Buddhist temple employee given bail over Hindu temple fire – VIDEO

 September 27, 2016

A middle-aged employee attached to newly erected Paashana Pabbatha Vihara, was arrested by the Serunuwara police on Tuesday on suspicion of setting fire to a Hindu kovil facility at Verugal in the eastern Trincomalee district.

Saman Nanayakkara from the central Kandy district was later released on bail to the Paashana Pabbatha Vihara chief priest Dr Ratnapura Devananda Thera, who has started building the temple since June 2009 at the hill.

The main opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the Buddhists erecting a new temple at the site of a destroyed historical Hindu temple, of being behind fire to the kovil storage facility.

Visiting the scene, TNA Batticaloa district parliamentarian Seenithamby Yogeswaran said that the 300-year old historic Malai Neeli Ammam temple at the hill was destroyed during the war.

According to him, the new Buddhist temple was erected in close proximity to the Hindu temple that was destroyed and the traditional Hindu people living in and around the area were prevented from visiting and worshipping their old temple site.

“The Buddhist monk did not allow people to resurrect the Malai Neeli Amman temple in its original place. He treated the Hindu people of this area in a discriminatory manner,” he said, adding that this forced the Malai Neeli Amman temple followers to build a small new temple by the road.

It is the storage facility of this temple that was set on fire on Monday around 10.30 am.

“If there are Buddhists and they need a temple. We firmly stand for their right to worship and respect their right to worship. But this is a place where the Buddhists have never lived. They established a Buddhist temple there and are grossly ignoring our traditional Hindu temple,” he said.

“Now they set on fire the storage facility of this temple,” the TNA MP said.

He said that TNA leader R. Sampanthan has taken this issue seriously and decided to take up the issue with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“I have requested the people of this area keep calm. But we will take legal actions against those who prevent us from exercising our religious rights in our traditional habitats,” he said.

“This Malai Neeli Ammam should be and will be rebuilt in its original place. We are firm on this and will fight for this in and out of parliament. We will take this issue to UN and UNESCO,” he said.

Dr Ratnapura Devananda Thera in an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service in August 2014 had conceded that he built the temple with allied facilities where there were no Buddhist living.

He also complaint that Buddhist people were not visiting his temple and make use of the other facilities he has built such as pilgrim rest, monk rest and several others in the vicinity.

Tamil People’s Council (TPC) led by Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran staged a mass campaign in Jaffna town demanding an immediate end to the ongoing Sinhalisation, Buddhistisation and militarisation of the north and the east. The campaign has prompted angry reaction from the Sinhala extremist leaders who branded the retired Supreme Court judge as a Tamil extremist.

The Transformation Of Sri Lanka & The Indian Ocean

By Asoka Bandarage –September 28, 2016

Dr. Asoka Bandarage

Following the 2015 elections and change in political leadership, Sri Lanka is experiencing major policy shifts at the national, regional and international levels. The confluence of these shifts has significant political, economic and cultural implications for the island as well as the Indian Ocean region.

In a seeming return to the ‘dominant minority’ position they enjoyed during the British colonial period, Tamil elites have been appointed to some of the highest positions in the Sri Lankan state, including Chief Justice and Governor of the Central Bank. A Tamil politician was appointed as the Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition even though his Tamil National Alliance party won only 16 seats as opposed to the much larger number of seats gained by the United People’s Freedom Alliance.

Notwithstanding the decisive military victory of the Sri Lankan government over the separatist LTTE in 2009 and efforts to increase Tamil participation in the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil demand for constitutional change continues. The demand is for political devolution and transition from a unitary to a federal form of government. The proposed constitutional changes which are backed by the Tamil Diaspora, India and the ‘international community’ are likely to lead to ethnically based balkanization and destabilization of the island, reigniting violent conflict.

The Sri Lankan constitution gives ‘foremost place’ to Buddhism, the religion of 70% of the island’s population referring to the duty of the state to protect and foster Buddhism. At the same time, the Sri Lankan constitution asserts that “Every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice”. Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society with long established traditions of mutual co-existence and harmony. The country has allowed extensive Christian evangelical and Islamic Wahabi proselytization and conversion that are not permitted in Islamic and many other nations. Still, there is vociferous demand backed by the ‘international community’ for western style pluralism and secularism and the elimination of the ‘foremost place’ given to Buddhism in the proposed new constitution. The severance of the historical relationship between Buddhism and the state would undermine the culture of the Sinhala majority and the identity of the island as a Buddhist nation. The attempted change has already given rise to resistance and inter-religious conflict.

