The Nation’s First Vegetarian Public School Is Thriving

JESSICA LEBER-April 16, 2015

A few years before Queens elementary school PS 244 became the first public school in the nation to go vegetarian, it decided to stop serving chocolate milk. That had never been done before in New York City’s school meals program. Robert Groff, the school’s principal, says even that first simple step took a lot of time and effort.

Groff, whose grandfathers both died of heart attacks in their 50s, co-founded PS 244 in 2008 on the premise that health and wellness is closely tied to academic performance. The chocolate milk removal, suggested at first by a third grader who was learning about nutrition labels, was followed by other menu changes that maximized healthy eating.

It soon became apparent that meat-free meals were the way to go, given that the city—which serves 850,000 meals a day—can’t necessarily afford top-of-the-line lean meat. "We had no focus on vegetarianism specifically," says Groff. "If we were presented with a free-range, organic chicken, that’s something we would talk about."

Kids at a recent school dinner at PS 244.Courtesy of Robert Groff/PS 244

PS 244, also called the Active Learning Elementary School, became a test kitchen for the entire city. No more sloppy joes and beef tacos. Instead, there was tofu, veggie meatballs, chickpea curry, salad bars, and mozzarella, tomato, and spinach paninis. (Some menus, especially the vegan ones, are probably healthier than others—vegetarian diets can incorporate mac and cheese and pizza as much as spinach and brown rice.)

By January 2013, with the help of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food and NYC’s Office of School Food, PS 244 had a full meat-free breakfast and lunch menu, made at no added cost compared to the city’s meal program. Since then, one other city public school has gone completely vegetarian, and other schools now have a vegetarian lunch option to choose from.

PS 244 is an extreme example of the move that most school cafeterias around the country are making to serve more plant-based fare. This is partly a sign of general growing recognition of the health benefits of eating less meat—and also part requirement: At the behest of Congress and Michelle Obama’s anti-childhood obesity campaign, USDA set major new rules in 2012 requiring less sugar and a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains in school meals. There were also guidelines for stricter portion size, calorie, and sodium limits. (Schools that want federal meal subsidies must follow these rules.)

But PS 244 isn't going to be an example for everyone: Schools nationally are having trouble with the new USDA guidelines at it is, says Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association.

Finicky and growing kids don’t always like the heaping veggies or unfamiliar brown rice, restricted calories, and worse, strict salt limits that the guidelines set. The association says that 1.4 million fewer children participated in school lunch on a daily basis since 2012—mostly students who pay full price for their meals. As a result, lunch programs are losing money and children who opt out are likely eating more poorly, since studies show food brought from home is usually far less healthy. Another unintended consequence, since kids are now required to take their milk, fruits, and veggies: A lot goes in the trash.

"We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the amount of food waste that the system really can’t afford," says Pratt-Heavner. The association generally supports a lot in the guidelines but is pushing for more flexibility for schools and a delay on even stricter sodium limits set for 2017.

This healthy meal, including a turkey wrap and low-sodium green beans, exceeds USDA's 2017 sodium limit.

Groff, too, agrees that one-size-fits-all models are difficult. Vegetarian meals wouldn’t be for everyone, he says. He attributes a lot of PS 244’s success to the education that kids get. "The vegetarian meals are what get the most attention, but that wouldn’t have happened without the education prior to it. I think for any schools that are looking towards healthy meal options, you have to start with the education behind it," he says.

PS 244 is thriving. According to Groff, almost 80% of the school’s 440 students eat the vegetarian school lunch; students can bring meat from home if they wish, though chips, candy, and soda are not allowed. Kids are even requesting that their parents buy more broccoli at home, he says. The school says it is seeing benefits in improved student performance—though with few resources to do a formal study, this is based mostly on anecdote rather than hard data and many other factors may contribute. Nevertheless, attendance is up at PS 244, and so are applications. Teachers report the kids are less sluggish and more attentive in the afternoon.

He does admit that getting kids to love straight up two-ounce blocks of tofu isn’t easy, which is how the USDA guidelines require they serve tofu. That would be hard even for an adult.

