Sloth bears, Melursus ursinus, evolved in the Indian subtropics and were once widespread in the lowlands of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. The one subspecies, Melursus ursinus inornatus, is found in Sri Lanka (Pocock, 1941). The sloth bear has vanished from much of its former range and may no longer exist in Bangladesh. Today, the vast majority of sloth bear range remains in India, where bears occupy suitable habitats throughout the peninsula and up to the Himalayan foothills, where the range overlaps with that of ...Continued

Courtesy – Loris Magazine During the reign of King Parakramabahu the Great Sri Lanka was affectionately called the ‘Granary of the East’ (peradiga danyagaraya) as the country was not only self-sufficient in rice and other food crops but was also able to export them to neighboring countries. The Sri Lankan agriculture sector has always been a force in the country’s economy, making a significant contribution to its food, security and employment needs. Among the various crops cultivated in Sri Lanka, maize has gained a vital ...Continued

Like many countries, Sri Lanka continues to face a daunting economic landscape.  The World Bank projects economic contraction of – 6.7%; the ADB -5% and the IMF – 4.6% for 2020. Even the most pessimistic of these projections is not unfavourable when compared with other countries in the region and beyond.  In addition, there has been a loss in employment and an increase in poverty as in almost all countries.  The successful handling of the pandemic during April – September 2020 served to contain output ...Continued

You find them along pavements or near markets or even on trains, till in hand, raising funds to assist undergraduates and other students who cannot afford to even purchase an exercise book. However, the monies thus collected don’t actually go towards the purpose they tell you about, rather, it’s a ruse to raise money to build “thoran” (pandals) or even rent places to rag new batches of university students. For instance, one such Thorana had cost nearly Rs. 7 lakhs, a source who wished to ...Continued

Around March this year, some parents of students of Royal College Primary contacted the Ministry of Education regarding certain abusive situations their children were being subjected to in school.    They were reaching out to the Ministry out of sheer frustration as no corrective action had been taken by the school authorities. Amongst the cases they highlighted was of a Grade 5 student who was injured when a musical instrument was thrown at him by one of the teachers.  The injury which damaged some nerves resulted ...Continued

For the average reader, circulation or readership figures of newspapers or magazines are irrelevant.  For them, what matters most is content.  However, for those who must market the multitude of consumer goods, educational establishments, and whatever else needs promoted, circulation and readership numbers are critical. An industry that is supposed to report the truth has been living a lie for decades and have got away with it because neither the advertising industry nor the advertisers have joined together to demand for audited circulation numbers. In ...Continued

For the Deputy General Manager Energy Purchases of the Ceylon Electricity Board, (CEB) it is an interdiction order for his efforts to follow procedure and minimise unnecessary expenses.  For Aitken Spence, the parent company of Ace Power Embilipitya (Pvt.) it is a windfall that will boost its revenue in billions of rupees. Deputy General Manager, Energy Purchases, Sujeewa Abeywickrama was interdicted on July 2, 2018. The charges against him ranged from not carrying out assigned duties, not following directions given by the General Manager, to ...Continued