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| Tuesday, 2 December 2003 |
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Letters | |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
HIV/AIDS kills one person every ten seconds. People are dying while you are reading this letter. This is a tragic situation considering that HIV/AIDS is not considered as a deadly illness any more. With the new advances in treatment, it is now considered as a chronic infection with which one can live for many long years. However, for most of HIV positive persons in Sri Lanka, treatment is still not freely available even for a fee as often the medicines become out of stocks with the agents. Globally the World Health Organisation has taken up the challenge of facilitating making available AIDS treatment to 3 Million people by the year 2005. Out of this three million people target, for hundred thousand (400,000) people will be in the South East Asia Region and of that 340 will be in Sri Lanka. However realizing treatment for 340 persons will not be an easy task even with the support of the WHO. The country itself will have to take initiatives to mobilize at least part of the required funds for this purpose. The Government should take the recommendation made by the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) to include AIDS medication under the HIV/AIDS Prevention Project funded by a World Bank Grant. DR. HEMAMAL JAYAWARDENA, Bangladesh The Budget - pensioners let down The public service pensioners who expected their woes to be over with the Budget proposals have been completely let down. In the case of the public servants the increase is to be 10 per cent of the present salary drawn or Rs. 1,250 whichever is more, whereas in the case of the pensioners, though 10 per cent increase has been mentioned, it has not been stated whether the increase is on the present all inclusive pension drawn. There is no minimum figure specified. If the 10 per cent increase is not on the present pension drawn then, it will be a mere pittance. On the other hand, the increase granted to the public servants will further widen the anomalies that exist in the pension payments especially to those who retired from service before 1997. Those who retired prior to 1997 draw very low pensions as compared to their grades who retired thereafter. It is sad that the situation has not been rectified. The former PA Government which promised a better deal to the pensioners failed in that, but appointed a Committee to do away with the pension anomalies that exist. The Committee put up certain recommendations which if implemented would result in much relief to the pensioners. The present UNF Government which promised to do away with the anomalies and grant a pension in keeping with the increases granted to public servants and also in keeping with the rising Cost of Living, whilst failing to keep to that promise, is to appoint another Committee to rectify the existing anomalies, a delaying tactic, no doubt. The appointment of another Committee is sheer wastage of time and money. The report already available could be used, with changes if necessary, to grant relief to the pensioners. Unfortunately, Committees come and go, but the pension anomalies and the misery of the pensioners go on and on whilst the affected pensioners progressively go away never to return: A future Government may perhaps find no necessity for yet another anomalies review committee as the affected pensioners will by then be too few and feeble to make their voices heard: It is time that the pensioners join hands against this discrimination. UPALI S. JAYASEKERA, Colombo 4 Yesterday's whisper about a coup by Quislings to cut the sod under the feet of Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse, has today turned into a whistle. The message (and the motives) should be pretty much loud and clear to everybody who has a stake in the future of the country and the stability of the Party founded by that ennobled Grand Old Man, who fell victim to the first coup of its kind and paid the supreme price for the simple sin of being a friend of the common man. Despite intrigues by few selfish members within the Party, it has survived thus far, because we have been fortunate enough to have strong-willed men like the Leader of the Opposition to keep it going. And keep it going, he did in his own inimitable style. The most glaring example of his commitment and resolve to keep the Party intact being his daring "Paada Yaathra" which he organised and led with like-minded patriots from Vihara Maha Devi Park to Katharagama, several years ago, at a time when no one had the guts to say boo to a goose! Thus did he make his point! 'Like father, like son' - Mahinda Rajapakse has proved his worth as a leader, organiser and a loyalist and the place he has carved for himself in the Party cannot and should not be denied him. This is the time we need national leaders of his caliber more than ever, to steer us clear of the tempest that is brewing. So, let no Brutus stab him in the back for, to do so, tantamount to stabbing the Party itself, and we, as children of 1956 hope that sanity will prevail at all levels. A.C., Kandy The concluding remark in your editorial (Nov. 25) should become a reality, if Sri Lanka is to find a place in the globe. And there are sure signs that our little island could become a path-setter in showing to the world the middle path preached by the Buddha and the Hindu and Moslem sages. Yes, 'enemies of peace are alienated from the silent majority yearning for a just peace'. The real enemies are not the vast majority of the Sinhalese and the Tamil or the Islamic people or the others from different communities, but the ultra racist among us, who seem to bring back an imagined 'golden era' that could never come. The