[Top Photo: Rick Brady/School Nutrition Association]

5 Things Everyone Can do to Reduce Their Risks of Cancer

Heather McClees -April 20, 2015

Last October, my younger brother just 25 years old received the news that he had been diagnosed with cancer. As hard as that was for me to accept as his older sister, I can’t even imagine how he must have felt hearing the words that no one wants to hear. Every single person in my immediate family has been diagnosed with cancer in some form or another, and I’m sure many of you out there can relate as well. Cancer is the ultimate for most people; the one disease they dread getting the most and the hardest to understand in terms of solid prevention. 

5 Things Everyone Can Do to Reduce Their Risks of Cancer by Thavam Ratna

* DNA tests conducted on suspects of Sri Lankan Tamil MP's murder 

Tue, Apr 21, 2015, 11:21 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka

.

Apr 21, Colombo: Sri Lanka police have sent blood samples of the suspects connected to the murder of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Nadarajah Raviraj for DNA testing.
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of police told the Colombo Additional Magistrate Nirosha Fernando, that the suspects' blood samples have been sent to the Genetec Laboratory for DNA testing.
The CID last month arrested four former Navy personnel including two officers and detained them in connection with the MP's murder.
The parliamentarian was shot dead by gunmen riding a motorbike in Colombo on 10th November 2006. His bodyguard, Police Constable Lakshman Lokuwella attached to the Jaffna Police Station, was also killed in the shooting.
The CID told the court that a report on the firearm used for the killing will aloes be produced in the court.
One of the suspects is also allegedly involved in killing of four students with the goal of extracting ransom from the parents of the students.
The court ordered to remand the suspects further until April 24.

** Related Story :: Sri Lanka police arrest navy personnel in connection with murder of Tamil MP

Sajith Premadasa's SL ministry steps up Sinhalicisation in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2015, 18:25 GMT]
Sinhala officials of Colombo's ‘National Housing Development Authority’, which comes under UNP Minister Sajith Premadasa attempted on Tuesday to grab lands that belong to uprooted Eezham Tamils at Mukaththuvaaram in Kokku'laay of Mullaiththeevu district. A tense situation prevailed as Sinhala settlers confronted the Tamil landowners. However, the move to survey the lands that belong to Eezham Tamils was halted after Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member Thurairajah Ravikaran documented the land deeds to survey department officers who were brought by the so-called National Housing Development Authority to seize the lands to Sinhala colonisers in the country of Eezham Tamils. The SL State is accelerating Sinhala colonization with the aim of permanently wedging the demographic contiguity of the northern and eastern provinces at this strategic location. 

Sajith Premadasa's SL Ministry Steps Up Sinhalicisation in Mullaiththeevu by Thavam Ratna

Electoral Reforms In Sri Lanka: Small Parties & The Proposed 20th Amendment

By Sujata Gamage -April 21, 2015

Dr. Sujata Gamage

We finally have some legislative language to start a discussion on electoral reforms. Kudos to the SLFP for doing a draft on the 97th day of the 100-day program. What was the government doing all this time is a good question, but, for the moment let us think positively and focus on improving the draft.

Frustrated by the lack of action by the government half-way into hundred day program, a group of us joined by CaFFEsrilanka.org started a campaign to jump-start electoral reforms using an evidence-based approach. The first workshop was held at Nagarodaya, Borella. The workshop was based on what-if simulations of results of the past four general elections for which variations of the method proposed in the 2007 interim report of the Parliamentary Select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms were applied.

The method proposed by PSC is what we called the MMM-LK method. In MMM or Mixed Member Majoritarian systems, the parliament is made up two components – the first-past-the post FPP component and the PR component.

To select the FPP component, slates of candidates are offered by parties for electorates in one or more of the 22 electoral districts. The difference from the ‘PR with Manape’ familiar to us in Sri Lanka is the fact that a candidate is designated for each electorate. There are no excess candidates except in the nominations for national-list MPs. Whether there should be a district list is not specified yet. At the polling station you would get a single ballot with the candidates for your electorate, say, Borella. You mark your preference with a single “X” and drop the ballot in the ballot box and you are done. The candidate who gets the most votes, even by a margin of one, gets elected for the FPP component. A variation of this procedure will apply to multi-member electorates.

