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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Governance

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06th May 2017

FYI. The debate about the constitutional reforms and the ethnoreligous and geophysical segregation rages on. I don't see this going anywhere anytime soon but well, for whatever it is worth.

 Related article: DIVAINA: HEADLINE: බුද්ධාගමට ප්‍රමුඛ තැන නොදෙයි ? නව ව්‍යවස්‌ථා මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ වැඩක්‌..

 05th May 2017

DAILY MIRROR: NEWS: Probe on FCID following complaints to PM, President

This has long been a question in th minds of the public. SEMA publications also highlighted the fact that hounding public servants and state officials was not a good thing.

DAILY MIRROR: NEWS: IMF implies new income tax law imperative to go forward

First the increase in VAT and now the income tax bill.They want their pound of flesh. Activists and fiscal watches warned that wooing the IMF back to Sri Lanka was a terrible idea. I think this is correct. Country is desperate for funds sure, but this simply paves the way for the vultures to keep tightening the fiscal screws to the detriment of a large percentage of the population.

Related article: DAILY MIRROR: NEWS: Shares gain; IMF may consider loan review request
DAILY MIRROR: NEWS: World Bank praises Sri Lanka for swift implementation of RTI-

Well yes. But I am not sure exactly how the RTI is actually working in Sri Lanka. If we look at what has happened in India, I am sure we will follow suite.

04th May 2017

ISLAND: OPINION:  Ensuring good governance

Where all of this is going is anybody's guess but we need to be in the loop on the various aspects of constitutional reform. Not a great piece but for completions sake it is here but does give a few citizen recommendations made by the writer.

Related article: DAILY MIRROR: Professor Mehta explains paradox of constitutionalising socio-economic rights

DAILY MIRROR: NEWS: Hanuman Bridge: SL could hold different view- PM

This is a bit of a head scratcher. Opinions differ but overall, I am not sure if we are doing the right thing by shotgunning Indo-Lanka relationships (which is what I see happening). Sustain Lanka has a clear statement that our international relations should be carefully thought out.

ARTICLE ALERT: I think we should write a piece on how we see overall international relations, re: India, China, EU, America, Japan etc.

DAILY MIRROR: OPINION: Benefits of good governance outweigh costs

Strong article: We might want to rethink the thinking here since our brand of good governance has the people thinking that we are NATO (no action, talk only) or rather, that current action is detrimental to governance principles and we are going the same old same old route. Clearly we must understand what the writer says "Good governance is too broad a concept to be covered under a single political system in any country. But the crucial factor underpinning effective governance is where the decision-making authority lies and how it is exercised. Authority should be accompanied by accountability and responsibility, without which good governance cannot be enshrined into any system."


03rd May 2017

ISLAND: NEWS: Seminar on ‘New challenges faced by the country’

Although this piece of news has a nationalist political flavor to it, it is probably useful to keep in mind.

DAILY MIRROR: NEWS: Indian policies don’t favor its neighbors: JVP

This speaks of the Indian political hegemony but also asks for alert and careful engagement with India. This goes to similar sentiments expressed in SEMA's Path to Sustainable Era book.


LANKADEEPA: NEWS: මහබැංකු වාර්තාව ජනපතිට පිළිගන්වයි
ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ 2016 වාර්ෂික වාර්තාව, මහ බැංකු අධිපති ආචාර්ය ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි මහතා විසින් ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා වෙත අද (03) පිළිගැන්විණි.

LANKADEEPA: NEWS: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ලක්ෂ 80 ක් රැකියාවල
රැකියා දත්ත ස්වල්පයක් මේකේ තියනවා අවශ්‍යනම්.

28th April 2017

ISLAND:NEWS: Move to tax EPF: Key TU flays govt.

Combination of criticisms of the government as well as the planned move related to both governance and finance. 

ISLAND: BUSINESS: ‘Corrective action stabilized economy in 2016’

Strong article: CBSL annual report 2016. Speaks of slow growth in agrarian sector with issues related to climate, inflation increasing in Q2-Q4 as well as Q1 2017 also because of adverse weather. Key issue on weak external demand for local products. Opportunity as always to improve our trade deficit while solving the country for sustainability. I think in the transition, we need greater trade.
 Related article: Strong article: DINAMINA: FEATURE: 2017 අය-වැය ක්‍රියා­ත්මක කර­මින් කෝටි 450ක ණය යෝජනා ක්‍රම අටක් ජන­පති අතින් ඇරැඹේ

MIRROR: FEATURE: Govt’s failure to regulate public affairs and its adverse consequences

Prof. Siri Hettige makes some strong negatives on the government: "Today, we observe in this country a range of manifestations of the failure of state institutions to regulate matters coming under their purview in keeping with the principles of good governance and widely accepted social standards"

DAILY NEWS: FEATURE: economy attitudes platitudes and myths

Speaks of lack of policy, policy incoherence with respect to socio-economic fields. I agree on this. We need these to be far stronger and far more consistent across line agencies, enforcement agencies etc.

DAILY NEWS: Laws needed to tackle private sector graft - Bribery DG

This is quite an important aspect that goes under the radar but has been highlighted in this article by the Bribery Commission DG.

LANKADEEPA: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කළ යුතු සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති ගැන පින්ලන්ත සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිනිය විමසයි

පින්ලන්තය ලබාදෙන ආධාර වලින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සෞඛ්‍ය ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ කළ යුතු සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති පිළිබද යෝජනා කඩිනමින් ලබාදෙන ලෙස පින්ලන්ත පින්ලන්තයේ සමාජ කටයුතු සහ සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියාය.

LANKADEEPA: INTERVIEW: ලංකාවේ විදෙස් පිළිවෙත සමතුලිතය

විදේශ ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියේ වත්මන් ස්වභාවය, රට පාවාදෙන කි‍්‍රයා පිළිවෙතක් තිබේද?

26th April 2017

DAILY NEWS: Project approvals need to be fast tracked - CCI

In the age of micro projects, these people complain about the fact that maga projects take 18 months to be approved. possible problem: commission, omission and corruption. Main issue: UDA taking over construction projects in colombo from the MC and all areas under the Megapolis. A key point that needs to be considered, Nayana Mawilmada, one of the most honest of people I've ever known, resigned as UDA chairman very recently.

DAILY NEWS: SL geared to upgrade intellectual property regimes

These are westerners trying to get Sri Lanka to honor patents by international communities as far as I am aware. What we need to do is to see to what extent they are also reciprocally intent on ensuring our property is safe from pirate patenting especially in bio-resources.

 SILUMINA: සංවර්ධන සැලසුම් කාර්යක්ෂම කිරීමට පියවර

ජනපති සංවර්ධනය පිලිබඳ රටේ තත්වය කියයි. වෑ දියවරත් සඳහන්.