7 Ayurvedic Superfoods You Should Eat Every Day

The 'tulsi' plant or Indian basil is an important symbol in the Hindu religious tradition. Scientific Name: Ocimum tenuiflorum, also known as Holy Basil

July 15, 2016

When it comes to embracing the benefits of Ayurveda, watching what you eat is possibly the best way to start. “Ahar (meaning dietary habits in Ayurveda) says that food eaten should have at least one of six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent,” says Dr Rahul Dogra of the Kairali Ayurvedic Group, an institution that has been dedicated to Ayurvedic research and healthcare for over two decades. “The right foods promote sattva (purity), detox the body, and rejuvenate it as well, leading to an overall increase in immunity, physical and mental strength, and digestion."

If you are seeking to accomplish all of the above, say goodbye to temporary crash diets, and instead consume the Ayurvedic superfoods listed below. Bonus: The best part is that they are easily available!

1. Ginger

Another reason to drink more masala chai! Ginger is a well-recognised anti inflammatory that stimulates appetite, and reduces intestinal pain, gas and bloating. “In Ayurveda, fresh ginger is used to battle nausea, especially pregnancy-induced vomiting.

Dried ginger root works well on joint pains (mix with almond oil and rub on painful areas), as well as migraines, and helps lower cholesterol levels,” says Dr Dogra, who is an Ayurvedic physician at the Kairali Ayurvedic Centre.

2. Ashwagandha Root (Indian ginseng)

Dabur’s Chyawanprash, an integral component of every Indian’s childhood, contains this super-food along with 39 other essential herbs. Ashwagandha is popularly used in Ayurveda for fighting stress, anxiety and fatigue. Also used to relieve painful swelling or rheumatoid arthritis -- traditionally its leaves were applied to the painful area -- Ashwangandha is also considered beneficial for increasing sperm count in men.

3. Amla

Popularly known as the Indian gooseberry, this fruit has carved its own healthcare niche on account of its powerful antioxidant properties. “It also works as a digestive tonic, cleansing the colon, and removes excess heat from the body,” says Dr Dogra. A rich source of natural Vitamin C and calcium, Amla is also known for its anti-ageing properties. Amla oil is directly applied to the hair as it fights dandruff.

4. Turmeric

Currently trending as an international superfood, turmeric is an all rounder, thanks to its anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties. “It is used to treat skin conditions, detoxify the liver and is excellent for diabetics as it lowers blood sugar,” says Dr Dogra. While it can be applied directly to treat wounds, it is very beneficial when ingested, preferably when mixed in milk with some black pepper and honey.

5. Ghee

Here’s some good news for those who like a spoonful of ghee over their rice and vegetables. “Clarified butter (as ghee is also known) actually lowers cholesterol, thanks to its content of omega-3 fatty acids, and helps improve heart health,” says Dr Dogra. It also helps maintain healthy eyesight and skin, and trumps carbs as an excellent source of energy.

6. Tulsi

“In Ayurveda, tulsi leaves, ginger and cardamom boiled in water make for a healing potion to treat sore throats, headaches and chest congestion,” says Dr Dogra. Tulsi juice is also effective in treating acne, as well as other skin disorders such as ring worm infections, rashes and itchiness. Regular consumption of tulsi also helps purify the blood, reduce blood sugar and build immunity.

7. Brahmi

“Brahmi or Bacopa is used to balance the three body types specified in Ayurveda: Vata, Pitta and Kapha,” says Dr Dogra, adding that this herb also helps sustain brain and nervous system functions. “It is traditionally mixed with sesame oil, and used to massage away stress and soothe the nerves,” he says. Brahmi also helps improve memory power. Dr Dogra cautions though, that the herb should be consumed only after medical consultation. "It does feature a few side-effects like stomach upsets, cramps and nausea," he says.

On Track or Straying?

One year later 

by Tisaranee Gunasekara-August 20, 2016, 8:08 pm

"If the ‘development’ of a country goes hand in hand with the worsening of the living conditions of the people, for whom or for what is that development? A developed country for a malnourished people – is this not an insanity? Must the people of the country gaze at highways like a child looking yearningly at an empty ice cream cup?

i A student-participant of the 2007 essay competition to commemorate President Premadasa

In 1994, when South Africa was readying for its first democratic election, Nelson Mandela came up with an unusual idea – to lower the voting age to fourteen. Despite his iconic status, part-hero, part-saint, the proposal didn’t go far. It was abandoned due to strenuous opposition from the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

In making such a drastic proposal, Mr. Mandela might have been motivated by the critical role played by school-age children in the anti-Apartheid struggle, especially the legendary Sweto Uprising. Whatever his reasons, the proposal was not a sensible one, as Mr. Mandela himself realised - admitted. While the ANC’s top decision-making body was flaying his proposal, he jotted down every criticism in a notebook, and wrote at the end that his proposal was ‘a grave error of judgement’

ii. That was democracy, at its best and most effective.