The PR component is typically based on the results of a second ballot where you vote for the party of your choice. The Sri Lankan twist in the PSC method is that we have only one ballot (apparently, Taiwan started with one ballot before moving onto two). The tally of the votes cast in the FPP contest is also used to determine the PR component. The elections Commissioner allocates the PR seats to parties in proportion to the remainder votes or the total votes minus the votes of the FPP winners and those who got less than 5% of the vote in any electoral district. Since these votes are essentially votes received by the runners-up, the bulk of the PR seats go the best runners-up, with each party retaining some.    Read More    

Measuring change in Sri Lanka – our yardstick after 100 days

by Campaign Director | Apr 23, 2015 | Uncategorised |

Jeyakumary Balendaran’s release was the human rights highlight of the 100 days

Shortly after the election of President Maithripala Sirisena and the appointment of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe we published our ‘yardstick for change’ – a series of tests which would allow people to determine what is changing in Sri Lanka, and what is staying the same.

Measuring Change in Sri Lanka – Our Yardstick After 100 Days by Thavam Ratna

Ven. Sobitha Thera Cautions President, Govt. About Saboteurs

22/04/2015 

Cautioning the government and President Maithripala Sirisena that some Parliamentarians are all set to sabotage the implementation of 19 Amendment, the Chief Incumbent of the Kotte Naga Vihara and Chairman of the National Movement For a Just Society Ven Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera yesterday insisted that a General Election must go ahead.

The Thera said that a country cannot move forward with Parliamentarians who undermine the people’s aspirations and act without any regard or respect to their expectations or basic democratic principles.

He said some Parliamentarians are trying to nip the 19 Amendment in the bud. They are using every ounce of their energy to prevent it from coming to Parliament leave aside the scheduled vote to be taken on it, he said.

People exercised their franchise to make Maithripala Sirisena the President of this country because he pledged he would start abolishing the Executive Powers.

Asked what they will do as the National Movement for a Just Society if some Parliamentarians sabotaged the process, Ven Sobhitha thera said, there is a limit to this misbehaving by those who called themselves public representatives.

The people can give their determination, whether they are going to keem them in the legislature in the coming election.

Whether they will approve or disapprove the 19 Amendment to the Constitution, an election must go on for this purpose, he added.

Public Writings On Sri Lanka: Review

By Christopher Rezel -April 22, 2015

Christopher Rezel

It is usual for mainstream Sri Lanka media and politicians to dub Tamil commentators on racial inequality as biased. Given violence against dissenting voices, most such comment originates abroad. Consequently, they are labelled diaspora proxies for a resurgent Tamil Tiger movement and dismissed offhand.

Such would be remiss in the case of Charles Sarvan’s, Public Writings on Sri Lanka, Vol 11. It brings together a collection of seemingly disparate and wide-ranging essays that implicitly, if not directly, have bearing on the historical prejudice and rivalry between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. Sarvan, doctor of Philosophy, London, and professor of Commonwealth Literature, who now lives in Germany with his German-born wife after a career of teaching at universities in different parts of the world, says he is “merely presenting his personal understanding, in the hope that the ensuing discussion, even disagreement, would make a small, but positive, contribution.” An eclectic reader, he meshes his own analysis and observations with those of Sri Lankan academics and intellectuals, besides international notables.

Published by Cinnamon Teal Publishers, Goa, India.
Email address: contactus@cinnamonteal.in
ISBN: 978-93-83175-04-8

To ignore this book would be to remain unaware that at the height of the war with the Tamil Tigers, a Buddhist monk was a teacher at Kilinochchi; or that a Sinhalese Special Task Force officer taught music at a local school in Thirukkkovil.

