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Morning Spice by Ginger
Tempting offers for low cost housing investorsThe other day Ginger was reading about the very tempting offers made to those who invested in low cost housing projects and high-rise buildings. They included such incentives as tax holidays and the right to import a certain quantum of equipment without having to pay import duty for it. The question is whether there is such a thing as a low cost house. Even putting up a house planned and built with a total focus on economy costs what many a good citizen in the fixed income group cannot afford, easy repayment schemes notwithstanding.
Really the incentives should be given to those who have the enterprise to build houses with materials that are not the standard materials used for such houses as those in certain other parts of the world use. Really that type of building is quite strong and durable and can stand up to some very unfavourable climatic conditions at times. What they have not been able to stand up to is the hail of prejudise that is normally directed when anything is introduced in these parts.
Green tea good for health
What kind of tea do you like best. Up country tea or something a little stronger from the mid country or the stuff with a real twang in it from tea growing areas closer to the coast or to sea level. Our teas may all be rather pleasant to drink but are they the best for your health.It has now been discovered that it may be good to drink green tea and if more on the results of that study are made known to the west it may ditch most of our teas and drink only green teas. It has been discovered green tea has a component called E.C.G.C. that halts the activity of enzymes that breaks down healthy tissue and help you to prevent cancer.
Girls’ contributions in war effort
Many American girls worked tirelessly during World War II to help in the war effort. They used whatever talent they had to raise the hopes and spirits of the men at the front. Rose Will Monroe was one of those girls who went out of her way to serve the American cause.She died last year but will be remembered by many an American veteran who starred in the film Rosie the Riventer who tried to show that factory girls led a glamourous life. She herself had to live a pretty hard life after her husband died. She worked as taxi driver and beauty salon manager to bring up her kids.
Dismantle the private-owned public transport system
On the 6.45 news on November 4, 1998, an announcement was made that the Private Bus Owners’ Association will meet the Minister of Public Transport A. H. M. Fowzie to obtain certain concessions as a result of the escalating costs of living in respect of the industry.
Let me affirm at the outset, that is just a puerile attempt at improving the private bus transport. What is required is strengthening the Central Transport Board (CTB) at all levels and spreading it in all directions.
We have seen what the open economy has done to the so-called Asian Tiger Economies. What is good for the West is not necessarily good for Third World countries, without safeguards, checks and balances. Our cup overflows with woes in most sectors of the economy. But as a plebian who commutes by public transport, let me stick to one of my spheres of everyday life- commuting to work, and back in privately owned public transport system. The suffering we undergo at the hands of private bus owners is tremendous. Firstly we are herded like cattle or commodities - jam-packed and abuse hurled at us by unruly conductors to move on when there in’t leg space. Secondly, they wait for hours on end to fill the bus to capacity before take-off, while passengers sweat it out and arrive at destinations, the weather notwithstanding. Thirdly, we are asked to move on inside, but asked to alight in a jiffy for the vehicle to catch up on lost time for the in starting or keep ahead on the next bus on the route.
This situation is particularly true in urban centres, Colombo, Kandy, Galle etc. What is required is total dismantling of private bus coach transport. Or else, as in some South Indian cities and their environs are serviced by state owned transport, while the long-distance routes are open to private bus operators, who are compelled to run to time schedules. We should follow suit.
Private bus operators do not run their services after 7.30 p.m. in the city’s suburban routes (connecting or link services). On Poya days or holidays, the service is just a caricature - being profit-motivated. State-owned transport run beyond midnight.
I voted the PA with great expectations but am thoroughly disillusioned on many fronts. The People’s Alliance is not people-oriented. Far from it. The private bus owner-operated coaches will be another lethal nail in the PA’s coffin. Expand the CTB and absorb the private bus employees after a crash course in dealing in PR and road rules.
Vivek,
Wattala
The sad story of Sri Lanka’s Transport Services
The gradual deterioration of the public transport services in this country has been a problem that successive governments have failed to come to grips with. Those of us who have passed the two score and ten chronological years will remember the transport services that catered to the general public in the years gone by.
