Mar 12 (CT) Following the gazette notification that tea workers’ minimum wage should be Rs 900 with Rs 100 as budgetary relief allowance effective from 5 March, Vice President, Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) and Uva Provincial Minister of Estate Infrastructure, Senthil Thondaman warned if Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) reduce the current welfare facilities given to workers, they would pluck less kilogrammes of tea in the eight hours they work and claim the daily wage of Rs 1,000. more..

Mar 12 (Island) On successful completion of the Qualifying Course-25, to enter the Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS), one officer and 36 sailors received insignia at the parade ground of RABS Headquarters in Gangewadiya, Puttalam on 10 March 2021. The event was held under the patronage of Commander, Northwestern Naval Area, Rear Admiral S.B. Senarathne at the invitation of Commanding Officer RABS, Commander Sagara Udayanga. more..

Mar 12 (AD) A SARS-CoV-2 variant which belongs to the B.1.351 lineage and was originated in South Africa has been detected in Sri Lanka, says Director of the Dept of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of Sri J'pura Uni Dr. Chandima Jeewandara. This strain was identified in an individual returning from Tanzania who is currently staying at a quarantine centre,. He said 93 viruses were sequenced from all over the country. more..

Mar 12 (CT) Ven. Walapane Sumangala Thera yesterday denounced the final report compiled by the PCol which probed the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks claiming that the hidden motive of the Commission had been to suppress Buddhist organisations in the country and thereby deal a debilitating blow to the country’s influential Buddhist monks. He made this remark while addressing a Sathyagraha held at Independence Square last evening. more..

Mar 12 (Island) Chairman of the COPE, Prof. Charitha Herath MP has instructed Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Dr. Anil Jasinghe to amend the National Environmental Act to meet the needs of the time. The COPE Chairman said that there had been attempts to amend the National Environmental Act for two decades. Prof. Herath said that there had been lengthy discussions about the weaknesses and loopholes of the Act, however nothing had been done to address those issues. more..

Mar 12 (GN) Govt of SL is looking to amend the quarantine rules for its citizens entering the country from the UAE. Nalinda Wijerathna, Consul General of SL, said the govt was looking at allowing its citizens, particularly those who have completed their two doses of vaccination, to home quarantine upon arrival in Sri Lanka from the UAE. “The discussion is going on at the moment. We will likely hear something on this matter soon,” more..

Mar 12 (Island) Those who would like to contest the upcoming PC election on the SLFP ticket could send in their applications before March 31, SLFP general secretary, state minister Dayasiri Jayasekera said. He said that a large number of people had already approached the party seeking nominations. Speaking to the media in Dec 2020, SLFP Chairman, Maithripala Sirisena said that while they looked forward to contesting pC elections as a coalition, they would insist on their fair share more..

Mar 12 (AD) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has received a request for emergency financial assistance from the Sri Lankan authorities to fight the COVID-19 epidemic. This was revealed by the Director of the Communications Department of the IMF, Gerry Rice responding to questions during a press briefing on Thursday. He was asked about Sri Lanka’s planned $1.5 billion currency swap with China and the fact it’s portrayed as a way of Sri Lanka is resistant to IMF programs. more..

Mar 12 (Island) The SJB has requested the Ministry of Finance to conduct a forensic audit on the loss incurred by the state due to reducing the import duty on sugar to Rs. 0.25 per kilo. SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva urged a forensic audit to calculate the real loss since it was estimated that the state incurred a loss of Rs. 15.9 billion by what he called the strange exercise. “Ministry of Finance told the COPA this week that Rs. 15.9 billion in tax more..

Mar 12 (CT) National Organiser of the SLFP, State Minister Duminda Dissanayake said, although their Party does not agree with the recommendations of the PCoI into the Easter Sunday attacks, it does not mean that SLFP has any intention of leaving the present Govt. He said the SLFP made a great commitment to help set up the present Govt and as a result no one will leave the Govt they helped to establish. State Minister Duminda Dissanayake pointed out the shortcomings of the PCoI more..

