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| Friday, 14 May 2004 |
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It was the Venerable Atureliye Rathana Thera of the JHU speaking some time back on TV said that the position taken up by them at the election of the Speaker was purely a question of Arithmetic. Knowing that the two rebel monks said to have been bought over and abducted were going to vote with government, they nominated two of their monks to vote with the opposition: tit for tat. Besides this being against Buddha's teaching, where is their neutrality? This has led, besides, the disreputable behaviour of some members of Parliament, to unruly elements attacking temples and monks themselves and the necessity for police intervention annoying those who were against the stand taken by the JHU monks. Anyway, is this a strategy to establish a Dharmarajya? If this is the way, it is going to be done being biased, the same reaction from the members of Parliament and the biased public could be expected. This is hardly a way to have checks and balances. It is not too late to clear the public mind of whether the JHU is partisan or not. Already it has created division among the Sangha which is very unfortunate by not following the right course of action to establish a Dharmarajya as envisaged in the Dhamma, viz a just and fair society (as applicable to a globalized society of today). It now appears the laymen, more specially the Jathika Urumaya will be joining the JHU to contest the forthcoming Provincial Council Election, likely going beyond the monks' agenda resulting in the tail wagging the dog - which would cause further dissension. The better course would have been for these monks to have fought for their cause outside Parliament using their financial resources, to take the place of those who unethically convert the hunger, poverty and ignorance for their purpose and to canvass the Parliamentarians to further their case. Tissa Amarasekera, Observation disgrace from Kandy to Haputale We with much difficulty and the kind assistance of the General Manager, Superintendent Fort Railway Station, Kandy Reservations Officer and the Head Guard, obtained seats on the Observation car for our 11 clients to travel from Kandy to Haputale to view a scenic breath-taking train trip in early April this year. I must make those who are responsible for this train journey aware that this compartment was a disgrace to the Railway, and is worth an inspection by the higher ups, as I am sure many tourists use this service. The seats are dirty, so is the inside of the compartment, the windows have never seen the colour of water, the toilet cannot be used, with the odour polluting the beautiful view. The cost of a ticket was very reasonable, but I am sure tourists wouldn't mind paying much more for a better service, and could be considered. I do hope this will enable the persons concerned to look into this, and re-condition this carriage to suit the purpose of the foreign visitors or even the local travellers. ROYSTON DE ZILWA, Public Administration Circular No. 44/90, which came into effect in 1990, was an optional scheme that encouraged officers to retire prematurely with a view to reduce staff. While barring re-employment in regular cadres in government or semi-government sector, it gave enhanced benefits over 'normal' retirement. One such benefit was the payment of 90 per cent of salary at retirement as pension to those retiring with over 20 years service. Normal retirees get less percentage unless they have the required number of years of service. Officers who opted to retire prematurely under 44/90 did so for this enhanced 90 per cent pension, foregoing the benefits of continuing in service. The above extra benefit given to 44/90 retirees for loss of career has now been unfairly removed by the recent PA Circular No. 06/2004, as it makes no distinction between 44/90 retirees and normal retirees. It uses a percentage table that is contrary to 44/90 reducing their 90 per cent pension, in some cases by as much as 25 per cent. Although 06/2004 provides for retaining the previous pension if it is higher than the revised, it denies such 44/90 retirees a considerable increase in pension. This increase would be due to them if as stated in 06/2004, they are considered as retiring on 31.12.1996, 44/90 was in force on that date. A reasonable way 06/2004 should deal with 44/90 retirees is to treat 44/90 to be in force on 31.12.1996 and grant the 90% pension as contracted without applying the percentage table in their case. I therefore request the relevant authorities to correct this injustice by suitably amending 06/2004 to enable 44/90 retirees to earn their due increase in pension. D. P., Prof. G. L Peiris, former Constitutional Affairs Minister has expressed at an interview in Colombo that he in his opinion thinks that when the Government puts the Constitutional Reforms at the head of the Agenda, it is unthinkable with the present composition of the House of Representatives. Although the PA has got this as a proposal in the manifesto, the PA has so many other priorities for the people in place of this proposal the Professor has observed at this interview in Colombo. There is theory as well as practice in anything. Unless the House comes out as a Constituent Assembly to make recommendations and proposals for amendments required in the present Constitution, there is hardly any positive opportunity to bring a drastic Constitutional reformation at this juncture. No Constitution can be analysed as a perfect document. When the PA brought a new Constitutional Draft in the year 2000 due to its rash experience the Bill was defeated in Parliament as a whole. It is remarkable that the blood that runs through our Constitution is thicker when it comes to pockets where fundamental issues such as the place of the Buddha Sasana, Provincial Councils and the Electoral system which needs the theorapy of sensitive consensus. It is left to the wisdom of the Government to deal the Constitutional amendments with utmost care since its survival in the peace process is determined on this exercise. BANDULA NONIS, It was reported that monkeys are creating problems to villagers down south around Kosgoda. It's not only in that part of the country that these wild animals are creating problems to farmers, especially, vegetable farmers of Bandarawela too have been badly affected by these pests. Besides, there are problems from wild boar population all over the country, especially in the upcountry and Balangoda area. It's the same in the rest of the country as well. These wild boar dig and eat the roots and yams of vegetables, further, they destroy the drainage system of paddy fields. These problems have been brought to the notice of the wildlife authorities but they don't take any action with regards to their management. It was purely because these officers, like any other officer are just government servants. They are paid their monthly salary whether or not they work. In many instances they give lame excuses. It's the normal custom of any country to control such pests by allowing people to kill them until the threshold level population is reached. Wildboar has no known predators in the village areas or in the plantations. Their population explodes, therefore, people must be given permission to hunt them and eat. All these are responsibilities of the Wildlife Dept. Now only the above animals, biology, the breeding pattern, sustainable population etc. must be studied. Then action must be taken to bring the populations under control. It's not just enough that we have a good life population. To be very fair by the norms of other countries, like the US, we know nothing about our wildlife, even the so-called elephants are not fully studied. Needless to say about the other animals like varanus, iguanas, otters, manis, parakeets and even crows. The reason behind is that the Dept. of Wildlife doesn't have wildlife biologists, not a single. They are the scientists who study the biology of wild animals and recommend ways of managing their population. Look at how these populations are studied in this country, the US, each and every beaver population, fish population, deer and even black bear population is known and every year a certain number of wild animals are slaughtered by hunters, or control extraction takes place. It's time that Sri Lanka study the wild animal populations, at least those that are problematic species like wild boar and control their populations.Unfortunately, we in Sri Lanka consider only elephants as wildlife. Elephants too are getting extinct now. Seventeen elephants have been killed during the past four months. Wildlife Dept. must think of these matters seriously and recruit many young graduates as wildlife biologists and assign them to study wildlife populations in each of the AGA division and obtain a comprehensive knowledge from them. Each AGA division can recruit at least six wildlife biologists and they in turn could study all wild animals within the area of the division. Their salaries etc. could be found from illegal gem miners, tree fellers, etc without any additional cost to the government. The data gathered by these biologists could be used to formulate strategies for management. PROFESSOR J. JINADASA |
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