Bus companies like the South Western, North Western Blue Line, Silverline, Greenline, Lanka Matha, COC, Tarzan and Emjay were some of the household names in the public transport business which became famous as the monopolistic giants striding the public transport sphere in the country. If my memory serves me right there were hardly any rumblings of discontent and mournful despair then, by the public, yearning for a better transport service. Evidently there were enough buses on the roads to meet the demand of the commuting public. Those were the days when owning a car was considered an undeniable status symbol. Even the upper middle class availed of the public transport that was available.
I remember the time when buses were hailed and remained stationary for over ten minutes until the passengers were ready to board them just outside their households. Ofcourse it goes without saying that due to the demands of a rigid cultural scenario, which determined that the woman’s place is the home, only an infinitesimal number of females went out for employment, if at all. This fact had tangibly whittled down the need to cater to a society of women workers. The transport services in the city which were responsible for catering to a larger segment of the community were augmented first by a tramcar service and later a trolleybus service. It is however a tragedy that despite the apparent usefulness of their role and the services rendered by them they were destined to suffer an untimely death.
But with an element of socialism adorning the coalition government lead by SWRD Bandaranaike, namely the Mahajana Ekesath Peramuna the country’s bus services underwent a revolutionary change. The era of nationalization had begun with a vengeance and nation at large was behind the government’s move to take control of public transport. It is a matter for conjecture if the bus tycoons of yore come upto the public expectation of an efficient bus service but the government buttressed and encouraged by the constituent LSSP and CP factors within it was virtually pressurized into pursuing a vigorous policy of nationalization, the most conspicuous of the exercise being the nationalization of public transport which left the pot-bellied bus tycoons who had amassed a fortune over the years, completely high and dry. With an able Minister to offer guidance and an equally dynamic Chairman, the Ceylon Transport Board as it was then known functioned with a high degree of efficiency.
The buses ran according to a strict schedule, checkers became active to nab ticketless travellers and there was a fresh breed of Point Controllers to ensure that buses ran to schedule and an element of orderliness was maintained among the commuters. It is not for this writer to analyse the merits and demrits of nationalization but the dispassionate observer will have no qualms about commenting that while some nationalized ventures flourished certain others floundered abysmally. The CTB belonged to the latter category because with the passage of time, skulduggery among all ranks, sans proper supervision, at the top, became the order of the day. Ticket Machines began to be tampered with and mega-sale pilfering of expensive spare parts, engines and tyres soon became an open secret. Consequently, it did not take long for the CTB hierarchy to realize that the Board was under severe constraint to even pay the salaries of its employees.
When the UNP, a party with a capitalist make up, took the reins of power, it was in no mood to strive shoring up the well-nigh moribund fortunes of an ailing and decrepit CTB. Instead it extended the golden handshake to those employees who wished to terminate their careers with the CTB. Fast on the heels of this metamorphosis spawned the decision to privatize public transport which meant a number of interested companies and individuals launching into transport business. Such a measure was expected to foster healthy composition between the CTB and the Peoplised Bus Companies formed during the governance of the UNP.
But strangely the service presently being offered to the public, to say the least, leaves much to be desired.
Both the present Minister of Transport and his predecessor have done their best to revamp the bus services. Women only buses, which the Ministry thought would be popular among the women commuters, however was fated to suffer a sooner than expected demise. Semi Luxury buses and luxury buses introduced to ease the traffic congestion during rush hours, too have only proved a partial success until fares were reduced from the fantastic to more realistic levels. It had been reported that 6200 buses are required to give a satisfactory service to the public but at present, reportedly only 4500 buses are in operation. In certain remote parts of the country buses do not ply at all. It is a constant complaint that the Transport Ministry has failed to impose its control over the bus services in a desirable manner. Unlike in the past when the CTB had special buses running to accommodate employees working until late, today we seldom see private buses plying after 9 p.m. Some buses put up their shutters, as it were, as early as 6 or 6.30 in the evening when they have earned their day’s target leaving scores of hapless passengers stranded by the wayside. Stringent rules and regulations should be brought in to make it mandatory for these buses to run at least until 10.30 p.m. Although there are entrepreneurs willing to test their skill in the public transport business, the protected and enervating process of obtaining route licences have stalled them in their tracks. Most of the intercity buses lack the facilities they boast of and for which an enhanced fare is charged.
