Cabinet Approves RTI Bill

December 3, 2015

The Cabinet of ministers yesterday night approved the Draft Bill on Right to Information (RTI) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe informed parliament today.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe

Wickremesinghe said that following discussions at the provincial level the draft bill will be presented to parliament to be approved.

According to the preliminary draft a commission is to be established in order to facilitate the right to information. The commission will mediate to determine on the information that needs to be kept secret.

The bill is expected to give access to all citizens to obtain information on government and state institutions. However it does not allow citizens to obtain private information on individuals or information that could harm the state.

The draft bill says that all citizens of Sri Lanka will have the right to information and the right to information means to obtain information that exist in state institutions, and information that exist under its control or its custody.

However, information could be denied in cases where such information could seriously affect state security, territorial integrity, and international relations or harm the economy of country.

In addition information could be denied in connection to the medical status or if such information breaches the privacy of a person.

Information that could become a contempt of court or breach of parliamentary privileges too may be denied.

Certain Information related to the examinations conducted by department of examinations or higher educational institutions too could be denied.                                              Read More

Progress and backsliding

By Tisaranee Gunasekara-Thursday, 3 December 2015

Rizana Nafeek was the first Lankan woman to be executed in Saudi Arabia. She was beheaded after a questionable trial.
Now a second Lankan woman is on death row in Saudi Arabia. Convicted of ‘adultery’ she is to be stoned to death. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has promised to do its utmost to save her life. But this promise sounds hollow given the execrable conduct of the newly appointed Lankan envoy to Riyadh. Going by internet reports, Ambassador Thassim is quite blasé about the imminent stoning of a fellow Lankan, but is deeply concerned about the criticism of this brutal sentence in Lankan media. Such criticism, says the envoy, “can harm our relationship with Saudi Arabia”i.

Progress and Backsliding by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lankan Civil Society Calls on the Government to Save the Life of the Female House Maid in Saudi Arabia

(File photo)
STATEMENT BY WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS, CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS AND CONCERNED CITIZENS.

03/12/2015

Death Sentence Imposed on a Sri Lankan Migrant Worker in Saudi Arabia

We the undersigned express our deep dismay and distress that as a yet unnamed Sri Lankan housemaid living in Saudi Arabia has been found guilty of adultery and has been sentenced to death by stoning.

Sri Lankan Civil Society Calls on the Government to Save the Life of the Female House Maid in Saudi Arabia by Thavam Ratna

The Leaders of this Country and a Nameless Dying Woman

Featured image courtesy Al Jazeera

• by Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe 
• - on 12/03/2015 

The Citizens Demand the Right to know

As citizens of Sri Lanka we know only two facts about the Nameless Dying Woman in Saudi Arabia. One, that she is a Sri Lankan. Two, that in a few days she will die a horrific, gruesome death as stones are hurled at her head (the informal news going around is that the execution is to take place on the 4thof December). All the rest that we have been told by the media and spokespersons from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of Sri Lanka are mere crumbs of information that we are supposed to uncritically accept as the real story.

We have been told that the woman refuses to be identified as she does not want to cause distress to her family in Sri Lanka. We are supposed to believe this.

We have been told that the MEA has hired lawyers and is in the process of conducting a legal appeal and that diplomatic discussions are going on. We are supposed to believe that this is the best solution and the only option. Yet as the Don Manu column of the Sunday Times of Sri Lanka pointed out last week, a legal appeal will never save this woman’s life.

Therefore there is a third fact that the leadership of this Sri Lankan State and its representatives are well aware of. The Nameless Dying Woman, for all matters and purposes, is already dead. She is a Nameless Dead Woman.

As a citizen of Sri Lanka, I and numerous others (and possibly the conveniently silenced-anonymous family of the Nameless Dead Woman), demand the right to know the following from the leaders of the Sri Lankan State:

1. We would like to see documentary proof of your diplomatic demarches to the Saudi Arabian Government. We want to see whether the highest level of diplomatic negotiations have taken place over this case (legal appeals will be useless in this case).

2. We would like to know if you tapped your friends in high places. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights, Tom Malinowski, are all, after all, close supporters of our Government, and we all know that the only hope that this woman has lies in a negotiation that takes place, if done with finesse and strategy, initiated at the highest levels.

