Panels of inquiry lack transparency
Well in fact we didn’t want them to go. In
September we asked the NGOs to leave, one of them had actually been
supplying vehicles to the Tigers. We specifically asked, and that
letter is available, UNFPA and UNHCR to stay along with the Red
Cross. I’m afraid the then UNDP representative was galvanised by
some people, who wanted almost to blackmail us, to say “No no, if we
can’t all stay, then we are all going to leave”. So the Defence
Secretary said, ‘Then leave.’ But the ICRC stayed right through and
we have got all the details of the ICRC interventions during that
period. We also have the UN interventions
 Full Story
Governance, Heritage and Sustainability:
Environment, the critical factor
Being an Environmental Economist who has been
working in the field of Environment over two decades, I am pleased
to review the environmental section of the book titled 'Governance
Heritage and Sustainability' by Deshamanya K H J Wijayadasa who is
well respected and most experienced civil servant in the country. In
fact, I am honoured and privileged to review this book due to two
reasons:a) author has enormous experience in the field of
sustainable development, Governance and Heritage; b) I started my
career under Mr. Wijayadasa and I learned my A,B,C in public service
from him.
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Devolution will lead to dissolution of the State
During the 2013 budget speech in Parliament
President Mahinda Rajapaksa commented that “devolution should not
lead the country to separatism but it needs to be a mechanism that
would unify the country.” This highly relevant remark by the
President elevated the debate on the devolution process to another
level because the proponents of devolution have not addressed this
important aspect previously.
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TOBACCO:
Farming bad as smoking
Tobacco cultivation is not only harmful to its
users, but can prove equally detrimental to the farmers and their
families, research in Sri Lanka, reveals. Fifty farmers in three
districts who grew tobacco for 15-20 years and then switched to
other crops were chosen at random from 200 farmers in three
districts to respond to a survey.
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