Had Nelson Mandela’s neighbour Robert Mugabe come up with a similar idea, it would have probably become law, amidst a cacophony of praise by an unending string of acolytes.

In governance, speed is a virtue, only if the path is the right one. Non-democracies might move faster than democracies, but more often than not the movement is in an erroneous direction. Democratic leaders are not infallible, not even leaders of Nelson Mandela’s calibre, but the checks and balances present in democracies often prevent countries from hurling themselves down precipices.

The less space there is for dissent, the more room there is for bad decisions.

Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration’s VAT imbroglio is symbolic both of what is right and what is wrong in today’s Sri Lanka. The country has made considerable progress politically, towards re-democratisation. The current administration is not immune to the lure of non-sense and insensibility; but the presence of such democratic basics as the right to protest and a non-cowed judiciary act as antidotes, impeding bad policies and diluting their ill effects.

Had the Rajapaksas been in power, the VAT increase would have gone through. The traders would not have protested, the courts would not have intervened and government ministers and parliamentarians would not have made their objections known.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration tried to sneak in the VAT proposals and failed, not only because Sri Lanka has become re-democratised but also because the two components of the hybrid government often counter each other’s destructive and self-destructive excesses. According to media reports, PM Wickremesinghe wanted to resuscitate the VAT proposals, but abandoned this piece of unintelligent governance when some of the SLFP ministers refused to play ball.

Political Rights;

Economic Wrongs

One year after winning the parliamentary election of August 2015, the government is on track politically.

One year after winning the parliamentary election of August 2015, the government is straying economically.

The UNP’s VAT proposals would have been a perfect fit for the Rajapaksa economic playbook. The former regime followed a strategy of taxing-borrowing-and-spending, albeit with a difference. Rajapaksa taxing was of the indirect variety, targeting essential goods and services, placing a disproportionate share of the burden not on the rich but on those clinging to the bottom half of the income-totem pole. Rajapaksa spending was mostly military-related or on physical infrastructure projects with little forward or backward linkages and extremely limited employment and income generation.

The UNP was critical of Rajapaksa economics while in opposition. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration won two elections promising to tread a different economic path. Increasingly that promise is being honoured in the breach. Not only does the government continue to spend lavishly on political elites (members of the Rajapaksa-led Joint Opposition have no hesitation in enjoying this largesse); it also displays a disconcerting inability to imagine a different developmental model and a tendency to impose more and more financial burdens on ordinary people.

The high growth rates of the Rajapaksa years acted as a facade for an economy which was structurally weak and dangerously flawed. These included the mushrooming of debt, growing economic inequality, high levels of youth unemployment (20.1% in 2014) and the absence of quality jobs (most job creation was in the informal sector). Though Sri Lanka continue to have a high human development index, the value dropped significantly when adjusted to inequality – from 0.757 to 0.669 in 2014 (a loss of 11.6%, which stemmed mainly from inequalities in income and education levels). Of the employed, 20.4% constituted working poor while vulnerable employment was as high as 43.1%iii. Sri Lanka also ranked as a country with serious risk of hunger, even in 2014, according to the World Hunger Index.

These were not abstract problems, but politico-electoral time bombs. The Rajapaksas thought they could neutralise these problems with glitzy propaganda-hypes and daily doses of minority-phobia. They were wrong. As the Top Line Survey by the IPS revealed, by December 2014, cost of living was the number one problem affecting the electorate, a prioritisation which cut across ethno-religious lines and administrative boundaries.

Political unfreedom couldn’t prevent the regime from losing its unpopularity. All it could do was to ensure that the regime had no idea of its own unpopularity.

When national elections came, those voters who were affected by Rajapaksa economics used their franchise to unseat the Rajapaksas.

Now those who succeeded the Rajapaksas, promising to alleviate the economic suffering of the masses are imitating the Rajapaksas. They too are trying to impose the superstructure of a prosperous, developed nation on the base of an underdeveloped, cash-strapped economy. They are too are trying to waste borrowed money on unnecessary military hardware, such as the MIG purchases. They too are trying to force the poor and the middle classes to foot a lion share of these bills.