Ethno-religious tension and conflict generated by proposed policy shifts are likely to be aggravated by developments at the regional level. These include efforts by the government of India to integrate Sri Lanka (as well as other smaller neighbors like Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan) firmly within its sphere of influence. Unlike earlier bilateral trade deals with India, the proposed new Indo-Sri Lanka Trade deal, the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) covers trade in services, especially IT, marine, shipbuilding and engineering. The ETCA proposal is yet to be made public. However, given the asymmetry in size and economic and political power of the two countries, it has generated tremendous opposition from professional bodies in Sri Lanka. They are fearful of inundation of doctors and other professionals from India who could displace Sri Lankans in their own country.

The charges of ‘Indian invasion and colonization’ are exacerbated by India’s plan to build a sea bridge and tunnel, at a cost of over $5 billion by the Asian Development Bank, to connect the southern tip of India with the north west of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and unique cultural heritage were maintained historically through her physical separation from its large and powerful neighbor. There is fear that the easy influx of Indians, Hindus and Muslims, into Sri Lanka through the planned bridge would change the demographic makeup of Sri Lanka turning the Sinhala Buddhist majority into a minority. In the long term, the bridge could well threaten the territorial integrity of India itself by providing the basis for the long held Tamil separatist dream of ‘Greater Eelam’ combining Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka.

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HEED THE VOICE FROM THE NORTH AND ANSWER ALLEGATIONS

Thursday, 29 September 2016

The protest march and mass rally organized by the Tamil People’s Council in Jaffna has been criticized by the government and generated misgivings in the rest of the polity. The TNA, which is the main Tamil party in North has disavowed the protest. It has said that launching a protest march like Eluga Thamil (Rise Up Tamils!) is not beneficial to the Tamil people at this time when discussions are being conducted for a new constitution. On the other hand, the protest has the support of Tamil parties and groups that are outside of the present constitutional talks and other government-led reconciliation processes. The large number of people who attended the rally, estimated to be 10-15,000 indicates a substantial degree of public participation and support for the protest.

The issues highlighted at these events reflect long standing Tamil grievances, aspirations and fears. They include the demand that Tamil aspiration for a federal solution be recognized in the new constitutional reforms, that an international inquiry be conducted on the closing stages of the war, the pull-out of military units from the Nothern province, the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and the release of Tamil detainees. There were also allegations about the government’s allegedly intentional moves to reduce Tamil population density in the region and promote Buddhism.

The National Peace Council is hopeful that the draft constitution currently being developed by a Parliamentary Committee headed by the Prime Minister and comprising elected representatives of the Tamil and Muslim people, will meet the aspirations and concerns of all communities. We believe that Sri Lanka has entered into a period of conflict transformation. There is a new relationship between the government and the main Tamil and Muslim parties so that the issues at hand can be addressed at a different level which offers the chance to resolve the problem in a new way. At the same time we also believe that the voice from the North needs to be heeded and not ignored or rejected, as it represents the grievances, aspirations and fears of a substantial number of people who are also stakeholders in a peaceful and reconciled country.

Allegations that give emotive interpretations about the reforms that are taking place are made in the South of the country as well, and not only in the North. The possible resurrection of the LTTE due to the actions of the government and the division of the country by the international community are some of the propaganda claims. Unless countered effectively this can lead to a loss of trust and confidence and back to a negative cycle of renewed conflict. The perception that the people of the North are rejecting the government’s approach to peacebuilding can strengthen the extremist forces in the rest of the polity. We call on the government to answer each and every one of the allegations made against its reconciliation process and to take this message to the people through an effective communication strategy.

Governing Council
The National Peace Council is an independent and non partisan organization that works towards a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It has a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka in which the freedom, human rights and democratic rights of all the communities are respected. The policy of the National Peace Council is determined by its Governing Council of 20 members who are drawn from diverse walks of life and belong to all the main ethnic and religious communities in the country.

RTI: a Reality Check

Featured image courtesy Tasman Council

GROUNDVIEWS on 09/28/2016

September 28 is the global Right to Information Day – a day of added significance to Sri Lankans this year since the country passed its own Right to Information Act – now hailed by the Centre for Law and Democracy as the 9th best in the world, the strongest among the new countries to enact RTI legislature.

