A New Force In The Presidential Fray

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Kshama Ranawana

A fourth alliance, sans the usual political trappings has entered the presidential race, with a vision statement that reads, “ A sovereign country that stays independent of global super power interventions and geopolitical interferences, pursues a sustainable path to development, promotes national unity, integration and spirituality of people, and ensures social justice and equal opportunities to all.” For months, Sri Lankans weary of the corruption and nepotism practised by the political parties that have governed the country these past 71 years, have been agog with ...Continued

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HGS Prematunge

We are biased. It is simply human nature to be biased about anything from politics to race and everything in between. Then how could research be an exception? Although research guards against all types of biases through various methods there’s nothing preventing the very activity of ‘research’ from being biased. According to statistics 95 percent of psychology research published in renowned journals are produced by countries that represent only 15 percent of the world’s population, such as the US, Europe, Australia, Israel and New Zealand. ...Continued

Family Planning Is Not About Controlling Population Growth

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Kshama Ranawana

One in every third pregnancy in Sri Lanka is unplanned and results in a host of negative issues that impact mothers and children across the land. While family, community and religious pressure is brought upon women to have more children, sparse attention is paid to the health of the mother and child and the family’s economic status. According to statistics provided by the UNFPA, around 360,000 pregnancies occur each year in this country, with 326,000 live births recorded in 2017.   In that same year, there ...Continued

Why The J&K Imbroglio Needs Insightful Handling

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Dissector

India’s recent decision to end the relative autonomy and special status of its half of Jammu and Kashmir could reduce the region to a powder keg, provided the resultant situation is handled tactfully and insightfully by the Indian state in particular. Needless to say, J&K is a hotly contested territory between India and Pakistan and the possibility is strong of the sides going to war once again over it unless the parties are extra alert to each other’s sensitivities. However, right now the onus is ...Continued

Waiting For Sirisena’s Surprises

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Hawk’s Eye

Social media platforms are no respecters of the truth or even facts, for that matter. They are given to sensationalism. But they represent a confluence of divergent views and are full of interesting stuff including pithy sayings. There was an interesting Facebook post recently and it speaks volumes about the current political situation. It read, in Sinhala thus, ‘Rala pahara weralata gasai, werala kaadanaya wei, namuth ahasa thaama nihandai’ (roughly rendered into English it means ‘waves pound the shore; the coast is eroding away, but ...Continued

Cricket’s Crooked Television Deals

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Spectator

The appointment of a committee to negotiate television rights of Sri Lanka Cricket early this week by Minister of Sports Harin Fernando surprised quite a few followers of the game. It is the first time a committee has been appointed for such an exercise and none of those individuals in the committee are well versed with the nitty-gritty of multi-million dollar television deals that pays players handsomely and looks after the grass root levels of the sport. Fernando also has included the Ministry Secretary in ...Continued

Will JVP Take Up Arms Again?

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Counterpoint Political Desk

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has broken ranks with the yahapalana camp, whose victory it worked hard to ensure, in 2015. It has decided to form a different alliance to contest the upcoming presidential election. Some political observers are of the view that the JVP is in the throes of a leadership struggle and losing ground in national politics. Did the JVP receive funds from the UNP? Will it take up arms again? Has it abandoned the Wijeweera policies? These are some of the question ...Continued

Of Oranges And Elephants

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Kshama Ranawana

Oranges to keep elephants at bay! That is the grand plan of the Sri Lanka Wildlife Society, which initiated the Project OrangeElephant in the Wasgamuwa forest reserve a few years ago. The issue at hand is the continued struggle between elephants and humans for space. As man encroaches on jungles, wild animals lose their habitat.  Seeking food, elephants raid villages, destroying houses and harvest.  While most farmers use firecrackers, etc. to scare the animal away, they are often also shot and killed or maimed. The ...Continued

Is The President Ignoring The Destruction Of Rummassala?

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Ravindra Kariywasam

Oh, fabulous Rumassala Charming sandy beach on Thambapanni With pearl bead smiles over Vended wholly! Were you..?   Rumassala, Seashore so mild and Slender Are you being made, So much defenseless By Gluttonous Araliya, The Black in White Or else, The Peril as guardian?   The foregoing is a slightly modified version of the late veteran singer Gunadasa Kapuge’s famous song about the ruthless manipulation of natural resources of the country. I presumed it would be aptly fit as a prelude to this brief write-up ...Continued

Requires An Overhaul Of Education System And Changing Mindset

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HGS Prematunge

STEM is an educational paradigm that combines science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an interdisciplinary approach. Tsupros, Kohler and J. Hallinen in their 2009 paper ‘STEM education: A project to identify the missing components, define STEM education as an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons, allowing students to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to make connections between school, community, work, and the global enterprise facilitating the development of STEM literacy, arming them with the ability to compete ...Continued

No-Holds-Barred US Drive To Dominate ‘Indo-Pacific’

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Dissector

What could US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be doing in the rarely news worthy Pacific isle of Micronesia? What ought to pique the observer’s curiosity further is the fact that Pompeo is the first US Secretary of State to visit the idyllic, Pacific island state, located in climes that have been hitherto comparatively untouched by the harsh realities of big power international politics in post-Cold War times. Obviously, these ‘untroubled waters’ are seemingly of renewed and increasing interest to the sole super power, although ...Continued

Cricketing Lessons From Bangladesh

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Spectator

All hell broke loose in cricket circles when Jagmohan Dalmiya, then ICC Chairman decided to grant Test status to Bangladesh in 2000. The Western block – England, Australia and New Zealand didn’t take to Bangladesh being given full ICC status kindly. Dalmiya, the Indian cricket supremo was a Bengali himself having built his business empire primarily in Calcutta. Being a Bengali, he was accused of promoting Bangladesh’s case, but he was smarter than that. The larger picture was that the arrival of Bangladesh had tilted ...Continued