A severe imbalance in the proportion of direct to indirect taxes was a major flaw in Rajapaksa economics. The ideal balance is said to be 40% in direct taxes and 60% in indirect taxes. By the time the Rajapaksas were voted out of power, the Lankan ratio was 20% in direct taxes and 80% in indirect taxes. This meant a policy of imposing a severely disproportionate share of the burden on the poor and the middle classes. High living costs and increasing inequality were among some of the more pernicious results of this tax imbalance.

The UNP was critical of this imbalance while in opposition. In the early months of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration, there was some talk about redressing this situation. But those glimmers of politico-economic sense seem to have evaporated, as this government too becomes accustomed to power. The VAT proposals, if implemented, will exacerbate the existing direct to indirect tax-imbalance to even more precarious levels and cause further increases in living costs and income inequality.

The Rajapaksas lived in their very own make-believe world. In that imaginary world, Sri Lanka was a rapidly developing land - its debt burden was not spiralling out of control; its poor were not been deprived of their homes and livelihoods; its environment was not been degraded; its health and education systems were in mint condition. In the end, they didn’t succeed in hoodwinking the electorate; just themselves.

Governance today is better than governance under the Rajapaksas, but that is not saying anything very much. Every time the President prattles about good governance while favouring the likes of the pistol-toting former mayor of Hambantota, every time the Prime Minister prattles about good governance while trying to impose more economic burdens on the masses, they are reducing the distance between themselves and the Rajapaksas.

Rendering Democracy Unsustainable

The Rajapaksa march to Colombo was not the roaring success its organisers hoped for. Ironically, had the Supreme Court not struck down the disastrous VAT regulations, the march would have been more successful.

If the government re-imposes the same – or even similar – set of VAT proposals, the main beneficiary of that politico-economic inanity will be none other than the Joint Opposition.

The link between economic discontent and racism/populist authoritarianism is almost an axiom. If the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration continues along its current economic path, it will jeopardize its own political achievements, especially in the areas of democracy and reconciliation.

If the economic distress of the masses worsen, it will not be long before the old myths of ‘rich’ Tamils preying on ‘poor’ Sinhalese will be resuscitated, joined by newer myths of ‘wily Muslims’ standing in the way of Sinhala prosperity.

The Rajapaksas are experienced creators of minority bogies. Their efforts to incite Sinhala anger over such measures as singing the national anthem in Tamil failed. But if the government continues to mess up economically, the next time the Rajapaksas try to ignite minority hatred, be it over a new constitution or an attempt to find a political solution to the ethnic problem, they might succeed.

Both a new constitution and a political solution to the ethnic problem would require public approval in a referendum. And winning a referendum would be impossible, if the people, especially the Sinhala majority, are not relieved of their economic burdens. If the government wants to implement the rest of its political agenda, an economic policy of rice-and-curry now – rather than one of Jam Tomorrow – is a necessary precondition.

Stable societies are cohesive societies. Cohesion is impossible when a society is racked by inequality. Inequality’s destabilising impact can assume particularly deadly forms in countries beset with ethno-religious divisions. If some people feel that development is something that happens to others, disenchantment sets in and politico-psychological fissures develop. Instead of the necessary ‘national’ perspective, ethnic/religious/caste/class perspectives become predominant. Instability breaks out, even in the midst of spectacular growth. As history shows, ours and others, when masses are suffering economically, it is very easy to bamboozle them into demonising the ethno-religious ‘Other’.

If the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration does not cease straying into Rajapaksa territory economically, it will undermine its past political gains, its future political plans and its own political existence.

i quoted in ‘Ran Piyawara’

ii Mandela notes show ‘grave error’ – BBC – 14.10.2009

iii http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/LKA.pdf

Poisoning of Mind v Poisoning of Body!

by  Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( August 20, 2016, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Magistrate Pat O’Shane sent me to Caritas at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney for a Section 32 Assessment – which was about my mental health. The Appendix to yesterday’s article Sri Lankan President promises Separation!,  has the details. 

Magistrate Pat O’Shane might have meant well but I exercised my rights and declined to put myself through such a test. The reason given was that I was having visions of my guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba and that I was following in the footsteps of Ghandi. I reported my experience in this regard through my article Judicial Interference in Executive Administration and Politics.