Yet ensuring a culture of transparency and openness goes beyond simply enacting legislature.

While there have been groups actively working to educate MPs on RTI and its importance, and some public outreach and education (including the launch of a website RTI Watch by Transparency International Sri Lanka) it remains to be seen how active the average Sri Lankan will be in terms of filing RTI requests.

                                    Video from RTIWatch website

More importantly, it remains to be seen how quickly and meaningfully the Act will be implemented.

Initial signs have been worrying. On June 30, Lankadeepa reported that they were looking for 8,000 fresh graduates to be Information Officers. The Information Officer fulfills a vital task – it is they who process the RTI application from a member of the general public, decide whether or not it can be fulfilled within 2 weeks. It is also they who furnish the information within the stipulated time period. Refusal of an Information Officer to comply with furnishing information will be subject to trial in the Magistrate’s Court, and will upon conviction receive a fine, indicating that the task is not one to be taken lightly. Yet the State decided to seek for this important post among Sri Lanka’s fresh graduates, who are inexperienced in this field.

The function of the Right to Information Commission (reportedly consisting of Prof. Savithri Goonasekera, attorney-at-law Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, former judge Salim Marsoof, former Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry Secretary Neil Rupasinghe and Prof. N. Sivakumaran) will also be vital to ensure the spirit and letter of the legislation is properly implemented.

Groundviews was fortunate to be able to sit in on the Central Information Commission hearings in Delhi recently. In one half hour session it was immediately apparent that acting as a Commissioner required the maintenance of a delicate balance – while acting as a conduit to information, the Commissioner could not act as a mediator to settle disputes. Some of the people who came before the Commission asked for proof that a particular society was fraudulent, or that a principal or teacher had been unfairly treated. In each instance, even where the appellant themselves asked for resolution, the Commissioner translated their requests into the correct language, resolving each case in a matter of minutes. Whether Sri Lanka’s Commissioners will be able to handle each case as adeptly remains to be seen.

Information Commissioner Professor M Sridhar Acharyulu

There is no indication as to whether Sri Lankans will be as active and vociferous as in many other countries when filing requests – until the process is finally put in place.

When correctly used, the RTI can help assist the most marginalised and downtrodden. Take Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri from Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), who have used the RTI to ensure that villagers get much-needed rations.

“During one of our public meetings, a woman stood up and said, ‘I can’t even get my rations, what do you expect me to do with RTI?’ ” Bhardwaj said. It transpired that many of the villagers were told by the shopkeepers that the Government had not released the share of rations to them yet, and went without the rations that the Government was supposed to provide for them.

Bhardwaj and Johri filed RTI applications asking for the list of beneficiaries who were supposed to get rations, as well as the stock register and the sales register of each shop. When the information was sent across, it was found that the rations were indeed sent across to the shops. The sales registers were entirely fabricated – when SNS showed them to the close knit community, they found many of the names were false. Many of the villagers signed off on their cards with their thumbprint – and when traced, the actual recipients said that the thumbprints on the registers did not match their own – and that in fact they had not received the promised rations for years. As a result of these applications, the villagers had, for the first time, definitive proof of the corruption that took place in terms of food distribution. As a result, for the first time, the state took punitive action against the grocery shop owners, cancelling their licenses, as well as the senior officials who had allowed the corruption to rage unchecked.

                               Anjali Bhardwaj – courtesy Getty Images

In another instance, the SNS discovered that politicians would visit low income settlements in the run up to an election, claiming that their homes were due to be demolished. In the same breath these politicians promised that their homes would be spared – as long as they voted for them, of course. After filing RTI applications for the settlements which were due to be demolished, it was discovered that many settlements were not even on the list – and that the politicians were using fear to ensure they remained in power.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) have also used RTI to ensure much needed police reform – certainly something that strikes a chord in Sri Lanka, where police torture is systemic. Through consecutive RTI applications, CHRI found that there was massive underreporting of crime in many districts in Delhi, since police only recorded what they perceived to be the most ‘serious’ crime.

