Morning Spice by Ginger
Heavy rains cause traffic snarl

What a week — splashed all over and heavily dosed on vitamin C. I should be sorry for the thousands rendered homeless as that somewhat vulgar expansion goes. Ginger being human has a tendency to think of his own misery before that of others and unlike those who point out that you must think of those who are in a worse plight first Ginger is mainly engrossed in what affects him. He was coming home from Borella in the pouring rain in a three wheeler which took him over an hour to get to Nugegoda. The traffic snarl was agonizing. We went even crawling.

I asked the three wheeler driver why the block was so bad and he pointed out to a patch of road surface where the rubble had all come out and was strewn all over the place. He said half the problem was caused because much of the surface was broken and there were huge holes in it. When the rains came these holes filled up and even widened further. Ginger grasped his point and also the fact that re-surfacing and repairing was all a sickening sham where a lot of good money was paid for bad work. Every government tried to get at the miscreants that benefited from a previous regime, but the lackeys and henchmen of a ruling party were allowed to go their merry ways bringing those governments that help them into disrepute. No, the pattern would never change. Nor would we be able ever to put behind us an age of roads with pot holes and leg twisting pavements.

Viagra tablet
The viagra tablet or the little blue pill as it is commonly known has created quite a sensation. It is known to be a fairly sure fire cure for sexual debility — at least till the effects of it wear off. A few men have even paid the supreme price for taking it by unknowingly combining it with other drugs they normally take which are contra-indicated when taking viagra.

Now all that is OK as far as the men are concerned. A major problem confronting todays male who is under considerable stress has been solved to some extent. The blue pill has done it. Now how about the female who may also crave for sexual satisfaction. Pfizer the company that markets Viagra is developing a pill called the female "Orgasm pill". So the whole issue has been settled to the satisfaction of both sexes.

Election violence common in Asia
Will Cambodia’s elections set for this month see the election violence that is common to many parts of Asia. We on the sub continent dread the advent of an election for one reason — the pre and post election violence that the polls bring. Not all countries further east have the same degree of violence but it still menaces the democratic process in parts of Asia and advance information indicates that there will be more than an "incident" or two during this months hustings.

Recently they found the body of a Cambodian activist who had been missing since the middle of last month. His body was found a couple of weeks later and it was obvious that he had been tortured to death. Some of his fingers were missing and so was one of his ears. Parts of flesh had been torn off his legs as well. It all signalled the fact that Asian politics could get pretty barbaric even today.

Public Servants and Pensioners

There is little doubt, that the ambiguity of the statement made by the President of Sri Lanka, at the Annual Sessions of the Administrative Officers Organisation hurt the public servants as well as pensioners. On the other hand it is quite possible, in the wake of the numerous complaints made regularly over a period of time, of procrastination, lethargy, inefficiency and indifference of public servants towards the day to day problems of the public, that the President, through sheer disgust and frustration, gave vent to her feelings. She has a duty and is finally answerable to the country and quite rightly feels that the public service is letting her government down.

Often we read in the newspapers that 20 to 30 thousand outstanding matters of individual members of the public have been completely and satisfactorily disposed of at the one day mobile services held by the government. Then daily we read of delay and non-attention in some government department or other. Then there is the ombudsman column in various newspapers where non attended or delayed problems of the public are spotlighted. What does all this mean and what does it point to?

There is a break down in the public service. The all important factor is that the public servant should be loyal to the public service and to the government (irrespective of who or which political party is in power). Work in the public departments must go on without fear or favour.

"The Government has a total claim to the time, knowledge, talents, and skills of its officers and their salary is fixed on that assumption, unless specifically provided for otherwise". (Cap XXX Section 1.1.1 Establishment Code).

In regard to pensions and pensioners, especially those who had to work 40 years and were awarded pensions of 2/3 of their last drawn salary for meritorious service, it would be most appropriate to reproduce extracts from the Supreme Court of India decision - AIR 1983 SUPREME COURT 130 (a five-bench judgement). In doing so, I have in mind that Sri Lanka and India are two countries in Asia which have the parliamentary form of government and are both welfare states.

"...Furthermore, the principal aim of a socialist state as envisaged in the preamble is to eliminate inequality in income and status and standards of life. The basic framework of socialism is to provide a decent standard of life to the working people and especially provide security from cradle to grave. This amongst others on economic side envisaged economic equality and equitable distribution of income. This is the blend of Marxism and Gandhism leaning heavily towards Gandhian socialism".

"20. The antiquated notion of pension being a bounty, a gratuitous payment depending upon the sweet will or grace of the employer not claimable as a right and, therefore, no right to pension can be enforced through Court has been swept under the carpet by a decision of the Constitution Bench in Deoki Nandan Prasad v. State of Bihar, 1971 (Supp) SCR 634: (AIR 1971 SC 1409) wherein the court authoritatively ruled that pension is a right and the payment of it does not depend on the discretion of the Government but it is governed by the rules and a Government servant coming within those rules is entitled to claim pension.

