World Bank – In the rural town of Morawaka located in Southern Sri Lanka, home to lush tea estates and paddy fields, Ramya is finally mother to a beautiful baby girl. She was born after a harrowing experience of an umbilical cord prolapse, a condition where the umbilical cord gets out of the body before…
Some Sri Lankans among Sinhala Buddhists & Hindu Tamils would celebrate the ‘Sinhala – Hindu’ new year in few weeks. The Central Bankers (among them) unlike many will not conflict within families on purchasing to celebrate in the current economic situation but even they will have to fight to decide on the auspicious times as…
Rising political polarization and distrust results in gridlock on global challenges Uneven development progress is leaving the poorest behind, exacerbating inequality, and stoking political polarization on a global scale. The result is a dangerous gridlock that must be urgently tackled through collective action, according to a new report released today by the United Nations…
Sri Lanka is poised to benefit from the global trend towards electric vehicles (EVs), leveraging its top-quality vein graphite crucial for EV battery manufacturing. The country’s commitment to sustainability and quality standards places it strategically in the non-China graphite export market, boosted by US industrial policies favouring domestic assembly and non-China sources. A new IPS…
By Chaya Dissanayake Sri Lanka faces a high-risk situation with the looming threat of a potential future pandemic. A recent IPS study reveals that the Sri Lankan apparel sector, particularly women workers, bore the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 24% of women not recalled for work during the pandemic’s initial phase. Urgent streamlining of…
By Prof. Samitha Hettige ‘Gota’s War’ explains Defense Secretary GR’s contribution to end the 30 year conflict. The LTTE (ranked ‘deadliest’ terrorists by FBI in January 2008) was crushed in May 2009 by SL armed forces politically lead by President MR assisted by GR. GR’s contributions to prevent a resurrection of the LTTE (post 2009)…
By Himani Vithanage ‘’Currently an assessment could be deployed in about 5 minutes, in class, student responses are instantaneous and so are the results (he doesn’t need to grade them separately). Traditional assessment usually takes 3-4 hours each’’ — an assistant teacher at a Composite School in India who has been using Class Saathi, an…
In the early 1990s a wedding ceremony took place at Wijerama Mw, Colombo 07 & the road (in front of the bride’s house) was closed during the event. Media reported the groom being appointed a director at the national carrier. The other news was about his cousin, appointed to a senior position there (after the…
By Dr Asanka Wijesinghe The Sri Lanka-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (SLTFTA) paves the way for lower tariffs on 85% of products between Sri Lanka and Thailand. Strategic use of uncommitted lists to restrict imports from the partner country may weaken the effectiveness of SLTFTA. The agreement opens avenues for trading new products, enhancing bilateral trade…
Business Sentiment – Lacklustre Business Confidence The Central Bank of Sri Lanka notes that the country’s official reserve assets rose by 2.3 percent in January, reaching US$ 4,491 million from US$ 4,392 million in December. This appreciation came on the back of a US$ 1.4 billion swap facility from the People’s Bank of China. Simultaneously,…
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