Applications such as these would have far-reaching implications in Sri Lanka, for those who rely on pensions and social security benefits – and indeed for the application of many essential services, such as water supply and electricity. Yet without a vibrant community willing to file applications, a Commission willing to adjudicate fairly, and government organisations willing to proactively and progressively provide information, the RTI Act is doomed to failure, progressive as it might be. Already, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has flagged the fact that officials are not heavily penalized for flouting the law. With heavy backlogs of cases, it is unlikely that the Magistrate’s Court would levy the proposed fines in a timely fashion, heightening chances that officials would get away with a mere slap on the wrist.

On September 28, President Maithripala Sirisena tweeted that right to information was now a “fundamental right” to Sri Lankans.

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Maithripala Sirisena 

✔@MaithripalaS

Today, as we celebrate the Right to Information Day, Sri Lanka is a country where right to information is a fundamental right of the people.

12:46 AM - 28 Sep 2016

 
•  5353 Retweets
 
•  118118 likes

As encouraging as this statement is, it remains to be seen whether this right will actually be realised in the spirit it is intended.

THE STRONGEST LAW AMONG THE NEW COUNTRIES ON THE RTI RATING IS THAT OF SRI LANKA

(The right to know is incomplete without the right to information. STOCK PHOTO)

Congratulations Mexico For the World’s  Best Right to Information Law.

28/09/2016

This 28 September, International Right to Know Day, is a truly momentous one. It marks five years since the launch of the RTI Rating, a comparative assessment of national legal frameworks for the right to information (RTI) which was developed and applied by the Centre for Law and Democracy and Access Info Europe. The number of countries with RTI laws has continued to climb, reaching 112 as of today. 28 September has now been recognised officially by UNESCO, under the title International Day for Universal Access to Information. And one of the indicators for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 16.10 will assess whether States have adopted and implemented RTI laws.

“CLD is delighted that all of these tremendous developments have come together this year”, said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “As part of our celebration of the Day, we have made a big push to update the RTI Rating to include all of the new laws, several of which have just been adopted in the last couple of months.”

The updated RTI Rating includes assessments of the seven RTI laws which have been passed so far in 2016, namely from Argentina (replacing a decree), Kenya, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Togo, Tunisia (also replacing a decree) and Vietnam, as well as the law from Burkina Faso, which was passed in late 2015. With this, the RTI Rating covers every national RTI law globally apart from Sudan, which we have thus far been unable to obtain. The RTI Rating has also been updated to account for significant reforms that have taken place in Canada and Mexico.

Right to Information map, Green is the best

The most notable change is the displacement of Serbia as the top country on the Rating for the first time since it was launched in 2011, by Mexico. Mexico has long been a regional and global leader on this issue, and the newly and substantially revamped General Act of Transparency and Access to Public Information scores an impressive 136 points out of a possible total of 150. This is a significant improvement on their previous score of 117 and just ahead of Serbia, which scores 135 points. Among the most important new improvements is a requirement that exceptions in other laws must be consistent not only with the standards in the right to information law but also Mexico’s international obligations to be valid.

The strongest law among the new countries on the RTI Rating is that of Sri Lanka, which scores 121 points, putting the country in 9th place globally. The passage of this law means that every country in South Asia apart from Bhutan now has an RTI law. The region is generally a strong performer, with every country scoring over 100 points except Pakistan, which continues to languish near the bottom of the Rating.

Tunisia’s law was replaced, in March 2016, with a significantly revamped Organic Law (which is the highest form of statutory law), which earned a score of 120 and moved the country from 45th place internationally all the way up to 10th place, just behind Sri Lanka. The new organic law replaces the Decree Law which was adopted just after the country’s 2011 revolution. Tunisia’s progression into the top tier of global RTI laws is all the more significant given that the Arab World is among the world’s weakest on this important human rights indicator, with only four of the 22 Member States of the Arab League – namely Jordan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen – having RTI laws on the books.

Just behind Tunisia is Kenya’s Access to Information Act, adopted in late August 2016, which ranks 14th in the world with a score of 113. This is the latest in a strong trend among African countries to adopt RTI laws, which is now starting to redress the longstanding position of the continent as lagging behind other regions of the world on this issue. It also results in seven African countries being among the top twenty, making it the region of the world with the most countries having this status. The Kenyan law is notable for its very broad coverage of private sector actors, which pushes the already expansive approach on this issue pioneered in Africa to new limits.

In September 2016, Argentines also celebrated the passage of the Ley de Acceso a la información. This does not reach the standards of the laws noted above, scoring 91 points and earning Argentina a ranking of 45th place. However, it is an enormous improvement over their previous decree, which was in the bottom third of the Rating, scoring just 66 points.