It was further held that the grant of pension does not depend upon anyone's discretion. It is only for the purpose of quantifying the amount having regard to service and other allied matters that it may be necessary for the authority to pass an order to that effect but the right to receive pension flows to the officer not because of any such order but by virtue of the rules. This view as reaffirmed in State of Punjab v. Iqbal Singh (1976) 3 SCR 360: (AIR 1976 SC 667)".

"22. In the course of transformation of society from feudal to welfare and as socialistic thinking acquired respectability, State obligation to provide security in old age, an escape from undeserved want was recognised and as a first step pension was treated not only as a reward for past service but with a view to helping the employee to avoid destitution in old age. The quid pro quo was that when the employee was physically and mentally alert, he rendered unto the master the best, expecting him to look after him in the fall of life".

In regard to the complaint of the President that 20% of government-revenue goes toward pensions, there are two matters which have to be given due consideration. Both are inter-related and cannot be separated. The first is that a contented public service is a sine qua non for an efficient public service and the second is that public officers in retirement should live without loss to their dignity. This point is effectively stated in the Administrative Reforms Committee Report No. 4 (Sessional Paper No. VI of 1987) thus -

"111. The Committee, therefore, would strongly urge the government to consider compensating public service pensions for escalations in the cost of living through periodic revision of pensions coterminous with public service salary revisions. The Committee is aware that its recommendation certainly has financial implications but would point out that the time span of pension payments in the case of most retirees is not overly long. The extra expenditure which may be involved in accepting this recommendation is, in the Committee's view, fully compensated for by the prevention of the loss of dignity of public officers after their retirement and the enhancement of the morale of the public service as a whole to which this would contribute".

S. Thambyrajah,
Colombo 3.

Can Hambantota ever be developed?

'The Island' of 20th July, carried an article "Ports of Sri Lanka: The case for Hambantota" this was on page 11. It is said to be a presentation by Navin Cooneratne at the 'National Conference on the Role of Seaports in Economic Development' held recently.

Of course the learned people gathered together at this conference would have been impressed by the case made out. The reasons given to justify the construction of not only a port, but a dream city called Ruhunu-pura. What the delegates at the conference had not been told was how impractical this was going to be. Hambantota over the centuries has remained arid, poorly populated area and mere words cannot convert it into a thriving city of 1.5 million people.

Dr. C. R. Panabokke, Sri Lanka's greatest authority on Hydrology has written an article as to why Hambantota never developed. In plain and simple words it is due to lack of water. Ofcourse the gentleman who presented this paper talks of solving this problem with a magic wand, by diverting the Menik Ganga to provide all the water necessary for this dream city. What the people of this country must know is that the Menik Ganga is a mere trickle of water for a greater part of the year.

Right now Katara-gama and Yala areas are suffering from severe drought. Besides, the construction of a breakwater for the seaport would require enormous quantities of concrete. Even to mix this concrete there is no water in Hambantota. Is he expecting to divert the Menik Ganga first to obtain water to mix his concrete?

This purely academic paper will go into the dust bin of history and Hamban-tota will remain what it is.

A resident of Hambantota

Advantages of knowing English

We are all quite familiar with our mother tongue and additionally we learn English as a second language. Each and every language has certain beauty, however, English language is the most beautiful and very polished language. By means of twenty-six alphabets it produces millions and millions of words.

It's marvellous in its function in society. It has a great success and development. Further, a large number of people make use of this language as their mother-tongue all over the world. Not only English language is known so widely in the globe but also it is spreading so rapidly year by year.

It indicates the higher rank of the English language. In brief English language is the pass-port to travel in this modern scientific world.

One can easily understand, because of the scientific and sudden growth of technological development the importance of English is also raised to it's highest level. If we lack the knowledge in this language we would lose a lot in our life in fact.

Moreover, English language also gives the key to the latest scientific discoveries of this modern world. Academically, scientifically and commercially English language plays an immense role in every individual's life. Modern equipment such as computers, Internet and televisions all give much importance to English language; those who have certain knowledge of it can only operate those instruments.

These are all great opportunities only for them and not for others who lack the knowledge of English language. These are the real things which give perfect pleasure and tenderness to heart and mind.

The advantage of being able to read English can enjoy different types literary pieces such as poetry, prose, drama which are written by great authors like Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Charles Dickens and so on and several other materials from various fields.

Furthermore, at the tertiary level knowledge of English is quite essentially needed one. But the saddest thing is, most of the children who are talented and good in other subjects such as science, maths and commerce, show the poor performance in English subject. Really a regrettable thing is this present juncture. Even they neglect that subject in their primary and secondary levels and realize their folly in their tertiary level. According to an old saying.

