|
Sri Lankans have been swindled time and again by bogus investment
companies, without effective measures from the authorities to curb them.
Initially, in the early 80’s a housing development company bearing
the name Lee Potter (Leelananda and Potter) collected many millions of
rupees convincing many an unsuspected customer of constructing houses,
only to disappear without a trace. However, to date either of these
parties may be roaming free as no attempt was made to bring him to book.
Next was the Pramuka Bank scam, where the party liable is said to
have disappeared with several hundred million rupees. At that stage
solemn promises were made that he would be traced with help of Interpol.
Approximately two years has passed since then and those who suffered
losses are still searching for justice.
Most recently we heard of Sakvithi Ranasinghe, who has once again
vanished with a vast sum of money collected from unsuspecting investors.
He still remains illusive and not traced.
In spite of such massive frauds perpetrated on innocent investors by
unscrupulous individuals the Central Bank keeps blaming those who invest
money with such bogus companies. One cannot but ponder on what the
Monetary Board done to prevent such shady individuals from robbing the
public. I feel it is time for the authorities to bring in stringent
legislation to prevent such scams at least in the future and to protect
the innocent public. Outlined below are such suggestions to achieve this
purpose.
(A) Let all financial institutions including banks, finance and
leasing companies, property dealers and property developers and money
lenders register with the Monetary Board for a fee.
(B) Such registration should be made renewable annually. Along with
the renewal application a balance sheet of the company certified by a
competent management accountant should be submitted.
The Monetary Board should be empowered to call for any further
documents for verification where any doubt exists. Companies not
complying with established regulations should be penalised by way of a
fine or by the cancellation of their registration or both where
necessary. A copy of the certificate of registration must be displayed
prominently at the registered office and at all branch offices of such
institutions.
(C) Every such registered institution must be visited bi-annually by
a flying squad of the Monetary Board during which, all relevant books
and documents will be inspected, where shortcomings are noted,
rectification of such will be advised.
This will help minimise illegal transactions and money transfers as
had happened in the recent past.
(D) A list of all approved financial institutions must be published
annually in the print media in all three languages. it also must carry a
warning to the public about the risk of investing in non-approved
institutions.
(E) A separate division of the Monetary Board should be established
with assigned staff to handle and process paper work in this regard.
The cost of maintaining this division can be easily collected from
the registration fees. These and any other relevant matters could be
incorporated into the legislation contemplated by the Central Bank and
put to Parliament as an urgent measure.
Dr. G. D. Fonseka - Yatiyantota
Often the private hospitals and some doctors get the patients to do
some important investigations but they do not give the reports to the
patients.
The patients must know the reports belong to them since they have
paid for them. They have all the rights to obtain them and show them to
other doctors for a second opinion if necessary.
The doctors refuse to give the reports on the pretext that the
patients may lose them. If they fear that, then they should have a copy
and give the original to the patients.
The problem in our country is that often the common man does not know
their rights. And some unscrupulous people take advantage of this
ignorance. It is important to educate the patients on their rights and
make sure they do not suffer due to lack of information.
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai - Dehiwela
It was on Saturday, December 14 late evening I was a passenger in the
Colombo bound intercity train from Nanu Oya. An absolute nightmare for
commuters in this special train, when it reached Ihalakotte, a crossing
small station situated between Kadugannawa and Kadigamuwa.
The train was stopped by the control room to give way to a Kandy
bound train, which should have reached this station in a matter of 17
minutes which never came. As time passed by I could hear screams and
angry yelling from infants to adults, who are in a no way out situation
at a place which is situated in the middle of the woods. The main reason
for the anger was that when they reach Colombo, they will not have means
of transport to reach their destinations.
I, as another passenger having obtained the Transport Minister’s
telephone number, initiated call never having any hope whatsoever, that
I get any response. But to my utmost surprise it was the Minister
himself who picked the phone. Having listened to me he obtained my
number, then I thought, this is a typical Sri Lankan approach of taming.
The second surprise came in my way, when I received a call from the
Minister’s Secretary, who by that time had obtained all information
regarding the incident and related all. Consequently, the ultimate
prediction was that the train will only reach Fort close to midnight, as
the engine of the other train had failed and that had to be towed with
another engine.
Again without having any positive hopes, on behalf of the commuters I
urged him if he could arrange some buses to facilitate all passengers to
reach their destinations and the answer was as usual, “I will look into
it.” Ten minutes later he called me to inform that 4 SLTB buses destined
to Negombo, Horana, Avissawella and Kalutara will be stationed opposite
the Fort Station. This made me and the staff of the train to wonder
whether we were in Sri Lanka. What a humanitarian touch. Isn’t this a
sure case of setting example by a Minister and his personal staff as to
how to serve the public?
It did not stop at that, I was contacted by the CEO of SLTB and
informed about the bus arrangements, what a gesture.
Finally the train reached Colombo Fort by 11.45 p.m. and the four
buses were kept ready there. The dedication and commitment of the
Minister’s Secretary and SLTB CEO didn’t end there. Both of them phoned
me to ensure the buses were sufficient and that there was no passenger
was stranded. I reached my destination by 1 a.m., This is as an eye
opener to all other politicians and those who hold public office.
May Mother Lanka be blessed with more characters of the caliber of
Minister Dullas Alahapperuma to hold public offices.’