The above snippets, which elevate our faith in human nature, show up in an essay that reviews the book, Of Tamils and Tigers: a journey through Sri Lanka’s war years, by Dutch missionary-teacher, Ben Bavinck, who spent 30 years on the island. Similarly, other essays, written between 2005 and 2011, may dwell on Tolstoy, on outstanding Sri Lankan individuals such as H.A.J. Hulugalle and Paul Caspersz, or on a wide range of social and ethical issues. But they all come back to throw light on the island’s ethnic problems, broadening our understanding, obliging us into a more adaptable stance. Sarvan quotes the writer Elmo Jayawardana: “We hate some people because we do not know them, and we will not know them because we hate them.”                                                           Read More

Rajapaksa rearguard fighting hard to obstruct corruption investigations and stage a comeback

By Harim Peiris-April 22, 2015, 12:00 pm 

Members of the SLFP-led UPFA parliamentary group protesting near parliament demanding an immediate end to the harassment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The defeated Rajapaksa regime has a few die hard-cheer leaders, about thirty SLFP Members of Parliament at the last count and leading them are a slightly lesser number of MP’s from the smaller constituent parties of the UPFA, such as the MEP, the NFF and the EPDP. Unable to accept the reality that their political hero, lost the presidential election, in fact with a much bigger margin of defeat than his razor thin first victory in 2005, these relics of the ancient regime are obstructing the new Sirisena Administration from fulfilling its promised and popularly mandated reform program.

Opposing the 19A is obstructing the people’s mandate

As the son of a founder member of the SLFP, it is appalling to witness sections of the SLFP obstructing the implementation of the one hundred day program of the new government. Everything which the Sirisena Administration is seeking to do, has the moral and political authority of the people’s mandate. In the republic of Sri Lanka, it is the people who are sovereign and the state and its agencies derive their authority from the expressed will of the people, who made their choice quite clear on 8th January 2015 and ended Rajapaksa rule. The 19th amendment to the constitution, especially once amended according to the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, is a key aspect of the people’s mandate.

Obstructing corruption investigations

Similarly the ending of unprecedented and rampant corruption in government and the introduction of good governance is another key electoral promise of the Sirisena Administration. A charge leveled against the Government if at all has been that it is slow and dragging its feet on investigating and charging corrupt former government officials and political leaders. The Attorney General’s Department which lost its independence and became an appendage of the presidency during the Rajapaksa era has indeed been slow to prosecute, such as in the Avant Garde case, where a prima farci offences abound, even to the casual observing public. In that context, the Justice Minister, himself a renowned lawyer as well as the Deputy Foreign Minister, is on record criticizing the decision of the Speaker of Parliament also a brother of President Rajapaksa, for hauling in the Chairman of the Bribery Commission, regarding its ongoing investigations.

The relics of the Rajapaksa regime in Parliament, should be especially careful of anything that smacks of interfering with judicial and quasi judicial processes, as well as public mandated investigation of massive government corruption. The Gunawardena duo, Dinesh and Bandula as well as Wimal Weerawansa should realize, that their previous assault on the judiciary, the purported removal of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, after a flawed process, was accordingly deemed null and void and resulted in the anomalous situation of Mohan Peiris, interloping in the office of Chief Justice for close upon two years. Accordingly it is best to leave the Bribery Commission to do its job without a further assault on corruption investigations. If Mahinda Rajapaksa, his family or political friends are aggrieved by any decisions of the law enforcement, they have access to the appellate and superior courts. Neither the streets outside Parliament, nor the well of the Chamber of that august assembly, are venues for settling judicial disputes.

The rearguard of the Rajapaksa regime is calling corruption investigations, as political harassment. Their claims would at least have some moral authority if they had raised their voices and opposed the jailing of Field Marshal (then General) Fonseka by a military tribunal after his retirement. Mahinda Rajapaksa did not retire, he lost. He is fighting tooth and nail to make a comeback, ashamed at being the only incumbent president to have lost a presidential reelection bid in Sri Lanka.

