Archive for the ‘Anuradhapura’

Nalanda Sahayogaya

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Image from Wikimedia Commons Grappling and struggling With this constructed reality Where everyone wants to succeed But so few do Why don’t we try and forge Our own reality? I find it difficult to judge or criticize the actions and omissions of individuals without reference to the ideas and times they served. In the final analysis every individual is part of a larger pattern, a larger emotion and though process shared by other countrymen. This implementation of a collective will is what we refer to as our praxis – the application of a theory into life. Within the pan Indian cultural world (which extended from Maldives to Lanka and Indonesia in the South) this idea of putting principles into practice was recognized as yoga. Under Sri Lankan skies where the dharma taught by Buddha was practiced in earnest and integrated into both work and life (as far as the intelligence of Anuradhapura man permitted) this collective effort came to be…

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Is the history of Sri Lanka a tale of two civilisations?

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[Parakramabahu (1153-1186) holds the yoke of sovereignty which has only been upheld since by military power and force, rather than by the consent of the people] [Today, the easy co-existence of opposites symbolized by the ballot and bullet walking together] The intellectual gaps that reinforce our intellectual poverty appear readily as we scrutinize the grand shift from a united and self-sufficient irrigation civilisation to an increasingly fragmented, defensive and dependent civilisation that began in the 13th century. Although this shift is symbolized by the phrase drift to the South West stability has eluded us and we continue to search for organizing principles, unifying reference points and order. In fact chronic long term instability has been the order of the Lankan nation for centuries. Liyanagamage, while providing a valuable analysis of the Decline of Polonnaruva and Rise of Dambadeniya continues to stick to the grand theme of our historians, the story how unity and integrity was maintained by the kings, nobles,…

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Provincial Council Election: Real-time updates

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@mhmhisham is turning out the best updates on Twitter. #PCelectionsLK and #ep2012 are key hashtags aggregating all the tweets on the September 2012 Provincial Council elections. See below for aggregation and real time updates. Tweets about “#PCelectionsLK “ Tweets by @mhmhisham Tweets about “#ep2012″ Repost This Article

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Rural entrepreneurship in post-war Sri Lanka: Jobs for youth and ICTs

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Her day job aside, Sandya Salgado is a Director of the Foundation for Advancing Rural Opportunity and approached Groundviews recently to talk with us about the organisation’s model for rural entrepreneurship in particular, and the prospects for BPO writ large in post-war Sri Lanka. In this brief conversation, we first talk about FARO’s BPO model which supports rural entrepreneurship through ownership of shares in the BPOs set up in Mahavilachchiya, Seenigama and Uduvil, in Jaffna. Sandya’s point is much broader than FARO – she speaks of the need to nurture business intelligence amongst Sri Lanka’s rural youth, and encourage a culture where they become shareholders in the companies they create. We talk about the challenges facing the BPO industry in Sri Lanka including the shortage of skills, as well as English language impediments. Sandya talks about the advantages of developing entrepreneurship amongst the rural youth, and flags an interesting trend, that more women seem to opt to stay in rural…

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Google map on flood-affected areas in Sri Lanka – February 2011

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View Flood-affected regions in February 2011 – Sri Lanka in a larger map The map above identifies the main flood-affected regions, sites where relief and rescue operations have been conducted and specific DS divisions where IDP camps have been setup. Please click on the link below the map to view it on a larger screen. You may click on individual markers for detailed information and zoom in to view the location of specific shelter camps located in the east.  Please note that this map is continuously updated as soon as the Editors of Groundviews receive detailed information and reports from the ground. Between the 11th and the 18th of January, heavy rainfall led to severe floods and widespread destruction in several provinces across the island that affected over 1 million people. 43 people were killed and over 300,000 were displaced. The districts of Ampara, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa and Anuradhapura were severely affected in January and at present with heavy rainfall once again…

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Needed: An Agenda for Reform on Groundviews