Mar 12 (DM) Foreign Ministry today said that it had called for a full scale inquiry into the sale of non slip doormats on the Amazon site with the print of SL's national flag. The Ministry, in a statement said that following, recent reports on social media platforms of a Sri Lanka Flag Non-Slip Doormat which is being advertised for online purchase on the Amazon website, Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage has informed the SL Embassy in Beijing to contact the manufacturer more..

Mar 12 (DM) Even with 52% women in its population, the majority of SL’s women and girls are unable to make themselves productive, especially due to menstrual cycles. As a majority of women and girls, especially in rural areas, do not have access to and cannot afford to purchase sanitary napkins, many of them opt to stay at home. During their periods, girls also choose to stay away from school. It is in such a backdrop that more..

Mar 12 (DN) It was revealed at the Committee on Public Accounts held in Parliament recently that the Govt had to pay an additional amount of Rs. 62,499,656 due to irregularities in the importation of GI pipes and fittings for the Eastern Province (EP) Water Development Project implemented in 2013 with the assistance of the Japan Int'l Cooperation Agency (JICA). Treasury had entrusted the task of importing the pipes and fittings required for the project to National Water Supply more..

Mar 12 (AD) The govt expects to resume direct flight services between Jaffna and Chennai which were suspended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Minister of Transport Prasanna Ranatunga. In addition, internal flights operating between Ratmalana, Jaffna and Batticaloa will also recommence soon, he added. Further, it is reported that arrangements are in progress to launch flights between Sri Lanka and India under the air travel bubble concept. more..

Mar 12 (FT) Establishing a dedicated capacity at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to collect and preserve evidence about grave rights violations in SL will cost an estimated $ 2 million, UNHRC member states were informed this week. If established, the mechanism would support judicial proceedings in other UN member states with jurisdiction to prosecute extra-territorial more..

Mar 12 (CT) A total of 61 elephants have died during the first 69 days of 2021, Convener of the SL Biodiversity Conservation and Research Unit, Supun Lahiru, said. A total of 1,578 pachyderms had died in the period from 2016 up to last year and explained that in the time period a total of six jumbos had perished per week due to various reasons. The number of elephant deaths had somewhat declined due to the impact of COVID-19 as lockdowns and isolation of areas had taken place. more..

Mar 12 (LP) If anywhere deserves the title of a true year-round destination then it’s SL. The teardrop-shaped isle’s proximity to the equator ensures pleasantly warm, stable temperatures whatever the season, while its annual dual monsoons means that while one side of the country is taking a soaking, the other is primed for afternoons on the beach. On top of this is a calendar chocked full of festivals and holidays, offering a unique cultural highlight for visitors almost every month. more..

Mar 12 (FT) The language of the draft resolution on SL continues to tighten unprecedentedly as the days wind down for negotiations on the text before it is put to a vote at the UNHRC at the end of its 46th Session on 22-23 March. The co-sponsors of the resolution on SL are likely to incorporate language into the resolution that calls on High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to present written reports or oral statements every more..

Mar 12 (PTI) Former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday stressed on further strengthening economic ties with neighbouring Sri Lanka and said that Indian investments in the island nation will take it to a higher growth trajectory and create more local jobs. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, Prabhu said India wants Sri Lanka to benefit from the former's progress towards the goal of USD 5 trillion economy. "India would like to ensure that we make investment in Sri Lanka more..

Mar 12 (AD) JVP politburo member, former MP Sunil Handunnetti has filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition with the Supreme Court seeking legal action against the alleged sugar scam which incurred a loss of Rs. 15.9 billion to the govt. Prez Rajapaksa, Finance Minister PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera, AG Dappula de Livera, Finance Secretary S.R. Attygalle, former Sathosa chairman Nushad Perera, Pyramid Wilmar and its chairman Sajath Mawzoon more..

