The Problem of the People
Sri Lanka, unravelled and unravelling, is mesmerised by a new wonder: the Lotus Tower. When that monumental symbol of Rajapaksa folly was opened to the public last week, people thronged to pay…
Poverty
Fighting Malnutrition in Vulnerable Families
Sri Lanka has long been known for its positive human development indicators in the health sector including low infant mortality, low maternal mortality and good nutritional status of children. However, the past…
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…
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…
Life after this Death?
“All that is solid melts into the air…” Marx and Engels (The Communist Manifesto) The socio-economic edifice that is Sri Lanka’s informal sector is collapsing. According to the 2020 Labour Force Survey,…
The Economics Of Poetry
I will try to balance the books, moral and historical ones, caused by migration, that give me a paycheck and put food and drink on the table, that keep my…
Child Labour: Remedies in a Humanitarian Crisis
Our numbers are good, that is, if you glance at them and move on. We are proud to acknowledge that we have some of the lowest rates of child labour in South…
Supporting Urban Poor Families in Colombo
Low income settlements in Colombo experienced greater food insecurity even before the pandemic with 72% of households being food insecure[1]. Women in low income households in Colombo were more likely to be…
Rescuing the Poor from the Economic Abyss
At a small grocery store, an elderly man pointed at a particular packet of biscuits and asked what the price was – it was Rs.70. The man asked if there were biscuits…
Protecting the Rights of the Disadvantaged When Talking to the IMF
Had the decision been thought out and strategic like that of Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis, I would have backed the Sri Lanka government’s lack of interest in going…
Our Planet, Our Health
Today is World Health Day World Health Day, a global health awareness day, was declared to mark the anniversary of the founding of World Health Organisation (WHO) on April 7, 1948. World…
The Ides of March: Protests, Discontent and Disconnects
The month of March has seen widespread discontent expressed by many Sri Lankans from all walks of life on new and old social, economic and political concerns leading to more than 100…
Water Pumps and Chickens: Rhetoric vs Reality in the North
December 19, 2021. Jaffna town. 6 am. Three motorcycles parked one behind the other at an angle with headlights on. Two armed military personnel, clad in black, on each motorcycle. Women headed…
Urban Beautification, Military Design
“As an abstract political force, poverty is very useful; it scares and disciplines the working classes, keeps wages down…” Parenti, 1999 Visible urban poverty disrupts the gilded cityscape. It shatters the sanctity…
The Plight of Up Country Tamils in the North
Ever since they were brought to Sri Lanka from South India by the British colonists to work on the coffee, tea and rubber plantations Malayaha Tamils, more commonly known as Hill Country Tamils, Up…