We would like to see what diplomatic strategies you have used, since we now have the advantage of being aligned with the leader of the liberal global order. As the leaders of this Sri Lankan State, have you turned to them when a woman who is part of the source of Sri Lanka’s largest foreign exchange earnings is about to be executed?

Or would you rather not deal with the unpleasant and inconvenient issue of a Nameless Dead Woman, when there are bigger issues at stake?

3. Finally, will you phase out Sri Lankan women from travelling to Saudi Arabia as blue collar workers (some countries such as Indonesia that also depend on the remittances of unskilled workers have had the integrity and self-respect to do that on behalf of their disadvantaged citizens)? Will you do the same without giving us meaningless bureaucratic spiels on how you plan to further educate these women and train them?

Most importantly, will you be the first government in Sri Lanka to have a clear framework to safeguard and protect rights of the gullible victims, the unskilled workers from Sri Lanka; the men and women who pay with their lives to keep this country afloat?

As for the Nameless Dead Woman, my only hope is that if the leadership of this country is not willing to pull out all stops to save her life, that when the time comes, on the 4th of December, for her brain to be beaten to pulp with rocks, that she would have lost her mind before that.

Sustainability of a private sector pension scheme

 Friday, 4 December 2015

Last week, many unions and politicians were protesting against the proposed EPF-ETF reforms covering the private sector employees. The proposal was to introduce a mechanism to improve the quality of management of the current trust fund and the provident fund and also to deliver a pension for life. 
Sadly, many of those who protested did not really know knowing what was going on. The Government also failed because they did not know how to sell the idea to the key stakeholders. Furthermore, none of the investigations done so far on the pump and dump deals involving the EPF has been fully investigated. If the investigations are complete, the Government should go public with the findings. 
Many people like the idea of the EPF being taken out of the Central Bank. Now the Prime Minister says the proposal has been put on hold. A private sector pension scheme is now on the cards. 
It is a pity that the original proposal has now been put on hold, because all the elderly people in Sri Lanka should have access to at least one reliable, affordable and adequate pension. A proper pension is essential to ensure income security for the elderly.

Better governance
In Sri Lanka, 85% of the population between the ages of 20 and 59 are not covered by a pension scheme, and only 30% of the population above the age of 60 get a pension that helps them to make ends meet. Any new pension scheme must be contributory and sustainable as the public sector pension system is mostly unfunded. 
The EPF or ETF in its current form cannot be considered a pension scheme. Therefore, if both funds are going to be merged to provide a pension for life, the fund needs major reform and must be taken out from the Central Bank. Moreover, the pension amount should help to keep a person out of poverty. If that cannot be achieved it is best the funds are left alone, but at least ensure there is better governance and more transparency.

Current situation
According to my research there are 24 income support schemes, which include the State’s Public Service Pension Scheme (PSPS) and the private sector’s Employee Provident Fund (EPF). There are also contributory pension schemes for the informal sector workers, which include the Farmers Pension and Social Security Benefit Scheme (FMPS), Fishermen’s Pension and Social Security Benefit Scheme (FSHPS) and the Self-employed Persons Pension Scheme (SPPS). 
Other than for these there is a Public Assistance Monthly Allowance (PAMA), which provides an allowance to households whose monthly income falls below a minimum amount.
The pension system in the public sector is mostly unfunded, and public sector wages are lower than the private sector. As a result the public sector pensions are therefore very low. Furthermore, because the public sector schemes are mostly unfunded, current and future taxpayers bear the burden of the current non-contributory pension system we have.
On the other hand, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is the largest social security scheme in Sri Lanka, with a current asset base of Rs. 1.35 trillion and 2.5 million active accounts. But it cannot be considered a pension scheme as it is not an annuity; however, it could be converted into an annuity if recipients use the proceeds in that manner. 
In Sri Lanka pension anomalies are seen not only in the State sector but also in most schemes in the country, while the access to pensions is also not uniform.