The allegations of bribery, nepotism and corruption against the Rajapaksa regime is very long, was presented to the people at the presidential election and even the allegations can claim the political credibility of the surprise victory of Maithripala Sirisena over his deeply entrenched rival. There are the instances of (i) the world’s most expensive highways per kilometer (ii) the missing vehicles from the presidential secretariat, (iii) the sovereignty selling giveaway terms of the port city project (iv) a long list of unsolicited projects approved without tender processes (v) floating armouries and unlicensed weapons to private parties (vi) massive corruption at Sri Lankan Airlines, (vii) favored treatment for one special naval cadet (viii) casinos made strategic enterprises, (ix) using TRC funds for the election campaign (x) presidential palaces termed international retreat centers on expropriated private lands and designated as high security zones (xii) diplomatic passports to kith and kin (xiii) fraudulent documents at elections (xi) the white van abductions, assaults on journalists, impeachment of a chief justice, jailing a presidential election opponent, murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga, disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda to name, just some of a long and non exhaustive list of what was wrong with life under Rajapaksa rule. This is what the defeated elements of the SLFP are demanding be not investigated. Really!!

It is actually destabilizing for a society when such horrors are not investigated, the facts established and dealt with. For those nostalgic for a Rajapaksa return, one wonders what aspects of its corrupt, despotic and authoritarian rule, they desire to foist on people again, except perhaps to alleviate their own political orphaned state.

(The writer is the Chairman of the Resettlement Authority. However, the views expressed are strictly personal).

Don't use Parliament to protect thieves - PM

Sandasen Marasinghe, Irangika Range and Disna Mudalige

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday requested opposition members not to use Parliamentary privileges to protect thieves and persons engaged in corruption.

He made this observation in Parliament joining a debate following a statement by UPFA MP Wimal Weerawansa.

The Prime Minister said the people in the country demand to reveal the names of those engaged in corruption. He said the people wanted to know this since the cost of living in the country has come down after 10 years as corruption has been eliminated under President Maithripala Sirisena's regime.

The Prime Minister said Bandula Gunawardena and other opposition members were attempting to prevent the investigations against corruption.

He added that these MPs would come to Parliament, remain day and night in the House, drink whiskey and stand against investigations against corruption.

"Shame on you," the Prime Minister said. "You should not use the Parliament to protect the thieves and those who engaged in corruption."

He also questioned if those engaged in corruption should remain in Parliament.

The Prime Minister said the Speaker had powers to protect the privileges of the Parliamentarians only and he had acted accordingly.

He said the former Presidents are no more parliamentarians and their privileges cannot be raised in Parliament.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe added that however although the security of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and common opposition candidate who is the President today was withdrawn by the government, this government has guaranteed the security of the former President.

The Premier said the members who expected to be appointed as ministers when Maithripala Sirisena was elected as President, later sat with the opposition when their hopes were not realized.

He added those who make a fuss did not go to see the former president within the first two weeks after he lost the election. "But we did," he said
.

Revisiting the Mahinda Factor

Revisiting the Mahinda Factor

 

Fragments.-Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Mahinda Rajapaksa is the most famous former president this country has known. The numbers that go to Medamulana and attend his rallies prove this. It doesn't mean he's making a comeback or that he's ready to, of course. There were some 6.2 million who voted against him, and while 5.7 million supported him it's difficult to see whether that number has increased or decreased in light of what's happening now. For the moment, everything seems uncertain. That's democracy, some might say. I'd agree.

 

The UNP has not failed its mandate completely. But both it and the SLFP are missing the point which brought them to power. What we have today is an Opposition-less Parliament that sees both major parties enjoying ministerial posts. In this context it's only natural that a weak rubber stamp legislature would meet its rallying point in the Mahinda Factor. Outside Parliament. Democracy, you'd say. I'd agree again.

 

Rajapaksa is not without fault, clearly. He needs to be investigated. There is however one thing that stands in the way of his critics. Popularity. It is popularity after all that can provoke parliamentarians to sit through the night. It is popularity that can even provoke those who have sided with President Maithripala Sirisena to speak on his predecessor's behalf.

 

The move to bring him to the Bribery Commission is clearly UNP-made. It does not have the sanction of the SLFP barring a few stalwarts who are against him. If the UNP and in particular Ranil Wickremesinghe want to gain legitimacy however, this was clearly a bad choice. And it's not hard to see why. The main allegation leveled against the former president is that he bribed Tissa Attanayake through a ministerial post.

