Author: TELO Admin

The European Union (EU) handed over a shipment of 3,820 tonnes of urea fertilizer procured by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to the Ministry of Agriculture today.

The stock of fertilizer is to be distributed among smallholder paddy farmers and paddy seed farmers in Sri Lanka.

This new shipment of urea fertilizer will be dispatched to over 72,200 smallholder paddy farmers who were severely impacted by the recent economic crisis in Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Ampara, Matale, Puttalam, Kurunegala and Hambantota districts.

It is integral to a 4 million Euro (approximately 1.5 billion rupees) programme launched by FAO and the EU to address the agriculture and food security crisis in Sri Lanka while supporting the introduction of integrated plant nutrient management strategy amongst identified paddy growers.

Speaking on the support, the EU has extended to revitalize Sri Lanka’s paddy cultivation sector, European Union Ambassador, Denis Chaibi said: “The distribution of urea fertilizers for vulnerable farmers is one of many actions we undertook to respond to the socio-economic crisis affecting millions of people in Sri Lanka. We hope that with this new support we can prevent immediate food shortages but also contribute towards a transition to a more sustainable and resilient agriculture sector in the future”.

Through this programme, every eligible farmer cultivating up to 0.5 hectares of land in the targeted districts will receive 50kg of urea fertilizer for the upcoming cultivating season. Additionally, the programme will also provide high-quality paddy seeds and the necessary technology/capacity building to boost the efficient use of fertilizer.

Crop failures during recent harvesting seasons due to shortages of fertilizer and vital inputs, have posed many challenges for smallholder paddy farmers to sustain their livelihoods. This programme seeks to encourage smallholder farmers through material and technical inputs to adopt scientific farming practices to enhance fertilizer use efficiency and strengthen the seed paddy production system in Sri Lanka to meet the current demand. The programme also aims to strengthen government seed farms by providing them with modern, state-of-the-art seed processing and drying machines.

Almost four years ago, Rupika Rosairo’s two daughters left the family home in Colombo in their Sunday best to attend Easter mass with their grandmother. But that evening, her 13-year-old younger daughter returned home in a coffin.

Rosairo’s children were victims of Sri Lanka’s Easter bombings that killed more than 260 people and injured some 400, after eight local Islamist militants blew up three churches and hotels in a coordinated terrorist attack.

Evidence later came to light that the government had sat on intelligence it received about the imminent assault for at least two weeks, prompting the relatives of some victims to file fundamental-rights cases at Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court.

In January, the court ruled that former president Maithripala Sirisena and a number of security chiefs were guilty of “deplorable want of oversight and inaction”, and ordered them to pay amounts of between 10 million and 100 million (US$31,000-US$310,000) Sri Lankan rupees each.

Analysts say the ruling and financial reparations – described by the UN Human Rights Office as “a step in the victims’ struggle for recognition of the harm suffered, and their rights to truth, justice and reparation” – pave the road to further action by survivors and families of victims, who have been left to struggle with grief, long-term physical and emotional pain, and the lack of information as to the “true masterminds” who have torn their lives apart.

Sitting in the living room of her home in Katuwapitiya, located just 10 minutes from St Sebastian’s Church where her daughter died, Rosairo said the money from the judgment meant little to her.

“It cannot bring my child back,” she said, her voice quaking with anguish. “I will suffer until I die. And the rulers of this country are responsible for my pain.”

She said it hurt that no leader had held a meeting with the families of victims. “If the rulers truly want to repent, they should first come and talk to the families of the victims, which they have not done.”

Rosairo said the attacks turned her village into one huge funeral procession, as around 100 residents from the area were killed. Her mother, who was 75 at the time, suffered a head injury. Her older daughter continues to have difficulty hearing after the bombings and experiences psychological trauma.

“I want to know who did this to my family, who was behind the attacks, and their motive. I want them to receive a deserving punishment,” Rosairo said.

Survivor Prasanna Fernando, Rosairo’s neighbour, suffered a severe head injury. Once the breadwinner of his family, Prasanna is now in a state of semi-paralysis, leaving him dependent on his wife.

He has a cognitive impairment, struggles to speak, cannot move his right hand and has difficulty walking, according to his wife Marie. .

With Prasanna unable to work, the family lost their chicken-farming business, leaving them reliant on church funding and donations. But private donations declined significantly after Covid-19 hit and the country underwent a financial crisis. .

“My younger son is just finishing school. We had hopes to educate our children in foreign universities; all that is now shattered,” Marie told This Week in Asia. .

“[Prasanna] is being punished every day. He can barely walk to the washroom in time. We want those responsible to be punished.” .

SCMP (Source)

A meeting is scheduled to be held between Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene and the Election Commission tomorrow morning (April 10), the Prime Minister’s Media Division announced.

The discussion is expected to focus on the 2023 Local Government Elections which has been postponed multiple times.

On March 26, the Election Commission had requested Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene in writing for a discussion regarding holding the 2023 Local Government (LG) election.

Chairman of the Election Commission Nimal G. Punchihewa stated that the request was made in order to discuss the issues pertaining to holding the 2023 LG polls.

The election body also mentioned that they hope to draw attention to the payment of salaries to public employees who are contesting as candidates in the LG elections, during the meeting.