International experience
In many countries, pension provision is covered by a mandatory public scheme that is often supplemented by occupational pension schemes – Defined Benefit (DB) Defined Contribution (DC) schemes. The extent to which occupational pension schemes supplement public schemes varies substantially among advanced economies. 
In emerging economies, the access to any form of pension coverage among the working population is limited. Among public pension schemes, some are funded, i.e. the pension liabilities are backed by pension assets, others are unfunded and referred to as pay-as-you-go schemes, i.e. the current pension payments are financed from contributions or payroll taxes paid by current employees. 
In advanced economies, when the pension assets relative to gross domestic product (GDP) are low, it usually implies that a large share of pension liabilities is tied to future government revenues.

Options
Occupational pension schemes (DB) schemes offer the employees more measurable post-employment income benefits; but they lack the transferability that DC schemes offer employees when they switch employers. 
In a DC plan, the amount of money that has to be contributed to the fund is specified, but the benefits payout will be known only at the time of retirement. The design of retirement plans can have influences on labour markets, because they have important economic incentives associated with them that affect employment contracts and terms.

Objective of a pension scheme
The principal objective of any pension scheme is to provide beneficiaries with an adequate income stream during the post-employment period. For funded schemes, this requires assessment of what the appropriate contribution rates (as a percentage of salaries) into the pension fund should be, to deliver the expected retirement income stream. 
For DB schemes, any asset shortfall arising from poor investment returns on pension assets becomes a liability of the schemes’ sponsor. For DC schemes, employees bear the risk that the post-employment income can be lower than what they had planned for.
For both unfunded DB schemes and occupational DB schemes, the contractual commitments that underpin the promised retirement income will serve as inputs to the actuarial calculations used to estimate the present value of pension liabilities. 
In addition to this, the actuarial calculations will involve a number of assumptions about the future value of economic, demographic and financial variables and risks. 
Because of the inherent uncertainties involved in estimating these variables over the long term, investment decisions that deliver the contractual commitments with minimum risk to the pension sponsor for funded pension schemes can be extremely challenging. 
The regulatory restrictions on investments, and compliance with pension-related accounting standards, often add to these challenges. Yet, the State and public awareness of these challenges and the costs they impose on the pension champion from these contractual commitments is limited and relatively unknown. 
Therefore, in the final analysis, the Government needs to engage the right people to structure the pension scheme if it is serious about launching a pension scheme for the private sector, that is doable and finally, marketable.

(The writer was a former Chairman of the ETF)

A Buddhist requiem for Stanley Thambiah

DEC-04-2015
Final answers are never possible in post conflict societies. What is possible is to dig in to the past and to dig in to the truth. These truths when unearthed, reveal different perspectives. At the end, if we are lucky, we find common ground that produces reconciliation and harmony. That is precisely what Social Anthropologist Sarath Amunugama did when he offered a Buddhist requiem for his teacher, fellow researcher and friend Stanley Jeyaraja Thambiah.

In 1992 Stanley Jeyaraja Thambiah authored a tome ‘Buddhism betrayed?’. It was immediately banned in Sri Lanka. Overnight, he was the most reviled academic in Buddhist Sinhala society. It was not the substance of the book that created the outcry. The cover showed Venerable Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera, then in his vibrant forties gesturing with a clenched fist . It did convey the persona of the militant monk – the anti-thesis of the ascetic recluse – the orthodox perception of the Buddhist clergy. But that was neither the purpose nor the intent.

Sixteen years earlier he wrote ‘World Conqueror and World Renouncer; A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand. It was essentially a study of the institutions of Church and State of the Indian subcontinent and south East Asia – a primer on the functioning of Buddhist and Hindu societies.

Theravada Buddhism

Stanley Jeyaraja Thambiah

Three years after the convulsion of 1983 he wrote “Sri Lanka – Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy.”

The 1992 book with its controversial cover was an earnest effort to understand and explain the behaviour of a people who claim to have cherished and nurtured the essentially pacifist doctrine of Theravada Buddhism for 2500 years and more.

On November 30, at the ICES auditorium two of his colleagues Gananatha Obeysekera and Sarath Amunugama together with John D Rogers, Historian and Director of the American Institute of Sri Lankan studies, celebrated his life and work. Tissa Jayatilake, Executive Director US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission, moderated.

