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Morning Spice by Ginger
Many not enchanted by monkey tricksGinger just read the other day that residents of a certain area are annoyed by the antics of a group of monkeys who were behaving like peeping toms and invading the privacy of their homes. Not many would be enchanted by their monkey tricks. They seem to not only peep into people's homes and toilets but also make off with their belongings. Porcupines and wild boar seem to be adding to their misery. There is precious little they could do about it either.
They say that ever since they were asked to surrender their guns they have been totally at the mercy of these marauding animals - and so say all of us. These guns I presume were surrendered at the height of the second insurgency. That danger is over and it is time that such guns were returned to the owners or fresh permits to buy shot guns be issued if they are to be saved from ruin. They should at least be able to scare away these destructive animals. If the powers that be have fears that the guns would get into the wrong hands, they could quell them immediately for the simple reason that the LTTE, the underworld and political goons have all got far more sophisticated weapons with them.
Match fixing
The holier than though Aussie attitude or rather the unspoken statement might provoke the retort 'Holier than whom' from the cricket playing nations of South Asia. While the question of Pakistan cricketers being involved in match fixing is raging hot a couple of Aussie cricketing icons may come tumbling down to earth.Both Mark Waugh and Shane Warne have been accused of accepting money from an Indian bookie. They say the money was not paid to fix matches but to give information about the weather and how the pitch was expected to behave - They were questions that could have been better answered by the curator and the weather bureau. The story sounds a little thin for the additional reason that the bookie decided to get this information from Australias two key players who could swing a match round between the two of them.
What's best milk for baby?
Often a mother is plagued by the question of what kind of formula milk to give baby. Firstly the mother has to decide whether the child will be breast fed or get formula milk or both. Very often it needs as the good old emperical method to know what's best for the baby.Very often the early complications that worry a mother is chronic constipation. This has led to quite some research on the subject and Italian researchers have come to the conclusion that one of the main causes is the allergy many children have to milk. Those taken off a milk diet and put on Soya were 68% less likly to suffer from constipation than those who were not.
Exports financing and economic development in Sri Lanka
Easy access to adequate trade Financing is essential for successful Export Development in a Developing Country such as Sri Lanka, the creation of a financial environment conducive to Export Development should be the sole responsibility of the government and appropriate export financing mechanisms should be established for the proper Indigenous Entrepreneur Development.
There had been proposals to set up an Export Development Bank and unfortunately there are no signs of such a bank being established. Hence it should be the bounden duty of the commercial bank (private and public sector) and especially the Development Banks to play a meaningful positive role in providing convenient export credit at reasonable costs and also to develop the Indigenous Entrepreneurs in order to ensure a sustainable Economic Development in Sri Lanka to face the challenges of the next millennium.
The government should nurture and develop Export Credit Agencies granting Insurance Policies and Export Credit Guarantees etc. which can be used as collaterals for trade financing by banks to grant credit to exporters under very favourable conditions. The practice of the banks conveniently insisting on mortgage of private properties such as residences and land etc. in addition to the assets of the business, should be immediately banned and the government should compensate those who have lost their private properties under parate-execution and also protect those who are in imminent danger of losing such private properties. The Parate-Execution under the existing debt recovery laws is a sure way of killing indigenous entrepreneurship and the government should review and revise the existing Debt recovery laws to safeguard the genuine indigenous exporters.
The financial sector should be flexible and constantly ready to adapt its structure and functioning to the evolving needs of the domestic and international environment, and thus helping the exporters to identify their requirements, selecting the best financial solution and accompanying them throughout the production cycle. The exporters should also be properly geared to take the best advantage of such facilities, if and when offered to them and face the current challenges of globalisation.
With the establishment of the World Trade Organisation and with the new rules on market liberalization, local companies would be exposed to sharper international competition. In the new trading environment, the banks (especially development banks) will have to take on an expanded role to give exporters access to credit, and this at costs in line with those prevailing on international markets. The banks should equip themselves with the skills and expertise required to satisfy the exporters' emerging needs and should continuously expand their knowledge of new techniques for the export sector. The exporters' needs, dictated by the new rules of the open market, become the banks' needs and the banks will have to develop innovative and aggressive policies to help the export sector. The banks should not be complacent with the protection of Parate-Execution Laws and they should be dynamic enough to guide the exporters on a long term basis Ð for their mutual benefit.
Since Sri Lanka is traditionally an agricultural country, medium and long-term financing with suitable export credit guarantees should be encouraged for the creation and expansion of mainly agriculture, horticulture and agro-industiries. The development banks should play a pivotal role in this respect. Development banks should be government controlled and their main objective should be national economic development and national interests and priorities rather than increasing profits.
In fact the development banks in Sri Lanka should be in the forefront in the indigenous entrepreneur Development loading to sustainable economic development with special emphasis on agriculture and environmentally friendly projects and optimum utilisation of our rich natural resources with value addition and use of appropriate technology in making Sri Lanka the granary of the east once again.
