Hidden and Discounted: Child Labour in Tea and Tourism
Photo courtesy of IPS Today is the World Day Against Child Labour In the South Asian region, Sri Lanka is a success story when it comes to tackling child labour. The widely…
Poverty
Repayment and Relief: Addressing microfinance debt in Sri Lanka
Nadaraja Devakrishnan stumbled on the gravity of the microfinance debt issue purely by chance. He was attempting to begin community gardening in a small village, to respond to rising cases of CKDu…
“Our Request – Rs. 1000” | On the Wage Negotiations For Estate Workers
Featured image by Vikalpa For five days, estate workers have been holding a hunger strike in front of the Fort railway station, asking for a Rs. 1000 basic wage. Currently, the workers…
A Culture of Dependency
Editor’s Note: This post contains discussion on the topic of suicide. If you feel you may want to take your own life, or are concerned about someone else who is likely to attempt…
Conflict-Affected Women in Sri Lanka – Still Waiting For Answers
Featured image from a visit to Sellamma, a Puthukudiyiruppu returnee who sells kotta kilangu to make a living There has been a marked increase in female-headed households in the North and East…
The Story of a Man who Built Five Cinemas: Combating the Culture of Poverty
Featured image courtesy thuppahi.wordpress.com The story of Veerappa Alagoo and his family is also that of one the most disadvantaged and discriminated against among the major communities of this island. Alagoo’s story…
Vijay Nagaraj: Contributions to public discourse in many guises
Vijay Nagaraj, who passed away in a tragic car accident in August, was someone I interacted with for around six years. We didn’t meet regularly, yet when we did, we carried on…
The Budget and the Inequality Crisis
Featured image courtesy CNN “Ill fares the land. to hast’ning ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.” Oliver Goldsmith (The Deserted Village) Gintota is a grim warning. The abyss is…
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)….
Modi’s visit to the central hills brings welcome attention to a marginalised community
Featured image courtesy the Hindu Editor’s note: This is an edited version of an article which originally appeared in The Daily FT on 16 May 2017. Last Friday (12 May) Sri Lankans living…
Three scenarios for Sri Lanka’s future: Lecture by Razeen Sally
An expected economic take-off has not happened two years into the change of government says Prof. Razeen Sally, chairman of the Institute of Policy studies in Sri Lanka. Delivering a public lecture…
Culture and Poverty in our Neo Liberal Economy
Photo courtesy Amantha Perera/IPS news In this neo liberal or free market global economy, Sri Lanka was counted as a country moving into the middle income group with an annual per capita…
Sri Lanka: Where Free Market Wouldn’t Sell Reform & Reconciliation
Featured image courtesy Asianews The case for serious reform necessary to return to a decent, civilised life for all in Sri Lanka has not been seriously argued in political forums all these…
Voiceless: Stories of the Displaced
On Friday, Groundviews posted a map to the displaced and marginalised, marking the International for the Right to Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, which falls…
Economic Justice and Democratic Survival
Featured image courtesy IndiaTimes Social order starts breaking down if people are under profound stress. Then the default position is tribe – us/them, a hostility towards the unfamiliar or the unknown. Barack…