I attended the event not with the intention of either commenting on or reporting of its proceedings. Hence I have no notes to guide me in this missive. The delightfully erudite reminiscences of Gananatha Obeysekera was followed by an eloquently evocative tribute by Sarath Amunugama. This is not about what they said. This is about the ameliorating sense that I felt so intensely when listening to the two colleagues of Stanley Thambiah. Despite their academic aloofness they were defending a knight, unjustly wounded.

‘Buddhism betrayed?' was an interrogative title. Stanley Thambiah had deep insights into Theravada Buddhism and its practices. His discourse was not on Buddhism. It was an effort to understand the kinetics of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism and the role of the Sangha. What Sarath Amunugama implied, I later discovered in archives. Would you believe it? A Sri Lankan newspaper editorial was captioned Buddhism betrayed. It was seven months before Stanley Thambiah passed away.

Buddhist civilization of Ceylon

On May 11, 2014 the Sunday Times carried an editorial captioned ‘Buddhism betrayed by extreme monks’. The editor was justifiably condemning the mob violence unleashed on Muslims of Dharga Town and Beruwala. Expanding on the theme the editorial observed “It is the supreme irony of our time that, in claiming to defend Buddhism, a handful of monks with their hate speech and instigation to violence have managed to do quite the opposite.”

Gananatha Obeysekera made a passing reference to another preeminent Sri Lankan intellectual E F C Ludovyk. I digress. Professor Ludovyk authored a book ‘The Footprint of the Buddha’. The preface explains that the book brought before the common reader “the Buddhist monuments of old Ceylon - a distinctive and valuable portion of the ancient and medieval world.”

The Ceylon Daily News of 29th November 1958 reports “The Ministry of Education has committed another monumental piece of folly by buying copies of Dr. E. F. C. Ludovyk’s ‘The Footprint of the Buddha’ at Rs.25 per copy, issuing them to government school libraries and then hastily withdrawing them. The book is a panegyric of Buddhist civilization of Ceylon. But, what the Ministry has found fault with belatedly is a single sentence in which the author says “A number of legends which belong to the history of Ceylon correspond to no actual fact; for instance the Buddha, as far as is known, never visited Ceylon.”

Evolving Buddhist Sinhalese Nationalist ideology presented a conundrum that Stanley Thambiah attempted to unravel by the rhetorical quiz ‘Buddhism betrayed’ with a question mark.

At the height of the controversy sixty one academics issued a statement in support of the beleaguered scholar – a plea for tolerance. Prof. H. L. Seneviratne wrote an article “Tambiah Betrayed: Glimpses into a Forbidden Text”.

Sarath Amunugama put the matter to rest at the celebration of the life and work of Stanley Thambiah with a surprisingly touching gesture of striving for the sublime. He recited four stanzas. I recall only two.

Anicca vata sankhara, uppada vaya dhammino.
Uppajjitva nirujjhanti tesamvu pasamosukho.

Impermanent alas are formations, subject to rise and fall.
Having arisen, they cease; their subsiding is bliss.

Unnameudakam vattamyathaninnam pavattati
evamevaitodinnampetanamupakappati.

Yathavarivahapuraparipurentisagaram
evamevaitodinnampetanamupakappati.

Just as the water fallen on high ground flows to a lower level,
Even so what is given from here accrues to the departed.

Just as the full flowing rivers fill the ocean,
Even so what is given from here accrues to the departed.

It made a difference. It was surprising. It was not the erudite sociologist. What surfaced therein was the distilled decency of the Sinhala Kandyan Buddhist ethos – which accentuated the cosmopolitan Kandyan society from the time of its last kings. Sarath Amunugama made the point that Gananatha Obeysekera was a hard act to follow.

Thajudeen's death:a murder-Expert board


2015-12-03
The death of ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen, whose burnt body was found in a vehicle near the Shalika Grounds in Narahenpita, was pronounced a murder in the final report submitted to Court today by a board of medical officers led by the Colombo Chief JMO, Dr. Ajith Tennakoon.

Complaints had been lodged with the CID that Thajudeen’s death on May 17, 2012, was not an accident.

Court had ordered that the body be exhumed and a second post mortem held.