 

This is interesting. If Tissa Attanayake was indeed bribed through a ministerial portfolio then what about those who were appointed as ministers by President Sirisena even though they sided with his predecessor during the election? Are we to call those appointments bribes? Are we to call the appointment of a minority party leader as Prime Minister a bribe? Where does this lead us? Nowhere, clearly.

 

What is tragic here is that while the SLFP has the numbers, the UNP is not making use of the opportunity open to it. The UNP may be in the minority but it has brains. Ranil Wickremesinghe is intelligent enough to know that in a country where former presidents are bowed out the Mahinda Factor remains relevant. That is what he acknowledged on January 9 when he said that Rajapaksa would remain in our history books. There was humility in what he said. Even the President acknowledged it. We didn't hear Chandrika Kumaratunga echoing that. Shows the difference.

 

So what has the UNP got to do? Going by recent developments the road hasn't become any clearer for it. The Supreme Court determination on the proposed 19th Amendment was a blow, clearly. The Jathika Hela Urumaya, which has even less of a presence than the UNP, has asserted again and again that there can't be a role-reversal when it comes to who wields power at the top.

 

To top all that, one would expect the party that has Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne to be more circumspect when it comes to assertion. Going by the chest-thumping, self-righteous speeches certain UNP parliamentarians have given recently however, I am losing hope. In a country where demagoguery unfortunately seems to count and policy is constantly pushed into the backroom even the likes of Wickremesinghe look as though they are content in playing Mark Antony. That's bad, and hardly what you'd expect of that party given its composition.

 

In this scenario marginalising Mahinda Rajapaksa would not be prudent. He is popular and will remain so. Given that in politics no one is a permanent friend or enemy one can even foresee him team up with President Sirisena. The latter hasn't said anything about recent events, moreover. That's telling. Some would call it expedience. I'd agree and disagree. President Sirisena will not risk an open confrontation with his predecessor, but neither will he go out of his way to grant largesse to a man he successfully took on during the election campaign. The UNP, sadly enough, has failed to acknowledge this. If it doesn't address this soon, that will be its undoing.

 

Uditha Devapriya is a freelance writer who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com

President says it is a conspiracy..!

(Lanka-e-News- 22.April.2015, 10.20PM) Summoning of the ex president Mahinda Rajapakse to the Commission of bribery and corruption, was a conspiracy to obstruct the  tabling of the 19 th amendment to the constitution, said president Maithripala Sirisena  at a discussion yesterday held between him and representatives of the civil organizations that worked with commitment to install him as the president.

The representatives of  trade unions and  civil organizations , that signed a memorandum of understanding with Maithripala when he came forward as a common presidential candidate  met with him yesterday night. Among those present at the meeting were, representatives of just society movement , citizens force, the Left  forces and trade unions.

The incumbent president while pledging  again to honor the undertakings he gave to the people, said, when the 19 th amendment was to be tabled in parliament, the summoning of the exp president to the bribery commission was a conspiratorial move. The president  went on to explain that when the  notice summoning the ex president was sent out by Balapatabendi the president  of the commission  , he was not aware , and it was timed when the Director General was out of the Island , and  nobody knew who sent it.

The president noted , since he wanted to get rid of the executive powers after becoming the president, he did  not use  these powers vested in him ,and  he did not take steps to change the members of the bribery and corruption commission . But , many of them there were those appointed by the  ex president .

When he went to the parliament yesterday in connection with the  opening speech on  the 19 th amendment to be tabled , the draft given to him  was cut and chopped , so much so that it was not legible to him . This he reckoned as  a conspiracy to obstruct the passage of the 19 th amendment in parliament he noted.

The Rajapakses have robbed funds even in excess of  the country’s reserves , and those funds have been wasted on the groups organizing protests in favor of them . The president is fully committed  not only in regard to  the 19 th amendment but  even the other promises made under the interim  100 days program including the electoral reforms, he observed.

The representatives who participated in the discussions with the president said , after the 19 th amendment is tabled in parliament on the 27 th , if that cannot be passed with a  2/3 majority , to dissolve parliament and go for  a parliamentary election.

