Microplastic Pollution: A Silent Killer in the Making
I was only a few years old when Sri Lanka opened its economy in the late 70s. The influx of plastics into the island was among the few visible changes I remember…
Economy
Debt Restructuring, Austerity and the IMF: a Panacea or an Exacerbation? Part 6
The IMF programme needs to be used to negotiate debt restructuring with commercial and multilateral creditors. It would create space to spend on priorities such as food and fuel. However, the country…
Debt Restructuring, Austerity and the IMF: a Panacea or an Exacerbation? Part 5
The IMF agreement with Sri Lanka emphasises fiscal consolidation, which requires the government to achieve a budget surplus within two years. It also conditions its funding on increases in energy tariffs and…
Debt Restructuring, Austerity and the IMF: a Panacea or an Exacerbation? Part 4
The implication of debt on human rights is of significant concern. Many countries in the world are either already in a debt crisis or approaching it. This is not a new phenomenon….
Debt Restructuring, Austerity and the IMF: a Panacea or an Exacerbation? Part 3
Long term survival of an entity depends on developing a culture of innovation. This needs to be an organizational priority. Fostering such a culture consultatively and inclusively needs a free flow of…
Building a Future: the Young People who Chose to Stay
Last year saw a record number of passports issued – nearly 875,000; they were not for people going on holiday but for workers escaping an economic meltdown and an unstable future. According…
Tracing Roots and Winning Rights: the March of the Malaiyaha Tamil Community
Two hundred years ago, the first groups of women and men were brought from southern India by the British colonial rulers to Sri Lanka to work in the hill country plantations. They…
Debt Restructuring, Austerity and the IMF: a Panacea or an Exacerbation? Part 2
Neo-liberalism is not a solution, but the principal cause of the problem. I would like to offer some personal insights here from my working life with regard to the manner a non…
Debt Restructuring, Austerity and the IMF: a Panacea or an Exacerbation? Part 1
Post-independent Sri Lanka has suffered from recurrent economic crises; the more notable ones being in August 1953, in the late 1970s and most pertinently the current crisis that essentially bankrupted the country….
Address Unknown: The Plight of the Malaiyaga Thamilar Community
The irony is not lost on the Malaiyaga Thamilar community. A stamp was issued in commemoration of former minister and leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, the late Arumugan Thondaman, but most…
Debt Crisis, Corporate Culpability and the Apparel Sector: Labour Reforms in Perspective
industriall-union My exchange with friend and colleague Ben Selwyn came out of sharing union statements on illicit transfer of capital out of Sri Lanka’s corporate world. These numerous statements have a bearing…
Innovative Social Protection Measures Vital for Children to Recover from Economic Crisis
It should be universally acknowledged that the socioeconomic impact of the multiple crises which have been unfolding in Sri Lanka since the COVID-19 pandemic has invalidated all human development indicators measured since…
Political Will Needed to Abolish Period Tax
On Menstrual Hygiene Day, we are reminded of the ongoing efforts to normalize menstruation worldwide by the year 2030. In Sri Lanka we are still engaged in the struggle to eliminate the…
Sri Lanka’s Economic Crisis: Causes, Consequences and Cure
The principal problem faced by people due to the economic crisis is of rising prices while incomes for many remain unchanged. As a result, the poverty rate has doubled from 2021 from…
Beyond May Day
The connection between May Day and labour rights began in the United States. During the 19th century, at the height of the industrial revolution, thousands of men, women and children were dying…
