Thursday, October 15, 2015

Smashing the Abbas Icon of Palestinian Non–Violence

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas holds a

By Nicola Nasser-October 14, 2015

Indisputably, the 80 – year old President Mahmoud Abbas has established himself internally and worldwide as the icon of Palestinian non – violence. His Israeli peace partners leave none in doubt that they are determined to smash this icon, which would leave them only with opposite alternatives the best of which is a massive peaceful intifada (uprising) against the Israeli occupation.

Smashing the Abbas Icon of Palestinian Non–Violence by Thavam Ratna

Special Report: Battling for India's soul, state by state

Narendra Modi (front C), then-prime ministerial candidate for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gujarat's chief minister, walks inside the complex of a Hindu temple at Somnath in Gujarat in this February 1, 2014 file photo.

Volunteers of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) take part in a drill on the last day of their three-day workers' meeting in Ahmedabad, India, in this January 4, 2015 file photo.

KOLKATA | BY RUPAM JAIN NAIR AND FRANK JACK DANIEL-Tue Oct 13, 2015

An ascendant Hindu nationalist group wants minority Muslims and Christians to accept that India is a nation of Hindus, and is pushing some of them to convert.

An election in the volatile state of West Bengal has become a prime target in its game plan.

The group's strategy: To spread its Hindu-first ideology to all corners of India by propelling the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power in as many states as possible. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) provided the foot soldiers in last year’s landslide general election victory by Modi, who joined the movement in his youth.

Special Report Battling for India's Soul, State by State by Thavam Ratna

Honduras: Stop Intimidation and Threats Against Human Rights Defender Dina Meza

Since at least June 2015, Dina Meza has been subjected to constant surveillance at her house and on the street.

Oct-08-2015

(LONDON) - October 5, 2015 at 11:16am
Sr. Juan Orlando Hernandez Casa Presidencial
President of Honduras
Barrio las Lomas Boulevard Juan Pablo II
Tegucigalpa Honduras

Your Excellency,

I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human rights defender and Freelance journalist. I would like to draw your attention to the following case.

On 28 September 2015, unidentified men attempted to run over human rights defender Ms Dina Meza. The human rights defender was also the subject of a verbal attack by the two men. The intimidatory event follows months of threats and intimidation against Dina Meza, detailed below.

Dina Meza is a human rights defender and journalist. She works with the Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras – COFADEH (Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras), as well as being active in movements in defence of rights of women and campesinos (peasants).

She has also worked on radio programmes for COFADEH and for the Women’s Movement for Peace “Padilla Visitation”.

The incident on 28 September 2015 is the latest in a series of acts of intimidation and threats against Dina Meza as a result of her human rights work, including constant surveillance, intimidatory phone calls, digital attacks and sabotage to her vehicle.

On 5 and 7 September 2015 the human rights defender received viruses through two emails, supposedly from associates. The associates later told her they had not sent her the emails. In Latin America it is common for spyware to arrive through such emails.

On 22 August 2015 Dina Meza received both public and private messages on Facebook from a man who stated that Dina Meza and other journalists had received money and holidays from the ex president of Honduras, Pepe Lobo.

This same man was seen the previous day outside the human rights defender's home and it appeared he was attempting to take photos of it. Dina Meza had previously been defamed via Facebook by the same man on 21 July 2015.

On 20 August 2015, Dina Meza accompanied Cesario Padilla to the National Commission for Human Rights (CONADEH) to report vigilance of the student by armed men.

Once inside, she was threatened with an official complaint by an employee of the office because the human rights defender had published a note on her Facebook page on 30 July 2015 which stated that said employee had refused to give the human rights defender her details, as demanded by law.

She had asked for the details during an incident in which hundreds of students had been arbitrarily detained by police.

On 20 June 2015 Dina Meza experienced some difficulty while driving. When she went to a mechanic to look at it, it was discovered that a screw had been placed inside one of her tires.

This was also the case on the 14 June 2015, when her daughter lost control of and almost crashed the car. It is worth noting that this tactic was used against human rights defender Mr Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño before he was killed on 17 June 2015 in Choluteca.