Amendments to the RTI rules in Canada, the first significant improvements since the country’s Access to Information Act first came into force in 1983, were more modest, but important nonetheless. CLD was vocal in welcoming the changes, enacted through a new Interim Directive on the Administration of the Access to Information Act, which included a blanket waiver of fees beyond the initial $5 for filing a request and a requirement that information be released in machine-readable and reusable formats wherever possible. Although the modest package of improvements only raised Canada’s ranking to 48th in the world, with a score of 90 points, the government is currently consulting on a more ambitious reform plan.

More middle-of-the-road laws were passed in Burkina Faso and Togo, scoring 79 and 70 points for rankings of 63rd and 79th place, respectively. Both countries have very problematic regimes of exceptions, vague procedures for requests for information and only limited promotional measures. At the same time, these laws represent an important expansion in terms of RTI laws in French-speaking African countries, which is a very welcome development.

The new RTI rules adopted by Vietnam and the Philippines are both extremely weak. Vietnam’s Law on Access to Information scores just 68 points, putting it in 86th place globally. In the Philippines, years of unsuccessful attempts to get an RTI law passed finally resulted in the adoption by the President of Executive Order No. 2 on Freedom of Information. As a set of RTI rules, however, the Order is among the world’s weakest, scoring just 46 points, putting the Philippines in 109th place globally out of the 111 countries on the RTI Rating. A notable weakness is the regime of 160 exceptions, set out in regulations under the Order.

The year 2016 offers ample evidence that strong progress on the right to information continues to be made. With 112 RTI laws now in place, and a 113th expected to come into force soon in Tanzania, there is a strong global trend towards greater recognition of this important right. The incorporation of RTI into SDG Target 16.10 can be expected to provide even greater impetus to this trend. 

Although the recent cohort of RTI laws have not been uniformly strong, the stellar performance of the new or amended laws in Mexico, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Kenya continue to push global standards forward. Although there are many battles left to fight – not least working for positive implementation of the new laws – activists around the world have plenty to celebrate this International Right to Know Day.

The full results of the RTI Rating are available at: www.RTI-Rating.org.

Sri Lankan govts have been very suspicious of NGOs



September 28, 2016 

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga says that governments in Sri Lanka have been very suspicious of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and in the past decade the country has seen not only suspicion but “hatred” being sown towards the international community. 



  “That is no more. That has ended,” she said addressing an event held at the BMICH in Colombo today (28), on Zero Hunger which is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 She said that this government for the first time has begun to invite and engage in the private sector as well as the non-governmental organizations to participate in at least some of the government programmes. 

 “The reconciliation programme which I have the privilege of leading works with non-governmental organizations extensively to implement our programmes.” 

 We don’t believe that in such matters government can by itself achieve the required results unless we involve all of civil society, she said.  

As this is after civil society played a most crucial role in this country to make a peaceful, bloodless revolution last January 8, Kumaratunga added.

 “So this civil society is now somewhat organized, more organised than before, waiting to participate actively in the progress of Sri Lanka.”   

World Information Day summit in Colombo today

Sep 28, 2016

The world information development day falls today the 28th September.In this connection a special summit has been arranged at the Hotel Jaic Hilton.

The summit is to commence under the auspices of the President Maithripala Sirisena. The motive of this summit is to draw attention of public opinion to development problems in the world and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them.,The summit also focuses on media regulatory and the status of the current media.These area are to  be discussed. ..

It is reported that representatives form international organizations from a number of countries .are due to participate in this summit.

Sri lanka: Govt. holds ladders to thieves — Marxists

( September 28, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The present ‘yahapalana’ government is one that taxes people, hold ladders to thieves and liquefy state institutions, it makes various statements to deceive people and throw sand at people’s eyes says the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva.

He made these observations at a press conference held at the head office of the JVP at Pelawatta yesterday (27th). The Member of the Central Committee of the JVP Western Provincial Councilor Attorney at Law Sunil Watagala was also present.

Mr. Tilvin Silva said, “The present government is lying to the people and is throwing sand at people’s eyes. The government, making statements to deceive people, is burdening the people with heavy taxes. 

Meanwhile, the government, to manipulate the Department of Inland Revenue, Customs etc that bring revenue to the country, is weakening Acts and regulations that are relevant to such institutions.

