Dr Buddhadasa Bodhinayake, who died on 4 March 2015 in the UK, was a trail-blazing science and health communicator in Sri Lanka in the 1960s and 1970s. While still a schoolboy, he wrote the first Sinhala language book on space travel in 1961, which he co-authored with Arthur C Clarke. In the early 1970s, he […]
I’m a story teller at heart. I sometimes moonlight as a media researcher or commentator but have no pretensions of being academic. I always try to make my points as interesting as possible — using analogies, metaphors, examples, etc. This is the approach I used when asked to talk to the working group on Sri […]
19 March 2015 marks seven years since Sir Arthur C Clarke passed away. In the weeks and months following Sir Arthur’s death, many asked me what kind of monument was being planned in his memory. As far as the Arthur C Clarke Estate is concerned, there is none –- and that seems to surprise many. […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala, published in issue of 15 March 2015), I discuss what policy and regulatory measures can help promote information society in Sri Lanka. In that process, I critique the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) and the ICT Agency (ICTA), two state institutions with relevant mandates that they have mismanaged, and […]
A new multi-author book offers valuable insights into the importance of independent media for democratic governance in the wider South Asian region. Titled Embattled Media: Democracy, Governance and Reform in Sri Lanka (Sage, Feb 2015; 416 pages), the book examines the role of the media in a state committed to democracy and the rule of […]
Text of my column written for Echelon monthly business magazine, Sri Lanka, March 2015 issue. Published online at: http://www.echelon.lk/home/beyond-rti-towards-open-government/ Beyond RTI: Towards Open Government By Nalaka Gunawardene After many years of advocacy by civil society, Sri Lanka is set to adopt a law that guarantees citizens’ Right to Information (RTI). With that, we will at […] ...
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala, appearing in issue dated 8 March 2015), I revisit a public health emergency that I also commented on in August/Sept 2012: Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown/uncertain etiology (abbreviated as CKDu). CKDu was first reported in the early 1990s from a single Province in Sri Lanka’s heartland of rice […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I chronicle the struggle by people of the Republic of Maldives – Asia’s smallest state by land area and population – to achieve democratic pluralism and good governance. In October 2008, long-term autocratic ruler President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was defeated in the country’s first multi-party elections by Mohamed […]
On 13 Feb 2015, while briefly in London, I visited BBC’s new Media Centre and recorded brief interviews with BBC Sinhala and BBC Tamil services (radio) on the role of social media during the Sri Lanka Presidential Election 2015 – the topic of my talk at University of London the previous day. BBC Sinhala published […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I discuss the history and current state of play in relation to right to information (RTI). This is in the context of the new Lankan government planning to introduce an RTI law. To review the work of government at all levels, citizens/voters need to access public sector information […]
Text of my column written for Echelon monthly business magazine, Sri Lanka, Feb 2015 issue. Published online at: http://www.echelon.lk/home/people-power-beyond-elections/ ‘People Power’ Beyond Elections By Nalaka Gunawardene Sri Lanka’s democratic credentials were put to test once again during the Presidential Election on 8 January 2015. An impressive 81.52% of registered voters turned up, and their majority […] ...
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I continue the Sinhala adaptation of my June 2014 TV interview with Dr Rajesh Tandon of India, an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. Last week, we discussed the civil space and political space available for advocacy and activism – and how far civil […]
Emerging Digital Democracy? Social Media and Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election 2015 This was the topic of a public talk I gave at the University of London on 12 Feb 2015. It was organised and hosted by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London in collaboration with the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association (CJA). They lined up the […]
I am not a public health or environmental expert, but have long covered related topics as a science journalist. Among my long-standing interests are the downstream health and environmental effects agrochemicals – both chemical fertilizers and farm chemicals applied against pests and weeds. Parallel to this, I have also been covering chronic kidney disease of […]
Civil society – in its widest sense – played a key role in the recent peaceful change of government in Sri Lanka. It was civil society advocacy – for ending corruption, ensuring independence of judiciary, and increasing democratic checks and balances on the executive presidency – that inspired a larger citizen demand for better governance. […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I discuss the Right Livelihood Award (RLA), sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel Prize’. Set up in 1980, RLA “honours and supports those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today”. There have been three Lankan winners in RLA’s history, which I feature in […]
As a science journalist, I have been covering scientific aspects of the public health emergency of mass kidney failure that has killed an estimated 20,000 persons in Sri Lanka over the past two decades. It emerged in the early 1990s, when hundreds of people in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone – heartland of its farming — […]
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), I revisit the aviation vision and accomplishments of the late Ray Wijewardene (1924-2010). Licensed to fly fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and autogyros, he had a colourful flying career spanning half a century. In this time, he designed, built and flew over a dozen light aircraft and kept innovating […]
I use this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala) to address an open letter to newly elected Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena. ජනාධිපති මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේනට විවෘත ලියුමක් ජනාධිපති මහතාණෙනි, යුක්තිය, සාධාරණත්වය සහ යහපාලනය උදෙසා පෙනී සිටිමින් ඔබ ලැබූ මැතිවරණ ජයග්රහණයට සුබ පැතුම්! බොහෝ බාධක, කම්කටොලූ හා අභියෝග මැද ඔබ ප්රතිපත්ති ගරුකව මැතිවරණ ව්යාපාරය කර ගෙන ගිය […] ...
In this week’s Ravaya column (in Sinhala), published in the issue dated 11 January 2015, I offer an initial analysis of media-based political campaign communications during the run-up to Sri Lanka’s 7th Presidential Election on 8 January 2015. The column was written on 5 January, as physical campaigning (meetings and outdoor promotion) came to an […]