The tactic was also used against human rights defender Ms Elizabeth Zúñiga, a colleague of Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño, on 17 August 2015.

It is further worth noting that Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño was due to bring a case of defamation against the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras - UNAH (The National Autonomous University of Honduras) and Dina Meza, as coordinator of the Iniciativa Periodismo y Democracia, was due to represent him.

Since at least June 2015, Dina Meza has been subjected to constant surveillance at her house and on the street. On one of these occasions, on 5 August 2015, the human rights defender's children were home alone.

On 29 July 2015, the human rights defender felt so threatened by a man following her that she stood beside a security guard and phoned Peace Brigades International, an organisation which provides her with international accompaniment.

On 13 and 14 June 2015 Dina Meza received a series of phone calls from a person she did not know, who persisted in calling even when she had informed him of this fact.

I am seriously concerned about the series of intimidation and threats against Dina Meza, as it is a pattern which has culminated in the killing of one human rights defender already, Hector Orlando Martínez Motiño.

I believe the threat against the human rights defender to be serious, and also to be directly related to her work in defence of human rights in Honduras.

I urges the authorities in Honduras to:

Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Dina Meza, as well as that of her colleagues and family;
Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into this series of intimidation and threats against the human rights defender, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Honduras are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.

Yours sincerely,

William Nicholas Gomes
Human Rights Defender & Freelance Journalist

______________________________

Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes is a Bangladeshi journalist, human rights activist. As an investigative journalist has written widely for leading European and Asian media outlets. William Gomes concentrates on humanity; his advocacy of human beings in dangerous, preventable circumstances does in fact lead to some of our most vital reports, because they give a voice to the voiceless.
William Gomes said, "I am against any form of intolerance alongside xenophobia and antisemitism. I am and will always stand strong in combating all forms of racial discrimination and intolerance any where." Read his letters and reports to see what the new generation of world journalists are doing to preserve human rights worldwide.

The Real Farmers of Tanzania

Oxfam is funding a reality TV show to try to empower women in the country’s anemic agricultural sector. But is it working?

BY ALICE ROBB-OCTOBER 14, 2015

Carolina Chelele, a middle-aged farmer and mother of four, is making her way, blindfolded, through a hut in the rural Tanzanian village of Kisanga. In one room, her wrists are tied together with string; in a race against the clock, she uses her teeth to free herself. In another room, she picks an eggplant off the floor and expounds on the vegetable’s value in the maintenance of healthy kidneys. In a third room, tasked with giving a personal testimony on gender-based violence, she recounts the time she fought off a group of would-be rapists on her way home from school. Finally, in the last task, Carolina is presented with a seed and a bag of mortar. Right away, however, she recognizes it is a trick. You can’t plant a seed in bag of mortar, she says, and leaves the room.

It’s on the last challenge that she feels she really distinguished herself, she reflected through a translator a few days later. That was when she knew she would win.

Carolina beat out 14 other women — not to mention the thousands who never made it to the televised finals — to win this year’s edition of Female Food Heroes. Funded by international charity Oxfam and broadcast on East Africa TV, Female Food Heroes, or Mama Shujaa wa Chakula, as it’s known locally, premiered in 2011 and aired its fifth season in daily half-hour segments throughout August. According to Oxfam, this season reached 37 million viewers and radio listeners across Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda.

The 15 contestants from Tanzania spent three weeks performing domestic and agricultural tasks under constant TV surveillance while also learning modern farming techniques and attending workshops on political activism and gender equality. “We’re creating a platform through which women tell their own story, communicate their own ideas,” said Marc Wegerif, who helped develop the initiative while working for Oxfam in East Africa. “The finalists are important ambassadors when they go back to their villages.” By showcasing competent female breadwinners, the producers hope Female Food Heroes can challenge some of the negative stereotypes of women that continue to pervade Tanzania’s patriarchal society. They also hope the show can serve as a much-needed educational tool, broadcasting the utility of modern and efficient farming methods. Most analysts, however, question whether a reality show is a real antidote to the country’s troubled farming sector.