According to the report, Thajudeen had not been driving at the time of the accident, and his body had been placed on the seat after he had been assaulted and weakened.

The expert board, comprising Colombo Chief JMO Ajith Tennakoon, Specialist Dr.Jean Perera and Additional JMO S.G.A. Hewage, submitted their report yesterday to Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Pieris.

The board has reported that, in their opinion, death had been caused by the effects of the multiple injuries inflicted on the victim’s legs, neck and chest.

The burning had taken place after the death of the victim or a few minutes prior to his death, according to the report.

The report said the opinion was based on the estimation of the carbon monoxide content of the burned body.

The exhumed body parts, and the parts preserved as evidence, after the first post mortem, by the JMO and in the Toxicology Unit were all identified as those of Thajudeen. (Nirangi Abeywickrama) - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/98041/thajudeen-s-death-a-murder#sthash.GBuFhhsZ.dpuf

Time the People said a loud and a firm “NO” to Medics without Ethics

Picture courtesy NewsFirst

• by Kusal Perera 
• - on 12/03/2015 

“To develop a graduate who will contribute to fulfil the health requirements of the individual and of the community with competence, compassion and care”

Mission statement – Handbook (2014) for Students of Colombo Medical Faculty

I respect the medical profession when it respects the “Oath of Hippocrates“. I will respect them if they stand for patients’ rights. I would have respected them if they stood up for much needed reform in this country; independent commissions, electoral reforms and at least for the Right To Information Bill(RTI). But they have not and they don’t. They have not stood for the people and will not. Not even with other professions and members of the health sector. Not even with the patients, in the interests of petty gains for themselves.

Yet this is not about the medical profession. This is about the men who run the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA). They now demand duty free vehicle permits and threaten to strike if they are not granted them.

Why should they be given duty free vehicles at the expense of the tax payer?

 A medical doctor, having completed his or her 05 year medical degree at very heavy expense to the people which is no small sum as for any other degree, begins his or her career in a government hospital with an estimated “take home salary” of over Rs.115,000 per month. The gross take home first salary includes a Rs.26,160 basic salary lavishly topped up with Rs.61,840 pensionable and non pensionable allowances “plus” another allowance of Rs.4,000 for the telephone. Added are 120 hours of overtime and 03 payments of 20% of the pensionable salary for work during public holidays and weekends.

In contrast, a graduate teacher is paid only Rs.15,540 (on service minutes gazetted on 23 October, 2014) plus allowances (includes the Rs.10,000 added this year) that constitute a total monthly salary of Rs.33,340 which is even less than the Disturbance & Travelling (DAT) allowance of Rs.35,000 given to a medical doctor. Teachers are not eligible for any extra payment for their work after school hours and weekend work. They are not even paid an allowance for stationery , which they have to buy out of their personal pocket. The teaching profession is not considered worth a “duty free vehicle”.

One may say the difference is in the duration of the degree and that their general degree is not meant for a professional job. Let me say very briefly that every single medical doctor is a product of 13 years work by these teachers educating in schools. That work and the responsibility it carries cannot be simply written off and they too deserve as much in terms of salaries, if we are serious about improving the quality of teaching and building a respected teaching profession.

Of the larger population of the medical doctors who have not obtained aDoctor of Medicine (MD) and are known as “general practitioners”, a rare few remain as “noble” men in the profession and are not ethically and morally represented by the GMOA. All others often earn much more than their take home pay, from what they call “PP” (Private Practise). Again allowing for a few who are actual doctors, most “Specialists” in government service spend more time in private channel services and easily earn Rs.1,000 per patient net, for a minimum of 25 patients for 24 days in a month, amounting to Rs.600,000 unaudited and mostly nontaxed income over and above their sumptuously large monthly salary.

Why should the GMOA ask for more at the expense of the people when they are not even talking of improving the health service? In fact it is the GMOA that should be held responsible for most ills and vices in the health sector. They virtually control the entire health service including the provincial administration. The General Secretary of the GMOA had told media (DN – 02 Dec, 2015) that they have in the past been meeting all Ministers in charge of Health on a monthly basis and additionally anytime they felt there was a need for it. They have thus established a system in the health sector over the years that allows only medical doctors to hold top administrative posts in the Health Ministry and in the provinces.