The government unjustly increased VAT to 15%. Ours is a country where very poor people are the majority. During the election period the government said the country’s economy would be developed so that people’s pockets would be filled. However, after coming to power the government is emptying people’s pockets to fill the pockets of ministers and government’s lackeys. The businessmen in the country took to the streets protesting against government’s VAT. We, of the JVP too took to the streets. More than half the population in our country is poor. They make their ends meet with relief such as ‘Samurdhi’. The daily income of 43% of the population is less than US$02. Taxing such people is very unfair.

Court to judge that he VAT system presented by the government was erroneous. Still for all the government is preparing to bring in a VAT amendment Act to Parliament again. People are unable to afford such taxes. However, the government comes out with false statements to deceive the people. Despite stating the VAT introduced for the health service was withdrawn due to protests by the people, what replaces it is an entire different thing. As the state health sector is weak patients go to the private sector to get their various tests done. Despite VAT is not levied for such out patient services, VAT is levied from patients who get services as inpatients in private hospitals. Hence, what the government says is a blatant lie. VAT is levied for the health sector as well.

At present the number of patients who seek services from private hospitals is going up. This is due to the failure of the state sector and an increase in the number of older generation. In 1990 the older population was 8.9% of the total population in the country. In 2000 it was 9.6%, in 2010 it was 12.2% and in 2014 it had risen to 13.4%. It is estimated that in 2026 the elderly population would increase to 18.9% of the total population. Hence, the need of the health services would be increasingly felt. However, there are no facilities in government hospitals nor is there any preparation to meet the demand. The number of heart, kidney, neuro patients is increasing. They have to undergo surgery. In government hospitals patients have to wait for months in waiting lists to get heart surgeries performed. However, brain surgeries cannot wait for months. As such, people, even with financial difficulties, go to private hospitals. Services of private hospitals are sought not only by super class capitalists. People from the middle class as well as downtrodden masses find money somehow or other to get services from private hospitals. We often see people collecting donations on the roads to get surgeries done for their loved ones. This government levies a 15% VAT even from those who go round eh country collecting donations to get surgeries done for their kith and kin.

Normally, a heart surgery costs Rs.6,98,000. Then Rs.1,04,000 has to be paid to the government as taxes. The government grabs Rs.100,000 from those who collect money for the surgeries. A brain surgery would cost about Rs. 1 million. Then the government would collect Rs.150,000 as taxes. A patient who gets a CT scan done in a private hospital as there are facilities in government hospitals will have to pay Rs.2500 as taxes. This is very unjustifiable. A government that collects hundreds of thousands of rupees from patients who have to pawn their assets to come out of dangers to their lives cannot be humane. The government that levies 17.5% income tax from private hospitals charges another tax from patients who get treatment from such hospitals. In many other countries the health services are tax free. However, the government in our country levies tax for the health services to add to its coffers. A portion of the money given from President’s fund for surgeries is taken back as taxes.

The taxation by the government is not fair. As such, the JVP would mediate totally to defeat the VAT levy. The government, instead of receiving an income from developing the economy to increase production, is levying taxes from patients who suffer from their ailments. This move of the government must be defeated.

The government, while picking pockets of the people, is carrying out unnecessary interference on the Inland Revenue Department and Sri Lanka Customs in order to control them and take them under the Minister. Instead of properly managing the institutions that collect tax incomes, they are being politicized to mess them up. This government moves according to the wishes of imperialist institutions. Last time when obtaining loans the IMF was promised that the financial sector would be opened, state institutions would be privatized and relief for the masses would be slashed. VAT is introduced at the behest of the IMF. The institutions such as Inland Revenue and Customs are weakened to satisfy imperialist bodies.

A cabinet decision has been taken to weaken the Inland Revenue Department. Accordingly, the collection of revenue would be given to a private company. Privatization is carried out on the pretext of making them efficient. When a private company is given to collect revenue they will have to be given a commission. The government that states thee is no money gives commissions to private companies. While giving a commission to companies the stalwarts of the government too get a share of the commissions.

Throughout the previous regime their associates were not taxed due to political interferences. Associates wee given tax relief. It is due to the state interferences in tax collection that income had gone down. When tax collection is given to a foreign company it would come to know about all tax payers in our country. A foreign company getting to know economic information in our country is a threat to security.