Mar 12 (EN) SLPP architect Basil Rajapaksa is the most qualified to run for president in the event Prez Rajapaksa doesn’t seek re-election in four years’ time, SLPP MP Sahan Pradeep said. MP said Basil Rajapaksa will be the ideal candidate with the vision and intelligence to bring all parties together and develop the country. “As the SLPP, we are quite clear that Basil Rajapaksa is qualified to contest. Some camps that are not keen on more..

Mar 13 (DM) Barely three weeks after the Chief Minister of Indian State of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb had stated that Indian Home Minister and former National President of Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), Amit Shah had a plan to expand his party to Nepal and Sri Lanka, a political party with the BJP tag has been formed in SL. A Colombo-based Tamil hotelier of Indian Origin, Velusamy Muthuswamy, announced the formation of the political party called Ilankai Bharatiya Janatha Katchi (IBJK) or more..

Mar 13 (DM) In SL racial discrimination has led to a 30-year civil war with the death toll reported to be more than 100,000. Independent analysts believe its roots started in 1951 when the ruling UNP front-liner SWRD Bandaranaike resigned and crossed over with several of his close associates to form the Sinhala Maha Sabha. Thereafter he formed the SLFP. On the issue of language, the SLFP originally espoused the use of both Sinhala and Tamil as national languages, but in the mid-1950s more..

Mar 13 (CT) In Aug 2015, a young unsuspecting girl and a boy walked into the SL Thowheed Jama’ath (SLTJ) office at Maligawatte, where the girl walked in with an eagerness to become a follower of Islam. This young girl from Mankadu, Batticaloa who decided to believe in something new, with the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with had no idea she was about to become a stakeholder in the most horrendous terrorist more..

Mar 13 (CT) On Friday, this newspaper carried a news item under the heading 61 elephants died in the first 69 days of 2021. That meant, that including and during the period from 1 Jan to 10 Mar of this year, 61 elephants have been killed, mainly due to human-elephant conflict as inferred to by that article. A year has 365 days, if this number (61) is extrapolated for the totality of the year that translates to the fact that SL is on target to record a total of 323 elephant deaths for the year (2021). more..

Mar 13 (DM) It appears that Sri Lanka is planning to introduce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the power-generation sector for the first time. LNG is a clean and relatively environmental-friendly energy source. However, coal is certainly the most cost-effective energy source for centralised power-generation in SL apart from the risk of environmental pollution. On the other hand, coal has the world’s largest known fossil fuel reserves of 900TWyr compared to LNG (215TWyr) and fuel oil (240TWyr). more..

Mar 13 (CT) Destruction of the environment in the name of development has been a persistent concern over the recent past, not just to environmentalists but also to the indigenous populations who have gradually lost their land and have not been able to voice their grief. “The Indigenous population has continuously lamented about their distress due to the destruction and disappearance of dense forests in which more..

Mar 13 (CT) Easter Sunday terror attacks on Churches and popular tourist hotels in 2019 was one of the most devastating moments in SL’s history. Apart from the hundreds of lives that were lost and others that were scarred for life, what is most distressing about the attacks is that all of this death and destruction could have been prevented, if the political leadership of the time had the willpower to act on the various forewarnings they had received. Ten incidents involving Zaharan Hashim and more..

Mar 13 (ST) It may be difficult for many people to keep listening to a speech on a macroeconomic issue for one hour without falling asleep. It is such a boring area of economics to talk about inflation, money stock, budget deficit, interest rates and exchange rates. However, it is at the heart of economic management and policy making of a country. For the same reason, investors, professionals and businessmen are always interested to know how the macroeconomic more..

Mar 13 (CT) Sri Lanka just told the UN that implementation of policies regarding women’s rights should be in tandem with domestic compulsions and requirements. SL declared to the word that rights are not inalienable, nor universal, but are a dependent variable of domestic compulsions. This should come as no surprise to those co-sponsors of the draft resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, who might have suspected that this might indeed be the case with regard to other human rights, more..

