Day: 7 February 2019

On Monday, Sri Lanka celebrated the 71st anniversary of independence from British rule. President Sirisena admits delays in economic development. Tamils complain of continuing persecution even after the civil war ended. Plantation workers demand higher wages. Colombo (AsiaNews) – On the day that Sri Lanka marked the 71st anniversary of its independence from British colonial rule, Tamils and tea plantation workers held a black day protest. Both groups chose to boycott the festivities to complain that their demands have not been heard for far too long. Tamils staged demonstrations against…

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By Saman Indrajith An argument broke out between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and UPFA MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara in Parliament yesterday over providing logistical support to the US navy ships operating in the Indian Ocean. The UPFA MP raised a question on an agreement signed between Sri Lanka and the US Embassy in 2018, but the PM said that the pact MP Nanayakkara referred to had been signed in 1995. MP Nanayakkara, referring to a newspaper report on the US Navy aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis establishing a logistics hub…

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38-year-old Saraswathi wakes at 5.30 am to send her children to school before she heads to work.  In this video, produced by Selvaraja Rajasegar of Maatram, she readies her children for school, in doing so addressing issues highlighting the obstacles to education that the Malaiyaha Tamil community is faced with.  Parents often find it difficult to provide the meals required for children under the government’s stipulated school-feeding plan – the roti they eat regularly has almost no nutritional value, but is often the only thing they can afford. Saraswathi’s story highlights some of the challenges…

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By Saman Indrajith The TNA, yesterday, demanded from the government that it should take immediate action to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud (PRECIFAC). Moving a motion at the adjournment of the House for a debate on the PRESIFAC report, TNA MP MA Sumanthiran said that the commission had found serious acts of misconduct. Those offences had been committed at 34 institutions and the names of those responsible had been disclosed in the report. “After the lapse of one…

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