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Home » ColumnsCancellation of leave: Govt. denies claim by nurses union
The Public Services United Nurses’ Union has written to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, expressing strong displeasure at a proposal it claims has been made by the Commissioner General of Pensions to cut down paid leave days allocated to nurses and other public servants. In the letter, union President Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera claims the proposal was [...]
A make-or-break year
My dear Uncle Ranil, I thought I should write to you this week to wish you a happy New Year though you have already wished us, your fellow citizens of Paradise for the New Year. This year will decide whether you will be forced into an ‘early’ retirement or whether we will see five more [...]
Interests of the poor and vulnerable need to be kept in the forefront when formulating economic policy
Arising from the country’s economic crash resulting in a declaration of bankruptcy in 2022, the Government has resorted to multiple strategies and actions to rescue the country and the people. Opposition parties as well as independent economists continue to discuss and debate the possible ways out for the country. While some are ideologically averse to [...]
Political uncertainties, social unrest and global recession threaten economic growth in 2024
The New Year that dawned on Monday is fraught with political uncertainties, considerable political confusion, social unrest and downside economic risks. It’s an election year when the country’s eco-nomic future will be determined. Economy The current global recession is a severe setback to manufactured exports. Last year’s declining trend in exports is likely to continue. [...]
Sri Lanka’s fresh ‘truth commission’; so what else is new?
Whether in regard to war crimes, gross corruption or economic white collar crimes, unearthing accountability in Sri Lanka is somewhat akin to peeling away multiple layers of a rotten onion. First, the stench overwhelms you. Secondly, each layer is correspondingly more decayed than the previous. Finally, one is left with the core which is but [...]
The rude awakening to 2024 in the Lankan year of the VAT
As the people waited with great trepidation for new year dawn to break, not even the tremendous crack and dazzle of the midnight hour’s fireworks could exorcise their mounting dread as they shuddered to face Lank’s year of the VAT. Like condemned men, prisoners of a lost economic war, lined up to face the morning [...]
VAT the heck is this but a messy job turned messier still
On that day, the first of January 2024, the axe fell sharply on the necks of millions of people of this politically ravaged nation once called “The Resplendent Isle”. The night before that guillotine blade dropped, some one percent or less of our country’s glitterati danced away the troubles of the rest of the population [...]
President and CC amicably settles rift over rules
Speaker issues gazette notification outlining procedures; first commission appointed Udayanga says Dhammika Perera will be SLPP’s presidential candidate, but Mahinda and Namal skirt the issue By Our Political Editor The ding-dong controversy between the Presidency and the Constitutional Council over rules governing the CC’s functions has now been amicably resolved. Speaker and CC Chairman Mahinda [...]
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