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Sri Lanka’s Minister for Justice and Buddha Sasana, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, appears to be making a bid to capture the island’s core political constituency – the Sinhala Buddhist-Nationalist constituency – in the absence of credible senior claimants. The constituency was well served by Mahinda Rajapaksa until he messed up his political career by a variety of indiscretions in the last part of his two-term stint as President …
Wednesday, August 16, 2017 1:47 pm,
by eyeadmin
Two years into its five-year term, Sri Lanka’s coalition government led by President Maithipala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is afflicted by chronic disunity; contradictions in domestic and foreign policies; and a marked inability to fulfill election promises. Given its multifarious dilemmas and the inaction these have led to, it no wonder that the government, which came into power in January 2015 promising “Yahapalanaya” or …
Monday, August 14, 2017 3:38 pm,
by eyeadmin
The IMF Completed the Second Review of the Extended Arrangement Under the EFF with Sri Lanka and Approved a US$ 167.2 Million Disbursement. In completing the review, the Executive Board granted a waiver of nonobservance of the continuous performance criterion on accumulation of external arrears which was missed due to continued difficulties of establishing a payment platform and waivers of applicability of the performance criteria for …
Sunday, August 13, 2017 7:22 am,
by eyeadmin
August 2017 marks 150 years of tea production in Sri Lanka. To mark this anniversary, there have been several celebratory activities and events planned throughout the year, including a Global Tea Party, International Tea Convention and a charity auction. While there has been much reported in the media around these events, there has been little mention of the tea plantation workers without whose contribution the industry …
Saturday, August 12, 2017 7:04 am,
by eyeadmin
The Tamils of North and East of Sri Lanka do not consider themselves as minorities. They consider themselves as the majority in the North Eastern Province for more than 2000 years. Many Sinhalese identify the Tamils of North and East with the recent Tamil immigrants from South India during British times. Therefore I would say proper understanding of who we, viz. the Sinhalese and the Tamils, …
Monday, August 7, 2017 8:48 am,
by eyeadmin
In Sri Lanka’s North Central province, a land of crumbling Buddhist temples and gently swaying palms, farmers have cultivated rice for millennia. Until the 1960s, they relied on oxen, not tractors, to plow their fields. But the introduction of mechanized and chemical methods has rendered such time honored techniques extinct. An island nation that once boasted nearly 3,000 ancient rice varieties now produces a handful of …
Wednesday, August 2, 2017 10:32 am,
by eyeadmin
The long-delayed $1.1bn sale of a 70 percent stake in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which straddles the world’s busiest east-west shipping route, has been signed off in Colombo. It will help Sri Lanka get on top of mounting debts and adds another important link in China’s ‘New Silk Road’. But many in Sri Lanka see it as a sell out, and India is worried about China …
Sunday, July 30, 2017 8:15 am,
by eyeadmin
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake has spoken highly of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, expressing the hope that the government would like to see more Chinese investments. Talking to Xinhua in an interview on Thursday, the newly appointed foreign minister said China and Sri Lanka had maintained strong ties since ancient times, with the relationship being at its strongest level at present. While appreciating …
Friday, July 28, 2017 1:35 pm,
by eyeadmin
Thirty years have passed, not so quietly, since President J.R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in July 1987. The accord’s story has become part of history in India as well as Sri Lanka. However, has Sri Lanka’s politics changed since the advent of the accord? The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ In Sri Lanka, …
Thursday, July 27, 2017 9:17 am,
by eyeadmin
The 2016 Foreign & Commonwealth Office report on Human Rights and Democracy was presented to the UK Parliament on 20 July 2017 by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mr. Boris Johnson. The Minister for Human Rights, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said, “Our Annual Human Rights Report reviews developments over the last twelve months. This year it paints a stark picture of continued human …
Friday, July 21, 2017 3:17 pm,
by eyeadmin
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