Had the UNP taken terrorism seriously and nipped it in the bud — (even as late as when the IPKF were here Prabhakaran was easily "captureable"), this loss of life and limb could have been averted and the money used on fighting a war could have been used for development of the country.

From your rash comments on government servants and pensioners, it looks as if you are feeling the pinch of lack of money to run the country. Government pensioners and government servants do not represent the richer segments of Sri Lanka.

There is a source of revenue due to the country, for which there exists no fool-proof scheme. I mean INCOME TAX and other allied taxes like capital gains tax. If 80% of public servants are corrupt and pensioners don't deserve their pensions, there is a category of corruption, on which no comment has been made by you, that is the evasion of Income Tax by the rich citizens of our country.

According to the Minister of Finance of the UNP government only 19 lawyers of this country then paid income tax. The number could not be very different now. It is laughable to think that the rest are "poorer" than I, who yet pay my dues!

There is no fool-proof scheme to tax specialist doctors doing private work, or even private doctors. And what about nursing homes?

Dr. Gamani Corea in 1993 speaking at a seminar organised by the Institute of Taxation said that in a country that is supposed to be heading for NIC status, it is preposterous that only one percent of a 17 million population pay income tax.

Dr. Neville Fernando has committed on the paucity of income tax payers in the context of the various brands of cars flashing along our roads.

Why does not the Minister of Finance and the Commissioner of Inland Revenue work out a fool-proof scheme to net in all citizens who are liable to income tax and allied taxes, and who are without any shame or concern or even fear erading payment.

Perhaps if you regiment this with a fool-proof scheme it will open the eyes of the wealthy who are cheating the country. Apart from them, there is a large segment of their fellowmen who do not have even basic food or basic living conditions. A good percentage of those evading income tax profess a religion which should guide them!.

And religious teachers most also speak.

Chitra Jayasuriya
Moratuwa

Once again, patchwork has been effected to the tarred portion of the vital stretch of road from the Kottawa township upto the Pinhena junction. Kottawa Dharmapala Maha Vidyalaya where several thousands of pupils study, is situated by the side of this road and also it is the main access road to the highly residential housing schemes like Bangalawatta Samanpura, Bogahawilawatta, Gemunupura etc. This alone is ample testimony to the utility value of this particular roadway.

Prior to this too, we have seen patchwork being done, strictly to the tarred portion only entirely leaving out the sidewalks which are lamentably in a deplorable state with a multitude of puddles and miniature reservoirs. Besides at some points, there are tiny drains and ridges which make the pedestrians' experience really agonizing. Quite often, the helpless pedestrians are subjected to nasty mud-splashes from possing vehicles at these despicable spots.

When road work was being done, we have seen the workmen extra-careful not to put even a small quantity of earth or rubble into these despicable places. Anyway the helpless pedestrians are compelled to battle through these agonizing obstacles, very often several times a day and that alone makes our life a drudgery.

How many times have our high and mighty travelled along this road in their luxury limousines, yet not seen the deplorable state of our sidewalks, most probably because of the tinted glass in their vehicles and more due to the fault of our stars.

P. Lokugamage
Kottawa

According to a report appearing in a newspaper of 13th September 1998, at a seminar led by Professor Thomas G. Fraser of the University of Ulster, Mr. Tyronne Fernando, MP is said to have referred to "extremists like the LTTE and the Sinhala Commission." As there has so far been no disclaimer of this report, we assume that it sets out correctly what Mr. Fernando stated at the seminar. We therefore write to express our strong condemnation of his denigration of the members of the Sinhala Commission by stating that they are "extremists" and lumping them with the blood thirsty LTTE. This is also indicative of Mr. Fernando's commitment, if any, to the cause of the Sinhala people.