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Whilst it is not clear as to whether we would be voting in both the presidential and general elections on the same day, it is clear that we will be voting in at least one of them in the next three months, followed soon thereafter by the other.  Most likely it will be the presidential elections since it is the president who has to decide and since he is much more popular than his party. Moreover, we have been told that he is willing to sacrifice, if necessary, two years of his first term in order to secure a second and a parliamentary majority nearest to the heart’s desire. All elections are important and these will be no exception. It is worth reminding that we are still in a post-war situation and far from the post-conflict one we ought to be in. What this requires is the prioritization of peace, reconciliation and unity and the firm commitment to ensure that the…

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Understanding electoral results in Sri Lanka: Beyond winners and losers

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Introduction The United People’s Freedom Party (UPFA) claimed its second consecutive provincial electoral victory on the 24th of August by winning a clear majority of seats in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Province.  This election was more competitive than the previous Eastern Provincial Council election,  where the government managed to get the Tamil and Muslim votes by  their crafty handling of Pillayan and Hisbulla.  Unlike in the Eastern province, the government contested in the North Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces with relatively unpopular politicians and more importantly on a platform where the opposition politicians too enjoyed almost equal access to votes. However, election results proved that the desperate United National Party, has once again failed to shake up  the electoral support of the ruling coalition despite introducing new celebrities for the chief ministerial  candidacy. The third party that secured a representation in these provincial councils, the JVP  is experiencing the bitter truth of politics; the government that they brought into power…

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Travels in a Militarised Society — 2

Anudhradapura District, mid October 2007 The huge, busy conurbation of Anudharapura—once a sacred city—has become the major transit centre for military forces en route to and from the current war zones. The ancient archeologically important ruins for which Anudharapura is famous are dwarfed by the sprawling modern developments. An informal economy has grown up in which small traders sell the debris of militarism: single T56 bullets for 15 rupees each. Many young girls have come to the city to sell their favours to the military personnel. Guesthouses built for tourists who rarely come any more are now informal brothels. A trader approaches asking, “What do you want? Bullets? Weapons? Girls?” If you want a bullet, he takes one from his pocket. If you want a weapon, he guides you to a secret stash in this sacred city. If you want a girl, he directs you to the guesthouse. Three-wheeled taxis, Tri-shaws, fly around the city doing this business. At Madawatchiya…

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  • 6 Nov, 2007
  • 46 Comments
  • Anuradhapura,
    Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Politics and Governance

The Killing of the ‘Always-Smiling Face’ LTTE Political Head and the Anuradhapura Airbase Attack Bring an Already-Futile Peace Process to the Edge of Chaos

By Satheesan Kumaaran The LTTE’s two-pronged attack on the Sri Lankan airbase, located at Saliyapura, in Anuradhapura, which is a north-central province of Sri Lanka, on Monday, October 22, 2007, and the air raid of the Sri Lankan air force on November 02, 2007, which killed six LTTEers, including the their political wing chief, have created panic among the Sri Lankans and anxiety among the global community. This mounting panic could push Sri Lanka intent on crushing the LTTE prowess and the LTTE in turn to to launch military operations aim at dividing the country into two nations within one island. The profile of the LTTE has risen, both militarily and politically, following the aerial and land attacks on the Sri Lankan airbase. The LTTE victory has put the Sri Lankan government into a grave political predicament for the Sri Lankan government, since Mahinda Rajapaksa coming to power, has not faced such a massive military defeat. But, in swift retaliation,…

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Eroding Governance

The LTTE attack on the Saliyapura airforce base has reminded those who wanted to think otherwise, that a quick, cheap and/or certain military victory is by no means assured. The attempt to achieve one will take time and cost quite a lot more in human and other resources. In the meantime, the preoccupation with military victory is also underpinning the steady erosion of democracy. Take the last week for instance. The Wamanan case and the shutting down of the ABC network constituted further assaults on media freedom. The former is an example of crude and shoddy intimidation in response to the exposure of corruption and the latter, one of over reaction prompted by embedded hostility towards media freedom. On another fornt, the provisions of the Draft Appropriations Bill strike at the very foundation of parliamentary democracy – parliamentary sovereignty over finances. The whole procedure for supplementary estimates could be undermined by a proposed statutory provision allowing the secretary to the…