There have been many an instance where commuters been compelled to take the bus crews to task for refusing to switch on the air-conditioner which was off on the pretext that it was out of order. Despite all the experience behind planning out of running schedules it is a sad reflection on those involved that buses are still run on cockeyed schedules. The introduction of shuttle services which was very much the part and parcel of the golden age of public transport have been shelved into the limbo of forgotten things. Insolent bus conductors continue to harass and embarrass the commuters.
Workers desperately trying to report for work on time are forced to take a virtual death ride clinging on to some part of the bus with one foot on the footboard and the other suspended in mid-air. These acts of bravado necessitated by the need to keep duty deadlines have sometimes led to these amateur trapeze artists paying with their lives. All the above inequities ought to be eradicated with a firm hand before the commuters can look forward to an efficient and courteous service.
B. M. Abeyewardena
Talangama South
The payment of pensions to retired public servants on different dates of a month during a year, causes much hardships to them. At the end of a month they have hardly any money left with them to provide themselves till the pension is drawn in the ensuing month, after about one-third of the month has lapsed.
The pensioners, especially those drawing small pensions, are put to grave hardship to sustain themselves without funds, and they are sometimes compelled to obtain loans from individuals at high interest. There are no banks or other institutions from which they could obtain a loan on low interest and settle the loan when they receive the pensions.
Pensioners associations have brought this matter to the notice of authorities for revision of the pension dates. The pensions paid on October 7, 1998 was a welcome move but it was later understood that was something special. Pension dates for November and December ‘98 remain as they were before.
Now that we are on the threshold of a New Year, the authorities are kindly requested to pay pensions on or before the 7th of each month in 1999.
Pensioner,
Ambalangoda
I read with great interest the article by H. L. D. Mahindapala, on the Thesawalamai and its effect on the Jaffna man and his "mentality". Batticaloa Tamils and the Mannar Tamils of my acquaintance whom I met in my long career in the public service also spoke of this "mentality" of the Jaffna man, the wall of caste, dowry system, diet, superiority complex, distancing etc. Which he built around himself, excluding others and unfortunately imprisoning himself.
I remember, a Jaffna Tamil female colleague telling me that she wished the Tamil terrorists would smash the dowry system as she and her sisters were earning and supporting a brother through Medical College in order that he might marry into wealth and provide dowries for his sisters. She said the Sinhalese men were better as they married a girl for the sake of the girl. Tragedy befell this family as the doctor, married one of his choice leaving his sisters unmarried and his mother mad.
The intolerance of the Jaffna man is seen in another story. A graduate Tamil girl working in a state bank fell in love and married a Sinhalese. She died an untimely death. On her deathbed she wished to see her father, but he did not relent and did not even attend her funeral. Sinhalese parents always relent even towards the worst of prodigals, in a time of need.
In a changing world, the Jaffna man with his rigid mind, wanted to live in a Tamil Shangrila enveloped in Tamil words, Tamil songs and dance and literature. Prabhakaran of a different caste than the Vellalas (so I understand) still has the mentality of man with a mind set in an iron mould — his Eelam Shangrila extending from north to east.
Suddenly it comes to mind again of another incident in the public service where a high caste and highly placed public servant, a Tamil, refusing to meet a Harijan delegation of street sweepers and conservancy labourers. I met them and when I submitted a circuit programme to visit the offices where they were paid, to look into their grievances about shortcomings in payments, my circuit programme was turned down by this well-mannered but very high minded civil servant. How will the castes mix up in the Tamil Shangrila of Prabakaran.?