Meanwhile, PM Dinesh Gunawardene had also stated in the parliament recently that he had decided to call the commission for a discussion regarding the 2023 LG polls.

– Ranil says he will consult all parties concerned and a presidential poll may be held early 2024

– Informs opposition MPs that he presently has the numbers in Parliament

– Will call for Parliament to work as one after IMF agreement presented in House

President Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest the next Presidential Election and has hinted at a possible presidential poll to be held early next year, the Daily Mirror learns.

In a meeting held with minority political party parliamentarians this week, Wickremesinghe informed them that he would contest as a presidential candidate and would call for an election early next year following consultations with the Elections Commission, Treasury and Attorney General.

Wickremesinghe also informed the opposition parliamentarians that the economy was on an upward trend and would improve in the coming months. The President said the country was in a better position when compared to a few months ago and once the economy stabilizes, he would consult all political parties and other parties concerned and call for a presidential poll.

The President further said that he would call on all political parties in parliament to work as one to implement the IMF reforms in order to strengthen the economic revival after he presents the IMF agreement before Parliament in April or May.

To those opposition parliamentarians who want to join the government, Wickremesinghe encouraged these MPs to come with their respective groups or political parties and if the party leadership is not willing to join the government, then the MPs can cross over on their own.

Sources who attended the meeting told Daily Mirror that Wickremesinghe had however informed the parliamentarians that he presently had a comfortable majority in Parliament, and hence he was not in any rush to take MPs from the opposition. He said if these MPs want to cross over they should do so voluntarily and not under political pressure or expecting portfolios in return and those who do not want to cross over, but yet want to support him can do so.

He said such MPs would be allocated tasks and designations to support the government while being in the opposition so that all parties could be united in taking the economy further.

Several opposition parliamentarians including from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya are in discussions with the President and have informed him that they are ready to support him in taking the country forward.

China has proposed setting up of a radar base in Sri Lanka, aiming to counter India’s naval presence and strategic oversight in the Indian Ocean region, a report has claimed.

The proposed radar base will focus on monitoring the activities of the Indian Navy while also evaluating New Delhi’s strategic assets in the region, Economic Times reported.

The paper reported that Aerospace Information Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the likely agency which is steering this project in the forests of Dondra Bay, Sri Lanka, about 155 km southeast of Colombo.

The proposed radar will have the capability to track US military movements at its military base in Diego Garcia, an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, located over 1700 km southwest of Dondra Bay.

The report, while citing people familiar with the developments related to Chinese proposal, said that the radar set-up, if successfully established by Beijing, would be detrimental to Indian military installations as they will be in the range of the proposed radar.

The proposed Chinese oversight installation in Sri Lanka is likely to have the range as far as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to its east.

Sri Lanka remains vulnerable to Chinese designs in the region because of the Chinese debt owed to the country. Dondra Bay is located at the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka. It forms a significant part of Sri Lanka’s history.

India has been concerned about Chinese activities in Sri Lanka.

Last year, Chinese surveillance vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at the Hambantota Port after the Sri Lankan government conceded to the Chinese request despite Indian warnings.

Sri Lanka allowed the vessel to dock at Hambantota and remain for six days for refuelling and logistics supplies.

Source – WION / Agencies

Not one district is safe in the traditional homeland of the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka from the religious and cultural assault from the hardline Buddhist clergy and the ever-menacing Department of Archaeology which is accused of being an agent abetting land grabs.

The scenario is the same starting from the Mannar district in the North West to Mullaitivu in the North East of the country.

And, in yet another incident of land grabbing and forced resettlement, attempts are being made to grab the lands of the Tamils and to settle the Sinhalese in Karunaatukkeni in the Maritimepattu District Secretariat in Mullaitivu district.

That too, the lands belonging to the Tamils just around the Karunaattukkeni Police station were forcefully grabbed and plans are afoot to settle 180 Sinhalese families there.

Locals allege the land grab and Sinhala colonization is being implemented by the Mahaweli Development Authority under the direct guidance of the President’s Director General for Community Affairs Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon.

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The same allegation was made in Parliament by Tamil MP Charles Nirmalanathan on April 4.

As such, officials of the Mahaweli Development Authority, Karaithuraipatru DS officials, and the staff from the Mullaitivu District Secretariat on April 03 visited Karunattukkeni to have a look at the lands belonging to the Tamils that have been earmarked for Sinhala resettlement.

The land-owning Tamils along with a former member of the Northern Provincial Council Thurairasa Ravikaran jointly expressed their strong protest against the forceful occupation of their land.

Tamils who own the land say that during the 1973-79 period, land deeds confirming their ownership were given to them and they were cultivating there.

“We will never allow Sinhala colonization in our ancestral land,” Tamil protestors said.

Fertile agricultural lands in traditional Tamil areas at the border villages of Kokkilai, Kokkuthoduvai, and Krunaattukkeni were forcefully occupied and distributed to the Sinhalese in the Welioya area. Dry Agricultural lands belonging to the Tamils were occupied and distributed to the Sinhalese.

Now efforts are on to establish Sinhala settlements in the residential lands belonging to the Tamil people.

Local Tamils in that area say that such land grabbing activities have caused a deep sense of anguish and disappointment for them.