The existing Inland Revenue Act is to be refuted and two Acts to be introduced. The two acts to be introduced are the Tax Administration Act 2016 and Inland Revenue Act 2016. According to the existing Act the Commissioner is appointed by the cabinet. All other officials are appointed by the Public Service Commission. There are less political interferences. From Tax Administration Act 2016 the Minister of Finance gets the authority to appoint all officials. He could appoint his associates. The Minister of Finance in our country is a businessman. Giving one person the authority is not good governance. The slogan is ‘good governance’. However, practically the government acts against ‘good governance’. There is an attempt to get outsiders involved in Inland Revenue Department. There is also an attempt to recruit 1500 persons violating the regulations. The UNP is paving a way to provide jobs for its sympathizers. As SLFP in the ‘unity’ government holds power in the Port, CPC and SLTB, the UNP has a crisis in giving jobs to its sympathizers.

On the other hand a new act has been drafted to weaken Customs that brings revenue to the country. There is an attempt to reduce the powers Customs officers have. Fines for offenders are to be relaxed. 

Customs brings 57% of the country’s income. Customs brought Rs.503 billion in 2014 and Rs.719 billion in 2015. Customs’ duty is not only to collect taxes. It prevents illegal goods from coming in to the country and artefacts and things connected with bio diversity taken away from the country. Hence, the Customs Act should be a strong one. We have a strong Customs Act adopted in 1969. They are are attempting to amend this Act. The highest position in Customs is the Director General. He has five additional officers. 

According to the new Act six additional director generals are to be appointed and three of them are appointed by the cabinet. This would increase political interventions. The new Act gives eh Minister of Finance to release goods without any checking from Customs. Punishments for thieves have been relaxed. According to the existing act if false information is given to the Customs regarding good imported a fine of three times the value of the goods could be imposed when such an attempt is revealed. However, according to the new Act only 50% of the value of goods would be charged. This government supports and helps thieves. If the culprit admits the crime during Customs inspection the goods could be released without a fine but paying only the tax.

According to the law in our country if anyone is caught with 2 grams of heroin he or she could be sentenced to death. However, according to the proposed Act the maximum punishment for anyone caught with drugs, heroin, banned medicines, military weapons, bombs, missiles, swords, daggers is six months imprisonment. The maximum fine is Rs. 5 million. The government creates loopholes for thieves to wriggle out through the new Act.

The government, despite talking about good governance, keeps ladders for thieves. The government works according to western powers and creates loopholes for thieves to wriggle out. These moves of the government must be defeated. The JVP totally supports the struggle action begun by employees of Inland Revenue Department and Customs. Also, we will rally masses to carry out a massive agitation against the vicious moves of the government.”

Talking about the statement by the Chief Miniser for Northern Provincial Council C.V. Vigneswaran Mr. Tilvin Silva said it gives a stimulant to the communalists in the South and such revolting statements made at a time when All Sinhalese, Tamil and other people strive to achieve national unity should be condemned and all should repulse such statements. He said the views expressed by Vigneswaran are not that of the people in the North and the East.

Sri Lanka targeting five per cent growth and single digit inflation

By Hiran H.Senewiratne-September 28, 2016, 7:18 pm 

Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said the government intends to keep the economic growth at five percent and inflation at single digits to maintain economic stability.

"In the second quarter of 2016 the economic growth registered 2.6 percent due to floods and drought conditions of that period and we see a pick up in the third and fourth quarters of the year. The second quarter growth did not go down to expected levels because of credit growth, low level inflation, increase of growth in the construction sector and the availability of electricity for the industrial sector, the Central Bank Governor told a media conference held at the Central Bank auditorium yesterday.

He said the monetary policy improved in the second quarter of 2016, with the Central Bank ending its policy of monetizing large volumes of debt to keep markets short of cash instead of flushed in excess liquidity.

In the second quarter Sri Lanka was estimated to have grown by 2.6 percent, with agriculture contracting 5.6 percent due to bad weather. But services grew 4.9 percent and industry grew 2.2 percent, he said.

The CB Head acknowledged that the April - June GDP growth slowed compared to last year but said that it was basically due to several factors, including the drought and floods, which affected large parts of the country. Sri Lanka is in a stabilizing period and will be able to achieve its target by the end of the year, the Governor added.

"The Central Bank believes there is sufficient space for economic growth in the current monetary policy stance, he said.