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අභිෙයා්ග හමුෙවි ඉදිරියට යන ශුි ලංකා කුිකටි

වර්ෂ1996ෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාවට එෙරහිව ශුි ලංකාව ලද ෙලා්ක කුසලාන ජයගුහණය දැන් දැන් අපෙග් මතකය අඑත් කරනවා ෙනාඅනුමානයි.ෙමි දිනවල බටහිර ඉන්දිය ෙකාෙදවි දුපත්හි පැවැත්ෙවන 9 වන ෙලා්ක කුසලාන තරගාවලිෙය් අර්ධ අවසන් තරගය සදහා ෙමම මස 24 ෙවනිදා ශුි ලංකාව සහභාගිවන තරගය පැවැත්ෙවන ෙහයිනි. තත්වය ෙමෙස් තිබියදි සුපුරැදු පරිදි ශුිලංකානු කුිකටි කණ්ඩායමට එෙරහිව ෙකරිෙගන යන උද්ෙඝා්ෂණයන් සහ මඩ පුහාරයන් අාරමිභවි තුිබිම අප කවිරැත් පුදුමයට පත් ෙනාවන බව මාෙග් අදහසයි.1995 වර්ෂෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියාෙවිදි පැවැත්වු ෙබන්සන් ෙහජස් තරගාවලිෙය්දි ඔස්ෙටුිලියානු විනිසුරැ ඩැරල් ෙහයාර් විසින් මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන් පන්දුව දමා ගසන්ෙනක් බව පුකාශ කරන ලදි. අවසානෙය්දි කුිකටි කවුන්සිලය පැවැත්වු පරික්ෂණයකින්්් පසුව මුරලිදරන් නිෙදාස්කරන ලදි.1999 වර්ෂෙය්දි එංගලන්තය ෙටස්ටි තරගයකින් පරාජය කිරිෙමන්පසුව එංගලන්ත පුවත් පත් වලට සහ කුිකටි ෙලා්ලින්ට පින්සිදු වන්නට ශුි ලංකානු කණ්ඩායමට එංගලන්තය සමග ෙටස්ටි තරගාවලියක් සදහා පුථම වරට ෙටස්ටි තරග 03 ක් ලබාදිමට එංගලන්ත කුිකටි පරිපාලනයට සිදුවිය.ෙමි අකාරයට ශුි ලංකානු කුිකටි කණ්ඩායමට එෙරහිව ෙගන ගිය කුමනිතුණයන්ෙගන් සුලු පුමාණයක් පමණි.නමුති ෙවනදාට වඩා ෙමම ගැටලුව ෙවනස් අාකාරයකට ඉදිරියට ෙගනවිත් ශුි ලංකානු කුිඩකයින්ෙග් මානසිකත්වය බිදදැමිමට ගනු ලැබු උත්සහයන් පිළිබද නවතම විස්තරයන්…

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Crossover and Mixed Public Reaction

The latest survey conducted by the Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives reveals that Sri Lankans express mixed opinion on the recent crossover by the 18 UNP parliamentarians along with 6 Muslim Congress MPs. 37% of people approve of this move while the same percentage disapproves. Interestingly, a quarter of Sri Lankans are either unaware of the crossover or do not have an opinion on whether to approve or disapprove of it; despite the chaos it has triggered in many corners that is yet to be settled. In the wake of numerous interpretations and reinterpretation of the present political situation as a result of the recent crossover by the political elites, the authors of this article attempt to discuss how citizens perceive the crossover. The results of the latest poll, that was conducted by Social Indicator – Centre for Policy Alternatives are used to discuss the public views in this article. This survey was…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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