[I am a victim of Caritas here in Sydney, Australia. On 06 May 2005, I was sent to Caritas by the Courts, for an assessment. The doctor in charge threatened me with enforced medication and suggested that I ought to take instructions from my husband and children. I had to pray hard to get myself out of the situation and urged the medical team to contact my husband on the phone. This was done and my husband informed them as to how highly I was valued by the Medical Faculty of the University of New South Wales, and referred them to the Dean of Medicine – Professor Bruce Dowton who gave a glowing reference about me on the basis of my work. I believe that if not for that Goodwill from Professor Dowton, I would have been more traumatized that night at Caritas. I was taken back to Mulawa prison which felt heavenly after this ordeal. There I was placed with mentally ill inmates and I decided not to eat any food except fruits – which I felt were safe – in case they sought to enforce medication. I later learnt from another inmate that they do inject medication if you are disobedient. What authority does Caritas have to take a higher position in Peace Development than the fighters / workers at the coalface? ]

To me it is no coincidence that the pictures in that articles are of the then Sri Lankan President at Nallur Temple – and Mr. Wigneswaran – then a retired member of the Judiciary also at a temple in Colombo.

The current President has stated expressly that he would promote Buddhism. If Sri Lanka is to be shown as a predominantly Buddhist country – then its head of State must not be seen at other places of worship –  especially at Nallur the Cultural Capital of Northern Sri Lanka. A Buddhist President coming to come to Nallur Temple and receiving the higher honors when a deeper devotee is sweating it out in the Common crowd – is an insult to our civilization and it distorts the minds of the Hindu as well as the Buddhist. A Buddhist President taking the foremost position at Hindu Temple is like the President taking the Judicial Chair in Court. It is for this reason that we have the Doctrine of Separation of Powers which makes us Equal in each other’s eyes. Without that we can have no respect for the other. One who takes an active position is a participant and is not an observer. Hence when the President stated that he would respect the ideas of other communities – to my mind it was a false promise.

Recently – I heard an Australian father say to his little 7 year old ‘to say sorry to her little sister’. The 7 year old did say sorry – more as a ritual to escape greater punishment. The father shouted ‘Say it like you mean it!’   As per its meaning – it cannot be delivered except when the 7 year old pretends so strongly that her father would accept that she means it. All of a sudden the 7 year old cannot bring within her – the feeling that she had erred nor the intellectual discrimination as to why what she did was wrong. Like the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka she was waving her little sister away from the computer so she could have most of the space when they were talking to me – with me being here in  Vaddukoddai here in Sri Lanka. I have been recalling  that and keep smiling drawing parallels with catch 22. I was able to because I believe that to the extent the daughter obeyed – she would learn from her Dad who has a very clever mind in delivering independent outcomes of high standards.

To my mind, the President’s promise to respect other religions as being equal while promoting Buddhism is also undeliverable. The mind order  that is meant from within – has to be written by the person independent of external influences – one time or the other during the journey of that soul. Wanting to promote Buddhism is natural and is from within. Respecting other religions is ‘external’ to such a leader in Sri Lanka which has demonstrated that it is stuck to the ‘Only Syndrome’ due to desire for Subjective power while enjoying the fruits of democracy. One who desires the votes through subjective influence – would not have the inner wisdom to mean Equality the key feature of democracy. Practicing democracy in Northern Province is very exhausting and requires frequent changes to one’s mind-order which has the effect of draining one’s mental resources.

The New Indian Express report ‘US backs out of undertaking to medically examine former Tamil Tiger combatants’  reveals:’

‘The Chief Minister of the Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, had told the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) that he had requested the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Atul Keshap, to get the   US Air Force medical team camping in Jaffna to examine the suspected cases of poisoning. Upon this, the Ambassador said that the team would look at the cases and decide what to do next.’

The question I ask is – as to why Mr. Wigneswaran did not get the certification of Tamil Doctors in Northern Province to confirm such poising of the body. Is it also more serious than the mental disorder caused by the bosses of these young combatants to obey the gun rather than the common cultural value of Northern Province? When I published my traumatic experience at Caritas – Asian Tribune – called it ‘personal’. No leader Australian, Sri Lankan, Tamil or English raised her/his voice in support of me. Yet I have practiced and promoted good mind order most of my adult life. I went to prison for promoting Good Professional Accounting order at the University of NSW. If Mr. Wigneswaran can wear the Pottu – representing the Third Eye – as being symbolic of his inner person – why did Mr. Wigneswaran not take the Hindus in this group of victims to Nallur Temple and get them to roll on the ground and cure their minds? The cured mind does not need as much body as the mentally weak mind – to lead a harmonious life. This is why they say in Tamil that the head is the most important part of the body.