a quarter of the country’s GDP, farming in this part of the world is hard and getting harder." style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Although agriculture employs the majority of Tanzania’s workforce and provides nearly a quarter of the country’s GDP, farming in this part of the world is hard and getting harder. Since 1960, Tanzania’s population has swelled from about 10 million to more than 50 million today. Put simply, the amount of land available to individual farmers is shrinking. Meanwhile, overproduction has depleted arable soil while infrastructure needed to move the crops remains poor. More recently, the effects of global warming have disrupted long-established planting cycles. Temperatures are rising, and the timing of seasonal rainfall is unpredictable, both of which have hurt crop production. According to a 2015 study, for example, yields of Tanzania’s largest export crop, Arabica coffee, have dropped by 46 percent since 1966 as a result of climate change.

In this increasingly difficult farming environment, women are especially disadvantaged. Today, women make up only 17 percent of college students and 10 percent of government elite but 75 percent of farmers, according to Oxfam. Despite their dominance in the sector, female farmers face unique obstacles. Women struggle to gain access to loans necessary to buy seed and invest in upgrades. They also are often denied equal rights to the land they work. Under the Land Act of 1999, men and women technically have equal rights to land ownership — but customary inheritance laws, which favor men, often take precedence. Land tends to pass from father to son, and even married women can be blocked from leasing land; widows can be evicted from their own property.

Female Food Heroes is an explicit effort to raise awareness about these issues. “We’re saying to the audience and to decision-makers: Look what they can do, and imagine what they could do with more support,” Wegerif said.

This year, the producers, which include some Oxfam personnel, sifted through 3,000 applications from farmers around the country. They were looking for “personality, confidence, ability to speak openly,” said Eluka Kibona, a campaign manager for Oxfam in Tanzania. Chosen contestants include the teenage Regina Kalipi, who lives with her parents and 4-month-old son; 30-year-old Pili Kashinje, from Zanzibar, who farms cassava, watermelon, and sweet potatoes to put her three children through school; and Winnie Mallya, 24, an agriculture student and small farm-owner from the port town of Moshi. (A number of applicants were students hoping the prize money, around $9,400, would cover their tuition.)

A typical episode might include a collaborative project and a lecture on environmentally sustainable practices from an NGO worker. In one challenge, the women use local ingredients to recreate culinary specialties of their hometowns; in another, they cut reeds and gather materials to renovate the village councilman’s office. The women also participate in workshops on public speaking and women’s sexuality.

Since its debut four years ago, Female Food Heroes has garnered enthusiastic coverage from the likes of Reuters, the Economist, and others. “This reality show drama is actually worth watching,” wrote the Huffington Post. “As these amazing women learn skills in the field the audience gets a few lessons, too,” Upworthy raved. It’s been endorsed by Bono’s ONE campaign.

Yet some Tanzania experts are skeptical, arguing that Female Food Heroesdoes not solve — or even address — the root of what ails small-scale farmers.

“The risk related to weather is so much more fundamentally important than anything we do to improve farmers’ decision-making or provide better training,” said Brian Dillon, an economist at the University of Washington who studies agriculture in East Africa. “The danger in paying too much attention to things like this TV program is that you create the impression that the problem is that the farmers don’t know how to farm.” According to Dillon, even the most cutting-edge farming techniques can only go so far in making up for issues like the shortage of paved roads and the lack of regulation in the crop market.

Others are concerned that programs like Female Food Heroes distract politicians and humanitarian workers from the structural problems confronting Tanzanian agriculturalists of both genders. “In my opinion, the challenges faced by female Tanzanian farmers, and Tanzanian farmers in general, cannot be addressed simply by attempting to change public attitudes through a TV show or by giving cash to a handful of contestants,” said historian Priya Lal, the author of a forthcoming book on socialism in postcolonial Tanzania. “They require sustained structural intervention at the level of the state and in the realm of the economy, not gimmicky pop culture initiatives.”

