Letters
View(s):Caste still a talking point in India
Reading through the biodata of India’s Premier Narendra Modi I was shocked to note that it is said that he belongs to a “low caste family”. It is a most disrespectful way of describing a world figure. It would have been more polite if he was described as coming from a “modest family”.
Lord Buddha vehemently opposed the caste system but it still persists in India. I hope the new Prime Minister will abolish it wholesale.
R. Ilakunathan
Colombo 6.
More on pensions and broken promises
This refers to a letter under the headline “Let us publish a book ‘Broken Promises’ and present it to the President’ (The Sunday Times, June 1)
While endorsing the proposal by V.K. Wijerathne, I wish to add some more facts with regards to this issue. It was on 12-01-2007 that Parliament approved the removal of anomalies in pensions of public servants.
Even after seven years now it is the duty of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Administration to implement it, and also it is left to the Pensioners’ unions to take up this matter with the relevant authorities concerned.
A.B. Gamage
Nawala
Can a wine store
be there?
I travel by car daily from Moratuwa to Fort using the Galle Road. However, due to the traffic congestion on Galle Road I use the Angulana Lunawa sea beach road for part of the journey.
About 100 metres from the Angulana police station there is a wine store which is virtually an open ‘bar’. By evening, one can see people drinking off the bottle and there is usually a crowd on the road. Three wheelers, motorcycles, bicycles and ‘kadala carts’ are parked there obstructing vehicle and pedestrian movement.
Also within a radius of 100 metres from this wine store are a school, a church and a temple. This is in spite of the much talked about ‘Mathata Thitha’ programme of the Government.
Isn’t there a law that prohibits the operation of liquor shops near schools and places of worship? Will a reader versed in law enlighten me?
A concerned citizen
Moratuwa
On a bumpy road to beautification
The Galle Road from Wellawatte to Bambalapitiya is being painstakingly repaired at snail’s pace with no proper planning – bits and pieces being done up ad hoc – or so it seems.
At least part of the road in Wellawatte seems to have been completed and looks grand – but only when one drives on this stretch one realizes how bumpy the road is. The reason is the manhole covers on the road almost every two feet placed in zigzag fashion. Surely with the latest techniques there must be a way to either level them with the road or to hide them. Or at least the engineers could have placed them all at the same line so that the vehicles could drive over them without having to zigzag to avoid them.
We are in the 21st century and millions are being spent on beautification of the city but convenience and smooth driving is not part of the plan of repair of the main roads. How stupid can we get?
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai
Dehiwela
Year Five scholarship trauma:
Royal Primary example
I am now a septuagenarian and I feel I have lived 90 per cent or more of my life but still when I recall my primary schooldays I get the feeling ‘Did I miss anything in my life?” Royal Primary where I started schooling was at Lumbini in cadjan sheds and was brought to Thurstan Road in the early 1950s. The headmaster then was De Sa Bandaranayake.
Fifth Standard was two classes at my time, one headed by H.P. Jayewardene and the other where I was by H.D. Sugathapala.
Something similar to the present-day scholarship test took place at the end of the year test at the 5th Standard. If you attained the required pass marks you went to Royal College, below that you went to Government Senior School, the present-day Thurstan College.
I was not selected for Royal College.
My whole world crumbled. I was devastated. My parents were equally down and sad as it was more difficult for them to face neighbours, friends and relatives.
It is not so now and it should not have been so then. Now after 5th Standard in Primary, the child automatically enters Royal College, never mind the marks.
My point is the present scholarship exam. Failures suffer a huge psychological setback. Getting the feeling “I am a brainless idiot” can be devastating at that tender age. Thus I feel the scholarship exam should be done away with. Instead, brighter students may be given some special backing based on their GCE O’Level results.
I am not an educationist but these are my personal thoughts on the 5th Standard hurdle.
Mahendra Samarasinghe
Dehiwala
Sea erosion not due to Norochcholai plant
Fishermen of Illanthandiya have complained of sea erosion due to the construction of the Norochcholai coal-power plant, according to newspaper reports.
The question of sea erosion was thoroughly studied by local and foreign consultants after the then Bishop of Chilaw vehemently opposed the setting up of the plant on the basis that it could affect the Talawila St Anne’s Church, just 10 km away.
I wish to quote from the report submitted by Consultants M/s. Ramboll:
“Due to the South-west monsoon having a predominant effect at the coastline regarded, the net sediment transportation will be northwards in the area.
Sediment transport in coastal regions is mainly associated with a conversion of wave energy to turbulence and heat in the surf-zone. The high intensity of turbulence and the shallow water makes agitation of sediment from the bottom easy. Furthermore, the wave-breaking generates strong currents which transport the sediment along the coast. The presence of a jetty in the coastal region will tend to reduce the wave energy in the lea side shadowed by the piles, and thereby cause a decrease in the suspension of sediment from the seabed and decrease the current velocity. Therefore sediments will settle, resulting in accretion of the coast in the shadow area.
Down-stream of the shadowed coastline the long shore transport capacity resulting in erosion of the coastline. The coastline will find a new equilibrium state, within few years after construction of the jetty and the structure will have no further coastal impact.”
It is well documented and tested e.g. on the Indian coast, the open structure jetties make a very limited impact on the adjacent coast due to the free passage of currents and waves under the structure
Hence, no measurable impact will take place at St. Anne’s Church due to the construction of the power plant.
The massive erosion in Negombo is a result of the unconscionable and wanton destruction of the natural coral reef by man, and not caused by jetty structure. The types of erosion are not comparative.
G.A.D. Sirimal
Boralesgamuwa