One cultural wisdom I learnt from White Australians is to not neglect normal children while taking care of the disabled child in the family. The less able child when s/he is placed as per her/his abilities – would be able to share in the higher contribution to the common pool. Likewise – within the Tamil Community – the victims of war will be able to enjoy through the common pool – the experiences of all others if the latter were positive. It’s therefore important to not promote war victims as the foremost group within the Tamil community. They need to be Equal until there is a current need otherwise. To the extent the combatants chose their own pathway through the gun and to the extent their bosses killed the bodies of political leaders – their karma is returning to their heirs – for the same reason why some are born in low caste Thunaivi whilst leaders are born in Vaddukoddai town.. Why do they need special care over those in whom they instilled social fear in a community that has long prided itself as an intellectually driven community?

By resorting to arms – the Tamil Tigers separated themselves from those who were committed to the higher intellectual pathway. The resources of the latter belong to the heirs of those who promoted the intellectual structures and pathways. Mr. Wigneswaran has no right to take Paul Tax and pay Peter Tax. The parallel Tamil saying is to take the coconut from the street shop and break it in front of the street Pillayar / Ganesh. Intellectual Ganesh would send the returns to the Shop owner and not to the heirs of armed combatants who disturbed the Common Mind Order of Tamils. The Third eye wisdom if Mr. Wigneswaran listened to it would show the picture that these combatants must first pay their dues to the Common coffers – be they local or international – before  the Mountain would come to Mohamed.

Operation Pacific Angels

By Manekshaw-2016-08-20

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran descending from the steps of a mammoth C-130 transport plane of the US Air Force attired in a black suit at Palaly Airport, in Jaffna last week reminded of a scene from The Living Daylights, in which Timothy Dalton who played the role of James Bond 007 descending from a similar C-130 cargo plane in the movie.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran accompanied by US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Atul Keshap and Minister of National Dialogue Mano Ganesan flew in the US Air Force plane from Katunayake to Palaly to be part of a medical volunteer work code named 'Operation Pacific Angels' which is jointly carried out by the American and Sri Lankan Air Force personnel.
US Ambassador Atul Keshap in his introductory message on 'Operation Pacific Angels' mentioned about the historic ties between Jaffna and the United States of America which date back to the 19th century.

Atul Keshap while pointing at the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry to Sri Lanka after the formation of the present government in January 2015, mentioned about the American connection with Jaffna with the arrival of the Christian missionaries who had pioneered in setting up schools in the peninsula in 1813.
The US Envoy in his message to inaugurate Operation Pacific Angels mentioned about his country's historic ties with Jaffna; however, it is interesting to remember that in the year 1936 the ship builders of Velvettithurai (VVT) in Jaffna even created history by sailing from VVT to Gloucester in America in a sail ship built entirely by them.

Velvettithurai in the past three decades of the war was popularly known as the birthplace of LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. But the name Velvettithurai is derived from velvet as the coastal hamlet remained a popular transit point for the sail ships of the velvet traders from the Far-East and Arab countries.
An American millionaire Albert Robinson purchased the sail ship 'Annapoorani Ammal' built by the VVT ship builders in 1936 and he began his voyage from Velvettithurai to America with six men who built the ship. According to historians the voyage was arduous as it was cruising through several oceans.

Two years later in 1938 the sail ship from VVT reached Gloucester, America creating history as well as highlighting the maritime expertise of the Jaffna men.
Kidnapping of American engineer
As far as the recent history of the war in the North is concerned, America had a bitter experience with regard to the kidnapping of American engineer Stanley Allen (35) and his wife Mary (29) by the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) in May 1984.
The EPRLF's military wing People's Liberation Army (PLA) which was led by Douglas Devananda, who is now a key political figure in Sri Lankan politics with his cadres kidnapped Stanley Allen who was an engineer engaged in a water project of the US Agency for International Development in Jaffna. Allen and his wife Mary were kidnapped by the EPRLF militants and they were in the custody of the militants who had demanded the release of twenty of their cadres who were in the custody of the Sri Lankan Forces and a ransom of 2 million US Dollars.

At that time the US President was Ronald Reagan and the US Government coordinated more with the Indian Government to release the Allen couple as India was handling the Sri Lankan Tamil militants who had their training camps in India.
Five days after the kidnapping following pressure from India, the EPRLF gave up all its demands and were compelled to release the American couple. Soon after release the American couple was airlifted immediately from Palaly in a Sri Lankan Air Force plane to Colombo from where they were safely despatched to America.