Son of the Soil
Payments to resource personnel in Education Department
Education Department is spending lots of money received as aid from various countries abroad, throughout the country to develop the education. These monies are spent on seminars, workshops, lectures and exhibitions. Various types of resource personnel including directors, assistant directors, teacher instructors and teachers participate in these events.
These payments are made through directors of various zones. They have no uniform system of payment. Some people are paid two or three times a day when they visit various zones in the same day.
Some officers, just mark the attendance and obtain the fees but no contribution to the developments is made. Some directors underpay the visitors and instructors and take a big share by cheating the department by producing bogus statements. Some directors insert names of their friends and pay them for nothing while some line their own pockets without paying them to the persons whose names appeal on the lists.
A government that has made a pledge to eradicate corruption from this country should not allow this type of activities. Only a simple action of the department can stop all these frauds. What they should do is, they should print a leaflet showing details of payments due to various categories and distribute it among all the participants, so that they will know how they will be paid. They cannot be cheated by doing so. The list should contain the amounts payable to various categories and monies that should be spent on stationery, food and clerical and typing work. These should be equal in all educational zones.
The department's high officers will not like such a move as they will not be able to cheat the participants any longer after the issue of such a pamphlet. They will go all out to stop such action.
The audit sections of the department should check all these payments, without delay.
If the government or the Education Department is genuinely interested in eradicating corruption, they may take notice of this malpractice.
Bimal Ratnayake,
Colombo.
This all happened recently in a prime Colombo Fort area. In face of a leading establishment and amidst a sprinkling of a crowd of about fifteen to twenty, a supposedly middle-level white collar worker donning a long-sleeved white shirt and white slacks holding a fairly worn out satchel in hand was shuttling between two points of about ten yards venting his spleen and holding forth against all and sundry-'these robbers, frauds and cheats who fleeced the country and its people making us all deprived and destitute'; was this fellow a schizophrenic or was he in a hangover having consumed too much of his swig or even a confidence trickster?
After a good ten minutes of raving and ranting when he was at the end of his tether and zonked out he tried to come to terms with the surrounding little gathering but they would have none of it.
They termed him a dweeb, scuzz scunge - he should not try his stunts and tricks here in a prime area of the city - he could do so in his local village or outlying area.
The fellow was put to humiliation and disgrace but to save face and maintain his poise and equilibrium he went on though in a subdued and debilitating tone - 'those robbers, cheats ... the little crowd meanwhile spread away from the scene with choice hoots and jeers.... But he rhetorician still went on more soberly those robbers frauds...
Anonymous
Local Govemment Reform Commission should recommend to the government to restore the Gamsabha (Village Council) system,which had rendered invaluable services to the rural village,under the Local Administration system that prevailed in this country.
With the abolition of the Gamsabha system and the Town Council systems,the Pradeshiya Sabha system was introduced. This system had not benefited the rural areas,which were earlier administered by the Village Councils (Gamsabha's) and Town Councils. When the old system of Local Govemment administration was prevailing, the elections to the V.C's and T.C's were held to elect members to each wards and the candidates contesting the council wards were from the same village itself and the voters are acquainted with the candidates. The counting of votes after close of polls were conducted in the polling stations itself and the results were announced by the Presiding Officer at the polling station itself. This system of polling was healthy, as there was no room for cheating in the votes, and no corruption as was in the Pradeshiya Sabha elections as reported by candidates after the announcement of the results. It is very difficult to get the results immediately in the Pradeshiya Sabha elections,and the candidates were even not aware as to how the counting took place etc.
In the old system,when the voters elect a person to the Village Council,the elected member of the ward would work for the ward. Now the Pradeshiya Sabha system had failed to serve the village, as it comprises the whole Divisional Secretariat Division. Members so elected to the PS are not not from a particular ward or area and those wards or areas were without an elected member. These wards are therefore neglected. This is what has happened today, in most areas. It was the main reason for the failure of the PS system. Therefore,in the better interest of the villages, the government should revert to the old system of Local Government Administration.
Before the PS system was introduced in l988, the Town Councils and the Village Councils had been engulfed by the District Development Councils (DDC) in l98l. The DDC system failed and the PS system was introduced. Both the DDC system and the PS system did not bring any changes in the Municipal Councils and the Urban Councils. Municipal Councils constituted under the Municipal Councils Ordinance of 1947 and the Urban Councils constituted under the U.C's Ordinance 1939 now function under the guidance of the Provincial Administration and the Local Government Department.
Since UC's and MC's were not brought under such a bad system they are fairly doing some service to the wards, but the manner in which elections were held had brought dissatisfaction among the voters as they are unable to elect a member from their own ward to represent, due to the preferential voting system. In the case of MC's and UC's elections should be held under the old system (the ward system), which would enable the voters to elect the member from the respective ward to represent the ward as the ward member. In the Colombo Municipality there are about four (4) Members from the New Bazaar area. But none can say which member represent the Aluthkade ward, as all of them have got votes from the entire Colombo Municipal Area.