The Governor said that if Sri Lanka is to improve its economy, it has to sign bilateral trade and investment agreements with China, South Korea, Singapore and Japan. "Because those countries developed due to an increase of exports and foreign direct investment, he said.

Coomaraswamy said that interest rates were kept unchanged since the Monetary Board took the view that the current policy is sufficient to maintain the balance in macro-economic activity while facilitating economic activity.

He also expressed confidence that Sri Lanka will be able to reach its goal of 5 percent growth and single digit inflation by end of this year.

Coomaraswamy said that the interest rate policy of the US Federal Reserve could have temporary effects on the world market but said that these effects will not be disruptive in the long run.

"Sri Lanka is now recovering from a balance of payments crisis, triggered by an excessively loose monetary policy, as large volumes of money were printed to finance a budget gap in 2015 and to keep markets flushed with excess liquidity of about 20 percent of the money base, he said.

"The expansion in monetary aggregates was mainly driven by credit flows to the private sector and to the government from the banking system, while credit to public corporations continued to contract during the month, Coomaraswamy added.

Lesson from last policy decision of the Fed and BoJ 

Thursday, 29 September 2016

The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) and Bank of Japan (BoJ), two of the main central banks in the world, announced their monetary policy changes on 21 September.

The Fed’s decision was a testimony that the central bank doesn’t want to upset market sentiment while Bank of Japan hinted that the innovative central bank will never be out of ideas.

The BoJ initially took short-term interest rates in to negative territory in their fight against deflation and decided to experiment with a longer tenure – to anchor 10-year government bond yields near zero by fine-tuning its asset purchases.

The Fed by majority voting of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to maintain the fed fund rate at current levels - target range for federal funds rate at ¼ to ½%. This indicates that the Fed would like to maintain the status quo for the time being. However, the Fed believes the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened.

Bank of Japan (BoJ)

In 2013, Haruhiko Kuroda, the former Head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), took the helm of BOJ that was believed to be a traditional central bank.   He was worried about the risk of deepening deflation and encouraged by the political popularity of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, embarked on a program of aggressive policy innovations.

Despite the continued innovation in monetary policy, the BoJ thus far has failed to revitalise the long-term paralysis of the economy. The bank didn’t receive the much-anticipated political support through the third arrow of pro-growth structural reforms of the Japanese Prime Minister.

It should also be emphasised that the BOJ alone cannot combat the deflation war; the government, in the form of structural policy responses to lift potential growth rates should supplement the efforts of monetary authority.

The Federal Reserve

Bank (Fed)

The Fed, under the leadership of former Chairman Ben Bernanke who is a specialist in depression economics had engineered a series of unorthodox monetary policy actions to steer the world economy amidst the most difficult deflationary condition since the Great Depression in 1930.

Bernanke was a strong critique of Japanese policies, which led to decades of economic stagnation and lost of output.  In response to criticism of a low interest rate regime maintained since 2008 to combat the financial crisis, he expressed that the best strategy for the Fed is to set short term interest rates at a level consistent with the healthy operation of the economy over the medium term admitting that the real, or inflation-adjusted interest rates (the market, or nominal, interest rate minus the inflation rate) which is most relevant for capital investment decisions is decided by a multitude of economic factors.

During the period of financial crisis, the monetary authorities pumped billions of dollars of liquidity into the financial system and averted otherwise a major financial disaster in modern human history. While doing so, the federal fund rate remained near zero from 2008 till December 2015. The Fed has not considered it appropriate to increase the interest rate yet.

Though inflation fear is widespread, the FOMC has decided that it is risky to let fragile growth fall apart. As an election year passes with divided politics on the surface, the Fed has decided to continue with its accommodative policies in filling the gap left by the slow responses and inaction by politicians worldwide. The Fed, for its part, is satisfied navigating as smoothly as possible until politicians step in to take effective action or the economy gathering momentum on its own.

The message carried by the decision of both central banks is that Central Banks cannot act within a vacuum completely ignoring the sentiments of the market as well as the near term economic wellbeing of citizens. The monetary policy should be innovative and adjusted in response to the changing dynamics of the economy.

While acting to achieve the long-term objectives of the price stability, central banks around the world have been trying to fill the gaps of volatile fiscal policy decisions by the lawmakers. They have been tasked to carefully navigate the economies through unchartered territories to achieve the economic wellbeing of the societies they represent.

(The writer is a CFA charterholder with local and international capital market experience.)