humankind will survive. K. S. SIVAKUMARAN, USA The article, 'Unity and peace essential' by Upali S. Jayasekera (Nov. 21) is a must read to all Sri Lankans in general and those politicians and journalists in particular. His historical analysis and rational persuasions are timely, especially at this critical juncture in political history. Ours is a paradise island and political leaders have been ruining it for the past five decades. If due consideration is given to understand the essence of this article, we all can live in peace and develop the country to prosperity. S. SHANMUGALINGAM, UK I am a retired stenographer in receipt of a pension from Government (tax-free) and interest income from fixed deposits and savings accounts in NSB and Bank of Ceylon. These investments were made by me during and after my period of service in the private sector, which I had joined after early retirement from Government service. My terminal benefits (EPF, ETF and Gratuity) were all invested in NSB. Due to the good advice I had received from a friend, I also hold 300 to 500 shares in each of Hayleys, John Keells Holdings and Asiri Hospital. The latter helps me to get a discount on my regular visits for medical checks that are essential for an elderly person with high levels of cholesterol and hypertension. I was getting a total annual income of around 200,000 to 210,000 up to 2001. This got reduced to around 190,000 in 2002, due to the withdrawal of ACT and imposition of dividend tax in the last budget. I have been able to marginally increase my income by some selling, on the share market, of rights and bonus shares fairly regularly received from these companies in which I hold shares. I am now informed that though the Government has increased the amount receivable monthly as interest income to Rs. 25,000 (my income from interest in 2002/2003 was only Rs. 122,000 for the year after deduction of wh tax by NSB before I encashed the deposit on maturity), that there will be a 10 per cent wh tax deduction on each interest payment irrespective of the amount unless I get a 'direction' from a 'relevant Government Department. I receive about Rs. 200 to 250 monthly as interest on my savings a/cs in NSB and BOC as I have to keep a fair amount in these accounts to meet medical expenses that have often to be incurred suddenly. The Minister said that these wh tax deductions will be made from January 2004 and I have no way to apply for a 'direction' as no details are given. Any Department that handles the issue of 'directions' will be snowed under by the hundreds of thousands of applications that will be sent as even an income of Rs. 100 will otherwise be taxed! I find that I may also have to pay 15 per cent on the approximately Rs. 1,500 to 2,000 that I make on average through sales of rights and bonus shares. Some expert said over the TV that I should not grudge this tax payment as 'I obviously have the capacity to pay'! In the face of all these burdens and the daily increases in the Costs of Living, I am dreadfully afraid that I will have no option but to exercise my option of dying and thereby oblige the Minister of Finance and his officials who have worked out these measures. G. M. DE SILVA, Nugegoda Whistle blowing school admissions The submission of falsified documents for school admission continues purely because there is no genuine desire on the authorities concerned to put a stop to this. All what is required is to publish the details of the selected students in a booklet and make it available to the public. The parents of the rejected children will do the needful. In the event, a parent is able to prove that another parent has submitted falsified documents, then the former should be eligible to have his child admitted. The qualifying criteria for admission should be dispensed with, as long the documents submitted by this parent are authentic. Under this scheme, a parent from Mahiyangana submitting an application to Royal College-Colombo supported by genuine documents can have his child admitted by exposing another parent who has submitted, falsified documents. Call it admission under 'Rewarding honesty scheme'. This entitlement should be valid throughout the period during which a child with falsified documents is schooling. It might take a year or two for someone to prove falsification of documents. Every grade 1 application form, at least to Government schools should carry a declaration "in the event my child is selected and subsequently proved that any of the documents submitted herewith are falsified, I am aware that my child can be sacked from school at anytime and furthermore, my child will be disqualified from admission to a university". Inclusion of this clause in itself will be a deterrent for submission of falsified documents. The University clause may take a couple of decades to be approved but the rest could probably be implemented by the school administration with the approval of the Ministry of Education. There will be a cost involved in printing a booklet containing information on the annual intake of grade 1 students, for which the parents can be asked to contribute in common when submitting applications. A nominal fee can be charged for issuing photocopies of documents requested by another parent for verification of validity. Within five years of implementation of the above, falsification of documents for school admission will be a thing of the past. We Sri Lankans are very good at whistle blowing. Living at Hendala, I often wonders how my neighbour got his child admitted to Royal College. Any way I am not complaining as my daughters are not eligible for admission to Royal. All in all, the fact of the matter is no school administration wants to put a complete stop to this crime. C. B. GALLAGE, Hendala |
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