We have no doubt Mr. Fernando is aware that the Sinhala Commission comprises eminent persons who have all reached positions of eminence in various walks of life. At the request of the National Joint Committee they were good enough to undertake a task that is of great importance to the Sinhala people, namely, to examine the injustices caused to the Sinhalese from colonial times to the present day and suggest remedial measures. This task they have performed most admirably as the two valuable reports issued make abundantly clear and their work has been greatly appreciated by the Sinhala people. Mr. Fernando's statement that the members of the Sinhala Commission are "extremists" is therefore deeply resented by the Sinhala people as both a traitorous and inane statement.

This remark seems to follow what appears to have become a fashion among certain brainwashed persons in this country, namely, to brand any person or organisation seeking to safeguard the rights of the Sinhala people as "extremists" or "chauvinists". While such statements may be expected from ignorant and uninformed persons with vested interests, it is to say the least, most regrettable that a senior Member of Parliament should have used such a derogatory term to describe a group of eminent citizens who have rendered a great service to the Sinhala people and earned their gratitude by rising to the occasion to save the motherland.

There is one further point. According to the same newspaper report Mr. Fernando attended the seminar in question as the representative of the UNP leader. As it is important for the Sinhala people to know whether the statement made by Mr. Fernando reflects the views of the UNP, we have written to Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the UNP, for a clarification.

Dr. Piyasena Dissanayake,
Secretary,
National Joint Committee.

So many elephants are getting killed around the country brutally and ruthlessly and the public is just silent. They have taken this national crime for granted.

They should realise that elephants are part of our national heritage. Although we have a lion on our national flag we do not have lions in our jungles (except in the Zoo). It is the elephant that adorns our jungles.

Our country had been famous for centuries for its majestic elephants. And it is an elephant that carries the Sacred Relic of the Buddha.

Law seem to be silent on the slaughter of elephants.

We understand that these huge innocent wild animals are brutally killed for their valuable tusks. Although the tusks are a symbol of their greatness, with the present human being inhuman it has been a curse for the elephants to have tusks.

It's high time new laws were introduced to put an end to this national crime. I wonder why the government cannot introduce the death penalty for those who hunt these innocent animals.

I don't see any difference between elephant killers and murderers.

At the rate elephants are being killed the day cannot be far off when we will see no elephants in our jungles.

This could be a well planned crime to undermine our national heritage, locally and internationally. Hence, let them not go free. Punish each and every elephant killer for the sake of our nation and for the future generations to come.

Therefore please make necessary arrangements to introduce the death penalty for elephant killers (and no decent animal lover, will oppose it). Thereby this unpardonable national crime could be stopped and our elephant population could be saved.

Padma Padidilian
Raddolugama

October 16 is World Food Day. It is an annual event. The theme this year is "Women Feed the World".

Women certainly play an overidingly important role in this respect. Especially in developing countries, where they not only feed their families but also help to grow the food they put on the table.

Unfortunately a great many of them -too many - fail to feed themselves properly, starting a chain of malnutrition that extends to the children they bear.

"There are 180 million malnourished children in the world", says Lawrence Haddad of the International Policy Research Institute in Washington DC.

The report of UNICEF's Progress of Nations (1997) ranks Sri Lanka fourth among the four countries in Asia with the highest rates of child malnutrition, the other three countries being India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

One of every four children born in Sri Lanka weighs less than 2.5kg, the standard for a healthy baby.

The report goes on to say that low birth rates in developing countries are linked to maternal malnutrition. If a mother is undernourished, growth is retarded in the child, adversely affecting its learning capacity and work performance, and weakening its immunity to infectious diseases.

It has been known for some time that starvation diets weaken immunity. Lack of vitamins and minerals are partly to blame. But exactly why starvation makes children magnets for infectious diseases has been unclear.

That is, until recently when Graham Lord and his colleagues in London's Imperial College of Medicine, found that undernourished people and starved laboratory mice were low in the hormone leptin.

When they injected the starved mice with leptin, their level of immunity was significantly increased.

If the same result can be obtained by giving malnourished children leptin along with their vaccinations, it could prove to be an important breakthrough in saving the lives of millions of starving children.

