The Right Queue
Poems are waiting in a queue. But that is alright. They are poems only, not people lining up for kerosene, or fish, or paper. or petrol. I write them in a…
Economy
Life is a Never Ending Queue
Recently one of my friends updated his Facebook status. “Watching breaking news from Temple Trees,” it read, along with a selfie of him and more people watching the news on TV. “They…
Economic Crisis Badly Impacting Most Vulnerable
Families in Sri Lanka are fast adopting negative coping strategies to deal with the economic crisis. A recently concluded Rapid Needs Assessment by Save the Children revealed that families are resorting to…
Comprehensive Reforms Vital to Maximise Foreign Aid
There is good news on the foreign aid front. Foreign aid from official donors reached an all-time high at $179 billion in 2021 as developed countries increased their assistance to developing countries…
From the Aragalaya to a New Nation
The current economic downfall did not happen due to a natural disaster or by accident; it was caused by a combination of bad policies, wrong economic direction, mismanagement, corruption, inability to deliver…
Bridging Infrastructure Gaps
Sri Lanka is going through a crisis of a magnitude that has never been witnessed in its economic history. The country is in disarray as people wait in lines to purchase essentials….
Sri Lanka’s Uprising Forces Out a President but Leaves System in Crisis
Sri Lanka has been through a tumultuous ten days. What exactly has happened? In a stunning display of “people power”, massive crowds overcame large deployments of police and soldiers and other obstacles…
The Need of the Hour: Economic Planning Not Political Squabbling
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph Sri Lankan citizens have successfully done what was unimaginable two years ago – ousted the Rajapaksa brothers from power well before any scheduled elections. The public found themselves…
Building on the Success of People Power
There have been extraordinary scenes in Colombo and beyond as protesters calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit surged forward to take over his official residence, which he had fled. In the…
Ensuring the Rights and Protection of Women Migrant Workers
The cabinet decision last month to ease the Family Background Report (FBR) regulation imposed on all women who wish to work overseas has been received with elation and consternation in equal parts….
Addressing Nutrition Challenges During the Food Crisis
Malnutrition is a complex issue that many nations in the world face at different levels. To successfully eliminate and prevent malnutrition a nation needs a multifactorial, multisectoral and multistakeholder response. The definition…
Sri Lanka Goes to the IMF
Sri Lanka has taken the (rather delayed) initiative to seek International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid and assistance to cure the economic crisis. Before I delve into what the IMF conditionalities and its…
Good Governance, Bad Governance and No Governance
Good governance means a system of governance that ensures economic efficiency guaranteeing economic stability throughout a nation. This economic efficiency can only be brought about by the observance of transparency, accountability and…
Looking for a Way Out of the Abyss
Our country has collapsed. Government spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena announced that fuel supply has come to a standstill and fuel will be available only for essential services. These is no one to blame,…
Elections Are the Only Way Forward
Verité Research The young Sri Lankan cricket team has done the impossible and beaten the powerful Australian cricket team several times in the shorter formats of the game, giving Sri Lankans some…
