The Economics of Democracy
Picture courtesy Colombo Gazette “Want to buy some illusions, Slightly used, second hand? They were lovely illusions, Reaching high, built on sand….” (Marlene Dietrich in A Foreign Affair) “After emergency laws are…
Economy
A rond-point for vessels plying the Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka in Arab cartographic tradition
Source: Picture Collection, Mid-Manhattan Library, The New York Public Library Preserving Sri Lanka’s interests and ensuring her prosperity in a global trading network has demanded a cautious and balanced foreign policy through…
Coke: One; Media: Zero
Photo courtesy @dumindaxsb How Coke is undermining the media and Good Governance in Sri Lanka Almost all major mainstream media outlets in Sri Lanka are now owned, or partially owned by individuals representing…
The Coca-Cola Incident – Are we the next Plachimada?
Image courtesy Killer Coke On August 17th 2015, the Coca Cola factory in Sri Lanka leaked diesel fuel into the Kelani River, polluting the water supply for millions of Sri Lankans living…
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)…
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…
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…
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….
The Central Bank Bond Controversy Revisited
By Sam Samarasinghe and Dushyantha Mendis The Ministry of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs has on April 19 issued a press release announcing some findings of the three-member committee that Prime Minister…
The Bond Issue Controversy: An Analysis
Image courtesy By Sam Samarasinghe and Dushyantha Mendis The issue of government bonds on February 27 has raised a huge controversy, involving questions as to the competence of the Government of Sri…
Contrasting post civil war development trajectories in Nepal and Sri Lanka
Photograph courtesy Asian Tribune In both Nepal and Sri Lanka the transition from war to durable peace has been painful and is ongoing and not devoid of pitfalls as has been the…
Putting the provinces, women, and youth at the forefront of policy by the next President in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy The Curionomist The Presidential Election in Sri Lanka is due on 08 January 2015. This article argues the case for three critical policy priorities to steer Sri Lanka into an…
Synthetic development, commodification of the body and the vote under neo-liberal economic policies: Where to now?
Photo credit Marvellous Sri Lanka In modern day governance, there are certain principles that peace-loving people expect the rulers to implement. One of them is accountability. Accountability for the actions, expenditure, decisions,…
