The University of Sri Jayawardenapura has decided to terminate the services of Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasooriya , Lecturer (Probationary). This decision was taken, based on a stipulation that a probationary lecturer should obtain a Masters degree within 8 years after joining the particular university. The D-Day for Karnasooriya was March 9, 2013. A media release on the issue by the ...
On the 8th of May, 2020 a new building was opened in a simple ceremony at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH). Built at a cost of Rs 15 million, it provides comfortable accommodation for 32 nurses. The story in brief is as follows.When the National Task Force on Covid-19 was informed that there was a serious accommodation issue at the ...
Mangala Samaraweera, in supporting the report submitted by the Steering Committee on constitutional reform, called for a constitution that ‘will help our nation put its past behind for good and move forward with renewed hope.’ On the face of it, this is a positive statement. Mangala’s speech also alluded to the Sathara Brahma Viharana or the four divine abodes, metta, ...
The root cause. People like to throw that phrase around when talking about problems and their resolutions. It’s a decent enough proposition, the assumption being that if root causes are identified and fixed, not only will the problem be sorted but its reincarnation, so to speak, would be preempted. The problem with root causes is that it naturally takes ...
It’s easy to offer advice after the fact. Mahinda Rajapaksa had many exit-options. He could have ruled in a way that he could go out, even in defeat, with head held high. He did not. And yet, he had enough popularity and even grudging respect from detractors, to go into quiet retirement, barring of course the possibility that ghosts of ...
Eduardo Galeano’s latest book, ‘Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History’ is not about children. Neither is it a comprehensive collation of important things that happened on each day of the year. And yet, Galeano, like in most of his books, touches our commonalities worthy of celebration and warranting of lament, across continents and across the centuries. Each ...
Taken by force or happily and willingly conceded?The late Justice C.G. Weeramantry, delivering the annual Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Lecture in 2012 chose to speak on judicial ethics. He did refer to the key institutions of the state and how and why they need to be independent of one another, but stressed that everything depends on that intangible and irreducible non-negotiable, ...
Kolombians are a distinct people from Colombo who know much. They have things to say. A lot of things to say. The entire country can learn from them. This is the twenty ninth in a series published in 'The Nation' under the title 'Notes of an Unrepentant Kolombian'. Scroll down for other articles in this series. Comrade Vasu is an ...
Nimal Siripala Silva is the official Leader of the Opposition. The leader of his party is the President of the country. No office is vested with even a fracture of the powers of the President. Silva’s party, moreover has a parliamentary majority. That Silva is the Opposition Leader in these circumstances is a monumental joke. It makes a mockery of ...
Minister Mangala Samaraweera, speaking to the media at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday (May 22) stated that knowing well the crimes committed by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, he in fact is frightened of the former Defence Secretary. That’s political-speak, obviously. Mangala, after all, was never scared of the LTTE, was never scared of Chandrika Kumaratunga and certainly not of Ranil Wickremesinghe, ...
This is the fourth in a series of articles written for THE SUNDAY MORNING under the title 'The Interception'. Scroll down for previous articles. If we talk about school children and sports, there’s a non-negotiable factor: parents. They are part of the story whether we like it or not. Parents have the greatest sway on a child’s choices, especially ...
Jagath Chamila with his first drama teacher, Tissa Gunawardena [Pic courtesy gossiplanka.com]Jagath Chamila won an award. An international award. A prestigious award. Not a ‘certificate of merit’ or a ‘shortlisting’, but a top prize, ‘Best Actor’ at the New York City International Film Festival for his performance as ‘Sam’ in ‘Samge Kathawa’ (‘Sam’s Story’, based on the Gratiaen Award ...
A year ago, UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet made the following observation in her report on Sri Lanka (tabled on March 8, 2019): ‘On 29 May 2018, human skeletal remains were discovered at a construction site in Mannar (Northern Province). Excavations, concluded with the support of the Office on Missing Persons, revealed a mass grave from which more than ...
Devánjali. A word, a poem, description of a way of being, a dance performance. This is the latest production put together by the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation, especially choreographed for the Sydney Festival and scheduled to be presented to the Sri Lankan audience at the Lionel Wendt on December 19, 2014. On Wednesday, December 11, 2014, the Chitrasena Dance Company ...
The school cricket season is about to start. Newspapers, as they usually do, will feature the top teams in the island. The top players will be talked about, the records too and of course the greats produced by the particular school. The particular scribes will no doubt put their fingers on what’s most important about the particular teams. Think ...
Kolombians are a distinct people from Colombo who know much -- so much that they are wont to think that others don't know and can't think. They have things to say. A lot of things to say. The entire country can learn from them. This is the twenty eighth in a series published in 'The Nation' under the title 'Notes ...
My batchmate and present editor of The Island, Prabath Sahabandu has a peculiar sense of humour. The year was 1990. He was in his final year at Peradeniya. I remember him accosting a fresher at the library. There was an elderly person at one of the book shelves. Browsing. Prabath drew the attention of the fresher to this person. The ...
Who backed out from which pact and what's the back-out price?Maithripala Sirisena could not have dreamed of defeating Mahinda Rajapaksa without the support of the United National Party (UNP). This is why he had to forge a pact (or have one forged for him) with the leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP would help him and if he ...