Then there’s the question of who is actually watching. Oxfam reports thatFemale Food Heroes reaches tens of millions of viewers each cycle. That number, however, may be an overestimate.less than 10 percent of the population owned a television; that rate is much lower in rural areas, where only 3 percent of the population has access to electricity." style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32.8px; font-family: Tiempos, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 2008, less than 10 percent of the population owned a television; that rate is much lower in rural areas, where only 3 percent of the population has access to electricity. “The paradox of Female Food Heroes is that the most vulnerable farmers — whom the show is presumably trying to reach — are precisely those who are least likely to watch it,” said Lal. This year, only 14,000 viewers texted or called in to vote for their favorite candidate — an indication that either the audience is disengaged or its size is exaggerated. The show has only 266 followers on Twitter and just over 17,000 fans on Facebook. The episodes are uploaded to YouTube, and many of them have view counts in the double digits.

Some “edutainment” projects, though, have become cultural touchstones for local people around the world. “I think as long as you get the elements right and you have good actors and production values, I don’t think that people say, ‘Oh, this is propaganda,’” said John Riber, a director who has been running the nonprofit Media for Development International in Tanzania for the past 10 years. Riber helps produce Siri ya Mtungi, translated as Secrets of the Gourd, a Tanzanian serial drama that highlights the health risks of unprotected sex. The show just aired its second season with financial backing from USAID and PEPFAR, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief. One storyline revolves around a pregnant woman who contracts HIV and enrolls in a Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission program. Siri ya Mtungi has over 280,000 fans onFacebook; a typical episode racks up 40,000 or 50,000 views on YouTube.

There is evidence that these types of charity-sponsored TV programs can have impact. In 1986, Johns Hopkins partnered with the Nigerian TV Authority to introduce storylines about birth control and small families into a TV show, In a Lighter Mood, which was popular in the city of Enugu. They also embedded advertisements for the local family planning clinic within each episode. By the end of the 14-month broadcast, visits to the clinic had increased by 147 percent, and 60 percent of new adopters of family planning credited In a Lighter Mood with teaching them about it.

Oxfam says it has yet to conduct any formal research on the impact of Female Food Heroes. For at least one farmer, though, the show has been a boon. Ever since a stroke left her husband paralyzed on half his body several years ago, Carolina has been the sole provider for her family. She plans to spend some of her winnings on seeds and a power tiller and to invest some of it in the small tool shop she opened last year.

“We are all winners,” she said, parroting the show’s credo at the awards ceremony on the final day. “With the prize I have won, I will continue to do the work I was doing in the past — educating fellow farmers and collaborating with my peers, shoulder to shoulder.”

Photo credit courtesy of Oxfam.

Japan restarts second nuclear reactor despite public opposition

Number-two reactor at Sendai has gone on line more than four years after a quake-sparked tsunami swamped a plant at Fukushima

Police officers and security personnel stand in front of the gate of the Kyushu Electric Power Sendai nuclear power plant during a tally of anti-nuclear protesters. The plant restarted its second reactor on Thursday. Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

Agence France-Presse-Thursday 15 October 2015

Japan on Thursday restarted a second nuclear reactor after a shutdown triggered by the 2011 Fukushima crisis, as the government pushes to return to a cheaper energy source despite widespread public opposition.

Utility Kyushu Electric Power said it restarted the number-two reactor at Sendai, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) southwest of Tokyo at 10.30am (0130 GMT).

The same power plant’s number-one reactor was restarted in August, ending a two-year nuclear power hiatus.

Engineers will now spend several days bringing the newly restarted reactor up to operational level before running it commercially from November.

The restart comes more than four years after a quake-sparked tsunami swamped cooling systems and triggered reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima plant, prompting the shutdown of Japan’s 50 reactors and starting a pitched battle over the future use of atomic power.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for a restart, arguing that atomic energy is necessary to power the world’s third biggest economy.

