Those Killer Robots
The word ‘Robot’ to signify a self-aware machine with the capacity to destroy humans was first coined in 1920 by the Czech playwright Karel Capek in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots (RUR)…
Development
An unforgettable afternoon spent with Uncle Nihal, the Off-Road Dog Feeder
Photos courtesy @dogsinsrilanka This is a story about a dog lover called Uncle Nihal. He puts all his time into feeding the street dogs who live just outside Colombo. He wakes up…
Coca-Cola: Apologise and pay compensation for contaminating drinking water
Photo courtesy Sri Lanka Water Board, via On 17th August 2015, local authorities discovered a leakage of diesel into the Kelani river, the source of drinking water for millions of Sri Lankans….
On Creating Our Future
Photo via #happysrilankans We have emerged, as a nation that is maturing politically and can determine its future in a participatory, democratic manner. Now that the process of lying out of our…
General Election 2015 Pre Election Opinion Poll – Top Line Report
Social Indicator, the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives conducted an island wide pre election opinion poll with the objective of identifying Sri Lankan voter perceptions and attitudes on…
The 19th Amendment and the future of Sri Lanka
Excellencies of the diplomatic community, Mr Abeykoon, Secretary to the President, officials of the Presidential Secretariat, ladies and gentleman, It may sound as if I am repeating what has already been said…
Tourism mega-development in Sri Lanka results in human rights violations
Sri Lanka has an increasing number of tourist arrivals which could be very good for the development of the island. Therefore, of course, the local communities should benefit from the tourism above…
THE THREAT TO LIFE
Image via 350 dot org It is very gratifying to see Pope Francis declare in his encyclical that, in terms of the Earth, “We have grown up thinking that we were her…
Coconut saplings for war widows – an innovative project worth emulating
Since the end of the war the Government and other organisations within and outside Sri Lanka have being helping the victims of the war in the North and the East to enable…
A volunteer’s story from post-tsunami Sri Lanka
Just over ten years ago, a powerful undersea earthquake caused a devastating tsunami that wrapped around two-thirds of Sri Lanka’s coastline on Boxing Day, at around 8:30am. Being a holiday, locals were…
Plantation Community: A status revisit
Image via Wikipedia Disenfranchisement of the Indian Origin plantation workforce in the year 1948 after independence stalled the development of the ‘plantation community’ (PC) in contrast to other communities in the country….
Evicted under the World Bank’s Watch
Forcible demolition of 34 Watta homes when court case was ongoing, September 2014. Photograph by Selvaraj Rajasegar. As part of on-going research at the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) dealing with evicted communities in…
Power mapping
Image by I was asked to contribute an article to an up-coming issue of , the journal of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects. The issue will be anchored to the idea of…
Valalai (Jaffna): Re-militarisation of released villages with façade of resettlement
Valalai[1] is a Tamil village of about 233 acres[2] that was occupied by the military for nearly 25 years and before it was handed back to villagers in March 2015 by President…
Five years ago, today: Evicted and homeless
Photo courtesy JDS On 8th May 2010, the Urban Development Authority (UDA) demolished 20 homes that were occupied by 33 families on Mews Street in Kompannyaveediya, Colombo 2. Families were informed verbally…