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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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Letters | |
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Overcoming pernicious politics Much hope has recently sprung in the minds of the people because of the endeavours of the Most. Ven. Thibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Maha Nayaka Thera of the Malwatta temple. He has, as it was, got pushed on to the centre stage for dispelling the rivalry-cum-vicious-politics as between the SLFP and the UNP or for reducing to manageable minimum levels of untoward political play of the two parties. The Maha Nayaka should call for one or more meetings with (on the one side) the President and (on the other) the leader of the UNP for discussions chaired by the Mahanayaka for the purpose of ironing out the conflicts of the two leaders that have hamstrung the progress of the people as one sovereign nation in a territorially unfragmented Sri Lanka. In this regard it has to be ensured that there should be no dialatory tactics from any source procrastination will lead to utter failure of the exercise. We have already had the experience of umpteen instances of the two leaders' meetings, the outcome of which was fooling the people. In this connection, it is suggested with due reverence to the Maha Nayaka that he should bring his personal sterling qualities to play for instilling on the two leaders humanism to override political convenience in the approach to the various issues. Thus the critical path will adjure loyalty to any predilections in respect of misguidedly cherished emotions emanating from ethnic, caste, religious or gender considerations, which have been the real bane of our society. Let us make sacrifices now for the good of the polity. 'Time and tide wait for no man.' D. KURUNERU Opposition should oppose. Therefore there is now political opposition to the Government's proposal to increase the working hours of public servants by one hour. Anyway if someone has observed the performance in most government departments, a proposal will not be made to increase the working hours. So the only conclusion the tax paying public can come to is that this is a proposal from the Finance Minister knowing well that there will be opposition to the proposal and it can be dropped. Well done Finance Minister! As usual the UNP ends up being a sucker. UPFA can always maintain that they wanted public servants to make a greater contribution to compensate for the salary increase and the UNP prevented it. What could in fact be done is to reduce the working hours by 1 hour and introduce measures to ensure that the public servants work at least for 6 hours a day. Sri Lanka has the dubious No. 1 ranking for the highest number of holidays. what needs to be done is to seek the consent of the opposition to reduce the number of holidays. If there is opposition the UNP is exposing themselves to the business community as a party opposed to increasing productivity. However the voters should realise that no politician would want to reduce the holidays, as they too will be required to at least report to work. It is common knowledge that irrespective of the number of working hours, many politicians are productively engaged for less than 4 hours a day. Therefore be assured the holidays will not be reduced. We will continue to remain a paradise for holidays. LAYALATH ABEYWARDANA Energetic enthusiastic lives but poor facilities On this world disable week I like to emphasise, that in Sri Lanka more than 20% of its population is disabled, and this is a burning issue. The people of Sri Lanka should not stay to realise how difficult the daily life for a disabled or for an old person until it hits you. Three years ago, few weeks before my father passed away after suffering with prostate gland cancer, he wanted to go to Bellanwila Rajamaha Vihara. With my brother's help I took my parents to the temple, and as my mother is in a wheel chair and with my father's poor health, then I realised how difficult for an old or a disable person to go to a temple. That made me to take the initiative with the help of 'Seth Pavana', an organisation, which she is closely associated, and to make Bellanwila Rajamaha Vihara a disable friendly worshiping place. I am glad to find out few temples and the commercial bank has taken the initiative in making their establishment disable friendly. Functioning on a day to day basis to keep their self-esteem and values to perform ordinary tasks like doing their own shopping, going to a bank and occasionally go to a restaurant will go a long way in providing a better 'quality of life' for these physically challenged individuals. The idea is not to feel sorry for them but to enable them to 'normalise' their living. We are not sure which powers to be need to take notice either in the Governmental or private sector. Those with compassion who will read our letter may spare a thought for these people. PREETHI COLONNE-SUDHAKAR The Ceylon Medical College Council has brought up a rule as per the newspaper notice that all Apprentice Pharmacists should have (G.C.E (A/L) credit in Chemistry in addition to two simple passes in Science subjects. A booklet containing revised regulations for External Pharmacists Examination indicates the effective date as July 1, 2004. This creates confusion among master pharmacists, apprentice pharmacists and those who wish to register as apprentice pharmacists. This sudden and short sighted move is going to cause more shortage of this category in the future. The country needs thousands of qualified Pharmacists to be employed at pharmacies islandwide, in complying with the regulations of Cosmetics, Devices and Drugs Act. Most of the mushroom pharmacies do not employ a qualified pharmacist to supervise the sale of prescription only medicine. The public is aware of this problem. The average salary of a qualified pharmacist is around Rs. 10,000 and if he is working in a place like a supermarket it may be slightly more. The fact is if the students have this qualification they would follow a course which would ensure a better future with a good earning capacity after a period of two years of study and hardwork. Moreover The Ceylon Medical College Council (CMCC) which conducted the exam twice a year now conducts the same exam only once a year and delays more than six months to release the results. This has caused severe frustration and disappointment to the apprentice pharmacists. Moreover there are no avenues for career development once qualified as a pharmacist. The registrar CMCC should address these national issues of grave importance. The Ceylon Medical College Council should reconsider its decision and enrol more apprentice pharmacists by keeping the old rule of (GCE O/L) to overcome the severe scarcity of qualified pharmacists. EDWARD PERERA The Inland Revenue Department wants to recognise the honest tax payers and create a new tax culture. May I also suggest that a tax credit of 1% of tax payable subject to a minimum of Rs. 1000 be given to those filing the income tax return on or before June 30. The present deadline for filing returns is Nov. 30. I am sure 90% of the returns are filed in the month of November. It would then be necessary for the Tax Dept. to dispatch the returns in April and not in October as at present. For the credit given, the Tax Dept. can issue a voucher which would enable deduction from tax payable for the following year. Employers can be authorised to grant credit for P.A.Y.E tax on the basis of the voucher. Consequently the Tax Department will not get bogged down on paper work other than the issue of the voucher. Just imagine the efficiency at the department by spreading the workload throughout the year. Of course, this may eliminate the need to work overtime and may not be welcome by some employees. SUMEDHA AMARADASA Make the First Saturday a Working Day There is much debate and controversy expressed by various sources over the 9 hour working day. The 9 hour working day may be difficult due to various reasons, the main reason being our road and transport system. A viable alternative will be to make the first Saturday of every month a working day. This will be in lieu of the Poya Holiday which we get every month. This will be a ideal proposition to enhance the productivity of our country. P. V. S. RANJAN |
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