"Time and tide wait for no man', so they should take much care to widen their knowledge of English. Otherwise when they enter the university they practically face the problems and difficulties in learning and coming out with flying colours and sometimes they discontinue their higher studies as well. It's a drawback to our whole society indeed. We can calculate and assure that our present generation is at the lower level in the English language.

In case of our elders they luckily received their whole education in the medium of English because at that time our country was ruled by British. That time learning English was a must, for several purposes. As a result of this our elders are in a position to maintain their English standard as well.

But unfortunately our younger generation, are learning English, as one of their subjects, even the allocation of time for English is also very limited one.

In Sri Lanka, the standard of English started falling drastically during the last few decades. The results of the GCE (O/L) examination are evidence for it. As a result of this, government takes necessary actions as well. It also pays very much attention towards it and providing many facilities to gain the knowledge of English language.

If a person has a sound knowledge of English language he can easily come around the world by reaching books, magazines, watching televisions, listening to English programmes in radio and other sources.

Today's children are tomorrows leaders of the nation: so they must be educated in a proper way and should possess a good appreciable knowledge. For this from their childhood they also should be fed with English language as well. Their fundamental education would be the strong weapon to continue their studies successfully.

Reader

Now who's getting cold feet?

People have witnessed another political drama during the past few days when President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe exchanged trade offs over holding of elections which smacked of childish pranks.

The President in fact picked up the gauntlet thrown by Mr. Wickremesinghe that the latter would agree to postponing the holding of the Provincial Council election if a Presidential election is held either in August or November this year and was prompt to give her consent. She even got her Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris to telephone Mr. Wickremesinghe at Kataragama to say that the President had agreed to Mr. Wickremesinghe's proposal. Mr. Wickremesinghe had informed Mr. G. L. Peiris that he would consult U.N.P.'s Working Committee and give his response which he did later.

But lo and behold the Cabinet had overturned the President's proposition and decided against a Presidential election being held despite the Opposition giving its consent to help government muster the two third majority needed for the purpose. It ended with the President getting cold feet so to say. Would it not have been better if one heeded the advise - "think before you leap"?

But the most hilarious episode is the manner in which the state media behaved after the President accepted Mr. Wickremesinghe's challenge.

This is what the Daily News had to say editorially in its issue of June 26th 1998 (i.e. before the Cabinet discussion):

"With the panache that is so characteristic of her, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe. Her reply to the Opposition Leader's challenge that the government holds a presidential election after November as a trade-off for UNP support to postpone provincial council elections, was a firm, prompt and clear "yes".

"The onus is now on the UNP to make good its boast and face an early presidential election. At the time of writing, all that we lernt is that the UNP leader would be summoning a special meeting of the UNP Parliamentary Group to decide on the issue.

"Perhaps the UNP never expected the President to accept the challenge. Apparently, the UNP's thinking was that it was making a demand which was impossible to meet. Through its conditions for postponing the PC poll, the UNP expected to force the government into a tight corner".

"Something, apparently which they didn't bargain for is the courage and resourcefulness of President Kumaratunga. There are clearly no bureaucratic curbs and delays in her case. The President is ready for the hustings".

What prophetic words by the Daily News which in the rush in Sinhala parlance "Pena Pena Denawa" attitude apparently jumped the gun making a hash of it. This is not the first time the state media was caught flat footed. The recent case being how a U.N.P. M.P. was said to have had dinner with a Judge who was to hear his case which ultimately proved to be a fabrication. Then there was the false implication of Mr. Sirisena Cooray when he was held in house detention and the Daily News went into tantrums about a coup.

Be that as it may the P.A. getting cold feet over the promise of holding Presidential elections in November is another instance of the broken promises for which the P.A. is now notorious for. Not only have they failed to implement the grandiose promises given at election time, which the P.A. intellectual pundits at election time most vehemently claimed as practicable and implementable, but also failed to honour many promises and undertakings given to many quarters while in power.

Leave alone the promise of abolition of the Executive Presidency in July 1996 it is guilty of going back on even the promises of ending the war by New Year 1997, and later in December 1997 and the deadline kept changing infinitely.

It is so with other promises like setting up 50 garment factories before end of May this year and also the high hopes given with formation of the Southern Development Authority and its result at inactivity. These are just a few examples.

But pray why give these promises at all. Why can't the P.A. achieve something and boast about it? The P.A. has a penchant for giving loose promises and statements which it knew cannot be kept or are factually incorrect. Some of the statements made a few months back are contradicted later on. There seem to be no consistency in the statements made if we study the pronouncements made during past three and a half years. Does this not show off immaturity and inexperience?

What we see today is a plethora of foundation stone laying ceremonies while carrying on the same U.N.P. open market policies which P.A. criticised while in opposition. There are many occasions when the P.A. had boasted of achieving what had been accomplished or started during UNP regimes. What we hear after being nearly four years in power are only plans, proposals or ideas, while the P.A. is basking in the glory of what had been build up during UNP regimes and also having to fall back on the same entrepreneurs and enterprises to deliver the goods.