When the American couple was kidnapped three decades ago in Jaffna with the beginning of the Tamil militancy, the people in the peninsula even seriously expected an American military operation to take place to rescue the kidnapped couple as that era where the people were still talking about the dare devil operation carried out successfully by Israeli soldiers to rescue its citizens from a highjack drama staged by Palestine militants at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

However, nearly after three decades a US Air Force C-130 transport plane had landed in Jaffna taking the Northern Chief Minister as well the US Ambassador on a humanitarian mission code named Operation Pacific Angels.
Leader of the Opposition and Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan along with other Jaffna District TNA Parliamentarians and Provincial Councillors gave a warm welcome to the US Ambassador Atul Keshap and to the personnel of the Operation Pacific Angels.
In his message to kick off 'Operation Pacific Angels' in Jaffna, the US Ambassador mentioned about the historic links between Jaffna and America. Of course those links still remain firm with the educational institutions started by the American Missionaries in the North.

The people in the North while appreciating the historic links with America particularly in the field of education which had paved way for them to enhance their educational activities, the present generation of Jaffna people strongly believe, America which had expressed its concerns over fulfilling the political aspirations of the North and the East and on bringing justice to those who were affected by the war by spearheading the UNHRC resolution should stand by its commitments instead of living in the past.
So the expectations of the Northerners were conveyed to Keshap when he met the Northern Provincial Councillors who had emphasized that America should stand firm by its commitments towards the implementation of the UNHRC resolution of October 2015 for a constructive and meaningful peace and reconciliation in the island. 

Sitting In The hotseat

By Ranil Senanayake –August 19, 2016

Dr Ranil Senanayake

Sri Lanka’s position paper on Climate Change given at the COP21 in Paris stated : “We are aware that the optimum operating temperature of chlorophyll is at 37 deg C. In a warming world where temperatures will soar well above that, food production will be severely impacted. We would request the IPCC to address responses to this phenomenon”.

This statement is now being vindicated by the temperature profiles that we are seeing over the planet. July 2016 was the warmest on record. Thankfully the bursts of extreme temperature are restricted to short episodic events, but the trend is that these events will become more commonplace in both frequency and duration. Heat-waves will become a disturbing phenomena that leaves little room for adaptation.

Why are heat waves so dangerous? It is because extreme temperatures experienced in heat waves often exceed the threshold for enzymatic activity. In humans this phenomenon leads to heat stress results in death. The same pattern follows for plants and animals. But I a warming world, long before thermal collapse, we would have succumbed to hunger.

All of agriculture depends on the good growth of plants, all plants rely on their chlorophyll to grow and produce. Chlorophyll is a molecule that functions to an optimum at about 37degrees, above that temperature, its performance falls. In heat waves often exceeding 38 degrees plant productivity will impact photosynthetic productivity and there will be a yield drop (fig1).

The danger to agricultural production is further exasperated by the reliance on chemical farming with so-called ‘high yield ‘ crops of the so called ‘Green Revolution’. These crops have been bred by reducing the plant’s maintenance biomass (leaves and roots) in exchange for crop biomass (seeds or fruit). The reduction of the plant’s natural defenses being made possible by the use of chemical fertilizers and toxins (fig 2). But in a high temperature situation when chlorophyll is functioning sub-optimally such reductions in leaf volume will bring serious crop losses.

Chemical fertilizers are produced using large amounts of energy, usually fossil energy. The creation of this fossil energy results in the discharge of huge volumes of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. This, in addition to the fossil carbon footprint of agro toxins and fossil fuel use adds greatly to global warming which in turn creates the dangerous heat waves around the planet and finally affects the farmer through increased heat stress on the crop.

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President threatens to reveal all secrets if rebels form new partyPosition on next government to be disclosed only after 2020 polls

August 20, 2016, 12:00 pm 
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday threatened to reveal it all if the SLFP rebels formed a new party. He said the SLFP-UNP coalition would continue till 2020 and what it planned to do next would be disclosed at that time. The president was addressing a large gathering in Matara to mark the first anniversary of the government.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera were among the leaders present on the occasion

The President vowed that opponents would not be allowed to disrupt their programme.

Warning the Joint Opposition against forming a new political party, the president said that in such an eventuality he would reveal all their secrets, which he had not disclosed so far.

The SLFP leader said that he had disclosed information regarding corrupt financial deals following the Jan. 2015 presidential polls.

