D. A. Rajapaksa memorial lecture on Friday

COLOMBO: The D. A. Rajapaksa memorial lecture to mark the 39th death anniversary commemoration ceremony of politician D. A. Rajapaksa will be held at the BMICH, Colombo on Friday at 4.30 p.m. under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Prof. J. B. Dissanayake will deliver the memorial lecture on the theme Wenas Magaka Saradharma (morals of a different path). Prof. Kapila Gunasekara will preside.

The main D. A. Rajapaksa commemoration ceremonies were held in Tangalle on November 5, 6 and 7. The programme which began with an all-night pirith ceremony on November 5 concluded with a sanghika dana on November 6 and a floral tribute at the D. A. Rajapaksa statue on November 7.

Born in November 1905, D. A. Rajapaksa was elected uncontested to the State Council in 1945. D. A. Rajapaksa who represented the people of Ruhuna in the State Council and the Sri Lanka Parliament ever since was elected to the first Parliament as member for the Beliatte seat in 1947. Rajapaksa who represented the Beliatte seat until 1956 was a leader of Ruhuna who showed a keen interest towards the development of agriculture.

He rendered a valuable service towards the uplift of the agri economy of the rural folk by rehabilitation of tanks and introducing new irrigation schemes in Ruhuna.