According to the last “Medical Service Minutes of the Health Service” gazetted on 11 October, 2014 there are 298 such posts in the health sector that includes top decision makers who should be held responsible for everything from drugs to dressings and administration that impacts on every citizen’s health. These posts are almost totally manipulated by the GMOA. If one thinks it is the government or the health minister who should be held responsible for drug shortages and mismanagement in rural hospitals, one is taking the easy way out in finding scapegoats. It is the top administrators in the health sector who are all medical doctors [All medical officers with valid full registration of Sri Lanka Medical Council for practicing as a Medical Officer are eligible for recruitment (for these administrative positions) as said in 7.2 (a)2 of the service minutes] with responsibility to decide and implement, and in tow with the GMOA who are responsible for all blunders in the health sector.

That responsibility and duty is quite clear in what the “Medical Service Minutes” says about assignments. “Officers who belong to the Medical Service of Sri Lanka Health Service which is an all island service and governed by this Service Minute should engage themselves in the service under the Ministry of Health; General Administration (Ministry of Health, Decentralized Units), patient care services (Curative Services) and Public Health Services (Preventive Services). These officers are responsible for patient care management and provision of health care services…..”(emphasis added)

The GMOA has also proved they are unbelievably selfish and would resort to any dirty method in establishing their total authority over every single function in the health sector. During the past decade at least, the GMOA leadership has been acting as a “mafia” threatening any proposal, any decision they feel don’t add more to them and would give other services and trades in the health service anything better. That at the expense of innocent lives they wouldn’t care holding as hostage. The GMOA uses trade union action for their benefit, but violates all norms of trade union activism opposing every demand put forward by other health sector unions. They were against nurses, against paramedics asking for salary revisions or increases and service promotions. They even opposed a 04 year degree on allied health studies designed by the Peradeniya University for paramedics. The GMOA used big money to challenge the right of paramedics to read for a 04 year degree in the Courts, going all the way up to Supreme Court level. They were later accused of threatening and using “thuggery” to stop clinical training of paramedic undergraduates that had to be in teaching hospitals.

Even “charge sheets” served by the Public Service Commission (PSC) it is said, prove the GMOA has turned a noble profession dirty. Most charge sheets are on personal clashes over individual interests say hospital sources. That’s how selfish this profession is. It is now craving for more and more money and privileges, which the GMOA promises is within their capability in everything they do.

We therefore come back to the question, “why give them duty free permits every 05 years?” That is no employee right. This was started in 1991 as a privileged offer to keep administrators and professionals silent when permits were given to MPs. Since then there have been over a dozen amendments to this offer making it more and more easy, for profiteering. It has now led to open corruption. It is now necessary to scrap the whole scheme of providing such privilege to any and all. “Duty free” in simple terms means that legitimate income that needs to go to the consolidated fund for public use is effectively denied. This scheme thus denies the citizens of this country of billions of rupees. If on an estimate, there are 12,000 medical doctors and Specialists eligible for duty free vehicle permits and at an average the duty free concession is around Rs.2.5 million per vehicle imported, the revenue loss for the people of this country would amount to a colossal sum of Rs.30,000 million.

How can the GMOA demand duty free vehicle permits, leaving patients’ lives at risk while holding the Hippocrates Oath in hand? It is time the society says a loud and firm “NO” to the GMOA from holding human lives hostage to gain their greedy demands. They’ve already been allowed too much.

Doctors and State officers hurt by withdrawal of tax free vehicle permits – strike on 3 rd.

(Lanka-e-News- 03.Dec.2015, 11.30PM)  Following a radical decision taken by the government in its latest budget to stop issuing  duty free vehicle permits  to Ministers down to State officers , the  Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) as well as several  professional associations of government’s high ranking officers are to stage a strike on the  3 rd.

The GMOA has announced this trade union strike action as a committee jointly representing the  Government executive officers’ committees across the  Island. 16 more  trade unions are affiliated to this.

