News

The Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries is set to send a 20-member delegation to Sri Lanka to boost mutual trade, industry and tourism.

Headed by its President, P.K. Agrawal, the delegation will visit various places in Sri Lanka, including Colombo and Kandy, and will have extensive discussions with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

"Our first objective of visiting Sri Lanka is trade and commerce. Besides, the visit is a goodwill mission too, as a large number of Buddhist pilgrims from the neighbouring country visit Bodhgaya and other places related to Buddhism in our state. The delegation will be visiting the island nation from January 17 to 24," Agrawal said.

Talks will also be held with industrialists, entrepreneurs, trade associations, Sri Lankan government officials on ways to strengthen mutual tourism and commerce.

Former minister Ravi Karunanayake says he too has now received a copy of the Bond Commission report.

The Minister made these comments when questioned by media personnel at a party office opening in Mattakkuliya, Colombo.

In fact, the Minister had requested a copy of the report through the Right to information act by writing to the Secretary to the President. However, he is yet to receive an official copy.

 Unofficial copy to the PM

Meanwhile, 11 pages of the Bond commission report consisting of its recommendations is said to have been handed over to the PM unofficial sources said.

The report consisting of over 1000 pages which were handed over to the President on December 30 is yet to be publicized. Sources say the report handed over to the PM has some severely serious content but none of the recommendations made by the committee directly affect Ravi K or the PM.

President’s order to reinstate the ban on the sale of alcohol to women and to prevent females from working in liquor shops contravenes the fundamental rights in the constitution says Political commentators in the country. The Gazette issued by Minister of Finance and Media, Mangala Samaraweera revoking the ban on the sale of alcohol to women and preventing females from working in liquor shops which have been in place for over 60 years is now itself set to be revoked by the order of the President.

According to the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka mentioned in chapter 3, “No citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any such grounds” while it also says that “No person shall, on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex or any one of such grounds, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, places of public entertainment and places of public worship of his own religion”.

Confirmation of Equal Rights

On January 10, the Minister of Finance and Media signed a special gazette revoking the archaic ban on the sale of alcohol to women and to prevent females from working in liquor shops which have been in place for over 60 years despite the constitution giving women equal rights.

Accordingly, the ban on women being employed to produce and sell liquor as well as to buy alcohol was abolished allowing adult women to purchase alcohol legally.

As the ban is discriminatory against women the government has announced its decision to revoke the archaic law imposed in 1955.

Attempt to gain politically!

However the President today announced that the special gazette revoking the ban itself will be revoked. He made this statement at a public rally held in Agalawatta today.

“There was a law preventing women from working in bars and liquor shops while it also prevented them purchasing alcohol but I heard this law has been changed,” he said.

The President went on to say that he contacted the Minister Samaraweera, the Premier and several other Ministers in this regard and asked the Gazette to be revoked.

According to political analysts, the President had made such a statement to make political gains on behalf of several Buddhist monks who had worked actively for the Rajapaksa regime during the recent past.

Serious concerns have been raised regarding the project to provide 2 in 1 tablet computers to Grama Niladhari officers islandwide by the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital

According to sources all state procedures have been violated to give the project to a higher bidder when better bids existed. They say an underhand deal has taken place with the participation of several high ranking officers of the Ministry to hand over the project to the said company.

The project commenced according to the 2017 budget proposal is set to provide 2 in 1 tablet computers to all Grama Niladhari officers in the country.

Accordingly an advertisement had been placed in the Daily News on August 25, 2017 seeking out companies that can provide the necessary tabs for the project.

While the bids to provide 7000 tabs were opened on September 21, 2017 the Ministry had received six bids on the day.

Second bidder given prominence

According to sources the owest bid had been Rs. 683 Million with the second lowest bid being Rs. 731 Million. The highest bidder had reportedly quoted Rs. 854 Million.

However no technical assesment as required by state procedure has taken place for this project sources say adding that the Ministry Secretary has handed over the tender to V S information system who had submitted a bid of Rs. 731. While informing all bidders of this decision the Ministry Secretary has requested the bidders to approach the Presidential appeals board if needed.

While one bidder had approached the appeals board, a tripartiate comitte had conducted an investigation in this regard in Ocotber. However the result of this investigation remains unknown. The project also appears to have halted while in reality the officers should have received the tablet computers by now.

Meanwhile photos have been leaked which shows a close relationship between the committee members with the successful bidder.

The photographs show the Secretary of the Ministry with Kasun Warnakulasuriya of EZY which provides computers to V S Information systems. ICT is also said to have a close relationship with EZY.

While handing projects over personal friendships cannot be acceptable if proper action against this is not taken by the Minister Harin Fernando he would in turn have to face the consequences sources said.

A move to grant women in Sri Lanka the same rights as men to buy alcohol legally has been overruled by President Maithripala Sirisena.

He told a rally he had ordered the government to withdraw the reform, which would also have allowed women to work in bars without a permit.

He said he had only found out about the move from the newspapers.

The government announced on Wednesday it was amending a 1955 law, agreeing that it discriminated against women.

Critics have accused the president of not taking gender equality seriously.

"This is not just about this archaic sexist law but the archaic sexist system in which this law is just one more tool of control," wrote one Sri Lankan blogger.

What would the reform have meant?

While the previous law was not always strictly enforced, many Sri Lankan women had welcomed the change.

It would have allowed women over the age of 18 to buy alcohol legally for the first time in more than 60 years.

A ban on alcohol being sold outside the hours of 09:00 to 21:00 would have been changed to allow sales between 08:00 and 22:00.

 Why did the president step in?