As the old adage goes: Some people can be fooled sometime, but not all the people all the time.

S. J. A. Fernando,
Colombo.

Bull sacrifice at Kalmunai

Enough is enough. I hear with dismay from reports in "The Island" paper that when a new police station is opened at Kalmunai the blood of a murdered bull, sacrificed for this purpose is to be smeared on the floors.

If this report is true the President and Prime Minister both of whom are Buddhists and are leaders of the 70 per cent Buddhist population here must put their foot down and stop this in the bud.

What is the Ministry of Buddha Sasana doing? Please wake up and protest clear and loud against these crual and meaningless sacrifices.

My advice is to save a bull from the slaughter house and confer the merit of saving the animal on the Kalmunai police station and give the bull to the Galgava Mithuro.

Presidential elections are around the corner and even for "vote catching" stop these cruel inhumane disgusting acts and win over the 50 per cent of animal lovers.

Dr. Eileen Petiyagoda.
Kandy.

Too many transformers are destroyed

Destruction of transformers by the dozens was confined to North and east Amparai and Vavuniya. Now it is spreading its deadly tentacles in the South too. This is a serious matter. Grenades and bombs are brutally used. All traffic police, ganja and other raids should be halted for sometime.

First priority should be to eliminate terrorism which is taking a heavy toll even of innocent people. Key police officers even a mayor, 11 vehicles were destroyed. A police sergeant and another were killed. No end to the killing spree. Pool all resources and coordinate all forces and halt this deadly and brutal menace first. Sometimes and some places three to four policemen on motorbikes under mango trees checking vehicles not for bombs and terrorists but on simple traffic offences.

Its irritating and annoying poor workers and even school children eager and anxious to get home or go to work early. Do not mix up priorities. Focus all attention to halt massacres and destruction colossal to national wealth wake up.

Carl Nanayakkara.
Kalutara.

Down to Earth
Viagra: the new Don Juan
by Derrick Schokman

'Every age gets the Don Juan it deserves,' wrote Martina Warner in 1990.

The original Don Juan was a Spaniard serial seducer who lived in Seville during the 17th century.

He became a beguiling character, who took on different forms as he was portrayed in theatre, opera, ballet, novels and poetry.

The greatest Don Juan was Giacoma Casanova of Venice, whose erotic congress with women was a by-word in the 18th century.

This poet of the boudoir was eventually overtaken in old age by a failure to perform his conjugal duty. He fell prey to what modern doctors call 'penile dysfunction'.

His friend Lorenzo da Ponte, influenced by Casanova's life style, was the librettist for Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' who, also growing old, failed to consumate with Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Zerlina in the opera.

No Fear
Old voluptuaries in this day and age however should have no fear of their waning sexual power.

Pfizer Inc. has only recently put on the market in March this year a new 'stiffening' pill called Viagra.

This little blue pill, taken one hour before sex, converts 'penile dysfunction' into 'erectile function'.

It has become the most talked about, fastest selling new drug in the world market. Presently available in the USA, Mexico, Thailand and Brazil and awaiting approval by the end of the year in the European Union and South Africa, Pfizer expects it to be available worldwide by early 2000.

Meanwhile, this pill which is legally made available on doctor's prescription, is selling like hot cakes in the blackmarket where no prescription is required.

'Droopy Dicks' are clamouring for it, along with thrill-seeking youngster and bored housewives who have heard that it gives multiple orgasms.

Within the short period of three months since its release, the potent blue pill has become the new Don Juan.

'You must take Viagra' say the advertisements. 'It does not matter how expensive. It is the elixir of youth and happiness.'

Selling for $10 per pill in the USA, blackmarket prices are often ten times more.

Warning
Doctors say that Viagra is not an aphrodisiac. Basically what the drug does is to improve the blood circulation to the groin in men.

But it also has the effect of reducing blood pressure. So Pfizer warns against the use of Viagra with organic nitrates, which also reduce blood pressure.

Doctors are concerned that this class of drugs might work in conjunction with Viagra to lower blood pressure dangerously, precipitating a heart attack.

Women
Meanwhile Pfizer has also been testing Viagra for use as an 'orgasm pill' for women. It is meant to improve the blood circulation and heighten sexual responsiveness.

These new sexual elixirs for both men and women will introduce a new eliment into a romance and courtship, which would go something like this:

'Excuse me a minute, darling, while I pop my Viagra'.

'And I'd better take my orgasm pill'. 'That's fine. In an hour when the Viagra kicks in, we'll have a ball.'

Yes indeed, Viagra and its aspiring competitors who are working on similar sex drugs might well transform society like no medicine since the pill in the 1960s.