Eelam is the biggest propagandist lie ever publicised. The Tamils live as equals among the rest of the people. There are no discriminatory clauses in the constitution against them. The global network of Tamils serve other causes not a Tamil cause, because there is none.
Mrs. E. L. S. Dharmatilaka
Piliyandala
Sri Lanka Telecom has announced with great fanfare attractive off-peak rates, ostensibly to reduce congestion during peak hours. Excellent - on the face of it!
But there is a catch! If you exceed 200 units a month ALL your calls - including calls during off-peak times - will be charged at peak time rates!
I am pretty certain there are hardly any S.L.T. telephone subscribers in Sri Lanka who can limit calls to 200 units a month! Just try doing so and I will stand vindicated.
We (my wife and I) consciously tried keeping outgoing calls to the essential minimum and limiting talk time, as well. But lo and behold, that month (September, 1998) we receive a bill which is almost double that of the previous month!
V. Perera,
Nugegoda
I refer to the letter of 18.09.98 in The Island written by Mr. G. A. D. Sirimal on the above subject. With the intention of deriding Mr. Caspersz for his statement that the church is careful about accepting and making pronouncement on miracles, G.A.D.S. has cited the historical incident regarding Copernicus, who he says was excommunicated by the Church for saying that the world was round when the belief was that it was flat. This is not factually correct. The true account according to authoritative sources is there was a notion amongst people in some parts of the world that the earth was the centre of the universe. This belief was called the geocentric theory.
It was Copernicus who ventured to declare the revolutionary theory that the earth travels round the sun — heliocentric theory. This aroused a storm of protest not only from the Church but also from scientists at that time. However, there is no record of Copernicus being excommunicated from the Church. It was Galileo who came into greater conflict with the Church when he had published the book "The dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems" in which among other subjects of astronomy, he had discussed Copernicanism in violation of the Church’s order not to do so.
He was brought to trial for grave suspicion of heresy and sentenced to life imprisonment which was quickly converted to permanent house arrest. This action by the Church, it appears, was largely due to philosophical and theological influence, but the entire responsibility for Galileo’s condemnation fell squarely on the Church.
An investigation Calling for the reversal of Galileo’s condemnation was ordered by Pope John Paul II in 1979 and in 1992 the Commission appointed by the Pope had acknowledged Vatican’s error. I have endeavoured to give in brief the reasonably correct version of these incidents as I felt readers should not be misled by erroneous stories.
The phenomenon at the Rawatawatta Church is still drawing large crowds. I am aware people of other faiths too, even sceptics, have visited this church and have been fascinated by what they have seen. Such phenomena have taken place elsewhere as well and it was left to the Church and the faithful to accept genuineness or reject them.
Millions of Catholics all over the world cannot be uneducated, ignorant, brainwashed and subject to illusions.
If G.A.D.S. is one who believes in religious amity and tolerance, he should refrain from vilifying the faiths of others.
Quintin Kanagasundram
Moratuwa
The more important members of the present administration were ushered into their august offices with glowing bio-data in the media, one strongly emphasized tribute being — "She/he Loves animals". So nice, so tender towards the weak!
Since then, the animal lovers of this country have been watching, in growing horror, the increasing atrocities these so-called lovers of animals keep inflicting on our hapless fauna — both domesticated and wild. The list of unmitigated cruelty culminates in "export of meat" obtained by slaughtering our livestock in the most painful and reprehensible way, according to the dictates of their friends, who wait at the receiving end of the cargo loads of flesh.
"Sri Lanka, the Buddhist country that slaughters its animals and exports their flesh to non-Buddhist lands". Who cares? Animals have no vote!
However, if those who are frenziedly trying to erase the last vestige of what was Dhammadipa, had any sense at all, would it not dawn upon them that — Animals have no vote, true — but each and every real animal lover does have one!.
Prema Ranawaka - Das,
Moratuwa