Hope for the future! To get back to basis, any attempt to alleviate malnutrition must start with pregnant women and continue through the first five years of a child's life.

A major cause of malnutrition is energy -protein deficiency (EPD). To offset EPD, pregnant mothers and small children must be encouraged to eat an energy dense protein dense diet. Such a diet should be made up of cereals, yams and starchy fruits like jak and bread fruit, together with iron and protein containing pulses like lentils, mung, blackgram and cowpeas. Non meat-eaters must have at least a small piece of dried fish every day.

And plenty of green leafy vegetables. There are over 30 different kinds of edible leaves in this country, which could be used to boost immunity by virtue of their high vitamin and mineral content.

Poor families, short on these basic health foods, will need to have the diets of pregnant mothers and small children supplemented with appropriate tablets distributed through maternity and child-care clinics.

Pregnant mothers do not usually consume large volumes of food at a sitting. Nor do small children whose stomachs are not fully developed. They should be allowed to get their full nutritional complement by giving them several small meals a day.

Where Sri Lanka is concerned - a basically agricultural country - it may come as a stunning surprise that the nutritional status is worst in the rural sector which is responsible for food production. Farmer families are the worst fed.

The Country Report to the International Conference on Nutrition in Sri Lanka (1992), taking into consideration food availability, food expenditure and food consumption patterns, stated that the number of households below the poverty line remained above 50% in rural areas, while those in the estate and urban sectors had improved.

There is no reason to believe that there has been a change for the better since then. So it is not enough to just sit up and take notice. The time has come to stand up and take action.

The government needs to do this in rural areas to ensure food security and nutritional upliftment, especially among pregnant women, nursing mothers and pre-school children who are the most vulnerable.

This means that in addition to intensifying food production, a greater awareness of the problem of malnourishement needs to be created at the rural level, and maternity and child-care clinics strengthened to service the rural poor.

Dr. Saroj Jayasinghe of the Health Sector Reforms Implementation Unit is an acclaimed academic of the highest grade and he has predicted that there would be a surplus of doctors by the year 2000 as stated in another newspaper 26.09.98.

The Independent Medical Practitioners Association and the College of General Practitioners have been deliberating on this impending disaster with the authorities concerned over the last 4 - 5 years but nothing has materialised.

The letter "Oh! that Noble Profession" which appeared in 'The Island' highlighted my views on the subject in the form of a 8-point plan. If it is treated as a guideline, I honestly feel that the authorities could very satisfactorily face the challenge. But action should be initiated now. Even now it is not late.

If the authorities bide for time expecting time to heal the malady, then the wolf would be at the door by the time the authorities wake up and I could only say God Help Them!!

It is action - concerted and meaningful which should be taken right now.

Dr. A. D. V. Premaratne
Chilaw

Now that cricket has taken Galle by storm and Galle stadium has been upgraded and has gained international recognition, I wish to make a suggestion that the Galle stadium be named after the proud son that Galle produced late Dr. W. Dahanayake. He did so much for the people of Galle in his simple and humble way I feel he was an uncrowned prince.

It is most befitting to name the Galle stadium, W. Dahanayake Stadium so that his name will remain for posterity.

M. Saheed,
Galle.

In Galle, Sri Lanka Telecom operates as the chief company in the service, with two other companies, a New Zealand and an Indian company assisting in the construction work in the so-called betterment and development programmes.

Instead of a better service subscribers are facing hard times without proper services. In the suburbs of Galle, many phones go out of order as long as 01- 02 months at a stretch.

Due to the prolonged construction work many underground cables have been damaged. The experienced telecom workers say that the foreign companies have employed unskilled labourers. Furthermore no staff members Telecom have been employed in these sites to supervise the on-going construction work.

Amazingly a single coin box did not work in the city of Galle on 23 Sept. 98. What a service? Will the Telecom Minister do something about this?

Lasath de Silva
Gintota.