Second death reported from Sri Lanka's drinking water struggle

Second death was reported on Saturday from Sri Lanka due to use of so called minimum power by military to disperse a group of villagers that was agitating for the right of safe drinking water in Weliweriya in Gampaha district.

The dead person was identified as a 19 year old youth, police media spokesman Buddhika Siriwardane said. He was in an Intensive Care Unit of Colombo National Hospital since Thursday until he passed away last night.





Earlier, a 17 year old school boy was also killed due to Army shooting.

Five more persons are still in National Hospital due to the injuries sustained as Army used 'minimum power' to disperse the protestors. 

The protest was against a Heyleys subsidiary rubber factory in Rathupaswala and the residents of 12 villages claim that the drinking water has been contaminated due to the industrial waste of this factory.

Indian Tamils, Upcountry Tamils, Country Tamils or Sri Lankan Tamils

Sri Lankan Prime Minister says that the Indian origin Tamils will have a new race name as Sri Lankan.

Were they not Sri Lankans so far?

British colonial rulers brought poverty stricken South Indian Tamils to Sri Lanka for plantation labor. They made the Sri Lankan soil fertile with their sweat and have been building the national economy for more than a century.

Majority Sinhalese and 'local' Tamils considered them as aliens or foreigners and wonderfully, the Marxist theorists like Rohana Wijeweera considered them as invaders.

This community which is suffering from endemic and abject social backwardness needs to be guaranteed their equal rights.

I don't know if the Sri Lankan race name in their birth certificates and other relevant documents will mean anything in a context the other Sri Lankans identify themselves as Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim peoples.

In my point of view, they have the right to the identity of Upcountry Tamils which they have fought for. But there is a considerable number of Low Country Tamils in the districts of Kalutara, Rathnapura, kegalle and Galle districts.

What if they are called Country Tamils? 

On the other hand, is Indian Tamil a derogatory remark? I don't think so. The Jaffna Tamil elite needed to alienate themselves from this community for backward reasons. They need the same with the Batticaloa Tamils also. Do we need to give into a backward need of a community?

Why can't they claim for the identity of Sri Lankan Tamils? If they too need to mark a distinct identity, I think still Indian tag is better than the geographical term of Upcountry. India is a powerful country you can be proud of our origin.

Kneeling down drama in Sri Lanka's Northwestern Province continued

Sri Lanka's Puttalam Magistrate Ranga Disanayaka today cancelled the bail of the notorious former councilor of the Northwestern Provincial Council Ananda Sarath Kumara who is accused of harassing a school teacher within the school premises.

The magistrate ordered Ananda Sarath Kumara be remanded until August 08 for violating bail conditions.

A complaint was lodged last week by the husband of the harassed school teacher against him the Provincial Councilor for making statements threatening to his wife and the family.

The politician himself had also lodged a complaint for the future safety.

Provincial Councilor Ananda Sarath Kumara was remanded and later bailed out since he made a female teacher of Navagattegama Navodya School right inside the school premises for punishing his daughter.



Media followed up the incident and created a series of news centering the politician and the teacher. The teacher recently denied the media reports that she would address the opposition political rallies in case the politico is granted nomination to contest the election from the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance.




The politico himself seems thrilled with the national level publicity he gained from this incident and he is trying to invest it for a victory at the next election. He is most likely to be granted ruling alliance nomination and no wonder if he wind the election with a a huge margin of preferential votes.

Issuing identity cards to artistes; latest joke of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka government has taken steps to issue identity cards to the artistes.After this identity card is issued all who do not possess it will not be artistes. 

A report said that the Ministry of Culture and Art Affairs had taken steps to issue identity cards to the recognized artistes. Recognized by whom? The government. Does one need government recognition to be an artiste?

The inaugural issue of identity cards will take place at the Tower Hall Theater under the patronage of the Minister of Culture and Art Affairs T.B. Thennakoon on July 29 at 2.30.

Initially, the Cultural Department will issue the identity card to 500 artistes. Sources say that more artistes have applied for this type of identity cards and the Cultural Department will issue them in the future.

Artistes should actually reject this identity card.

This began from the issue of identity cards to the professional journalists. They used it to outshine in a context citizen journalism had not conceptualized.

The artistes' identity card is more comical than it, I think. Every man is an artiste. The government has issued identity cards to all.

Rajapakse regime of Sri Lanka has no alternate to lousy casino business to bring FDI

Rajapakse regime, deviated from respectable foreign direct investment to give it a lifeline, seems bloody serious of making Colombo a casino hub.

For a start, a very attractive tax relief has been granted to James Packer. It is a Packer only measure and the other players lured in Packer centered casino hub will have to pay more taxes. Otherwise, we will pay it definitely with what we will earn by means of prostitution and other evil stuff.

Gone are the Buddhist extremists. They who see crocodile in each vessel if it is related to a minority nationality or religion seem seeing no evil in this lousy business. More and more racism and religious hatred will be needed for them to circumvent the blame from the government.

In my perspective, a dubious government with no international respect from less dubious world democracies, has no alternative except this type of filthy business.

Do Sri Lanka Cricket male officials attempt to extort from the beggar's bowl of women cricketers?

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has appointed Channa Weerakkodi as the manager of the women's cricket team.

Former women's team manager, selector and the Chairman of Umpire's Committee A.R.M. Aroos has been suspended by SLC from the posts.

Sri Lanka women's team captain Shashikala Siriwardene last week complained against Aroos over attempting to extort a part of money she earned through a TV commercial.

SLC pays far less to women cricketers than the male cricketers. While cricketers in the men's team are paid an ODI fee of 3500 US dollars, that is Rs.440,000.s, women cricketers are paid 100 US dollars which converts to Rs.12500 rupees.

Sri Lanka women's team manager ARM Aroos has resigned from all his posts connected to the women's game in the country, following the board's sanctioning of a formal inquiry against him because of a complaint made by captain Shashikala Siriwardene last week, accusing Aroos of extortion.

SLC appointed retired senior superintendent of police, Hemachandra Dias to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the matter, and he recommended to the SLC's executive committee that the board conduct a formal inquiry into the allegations.

SLC executive committee subsequently appointed a panel to carry out the inquiry, and following that Aroos submitted his resignation.

Sri Lanka Railway strike ends; bus strike looming ahead

Sri Lanka's railway strike ended today as new threats on a private bus strike came out.

An official of Sri Lanka Railway Graded Employees' Union said that the strike was ended following agreements at a discussion between trade unions and the officials of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance and the Salaries and Cadre Commission.

The strike was originally planned to be held for 48 hours and accordingly it was to end midnight today.

Train services paralyzed due to strike are still to be normalized. 

Meanwhile All Island Private Bus Owners Association Chairman Gemunu Wijerathna said that the private bus operators will launch a strike since midnight tomorrow in protest of not granting the 10% bus fare hike they demanded.