Fouzer Sheriffdeen
A crisis resulting in injustice has emerged over the Mathematics
Paper of GCE O/L 2008. Mathematics is a compulsory subject and the
candidates who sat the examination under the New Syllabus were the
unfortunate victims.
The Department of Education introduced the New Syllabus in
Mathematics from the year 2008 to encourage the students so that they
may develop a liking to mathematics and thus bring down the percentage
of students who fail in this subject. In the year 2007, GCE O/L
Examination 59 per cent of the candidates failed in Mathematics.
In this year’s GCE O/L Examination two similar questions have been
included in the papers both under the new and old syllabuses with
different time allocations to answer them. Candidates who sat the
examination under the new syllabus were thus immensely inconvenienced.
Students who sat for the paper according to the new syllabus were
given lesser time with fewer marks being allocated for the questions.
In case of students following the old syllabus, 14 marks were awarded
for the questions with 18 minutes given to answer them. However the
candidates who sat under the new syllabus have been given only 10 marks
with only 12 minutes to answer them.
Therefore they have been subjected to a grave injustice. Even the
brightest students had found it difficult to answer the question paper.
Mathematics is one of the core subjects of the whole examination.
Most candidates found it difficult to understand the questions.
This year, most candidates who answered the mathematics paper under
the new syllabus came from the examination hall with tears in their
eyes. Some students fainted during the examination.
It is unfair to blame the teachers for this situation. The teachers
are confronted with a difficult task in teaching mathematics. Further
the Education authorities should know that according to the present
educational system promotions are automatic. Most students of the Grade
9, 10 and 11 knows little mathematics.
There are some students who do not know even the multiplication
tables and basic addition and subtractions. Thus the teacher within 40
to 45 minutes has a very difficult task as to teach mathematics. This is
the reality.
The 2008 Mathematics paper the students had to answer 10 questions, 5
from each part. Even the teachers would have found difficult to answer
10 questions in 2 hours. Some questions were complex and it takes 10 to
15 minutes to understand such a question. Some questions had 5 to 6
parts and it takes much time to answer such questions.
This type of question paper not only discourages students but also
the teachers and the parents. According to the old syllabus, 8 questions
had to be answered in 3 hours where as in the new syllabus 10 questions
had to be answered within a limited time of 2 hours.
We hope that the Educational authorities would take note of these
factors in formulating the Mathematics paper in the future.
I do hope that the plight of the students who sat under the new
syllabus this year would be justly considered in marking the answer
scripts.
Edward Peiris - Moratuwa
‘Health Watch’ in the Daily News is a page that I regularly follow
from the USA. I wanted to update you on the latest recommendations
released by the surgeon general of the United States regarding physical
activity. I would be happy to see this knowledge disseminated among the
readership of the Daily News.
“Do you want to live longer and be healthy? Then follow this”.
Regular physical activity has been shown to promote longevity and
protect against numerous chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart
disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers including breast and
colon cancer. Due to this indisputable evidence, the Government of the
United States recently issued the following recommendations on regular
physical activity.
It is recommended that all adults between ages 18 and 65 engage in
moderate-intensity physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes per
day, 5 days per week for improvement and maintenance of health.
This 30 minutes may be accumulated in 3 bouts of 10-minutes each.
What is moderate-intensity physical activity? It is defined in lay terms
as ‘breaking a sweat’. One does not need to be ‘out of breath’ for this.
The activities for this includes garden work, brisk walking and slow
bicycling.
Alternately, one may engage in 20 minutes of vigorous activity daily
for 3 days per week. Examples for vigorous activity includes jogging,
lap swimming and sports such as football, basketball and tennis. When we
look at our current lifestyle it is evident that we would not meet these
recommendations just by following our day-to-day activities. Thus it is
important to either increase our regular activity or to start an
exercise programme.
The important thing to understand is that one need not go to an
expensive gym or perform vigorous exercises to meet these guidelines.
For example, if you are doing a sedentary job and is going to work by
bus, you could meet these recommendations by walking to and from the bus
for 15 minutes each.
Of course, you will need to wake up 15 minutes earlier. Similarly, if
you are driving to work, try to park in such a way that you need to walk
from the parking lot to your office. I am from Kandy and I love the
Kandy parking garage. One could park the car there and do all the
errands in the Kandy town by walking.
A great way to get your 30 minutes a day. In addition to this, this
report also recommends that adults engage in strength training activity
twice each week to maintain a good muscle mass for healthy living.
In the context of Sri Lanka, in the wake of an epidemic of diabetes
and heart disease, it is essential that we incorporate these lifestyle
changes so that we could combat these diseases head-on. ‘Eat right and
exercise; the mantra for longevity and health’.
Dr. Sudheera Kalupahana - USA
On a resolution moved by Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa requesting
that relief be provided to pensioners who are suffering great hardships
due to the high Cost of Living, even foregoing some drugs required for
their sustenance, Parliamentarians of all political parties unanimously
expressed their concern on the plight of the pensioners.
The non placing of the pensioners who retired before 01.01.2006. on
the salary scales given to the Public Servants as per P. A. Circular
6/2006; two Government servants who were in equal positions carrying
equal responsibilities in service are paid pension having a wide gap. Is
it not a grave injustice?
Even after retirement they are compelled to maintain their standards
in society. The old pensioner is feeble and unable to seek any
employment to supplement their income. Pensioners hope the President who
feels the pulse of the people will cause the authorities concerned to
rectify the anomaly for which act they will be ever grateful.
B. B. Perera - Katubedde
|