The committees of the Sri Lanka (SL) policy implementation service union , SL administrative service union , Govt. Service engineering union , State Veterinary service officers union, Government Dental service officers union, Government educational administrative service union ,SL Surveyors’ department non staff officers union, SL Survey department Graduate officers union , SL Accountancy  service union , Govt. science  officers union , Labour Commissioners’ union , SL agriculture service joint union , SL Auditors service union and Inland revenue joint trade union are  staging the strike citing the grounds that  they are hurt  over the withdrawal of  the duty free vehicle permit .  Since that demand alone cannot be made  directly , various other demands too have been tagged on to it.

It is very unfortunate that the government servants in Sri Lanka assume they are a distinct  ‘caste’ , and are therefore entitled to special perks and privileges.This ‘high caste’ is of the opinion that when they sit in those high  seats the people of ‘lower caste’ should sit in the seats beneath. Like how this obnoxious notion prevailed in the past , so this government officers’ ‘caste’ thinks what privileges the  ordinary people are not entitled to under the  government elected by the people, belongs exclusively  to them , and that the government should grant them duty free  permits too. They have made it the grounds to stage  the strike.

The students who are studying in the State Universities too are of the view, it is because they are specially privileged they are being provided with free education . Hence they treat  students receiving education from  other higher Instutions as  ‘low caste.’ 

A (pingadi – free education ) student who has failed in mathematics , and has of necessity  entered the arts faculty of the state university ,  treats  a student who excelled in Mathematics and  has entered  the private Higher Institution ,disdainfully .The  pingadi student without comparing with and understanding his/her  own weakness,  only thinks in terms of his/her  privileged education (free) and  looks down on the private Institution student .

Simply because the state University student is enjoying  privileges , only taking that into account , these students insult others. (The ability of the student in mathematics was quoted as an example on purpose , because  a student’s ability in Mathematics is treated as a   benchmark for student evaluation  in the world)

Among the Sri Lankans , still this ‘caste’ difference   (stemming  from a mental  complex ? )  is still lingering and not extirpated. It is still coursing through their veins and are deeply rooted in their bones. Hence it manifests itself  in various  forms and shapes, and every determined effort is being made by these ‘caste complex’ afflicted  individuals to give expression to it at the first opportunity .  The word ‘Strike’ is the euphemism used by them for one  such form .

---------------------------
by     (2015-12-03 22:18:23)

Mahinda avoids budget vote, 6 associates side govt.

THURSDAY, 03 DECEMBER 2015

The second reading of the first budget of the UNP – SLFP coalition government was held yesterday (2nd) evening and was passed with a 2/3rd majority in Parliament. 159 voted for the budget while 52 voted against.13 MPs were absent at the time of voting.

Despsite MPs of the Mahinda faction of the UPFA saying they would vote against the budget, Dougles Devananda, Angajan Ramanathan, Malik Jayatilleke, Arumugan thondaman, Luxman Seneviratne, A.R.A. Faiz, Wijepala Hettiarachchi of the UPFA voted with the government.

Also, Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa, despite going round the country attending arranged temple meetings to condemn the government and its budget, had chosen to keep away from Parliament at the time of voting.

A group of MPs belonging to Mahinda faction of the UPFA have been thoroughly disappointed due to the absence of their leader. They had stated that they felt abandoned by their leader.

Meanwhile, Mr. Dullas Alahapperuma had stated Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa kept away from Parliament that day on his request. However, political analysts say Mr. Alahapperuma’s was an attempt to quell the crisis that was growing due to Mr. Rajapaksa’s absence.

Analysts say Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa would have kept away from voting for the budget proposals to get some relief from the legal action that are to be taken against him and to be in the good books of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Probe says SLRC sexual harassment charges false: India

2015-12-03
An investigation into allegations of demand for sexual favours by officials of Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) from the beneficiaries of India-funded houses in the Tamil-dominated Northern Province found that the charges were false and baseless, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V. K. Singh has said. 

Rajya Sabha was informed about findings of the joint probe by Indian Consulate General in Jaffna, SLRC and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), Zee news said. 

"The report concluded that the allegation of sexual harassment made by the complainant was false and baseless. The report concluded that a few disgruntled employees of SLRC had fabricated the allegations to malign the reputation of SLRC," said Minister Singh while replying to a question. 