But the public is largely opposed to atomic energy after the Fukushima crisis sent radiation over a wide area and forced tens of thousands from their homes – many of whom will likely never return – in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

The government will continue to restart reactors that are deemed safe under the nation’s standards, upgraded since the Fukushima accident in 2011, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

“There is no change to this policy of the government,” Suga told a press conference.

About 70 people gathered in front of the Sendai plant to protest the latest reactor restart, according to public broadcaster NHK.

“Many people are still concerned about the restart of nuclear power plants,” Ryoko Torihara, head of the citizen group against the Sendai nuclear plant, told NHK.

Campaign group Greenpeace criticised “the Abe government’s disregard for public safety,” and argued that Japan has demonstrated that it does not need nuclear power.

“Nuclear energy will not make any significant contribution to Japan’s energy mix – not now or in the foreseeable future,” said Mamoru Sekiguchi, energy campaigner at Greenpeace Japan.

“Rather than risking the safety of Japanese citizens for a dangerous and outdated energy source, the Japanese government should be creating policies that support the transition to safe, clean renewable energy,” he said.

The government temporarily restarted the Oi nuclear reactors in 2012 to prevent power shortage in the central Kansai region, but they stopped operations for inspections in September 2013.

Tesla Model S P90D: A normal person drives the ‘best car’ ever made

The Model S P90D costs $140,000. It is also being called by many "the best car ever made". From its 17-inch touchscreen menu, to its startling acceleration thanks to "ludicrous mode", get a behind-the-wheel look at Tesla's newest car. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

By Drew Harwell-October 15

The first thing I Googled from the driver's seat of this $142,000 Tesla Model S P90D was a plea: "turn off tesla."

A representative of Elon Musk's heavily hyped automaker had just patiently explained everything I would need to know about the all-electric sedan, including how to enjoy its 300 miles of battery-powered range and how to turn on the absurdly fast "Ludicrous" mode.

Tesla Model S P90D a Normal Person Drives the ‘Best Car’ Ever Made by Thavam Ratna

The EPA Has Tightened Ozone Standards — and Absolutely No One Is Happy

Opponents of anti-smog efforts say the stricter ozone limits will wreck the economy. Environmentalists say they will still allow thousands of deaths.

Photo Credit: Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock

By Jamie Smith Hopkins -October 6, 2015

The Environmental Protection Agencyannounced last week that the country’s anti-smog standard does not sufficiently protect Americans’ lungs and will be tightened, a move that irked groups on both sides of the debate.

The decision comes after years of wrangling over the national limit for ozone, the lung-damaging gas in smog.

The EPA Has Tightened Ozone Standards — and Absolutely No One is Happy by Thavam Ratna

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Sri Lanka and the politics of justice

Truth and reconciliation is a project which inevitably needs to balance short term politics against long term justice. There are signs that Sri Lanka's new government understands the challenge

MARK SALTER 14 October 2015

For Sri Lanka it’s been something of a roller-coaster start to the autumn. First, mid-August parliamentary elections handed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa his second defeat of the year at the polls, confirming that the new political era heralded by Maithripala Sirisena’s surprise victory in January presidential polls really was the genuine article. Then almost before the country had time to draw breath it was catapulted into the international arena, in the shape of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)’s 30th session that opened in Geneva in mid-September.

Sri Lanka and the Politics of Justice by Thavam Ratna

A more robust democracy will safeguard peace in Sri Lanka

Richard Armitage and Kara Bue say while post-war justice is important for Sri Lanka, it should not distract from vital political reform efforts

Seeking justice will be a necessary part of the healing process but Sri Lanka must not lose focus on the future. Photo: AFP

Richard Armitage and Kara Bue- Friday, 09 October, 2015

The horrors of the conflict in Sri Lanka were laid bare in a report issued last month by the UN Human Rights Council. Unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, sexual violence and the use of child soldiers were among the parade of horribles perpetrated against Sri Lankans during the last years of fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels. This sad history, involving atrocities by both sides, has given rise to renewed calls for accountability. Seeking justice will be a necessary part of the healing process but we must not lose focus on the future, the success of which will depend largely on a political solution that guarantees the rights of all Sri Lankans.