Leading monks in the Buddhist-majority country had criticised the decision to lift the ban, arguing it would destroy Sri Lankan family culture by getting more women addicted to alcohol.

Saying he had listened to criticism of the government's step, President Sirisena told the rally he had ordered the government to withdraw its notification announcing the lifting of the ban.

It came as no surprise to some as he runs an anti-alcohol campaign and has warned in the past that alcohol consumption among Sri Lankan women is increasing "drastically".

However, commentators say the abrupt cancellation of the government's reform suggests there are differences within the coalition government.

Why is the president being accused of hypocrisy?

Mr Sirisena has encouraged women in the country to play a more active part in politics, boasting last year that his government had acted to ensure more women were returned at future elections.

His apparent double standards over the alcohol issue drew anger from both women and men on Twitter on Sunday.

Just how much do women drink in Sri Lanka anyway?

According to World Health Organization data from 2014, 80.5% of women never drink, compared to 56.9% of men.

Less than 0.1% of women above the age of 15 are prone to heavy drinking, compared with 0.8% of men in the same age bracket.

A majority of women in Sri Lanka traditionally choose not to drink alcohol as they see it as contrary to Sri Lankan culture, the BBC's Azzam Ameen reports.

Source : BBC

President Maithripala Sirisena says a Presidential Commission will be appointed to investigate into the alleged abuse of state money and public property involving SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka next week.

The President made these comments addressing a Sri Lanka Freedom Party rally in Dambulla yesterday.

According to Sirisena names of other politicians involved in corruption will be revealed once the commissions are appointed.

Speaking at the rally, the President said the true nature of the previous government's so-called development will be revealed to the public in the future and whatever the challenges, he will change the corrupt political culture to win the challenge of building the country.

President Sirisena noted that it was he who, through the 19th Amendment to the constitution abrogated the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed the president to remain in power for life.

The President said that he was the only leader who acted to curtail the powers of the executive presidency and hand over the powers to the parliament and no other leader of the world has done that.

The interim management of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is heading into troubled waters following the resignation of Group Chief Financial Officer Lalith Fernando recently, SLT sources disclosed.

 The new interim management team was appointed on December 21 to steer the SLT following the resignation of CEO Dileepa Wijesundera on Wednesday 13 amidst trade union’s allegations of corruption and mismanagement against him.

Fernando had been appointed as the Group CFO to oversee the financial management of SLT and subsidiaries accept Mobitel.

He tendered his resignation citing difficulties in managing finances of the company mishandled by the former CEO, one source said.

SLT Board of Directors will meet on Thursday to discuss the present situation and take a decision on the appointment of a new CEO, he said.

SLT operates under an executive committee headed by Chairman P.G. Kumarasinghe and three groups headed by three Chief Officers during the transition period.

After the resignation of the Group Chief Financial Officer this management system has been reduced to two groups.

Source : The Sunday Times

A haul of over 900 Kilograms of Cocaine seized by the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) will be publicly destroyed tomorrow under the supervision of the Colombo Chief Magistrate. President Maithripala Sirisena will also be in attendance to observe the process where the sized drugs will be liquefied and destroyed.

The event will take place at the premises of the INSEE Ecocycle organization located at the Board of Investments in Katunayake. “The liquified drugs will be incinerated thereafter at a facility in Puttalam” Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said.

 A probationary government should be appointed to save the country from the prevailing political crisis, President Maithripala Sirisena’s Political affairs Coordinator Attorney at Law Shiral Lakthilaka has stressed.

He made these comments to ISIS news when questioned regarding a statement made by him to a weekend newspaper where he was quoted as saying that the country needs to establish a ‘caretaker government’.

According to Lakthilaka, a new approach is needed to face all the crises being faced by the country. “When all the corruption reports are released the political environment of the country will change drastically,” he said adding that the current form of government will not be sustainable as a result.

Therefore if we are to think of any constitutional changes a probationary government under the guidance of the President needs to be established he said.

The Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Pettah Police station has been transferred to the Batticaloa Police division immediately following the suicide of a youth in Police custody this week. The transfer was recommended by the committee appointed to investigate the incident by the Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara following an investigation into the incident. The transfer was also approved by the National Police Commission and the Election Commission.

According to the Police the 17-year-old detainee, a resident of Haputale had been arrested for the possession of cannabis on Wednesday in the Bastian Mawatha area. He was later found hanging in his detention cell the next day morning. The youth is suspected to have commited suicide.

The investigation committee is said to have observed the detention cell and taken down statements from officers of the Pettah Police station on Friday.

Minister of External Affairs of India, Sushma Swaraj on Saturday (13), met Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and discussed issues of development cooperation between the two countries.

Minister Samaraweera also held a meeting with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley. The Ministers reviewed the present status of ongoing economic projects between the two countries.

Sri Lanka is one of the major recipients of development credit given by India, with total commitment of around USD 2.63 billion, including USD 458 million as grants.

Under a line of credit of USD 167.4 million, the tsunami-damaged Colombo-Matara rail link has been repaired and upgraded.

Another line of credit of USD 800 million for track laying and supply of rolling stock to support construction of railway lines in northern Sri Lanka is already operational.

The Presidential Investigative Committee to investigate and report on the causes for the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump has requested for a date to hand over the report with its findings and recommendations to President Maithripala Sirisena.

President Maithripala Sirisena appointed the single-member committee on April 26, 2017, to investigate into the garbage collapse on April 14, 2017.

According to sources, the report which is to be handed over to the President consists of 50,000 pages.

Twenty-six persons from government institutions, statutory bodies, Parliamentarians, Non-Governmental Organisations, and the public were questioned on this connection. Retired High Court Judge Chandradasa Nanayakkara spearheaded the investigation.