The probe panel had concluded its investigation in October. 

Singh said the report was handed over to Sri Lanka's Ministry of Law and Order and Prison Reforms by IFRC and SLRC. 
India had offered to build 50,000 houses in the war- ravaged northern province of Sri Lanka and construction of more than 39,500 of them have been completed. 

The Bribery & Corruption raise awareness to public

Dec 03, 2015

The civil society groups and the Bribery & Corruption have jointly started an awareness raising campaign to eliminate Bribery & Corruption.

The first step of this anti corruption campaign started today 3rd morning 8.30 am at the Bastian’s Mawatha bus stand. Director General of Bribery & Corruption Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe, commissioners, deputy minister of Transport minister Asoka Abeysinghe, executive director of CaFFe Keerthi Tennakoon, Shan Wijethunga of Transparency International, chairman of the private bus owners association Gemunu Wijerathna and representatives of civil society organizations participated.

A sticker pasting campaign for buses were conducted today at the bus stand situated at the Bastian’s Road. These programs would conducted in the Galle and Matara cities in the evening and planned to be conducted at Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya districts by tomorrow the 4th.
 
This awareness raising campaign is implemented in precedence with the international anti corruption day. A protest march was planned to be conducted on the international anti corruption day which falls on the 9th of December which would end at the independence square. The national celebration of the international anti corruption day is scheduled to take place on the 9th.

Israel arrests members of 'Jewish terror group' over West Bank arson attack

Arrests made in connection with July attack that killed three members of Palestinian family, including a toddler

A mourner examines the cot in which 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe died in an arson attack in July. Photograph: Peter Beaumont/Guardian

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem-Thursday 3 December 2015

Israel’s police and domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, has arrested “several Israelis” in connection with an arson attack in July that killed three members of a Palestinian family, including a toddler.

An announcement of arrests had been widely expected after media outlets this week reported a breakthrough in a case involving Jewish extremism. Investigators confirmed in a statement that members of a “Jewish terror group” had been arrested in connection with the attack.

The statement did not disclose how many suspects were in custody and said a court order banning disclosure of their names and other details of the case remained in effect.

The slow pace of the investigation has been criticised. In September, the defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon, said Israel knew who had carried out the attack but was unable to charge them because of lack of evidence and fear of compromising sources.

Girls leave condolence messages in the burned-out home of the Dawabshe family. Photograph: Peter Beaumont/Guardian

The cabinet approved the use of administrative detention against suspected Jewish terrorists, a practice usually used against Palestinians suspected of terror activities. Three Israelis placed under administrative detention in the aftermath of the attack were identified as Meir Ettinger, who, according to the Shin Bet, headed an extreme rightwing organisation; Mordechai Meyer, the alleged arsonist behind a fire at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem; and Eviatar Slonim, accused of setting fire to a home in the Palestinian town of Khirbet Abu Falah.

The attack in the northern West Bank village of Duma on 31 July killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabshe. His father, Saad, succumbed to severe burns the following week, and his mother, Riham, died in early September. The surviving member of the family, four-year-old Ahmed Dawabshe, suffered extensive burns.

Witnesses claimed that a number of people were seen fleeing towards a nearby settlement. Hebrew graffiti was sprayed on houses in the village.

According to the Shin Bet, several Israeli youths have been detained for questioning in recent days over their connection to Jewish extremist organisations.

Hussein Dawabshe, father of Riham, told the Israeli website Ynet: “We are happy to learn that the security establishment arrested the murderers of my daughter, son-in-law and grandson, after four months. No one updated us on the suspects’ arrests and we hope that they will be punished in the most severe manner.

“I can’t bring back my family, but I want those murderers to look in little Ahmed’s eyes, and see what they did to him, how they killed his family.”

Elsewhere on Thursday the Israeli military said a Palestinian fired at an Israeli soldier before being shot dead by forces north of Jerusalem. The attacker got out of his car and fired at Israelis near the village of Hizme, the military said. One soldier and a civilian were wounded.

Since mid-September, Palestinians have killed 19 Israelis in stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks. At least 101 Palestinians have been killed, including 66 said by Israel to be attackers.