The Plight of Higher Education in Sri Lanka: Can Privatization be the Ultimate Bitter Pill?

14 Oct 2015 by Dinesha Samaranayake

As a happy graduate of a private university, I’ve always wondered how my life would’ve been if my parents could not afford to pay for my education. Those of us who didn’t get “good” marks to be accepted to a state university were usually looked down upon. I suspect many with similar experiences will remember how difficult it was to tell your results to those judgemental people and the sinking feeling in your gut when you hear the question “What are you going to do next?” Private universities were the last ray of hope for those of us who got left behind from the rat race. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka being able to afford private university education is considered to be a luxury and is limited only to handful while the majority is excluded from this basic human right. Human capital plays a crucial part in absorbing innovation and executing highly value-added transactions throughout the process of development. However, given the limited capacity in Sri Lanka’s higher education system, many able and deserving individuals are restrained from achieving their true potential.

It is no secret that the GCE advance level examinations conducted in Sri Lanka, which serves as the entrance level examinations to enrol at state universities, is one of the most competitive and highly advanced examinations that a student will ever face. However, not all who pass are fortunate enough to get into a state university. Based on the statistics from the Sri Lanka National Human Development Report 2014 on Youth and Development: Towards a More Inclusive Future (NHDR), for the academic year 2010/2011, only 15.2% of youth respondents were admitted to local universities out of all qualified students. This means the remaining 84.8% of respondents who proved to be eligible for higher education have had to fend for themselves. In this context those who possess financial means might opt for private universities in Sri Lanka or overseas while the rest are usually absorbed into the unemployed, underprivileged population.

Pressurizing the government to increase its investments in the higher education sector has become the breeding ground for number of protests in recent years. However, government reactions have been moving at snail’s pace. Data published by the University Grant Commission indicates that even though state investments in higher education increased in absolute terms from 2010-2012, if taken as a percentage of the GDP of the respective year, the investment has, in fact, decreased.

Excessive layers of government departments with age old rules and procedures mean that even if the government increases its investment in education, the effects will not be immediate. Hence, we must look at other ways to tackle this resource gap.

In my opinion, one of the fastest and most effective ways to address this need is through “privatization”. Yes, I do agree that privatization does have negative outcomes, and for many critics of privatization this could be the ultimate bitter pill. Yet, I choose to be optimistic.

If managed carefully, privatization could be the best solution available to meet the demand for higher education. However, it is important to strategize carefully before taking up this path.

Currently, some of the private higher education institutions that award degrees in Sri Lanka are in fact registered as private companies and the University Grants Commission (UGC) has no clear understanding of the standards of the degrees they offer. If the government could identify clear-cut educational areas that could be expanded to achieve the required GDP target, then the UGC could open the higher education market to entities from the private sector that are strong in these respective areas. One of my favourite examples is the educational reforms undertaken in India. India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), which oversees all plans and policies for education, publicly placed considerable emphasis on ICT (Information and Communications Technology) education. Due to this reform, there is now an abundant work force that is tech-savvy. This has proved to have given India a distinct comparative advantage as ICT activities of many multinational corporations are now outsourced to India, leading to India being recognised as a key outsourcing hub globally.

If we follow a similar thinking pattern we could identify sectors that will be in demand in the future and prioritize educational reforms in these areas. For example, tourism has been given much emphasis in the plans for economic development in Sri Lanka. Coincidentally, a global tourism trend that is gaining traction is health tourism. If we increase the supply of fully qualified medical professionals, this is just one promising market that we can capture in the future. Sadly, any plans to establish private medical schools have been badly criticized by both the public and medical professionals. This may be due to a lack of proper understanding by the public, but for such medical professionals, perhaps it is a mix of losing the monopoly power and benefits that are bestowed on them by the current system.