Acknowledging that the change of government in 2015 had not improved the economic conditions to the extent the public desired, the President said that they had introduced a new culture and emphasized that he would not tolerate political challenge by way of a new political party.

The warning was given in the wake of the SLFP suspending several key electoral organisers.

The President rejected accusations that his administration was acting in a manner inimical to the national security.

The President said that his administration could not be influenced by the international community under any circumstance.

He said that there was no basis for claims that his government was manipulated and managed by foreign powers.

Commenting on Geneva resolutions, the President said that the government had the strength to face accusations directed at the military. Those who had robbed the country, violated human rights and operated ‘white vans’ would not be allowed to regain power.

The President dismissed the possibility his government facing a political challenge in the near future.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe reiterated allegations that Mahinda Rajapaksa had won the presidential election 2005 with the help of the LTTE. Alleging that Rajapaksa had worked out a deal with the LTTE, Wickremesinghe said that those who benefited from the LTTE today accuse him of being a traitor.

The Prime Minister said the Sri Lanka cricket team had scored three impressive wins successively because the Cricket Board had been depoliticised.

The PM said the UNP had questioned the wisdom of sharing power with the SLFP, which too had demanded to know why it should forge an alliance with the UNP. Such fears and doubts had been allayed during the last year, he said, stressing that the two main parties had to work together if the country was to achieve progress. (SF)

Former JMO Chief seeks SC to prevent his arrest over loss of Thajudeen’s body parts 

rts 

By S.S. Selvanayagam-Saturday, 20 August 2016

Ex-Chief Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo Prof. Ananda Samarasekera yesterday (19) filed a Fundamental Rights petition seeking the Supreme Court to prevent his arrest in connection with the alleged loss of body parts of late Wasim Thajudeen.

The Petitioner cited Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Secretary Anura Jayawickrama, Director General of Health Dr. P.G. Mahipala, Deputy Director General (Medical Services) Dr. Lakshmi C. Somatunga, the IGP, SSP B.R.S.R. Nagahamulla, Chief Inspector Ravindra Wimalasiri of the CID, Chief Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Ajith Tennakoon, Senior Lecturer Dr. Jean Perera of the Department of Legal Medicine and Toxicology, Additional JMO Dr. A. Hevage and the Attorney General as Respondents.

The Petitioner, at present the Vice Chancellor of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), Malabe, states he was appointed as the Chief JMO of Colombo and the Head of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Toxicology in November 2007 and served in that capacity until his retirement in June 2013.He states that on 17 May 2012, the office of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Toxicology received a charred body of an unknown person suspected to have died in a road traffic accident and subsequent burning of the said vehicle.

He states as per usual practice the said charred body was stored in the Mortuary and a post-mortem was conducted by him and two other Assistant JMOs and the process was assisted by minor staff A.V.R. Kularatne and S.A.D. Wimalasena.

As a practice the removal of body parts for retention and preservation is conducted by the assisting minor staff members who are trained for such purposes and the medical practitioner provides the necessary tags with identification numbers and such items are preserved and stored in the refrigerators stored in the mortuary, he states.

Any samples obtained for purposes of histology and/or toxicology are sent to the laboratory for such purposes and a receipt is obtained upon delivery and inventories in the laboratory, he states.

The dissecting of the human remains, removal of bone and other body part, retention, rearrangement of the human remains, and handing over of such remains to the relatives of the deceased persons are all handled by the minor staff, he states.

He states no necessity arose to reassess the body parts retained for further investigation and as per practice the said remains were stored in the freezer maintained for such purpose in the Mortuary.

He states several months later in September 2012 whilst searching for another set of remains retained for review purposes, he distinctly recollects seeing the said remains of Wasim Thajudeen in the said freezer.

The freezer unit and the cooler unit used for the purposes of storing retained remains of deceased persons were constantly under repair and during his tenure and he made requests for the replacement of both units, however approval was only granted for the replacement of cooler unit, he states.

He states he is unaware as to when the said freezer unit was replaced, however, he states the said freezer unit was not replaced during his tenure of office.

He laments that he is now made aware that the Magistrate on several occasions issued summons on him requiring him to submit the Post Mortem Report, however he never received such summons issued by Court.

He states the cause of death in his opinion remained unchanged, in that, the cause of death was determined by him as effects of head inquiry, injuries to lower limbs, thermal burns (due to fire) and probably carbon monoxide toxicity.

