launch a "mass campaign" against both the FAO and the Sri Lankan government.

But an FAO official told the BBC the accusation was false and the organisation was not promoting anyone's business interests.

An official in the Ministry of Agriculture said the government was doing all it could to reduce the use of harmful farming substances.

A few months ago it banned three major imported agrochemical products.

But the official said the causes of the kidney disease still remained ambiguous and might be linked to the prevalence of hard water in the affected districts.

The campaigners say that the disease is spreading - having started in the northern-central part of the island it is now being detected in the south.

The head of the Swarna Hansa Foundation said that in one village there, 50% of families were affected.