Another criticism of privatization is that these institutions will operate with the sole objective of profit maximization which could threaten the quality of the education and the opportunity for equal access. Yes, these are fair concerns but can be managed if regulated properly by the UGC. Well reputed universities in the world use a quota system where highly deserving underprivileged students have access to universities through a fully paid scholarship programmes. These universities often strive to attract the best students to their programmes as this is the best indication of the standard of their programmes. A similar method could be introduced in private institutions in Sri Lanka under the guidance of the UGC. If the market for higher education opens up, there will be more competition in the market leading to current big players reducing their prices in order to stay attractive. This means more students will be able to afford higher education rather than an affluent few as in the case of the current situation.

It is important not to look at private universities as the enemy of government-funded universities, but as an effective means of absorbing the remaining 84.8% of the qualified student population, ultimately benefiting Sri Lanka’s labour force. While the government can gradually increase the capacity of local universities, private universities will be able to respond to immediate demands in the country. Having said that, I also believe that privatising highly regulated sectors such as medical schools is easier said than done. We only need one minister who has his or her heart in the right place to withstand criticisms and take up the challenge.

Code of conduct for MPs soon: Speaker

2015-10-14

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is reported to have told a delegation of civil society representatives yesterday that he would introduce a Code of Conduct for MPs soon.

He said this when the March-12 Movement, a collective of civil society groups met him.

People' s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said the movement commended the Speaker on his decision to allow the live telecast of parliamentary sessions.

Mr. Hettiarachchi told Daily Mirror that the Speaker prepare the Code of Conduct for parliamentarians soon.

He said they requested the Speaker to conduct regular workshops for newly elected members on the role and responsibility of parliamentarians.

The Chamber of Commerce, Sarvodaya, Transparency International and several other civil society groups were represented at the meeting. (Kelum Bandara) - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/91169/code-of-conduct-for-mps-soon-speaker#sthash.xrhXcgRQ.dpuf

Beyond The Political Spinning Of The Geneva Resolution

By Harini Amarasuriya –October 14, 2015

Dr. Harini Amarasuriya

The UNHRC Resolution is certainly providing political spin doctors with plenty of material. Largely, the spin has taken on predictably partisan directions. Pro-government groups are portraying this as a major foreign relations coup while anti-government groups are describing the UNHRC resolution as one of the greatest betrayals of the country. While the anti-government spin is predictable and to be expected, the pro-government spin is actually far more worrying.

Signs of the directions in which government groups were going to spin this were evident at the welcome planned for the President when he returned from New York. He was lavishly welcomed back as a ‘hero’ who had not simply rebuilt the image of the country internationally, but had also ‘saved’ the armed forces. Meanwhile, it was reported that Minister Champika Ranawaka was charged with explaining the UNHRC resolution to the armed forces. Armed forces personnel were informed that government would defend military personnel who may face charges. Last weekend’s papers also reported the Foreign Minister as stating that accused military personnel would be able to confess to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Compassionate Council (made up of eminent religious leaders) would recommend a pardon to those who confess (Sunday Times, 11th October 2015).

All this indicates that the government is bending over backwards to reassure the majority Sinhala community and the military that the post-war narrative of triumphalism, impunity and heroism would not suffer in anyway. It is extremely telling that the government has not considered it necessary that the victims of human rights abuses documented in the UNHRC report (most of whom are minority Tamils) be reassured in any way, that justice will be served to them. This then begs the question, what is this entire process about?

(Lanka-e-News- 14.Oct.2015, 8.30PM) With a view to investigating the murders of M.P.s under the brutal ,cruel, murderous reign of Rajapakse , a parliamentary committee is to be appointed , prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has decided.

The main objective of this committee appointed under the Parliamentary powers and privileges Act will be to monitor the progress in regard to the investigations. Police officers who conducted investigations and are investigating these crimes are to be called before this committee , it has been decided.

This committee will be probing into the murders of the MPs (who died while holding parliamentary seats) , T.Maheshwaran , Nadaraja Raviraj, Joseph Pararajasingham , D.M. Dassanayake and Jeyaraj Fernandopulle .

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by (2015-10-14 15:05:38)