The Government should pay attention to amend the existing laws to hold Local Government elections (Elections to MC's UC's) under the old system and elect members to the respective wards to represent their wards as the ward members, so that each ward could be improved as in the past.
The present PS system which has failed and unsuitable should be done away and those old Town Councils (TC) Systems and Village Council (VC/Gamsabha) systems should be reintroduced and the elections also be reverted the old system so that the villages could be developed. The Government should bring the necessary amendments to the existing laws accordingly before holding the next Local Government Elections.
Y. L. U. Marikkar,
Colombo.
Kandy's Dalada Veediya and its closure has been in the news and some ideas have been expressed in the press to solve this irritant. To add mine I would like to refer to a news report which appeared in the press in July 1996, where it was reported that engineers had expressed the view that the parapet wall on the lake bund may collapse due to its dilapidated condition.
I feel we should take advantage of this situation and move the wall about 15 ft into the lake on a reinforced concrete platform on columns similar to a bridge without reducing the surface area of the lake. This could extend from the Queens Hotel/Hatton National Bank end circumventing the Queens bath and leading to a roundabout to be constructed near the Anagarika Dharmapala statue or the DN's residence. This expansion should form a road for cars and light private vans only, while the heavy traffic, goods and buses strictly take the route around the lake.
The extension to the lake should have a Diya relli bemme as of old and a similar matching parapet in reinforced concrete should be built on the present roadside pavement separating it from the esplanade. This Diya relli bemme or parapet wall should be topped with chain link fencing on concrete pillars to a suitable height to prevent intrusion. The present road could be reserved only for the Perehera and parades.
Such an arrangement would keep the citizens and lovers of Kandy happy, ensure a smoother movement of traffic and the protection of the Maligawa and esplanade whilst maintaining the scenic beauty of the lake with the two Diya relli bemmes in harmony and suitably landscaped.
While such a project is planned and implemented by the State Engineering Corporation, could the authorities please, bravely open the Veediya for cars and light private vans only. This gesture would exhibit their confidence in the country.
Ananda Pilimatalauwe.
Indiscipline and lawlessness in schools
At a time when our Minister of Education is committed to the onerous task of - cleansing the rot that has - from nearly two decades - accumulated in the irresponsible neglected and mismanaged Education Department and its most important component - the schools organisation, it is most disturbing and disconcerting to observe the increasing incidence of indiscipline and hooliganism in some of our schools - not only in big city schools on ''bigmatch'' days but in suburban rural schools - too.
There was a time when our schools were considered sacrosanct where discipline and decorum were maintained at all levels by the schools heads with the co-operation and commitment of their staff, the students and their parents, by means of a combined joint effort. There was appreciable understanding and amity amongst all these four elements with the sole purpose of running the institutions smoothly sans conflict and factionalism for the ultimate benefit of all concerned.
The situation has drastically changed in the context of the present chaotic and turbulent social order prevalent all over.
Irrespective of the misdemeanours in the social system discipline and decorum could still be enforced and maintained in our schools if and when there is constant and continuous supervision by the concerned school heads and administrators who could on rare occasions and extreme necessity seek the assistance of the lawe enforcement sector as well to quell ugly upheavals in the school community.
In the role of detached passive observer of the passing scene, it is deemed necessary in the public interest to highlight a dastardly act of hooliganism committed by a student in a suburban school at Matale.
It has been reported that a student of this school had mercilessly assaulted a male teacher of the school, who fell on the ground by the impact of the assault resulting in his two teeth and spectacles being broken. The unfortunate victim had to be warded at Ankumbura hospital for medical treatment. The assailant who misconducted himself in the manner of a street thug was merely warned by the police, without taking any deterrent - punitive action against him.
The assault was tantamount to almost a criminal offence and was an act of despicable lawlessness. The student concerned is said to be a relative of the vice principal and it is generally known that there is factionalism and disunity amongst some members of the staff and the general atmosphere in the school is reported to be deplorably divisive. The situation calls for suitable corrective action by the educational authorities.
This is a sad reflection on the entire schools system.
A recent media report has highlighted the unfortunate case of a vice principal of a reputed school in Minuwangoda who had been allegedly ill-treated and harassed by some of his colleagues and their political patrons that he was compelled through sheer helplessness to commit suicide on the misconception that it was the only means of putting an end to his personal agony.
All that agony was reportedly caused because he had been a law-abiding upright person who brooked no interference from political and other power wielders in the area - and also because the administrators had failed to comply with his appeals for a transfer out of that tainted atmosphere.
In this scenario it would doubtlessly be difficult to maintain discipline in our schools unless the parents and wellwishers unitedly stand against all coercion, intimidation and threats to the schools and that staff from political power wielders and others of their ilk with a view to ensuring the smooth functioning of the schools that nurture and educate their children. Special care and interest should be taken by all concerned to put an end to conflict and chaos in our schools so that the children's future will not be blasted by such unholy, unhealthy situations.
R. M. A. B. Dassanayake,
Matale.