Consequent to an application made by the Chief Inspector Ravindra Wimalasiri, the OIC of the Murder Investigation Unit of the CID, the Additional Magistrate of Colombo ordered the exhumation of the body of late Wasim Thajudeen to conduct a second post mortem and during the said process it was discovered that several body parts of late Wasim Thajudeen had gone missing from the possession of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Toxicology which at the time was not under his supervision and control but under the supervision and control of Chief JMO Dr. Ajith Tennekoon, he states.

He bemoans the said Chief JMO due to some animosity is spreading false rumours about him and is likely to make allegations against him in order to cause disrepute to him.

He says he believes the body parts of late Wasim Thajudeen retained for further examination on his instructions and stored in the freezer may have been misplaced and/or lost and/or destroyed and/or decomposed during the transition of material to the new cooler during the tenure of the new Chief JMO.

He is seeking a declaration from the Court that his fundamental right to equality as well as the freedom from arbitrary arrest have been infringed by the Respondents.

Paliltha Fernando with Thisya Weragoda instructed by Thamila Dinushi Perera will support this application for granting of leave to proceed.

Quo vadis: Question to the Rajapaksa 

dissidents

2016-08-20

Leaders, Ministers, MPs, local councilors and members of the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) for the first time yesterday held a joint public rally in the Southern heartland of Matara. This was to mark the first anniversary of the formation of a consensus Government between the two major parties for the first time since independence in 1948.

 The joint rally took place two days after President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as SLFP leader, imposed an uncharacteristic but widely called-for crackdown on party dissidents. As many as 40 of the party’s electoral and district organisers were sacked, while Matara district organiser Dullas Alhapperuma resigned from that post yesterday saying he was acting in solidarity with the dissidents or Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists. 

 In their place Mr. Sirisena appointed organisers who are known to be loyal to him and the mainstream SLFP. 

 For more than one year SLFP ministers had been calling for tough disciplinary action against the dissidents including about 50 MPs who were openly defying Mr. Sirisena and the party leadership.

 They went to the extent of holding a separate May Day rally in Kirulapona, while the mainstream SLFP held its rally in Galle. The breaking point was apparently the Kandy-Colombo march by the dissidents and their supporters. Nasty slogans were chanted against Mr. Sirisena, while one group even hooted outside SLFP headquarters. SLFP General Secretary Duminda Dissanayake and the United People’s Freedom Alliance General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera, both ministers had, repeatedly promised that disciplinary action would be taken against the dissidents but critics and Rajapaksa loyalists scoffed at the threats. Eventually, Mr. Sirisena apparently acting on legal advice, removed 40 electoral and district organisers from their posts. 

 If they were sacked from the party then there is provision for them to appeal to the Supreme Court against any move to remove them as MPs and this would have meant a long legal process.

 The SLFPs 65th annual convention is scheduled to be held on September 4 in Kurunegala. The choice of the venue is significant because it is Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second home base and officially he is an MP from the Kurunegala District. 

 The SLFP General Secretary said Mr. Rajapaksa and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had been invited for September 4 convention. But hard hitting and sarcastic comments made by Mr. Rajapaksa and his loyalists this week indicate they are not likely to take part in the Kurunegala convention, while some reports indicate the dissidents may even hold a separate convention. 

 The Yahapalanaya Government to a large extent has restored good governance, democracy and the rule of law with the judiciary functioning independently and many decisions being given against the Government.  

But history has shown that for the vibrant democracy, there needs to be a strong Opposition. In 1977 and again in 2010 Sri Lanka saw how there could be authoritarian trends, when the ruling party or parties have more than a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

 Mr. Rajapaksa and his dissidents though they often talk of toppling the consensus Government are aware of the reality that in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution there cannot and will not be a change of Government till 2020. Mr. Rajapaksa must also be aware of the reality that though he sought a third term in the January 8 Presidential Election last year and perhaps wished to go on for a fourth term, the 19th Amendment does not allow him to contest for the Presidency again. If he retired gracefully after being defeated not once but twice last year, history would have given him a special place mainly because of the strong leadership he gave in defeating the LTTE terrorists in May 2009. 

But the apparent desire or craving to continue in power—even amidst growing allegations that the Rajapaksa family and the clique around it plundered billions of rupees in public money is casting a shadow over Mr. Rajapaksa’s credibility. 

 With the Olympic Games reaching their climax today he needs to take a vital lesson from sport’s main principle to be magnanimous in victory and gracefully bow out when defeated without trying to split the party and shake the foundations of democracy.