No tax increase for sanitary towels, Sri Lanka government says

Several Ministers of Sri Lanka said in social media that taxation on sanitary towels has not been increased. Accordingly, the pre-budget import tax on sanitary towels was 30% and there was no CESS tax on them. The government has reduced the custom import duty to 15% and added a new CESS tax of 15%. As a result, the tax amount remains the same. 

However, the government's clarification revealed that the tax on menstrual products in Sri Lanka is over 30% as more taxes are effective when they come to the retail market. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's son Minister Namal Rajapaksa said, "I firmly believe that women should have affordable access to sanitary napkins & therefore all taxes should be waived off for this essential commodity until we increase local production."

Sri Lankan public official brutally assaults a female subordinate officer (video)

A video is going viral on social media in Sri Lanka that shows a person suspected to be an engineer of Udugampola office of Provincial Road Development Authority assaulting a female officer.

The incident is suspected happened on 23 November 2020. 

Social media posts say the perpetrator of violence against women in this video is a man with political backing.

A few weeks ago, a lady doctor in Karapitiya hospital complained against a senior surgeon in her ward regarding mentally and physically torturing her. 

Government will go to history as a rule that taxed menstruation - Rohini Kavirathna

"Although the previous government reduced the taxes on sanitary towels by 40%, the present government has increased it by 15%," Sri Lanka opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya Matale district MP Rohini Kavirathna said in the parliament today participating in the budget debate. 

She said that the government would go into history as a rule that taxed even the menstruation of women. 

An article on Praja.lk pointed out that it is estimated an average woman spends 2,500 - 3,000 days in her life for menstruation. 

Period poverty is common among Sri Lanka's women and girls among the low-income groups. 

There is a public outcry in social media these days demanding the removal of this tax. 

(Photo: A stock of sanitary towels in a wholesale shop in Panadura - by Nishan Perera)

School re-opening in Sri Lanka is problematic - Ceylon Teachers Union

Ceylon Teachers' Union secretary Joseph Stalin said that four students of Thalawakele Tamil School who were undergoing quarantine had attended school today. 

He said that the government's unplanned re-opening of government schools had put the teachers in trouble. 

Stalin pointed out that when re-opening schools after the first corona wave, the government issued a circular for the safety of the teachers allowing them to stay in the school only when they are required for teaching. However, although the government has no plan to re-open primary classes yet, the teachers of the primary sections have also been summoned to duty putting them in unnecessary risk. Those teachers have no work in the school but have to stay until school is over. 

"The government's claims of successful re-opening and high percentages of attendance are fabrications," Joseph Stalin pointed out citing figures from some schools in Kandy town. "Today's attendance in some of the leading schools in Kandy are as follows:

Vidyartha - 54 

Sumangala - 60 

Sylvester - 60

High School - 74

Pushpadana - 64

St Anthony's Balika - 64

Seethadevi  - 30

"All these schools have more than 3,000 students"

The Ceylon Teachers' Union leader further said that the Ministry of Education had failed to send guidelines to the principals to handle such situations. "The Ministry sent a letter dated on 19th November advising to set up advisory committees comprised of relevant officials before starting schools but the time was not sufficient for that because the schools were re-opened on 24th. Although the Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris and Secretary to the Ministry Prof. Kapila Perera says they have allocated money for COVID-19 sanitary facilities, the schools have not received them." 

Stalin further said that the Ministry had not consulted principals and teachers properly before the re-opening of schools.

Meanwhile, 30 students and the teachers of two classes of two leading schools of Ambalangoda were sent for quarantine today. The reason was that the parents of two students had been diagnosed positive for COVID-19. These two students who were from the same family attended their schools yesterday.

Soon after the schools were re-opened, the educational authorities of Northern Province decided to close all the schools in Kilinochchi district until further notice because of a COVID-19 patient who had travelled into many places was diagnosed. 

Sri Lankan student collapses in the school; teachers do not attend

An incident of teachers not attending to a student who collapsed in the school was reported from a leading school in Embilipitiya in Sri Lanka on November 23. The teachers were afraid due to COVID-19 and the incident took place on the first day after the school re-opening. The teachers said they had not been informed about the actions to take in such situations and no protective equipment had been supplied to schools.  

The relevant 14-year-old grade-nine girl fell due to a difficulty in breathing. Fellow students helped her. However, no teacher came to help her. 

Ordered by the teachers, the state-owned Suwaseriya ambulance service took the girl intoEmbilipitiya hospital and admitted her to the Emergency Treatment Unit.  

Ceylon Teachers' Union spokesman Joseph Stalin said that the Ministry of Education had failed to send guidelines to the principals to handle such situations. "The Ministry sent a letter dated on 19th November advising to set up advisory committees comprised of relevant officials before starting schools but the time was not sufficient for that because the schools were re-opened on 24th. Although the Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris and Secretary to the Ministry Prof. Kapila Perera says they have allocated money for COVID-19 sanitary facilities, the schools have not received them."

Stalin further said that the Ministry had not consulted principals and teachers properly before the re-opening of schools. 

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Do not arrest and remand people for offences that can be severely warned for the first time - Journalists for Rights

Journalists for Rights organization urges the government not to arrest and remand people for offences that can be severely warned for the first time. 

Journalists for Rights issued this statement while a number of social media users have been arrested by police for the alleged spread of fake news. Meanwhile, the opposition MP Imitiaz Bakir Markar accused the government of compiling a list of 200 journalists and social media users who criticize the government.

Following is the full statement of the Journalists for Rights: 

Journalists for Rights thoroughly believe that even ordinary citizens who use social media must act wisely and responsibly. However, we request the authorities not to manipulate errors committed by some of the social media users to terrify social media users, journalists and citizens in society.  

We extend our fullest corporation to act against fake news and hate speech. However, we emphasize the need for being unbiased and unselective. We re-emphasize that the responsibility of the state is to implement law equally without specialization.

The government has a responsibility to increase the media literacy of the citizens. Citizens must be educated on the laws and ethics related to the use of new media like social media. We earnestly request the authorities not to arrest and remand people for offences that can be severely warned for the first time.

None of the actions of the government must negatively affect the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution of Sri Lanka and media freedom. We highlight that the responsibility of a democratic government is to encourage the journalists and citizens who communicate information and opinion ethically and legally.   

Ranil Wickramasinghe rejects national list seat

Sri Lanka opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has declined the offer to elect to the parliament through the national list, UNP sources say. 

UNP management committee members have demanded the leader in writing to accept this offer. 

Ranil Wickramasinghe first elected to the parliament in 1977 and failed to elect in the last election due to the party split. He became the leader of the party in 1994 and recently announced that he would retire after the party selected a new leader.

Meanwhile, UNP sources say that party secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has offered to resign if necessary for the party reforms. However, he has not resigned, as media reported.