Mar 13 (Island) The govt apparently specialises in making U-turns. It refused to consider burial as an option as regards the disposal of the remains of pandemic victims. It, in its wisdom, let the issue of mandatory cremations become internationalised before agreeing to permit burials. Likewise, it got into hot water by refusing to allow the Attorney General (AG) to have access to all documents related to the PCoI final report on the Easter Sunday carnage. more..

Mar 13 (CT) Parliament became a hive of activity after some time last week as most of its consultative committee meetings and those attending them had been curtailed due to the COVID-19 impact. Only the Consultative Committee on Finance had convened and a certain number of Govt officials had attended it. PM Mahinda Rajapaksa had become busy as he had to attend a few such meetings. more..

Mar 13 (TM) At a discussion held recently regarding the laws and conditions concerning women’s participation in SL’s labour force, it was emphasised that law reforms alone cannot make tangible changes in improving working conditions for women, as practical issues in this connection should also be addressed. The discussion, held in the form of a webinar on 5 March, was attended by Justice Minister President’s Counsel (PC) M.U.M. Ali Sabry, Verité Research Dy Head of Legal Research more..

Mar 13 (ST) The 60 plus students of Polonnaruwa Girls’ Football Academy were given a boost for their untiring efforts in fighting the odds to reach limelight when counterparts from Renown Football Academy, the training arm of Renown Sports Club. After following the progress and interest shown by the Polonnaruwa Girls’ Football Academy, inspired by its Head Coach Pubudu Paranagama during the recent years, and some skill-related video clips of the young girls of the academy in social media, more..

Mar 13 (DM) The iconic global fried chicken brand that started in Louisiana, USA, officially announces its entry into the SL market. From 25th February 2021 guests can experience the unique New Orleans style mouth-watering menu at the first ever Popeyes™ restaurant in SL, located at 282, Galle Road, Mount Lavinia. The new Popeyes™ restaurant will be the fifth international franchise brand under Softlogic Restaurants, more..

Mar 13 (CI) Danushka Gunathilaka has said Kieron Pollard apologised to him for his controversial obstructing-the-field appeal during the first ODI in Antigua. The incident occurred in the 22nd over of SL's innings, when Gunathilaka, batting on 55, played the ball down into the pitch and ran a few steps out of his crease before deciding against the single when he saw the bowler, Pollard, haring towards the ball in a run-out attempt. In his effort to regain his crease, however, more..

Mar 13 (TM) The export target for the batik, handloom, and local apparel industry is set at $ 6 billion in 2021. “In 2020, the industry faced a loss of $ 1.2 billion due to Covid, since the exports amounted to $ 5 .6 billion in 2019 in comparison to $4.4 billion in 2020,” Batik, Handloom, and Local Apparel Products State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara told us. The Govt, in an attempt to encourage local production and save foreign exchange outflows, recently decided to ban batik imports to SL. more..

Mar 13 (DM) High Commissioner Gopal Baglay who commenced his four-day visit to N&E Provinces on March 11, prayed at Ramsethu (Adam’s bridge) – a connecting bridge that is said to have existed between India and SL several centuries ago. Ram Setu is a chain of limestone shoals between the coasts of India and SL. According to the epic, Ramayana, the bridge was built by the Vanara army to rescue Sita kidnapped by Ravana. more..

Mar 13 (TM) Former SL fast bowler Chaminda Vaas is expected to start working again as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) High Performance Centre fast bowling coach. Vaas resigned from the position in the eve of Sri Lanka limited-over team’s departure to the West Indies late last month allegedly owing to a pay dispute. Vaas had been appointed, reportedly on an ad hoc basis, as Sri Lanka national team’s fast bowling coach for the tour of West Indies, in addition to his High Performance Centre occupation, more..