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Home » ColumnsSerious questions over health sector drug tracking restrictions
With influential medical unions on trade union action alleging critical shortages of certain drugs, some of them raised concerns as to why the Swastha, an information management system of medicinal drugs, is not available online anymore. Launched in 2023, the comprehensive system was designed to ensure that pharmaceuticals, surgical items, and consumables are readily available [...]
Balcony talk
My dear Uncle Ranil, I am writing to you because you are in the headlines again, appearing in court because of a trip you undertook to England a few years ago. That has resulted in more trips to court now and even a trip to hospital where, at first, we feared the worst after your [...]
The unfortunate politicisation of education reforms
The demonstrations for and against the government’s proposed education reforms are a blatant example of the politicisation of education in the country. Regrettably, education has been politicised in many ways for decades. Persistent issue Politicisation of education policy and school and university administration has been a persistent problem. Often, education goals are influenced or dictated [...]
On presidential pronouncements regarding ‘racism’
Randomly picking up founding father of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew’s autobiography ‘From Third World to First’ in a recent whistle-top work visit to that country was an unspoken nod to a more temperate assessment of decades long questioning of his democratically sacrilegious – and heavily critiqued – opinion that ‘disciplined governance’ should prevail over the [...]
Protecting independence of Attorney General’s Office critical in strengthening rule of law
In the delicate machinery of a constitutional democracy, few cogs are as vital — and as vulnerable — as the Office of the Attorney General. Over the past few weeks, the environs of Hulftsdorf have been disrupted by an unsettling cacophony: street demonstrations, targeted social media campaigns, and a rising tide of media hostility directed [...]
How Ceylon won her Freedom Hour thanks to Gandhi’s nonviolent power
On that fine and sunny February morn 78 years ago, Britain, still morosely sulking over the loss of India that crowned her vast empire on which the sun never set but always rose at dawn, performed one little chore, one small duty that remained to be done before leaving for old England. It involved the [...]
Court developments push former President to fight his case legally—and politically
Defence team calls ASD Dileepa Peiris’ arguments high-handed, personal attacks on Wickremesinghe Former High Commissioner Saroja Sirisena and staff tell CID they never saw Wolverhampton University’s invitation letter Ranil visits Ekanayake in remand prison; inquires about ‘NPP corruption files’ in presence of prison officer Parliament bracing for heated exchanges over Deputy Secretary General’s suspension By [...]
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