Abortion, Women and Personhood
The government’s plans to liberalise Sri Lanka’s abortion laws has polarised public opinion. Abortion is either supported as a natural extension of a woman’s autonomy and right to choose, or is opposed…
Year: 2017
The world’s first EleFriendly bus: A success story
The world’s first EleFriendly bus celebrated its first birthday on September 9th, 2017 in the Wasgamuwa area. I was lucky to be able to attend the event. The EleFriendly bus is an…
‘Corridors of Power’ exhibition in Kurunegala
Royal International School Auditorium, Kurunegala 23 (Saturday) & 24 (Sunday) September 2017, from 10am-5pm daily Entrance free. Interactive, guided tours of the exhibition by the Curator will be conducted on both days…
Power, Religion and Impunity
I ordered, he says, as if those two words would suffice. Perhaps they do, in his eyes. ‘I’m the state,’ Louis XIV declared, according to Carlyle. Mahinda Rajapaksa sees himself as the…
Unpaid Care Work: The Overlooked Barrier in Women’s Economic Empowerment
Photograph via video produced by Institute of Development Studies There is broad consensus that women’s empowerment underpins the success of the new 2030 Agenda for Development (also known as the Sustainable Development Goals)….
Counting What Counts in Development
NEW YORK – To most people, “development” is best measured by the quantity of change – like gains in average income, life expectancy, or years spent in school. The Human Development Index (HDI), a composite measure…
The Abortion Debate: The Absence of Questions
The government of Sri Lanka recently announced plans to widen the scope of the law on abortion. This initiative was subsequently put on hold because of strong opposition from religious leaders and…
The Abortion Debate: Mismatched and Misplaced?
Image courtesy Asia Society I once came into contact with a woman on account of a professional relationship we had. We had met to discuss her prolonged absence from work. With a…
The Forgotten Brew: The Struggle for rights and representation in Sri Lanka’s low-country estates
It is easy to forget that Deniyaya is located in the Matara district. Many people travel here in order to trek through the Sinharaja rainforest. Few people stop to notice the sprawling…
Examining Facets of Corruption in Sri Lanka
Recent events have brought the issue of corruption into the spotlight. When you open a daily newspaper, chances are there will be four or five cases involving corruption within its pages, reported…
On the Harassment of the Lanka Comic Con Players
Though Sri Lanka often promotes the fact that it elected the first female Prime Minister as an example of its progressive stance on gender inequality, some Sri Lankans can’t stand to see…
We need to talk about that e-NIC project
“The national identity scheme represents the worst of government” said Theresa May, the then UK Home Minister. introducing a bill to scrap the national biometric ID scheme in the UK . “It…
#anticorruptlka: On Combating Corruption and Complicity
On August 28th, Groundviews hosted a Twitter chat themed around corruption, using the hashtag #anticorruptlka. Participants included Executive Director of Transparency International, Asoka Obeysekere, Research Director at Verité Research, Gehan Gunatilleke, Chilaw…
“We vehemently refuse to be deceived again”: Protests by families of disappeared, continuing abductions and empty promises
Photography from Above was the last line in a press release issued on 17th August, by Association for Relatives for Enforced Disappeared in Kilinochchi district, at a press conference in Colombo. It…
Roti and Rice: Examining Imbalances in Nutrition for Children in the Estate Sector
It’s 10:30 am at the Social Institute for the Development of Plantation Sector (SIDPS) pre-school on the Strathspey estate in Maskeliya. The children, most of them around five years old, queue up…