P.S.
With regard to the statement  made by the president that  the draft of the 19 th amendment presented to him when he visited the parliament was illegible, when  Lanka e news inquired from the parliamentary officials , it was revealed that for this muddle , the parliament officials are not responsible  ,and it is the responsibility of the  officials  of  President’s secretariat , that is the secretary in charge of parliamentary affairs. Hence if there is a conspiracy its originators are none other than the officials  of the presidential secretariat , and the conspiracy was hatched nowhere else .

---------------------------
by     (2015-04-22 16:51:34)

An army officer has paid the chopper bills of Mahinda

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

The SL Army said that the chopper bills of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family used during the last presidential election has been paid by an army officer.

Officers attached to the Sri Lankan air force revealed this when the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission called an investigation about the deployment of the air force choppers and aircrafts for the election campaign activities of the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This took effect when the Elections commissioner forwarded a complaint given to him by the Transparency International Sri Lanka to the Human Rights Commission.

Director communications of the Transparency International Sri Lanka Shan Wijethunga told BBC Sandeshaya when the Human Rights Commission called the investigation the election commissioner, few officers from the elections department and two officers from the SL air force were presented on behalf of the Air force commander.

Two air force officers came to the inquiry told Rs. 175, 35,000 (one hundred and seventy five million thirty five thousand) was paid by an army corporal. The election commissioner and the Human Rights Commission have questioned how an army corporal can pay this.

Shan Wijethunga further told “the army corporal has requested to draw the bill against the Sri Lanka Freedom Party”

The Human Rights Commission has requested the Air Force Commander in writing to submit a detailed report about this discrepancy.
Basil Rajapaksa

A total of 55 air rides has been utilized by the former president and his family for the election propaganda which are still unpaid and out of 55 air rides 23 air rides has been flown by Namal Rajapaksa.
The air Force told the Human Rights Commission following a part payment paid by the army corporal still there is arrears of Rs. 90, 75,000 has to be paid to the SL air force.

During the investigation it was revealed that it was the former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa who has told to provide these choppers for the Rajapaksa family and the SL air force has informed Basil Rajapaksa to pay the total money.

Few days before Wimal Weerawansa told BBC Sandeshaya since the choppers were provided with the intervention of Susil Premjayanth it is the responsibility of the UPFA to pay the arrears.
However the Susil Premjayanth few days before told the media that it is not the responsibility of the UPFA to pay these bills.

SRI LANKA: The nation must defend the criminal investigations being conducted by the Commission against Bribery and Corruption

April 22, 2015

A revolt has been organized by few irresponsible politicians through a campaign to stop investigations into allegations of bribery and corruption. The latest name to be added to the list of those who are being investigated on such allegations is the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa himself.

There cannot be a greater attempt to drag a nation into chaos and anarchy than to disrupt investigations into crime and such an attempt to drag the country into chaos and anarchy is now taking place, led by some of the senior politicians associated with the former regime.

It is not for us to pronounce guilt or innocence for any of the alleged criminals. This is a task for a court, when the matters reach the court at some future date. However, no citizen can remain neutral on the issue of the right of the appropriate authorities to conduct investigations into crime.

Law, order, and peace are maintained within any nation through strict conduct of investigations into crime and subsequent punishment for those who break the rules on which the society keeps itself together. All attempts to breakdown the investigations into crime are attempts to rip apart the society altogether.

For a long time, the law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges have all been prevented from doing their duties by an all-powerful executive which thought it fit to break all the rules of the society.

It was a welcome sign that after the 8^th of January 2015 elections such interferences has been brought to an end and some attempts have been made to enforce the law, particularly in the area of control of bribery and corruption. Now the fear has spread among those who had relied on impunity.

The present demands for written undertakings by the government promising no prosecution of the former President on the one hand and attacks on officers who have been doing their job diligently on the other are all attempts to return to a situation of lawlessness which prevailed before.

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges every law-abiding citizen to intervene in order to ensure that all serious efforts are made to enforce the law that should be respected by everyone. No one is above the law; there are no privileged citizens who can claim that allegations against them should not to be investigated.