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In response to M.B.M. Zubair’s article which appeared in Daily News
of November 5. In respect of the religious beliefs he has mentioned, I
do not like to give any comments.
Let’s see the last paragraph of the article ‘to import beef like in
Bhutan because we have a very large herd of meat cattle in the dry zone.
We lack foreign exchange and we cannot afford to waste our valuable
foreign exchange to import beef which is available at our doorstep....
etc.’
I wish to ask Zubair that ‘is foreign exchange more valuable than
one’s life (even an animal)?’ Do we use our valuable foreign exchange
only to import beef or meat? When we go to a supermarket they are full
of imported items.
Don’t we use huge amount of foreign exchange for motor vehicles that
cannot afford a country like ours? Don’t we import fuel for those
imported vehicles?
Zubair has also forgotten that how many Australian dairy farmers are
getting rich, for we import so much milk food, while we have cattle in
our doorsteps. With the present cost of milk powder, it is best that we
conserve our milch herd rather than allowing to decimate this herd and
import milk powder spending billions of rupees in foreign exchange.
Beef is rich with saturated fatty acids according to people who know
the subject which is bad for health. For countries which have deserts
where arable farming is not possible, meat may be an alternative to
other sources of food. In cold countries too, this may be necessary. But
in a tropical country like ours we have alternate sources of protein.
I suggest animal lovers should try to convince the public to wean off
meat eating on a voluntary basis.
N. AMARASEKERA
Kandy
Roads are being re-named replacing their old names with new names to
suit the current social and cultural trends. Most of the roads in
Colombo which carried British raj names have been re-named with
indigenous names.
Outstanding among them are Mc Callum Road as D. R. Wijewardene
Mawatha, York Street as Sir Baron Jayatilleke Mawatha, Union Place as
Dr. Colvin R. De Silva Mawatha, Torrington Place as Nidahas Mawatha,
Baillie Street as Mudalige Mawatha, Bullers Road as Bauddhaloka Mawatha,
Staple Street as W. A. D. Ramanayake Mawatha, Baseline Road as Dr.
Danister de Silva Mawatha and so on. These are only a few examples to
resurrect the memory of the readers.
One notable feature of the local names is they are too long while the
English names are too short and convenient to pronounce. During the
British time, roads were named to perpetuate the memory of British
Governors and other key personnel who held high positions in the country
then.
But, with local barons taking the realm, things turned to a worse
scenario where roads were named haphazardly without rhyme or reason for
political considerations. There is no reason to justify that we should
maintain the status quo purported by the foreigners but there should be
sanity and justification in changing them.
Out of the few names I have mentioned above, there are names which
fall into the category of political affiliations.
To perpetuate a name of a person, he or she should have tendered a
yeomen service to society by being an intellectual, philanthropist,
educationist, scientist or any one who is deserved to be remembered.
Some of the present day names given to roads are better be forgotten
than perpetuated. A shining example for this argument, rest with the
names given to roads after politicians in the Colombo North area. There
are dozen roads falling into this category. They have not served the
country or society but they have served themselves.
The point I want to raise now is how many people below the age of 30
will know who Dr. Colvin R. De Silva was?
May I suggest that a plaque depicting a short description of the
person by whose name the road has been renamed be installed at the foot
of the name board, so that even a person who is inquisitive about the
particular person whose name has been permanently perpetuated by naming
the road will know who he was.
J. N.
Nugegoda
If you prowl along a village track, you could see millions and
millions of jak and breadfruits rotting under trees during their bearing
season.
Not a rare sight. No exaggeration and nothing to laugh at. Face to
the bare facts.
In our homes we eat baby jak curry when the fruit is about two
months. At three or three and a half as ‘dandu kos’. At four as ‘kethi
kos’ when matured as ‘kiri kos’ or ‘kos curry’.
And ripe jak as ‘vela’ and ‘waraka’ as a dessert. The excess jak and
seeds were preserved for the off season as ‘atukos madula’, ‘atu kos eta’,
‘atu kos sibidi’. Same with breadfruit, boiled and eat or use as
curries.
Excess fruits dried and kept for future use. I won’t bother to
explain the process of drying, because it is common knowledge. ‘Kos
katta’ or the thick covering used as cattle food.
Concerned citizen
The first place in recently concluded NPA awards was won by the
Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE), which was one of the
most corrupt departments next to Police in the island.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of some of the past controllers and
support from the dedicated staff and computerisation of the issuance of
passports, DIE can now boast of an efficient service to the Sri Lankan
public as well as foreigners. In 2004, also it won a place in NPA
awards.
It also generates revenue to the country by way of collecting
passport, visa, citizenship fees etc. Compared to most of other
Government institutions it has hosted a website in 2002, where anyone
from anywhere in the world can download all applications for passports,
visas, dual citizenship etc.
As per the news item published on November 5 one black sheep is
enough to tarnish the image of DIE. If the DIE staff now consider
withdrawing the one day service just because of a few corrupt officials,
public have to suffer including migrant workers and businessmen.
Lining up to protect a colleague who is a cancer patient and boycott
one day service is not a done thing. If such a decision is taken, the NP
Awards 2007 may be withdrawn, as in the case of Marion Jones who was
involved in a drug scandal.
The staff should help CID to round up kingpins, to retain the good
name earned by working hard during the last ten years. If anyone has
contacts with unscrupulous persons/Touts/Brokers etc. via cell phones,
use of same should be banned during office hours.
The CID should get the detailed lists of calls taken through land
lines home/office and cellular phones by the staff to identify the
corrupt officials.They should be removed out from DIE immediately until
the disciplinary inquiries are finished.
Passports, NICs, driving licences are continue to be issued accepting
bogus documents, making a fast buck with the connivance of insiders.
Former Controller of DIE is now charged under Bribery Act and former
Commissioner of RPD is also charged for issuing NICs to terrorists.
All doubtful Birth Certificates, Identity Cards should be retained at
the counter while accepting applications with cash payments and referred
to the relevant authorities to confirm the genuineness.
Document forgery is a canker which should be nipped in the bud as
highlighted in one of daily newspapers. If we can commence issuance of a
16 digit number to a person at birth and carry same number for
Passports, Driving Licences, Identity Cards, Bank Accounts, Credit
Cards, Income Tax etc. corruption in the country can be minimised.
KANCHANA PERERA
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