The Transformations in Colombo Over the Last 150 Years-by Nihal Perera Source:Thuppahis Nihal Perera, whose chapter 16 is entitled “From colonial outpost to indigenous kleptocratic city” ABSTRACT : This chapter maps out the trajectory of the production, reproduction, and transformation of Colombo through colonial, post-colonial, neoliberal, and kleptocratic periods. Created as part of a European-imperial system of cities, Colombo’s identity is tied to larger systems of cities. Using the threshold between the city and outside to look from inside, the chapter approaches the story of Colombo more from indigenous and local people’s vantage points and perspectives, acknowledging and adapting significant local interpretations. The discussion focuses the neoliberal and kleptocratic periods. The neoliberals transformed the city’s form to attract foreign investment, shifting the purpose of planning to finding sites for investors, and enabling growth. Replacing investment for development with growth for investment, the kleptocrats intensified the movement of money and intercepted the circuits at the state ...
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Rising prices spark struggle to feed children-by Buwanaka S. Perera Source:Ceylontoday The economic crisis of 2022 marked the most severe downturn Sri Lanka experienced since gaining independence. It ushered in widespread price hikes across various essentials, including vital medicines, school supplies, fuel and a slew of taxes. With food inflation skyrocketing to an unprecedented 95%, the crisis profoundly impacted food prices and the nation’s food security. The policy banning chemical fertilisers, imposed by the ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, exacerbated the agricultural sector’s woes, leading to consecutive harvest failures with yields plummeting by over 50%, further undermining Sri Lanka’s food security. As access to food dwindled, foreign reserves depleted and the government defaulted on foreign debts, many ordinary Sri Lankans struggled to secure three meals a day, with children bearing the brunt of the crisis. Has the situation changed in 2024? According to a recent report by the World Food Program ...
International Monetary Fund Source:Dailymirror The staff level agreement between Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was arrived at on September 1 last year, was to be approved by the IMF Executive Board yesterday and the government has expressed confidence that Sri Lanka will receive the first tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) under the agreement which is a 48-month arrangement. The country which declared bankruptcy due to its inability to repay the foreign loans in April last year is totally depending now on the bailout package of the IMF for the economic recovery. In spite of the recent appreciation of rupee for a brief period in early March, the country is still facing a severe shortage of foreign exchange to repay its foreign loans which run into around US$50 billion and to import essential items such as fuel and life-saving drugs and ingredients for local industries. ...
Are we out of touch with reality?-by Gomi Senadhira Implementing Singapore-Sri Lanka FTA Source:Island News can be confusing. That happened when I read the headline, “President tells Singapore PM that SL will prioritise implementing FTA” (The Island 09 Sept. 2022). I thought the news item was not accurate. So, I checked the Presidential Secretariat website. It confirmed the validity of this news item. President Ranil Wickremesinghe had informed Singapore PM “that his priority was to bring into effect the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore.” I don’t know what Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong thought when the Sri Lankan President pledged to prioritise the implementation of the FTA with Singapore, during their meeting in Tokyo. The Enterprise Singapore website lists the Sri Lanka – Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) as one of the FTAs in operation. That is since it entered into force on the 1st of May 2018. So, one ...
Lessons Learnt from Commonwealth Games Ceylon Today. – By Dr Tilak S. Fernando The youngest Sri Lankan medallist in the history of the Commonwealth Games, Nethmi Hansika (18 years old) brought honour to her motherland, Sri Lanka. Nethmi managed in Birmingham, UK, at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in August 2022 to defeat her opponent, Australian Irene Symeonidis, to win the historic bronze medal for women. It was a 57 kg ‘Freestyle Wrestling’ event at the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham. She chose to contest against the Australian competitor, forgetting her coach’s advice on her own to fight the competitor, who was twelve years senior and more experienced than Nethmi. Her coach’s advice was to fight the Indian competitor who fought against her in the semi-finals. Nethmi Fernando had a one-pointed resolution to bring honour to her motherland, as opposed to some elements who intermingled with the harmless protestors at the ...
Sri Lanka’s protest movement toppled a president. Then came the crackdown – By South Asia correspondent Avani Dias and Alex Barry Source : abc Sri Lankan protesters were triumphant, the power was finally in their hands and the world was watching. On July 9, as thousands stormed the president’s official residence – swimming in his pool, watching his TV and laying on his bed – Wimukthi Ranasinghe was there live streaming the mayhem to his followers on Facebook. As he toured the president’s palatial Colombo home with his phone, the 25-year-old’s videos started going viral. It was the peak of the protest movement’s power. After months of calls for his resignation, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa quit the presidency and fled the country. But in the weeks since, as the world’s gaze has turned away, the sense of triumph and impunity felt by protesters that day has curdled into a climate of fear. Since Mr Rajapaksa’s ...
SRI LANKA NEWS (AUGUST 2022) Compiled by Victor Melder. A Sri Lankan athlete and a senior official have gone missing after the fifth day’s events of the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England on Tuesday. Initial reports indicate that a female judoka and the manager of the Sri Lanka Judo Team have disappeared from the Sri Lankan camp soon after she lost her first-round event on Monday. The Sri Lankan Team Management have immediately informed the relevant authorities about their disappearance and the Birmingham Metropolitan Police have started a special inquiry into the incident. As a result, the Chef-de-Mission of the Sri Lankan contingent Maj. Gen (retired ) Dampath Fernando told that he has decided to acquire all passports of the Sri Lankan contingent to avoid further disappearances. Sri Lanka are fielding a 110-member strong contingent and 51 officials for the Commonwealth Games with the Judo Team consisting of three ...
The Sri Lanka vibe is changing – By Dr Harold Gunatillake The Economist-An interview with the president of Sri Lanka Concretely though, there’s more fuel in the country, the QR code system seems to be a big success, and the fuel queues have vanished. There are more cars and auto rickshaws on the street. What steps have been taken in the past three weeks to have changed the mood of the country? Soup kitchens in crisis-hit Sri Lanka are feeding the poor. People stand in a queue to receive food at a community kitchen in Colombo The Economist interviewed the president of Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 14th. The country was obviously in crisis last time they were in Sri Lanka. They said,” We got in last night, and the vibe has changed tremendously. It’s visible on the street, on the way in from the airport. What has happened ...
Three News Items on Sri Lanka’s Crisis in The Economist-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis ONE = From The ECONOMIST magazine, Summer Issue, 30 July – 12th August … & the Mid-August Issue The Economist On the evening of July 21st, a relaxed mood prevailed in Sri Lanka’s presidential secretariat on the seafront of Colombo, the capital. A handful of protesters milled about in the entrance hall, which they had occupied on July 9th and turned into a library full of donated books. They said they were planning to return the premises to the state the following day, having succeeded in driving from office Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the disgraced former president. The new government had other ideas. Not long after, in the early hours of July 22nd, soldiers and police in riot gear evicted the remaining protesters from the building, tore down their tents outside and put up metal barricades. They arrested several protesters and injured a handful badly ...
Unlucky cook and lucky crooks Source:Island The hunt for anti-government protesters continues apace. The police are all out to net them. A cook finds himself in the soup, having stolen two television sets from Temple Trees while the place was being occupied by the anti-government protesters recently. He has been remanded. Another person has been taken into custody for removing an electric iron from the President’s House. But those who stole billions of rupees from the state coffers are going places, and having others arrested for lesser offences! The high-octane performance of the Sri Lanka police is really amazing and needs to be appreciated. All those who damaged the President’s House, Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Presidential Secretariat, stole goods from those places, and torched other properties including President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence must be brought to justice. But the problem is that the government is apparently ...
