Views - 390 Thursday, 14 February 2019 01:15

In Sri Lanka, our political leaders have forgotten that we had elected them to represent our interests, care for our welfare and to drive the country to greater heights. It is sad that they had forgotten that aspect altogether. It appears they think

Views - 2617 Wednesday, 13 February 2019 00:00

There are 33 banks and 48 finance companies in Sri Lanka. The financial industry which mainly consists of the Banking Financial Industry (BFI) and the Non-Banking Financial Industry (NBFI) approximately has an asset base of 12.2 trillion. This compr

Views - 257 Wednesday, 13 February 2019 00:00

Religious organisations and beliefs are potential drivers of, or barriers to, social change - the transformation of social and political structures in pursuit of, for instance, democratisation, participation, human rights, social inclusion and gende

Views - 888 Tuesday, 12 February 2019 00:16

Last week we saw the appointment of another respected business professional to drive Sri Lanka Tourism – the sixth Chairman to drive the entity Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) within a space of just four years. If I may capture since 20

Views - 6164 Monday, 11 February 2019 00:20

It seems that the genetic code of modern Homo sapiens is not different from that of other species. The latter is guided not by thinking but by instincts. Similarly, Homo sapiens is still embedded with the ‘gene of fear’ that compels it to ‘figh

Views - 411 Monday, 11 February 2019 00:10

Henry Mintzberg, the veteran management thinker, promotes the concept of “community,” stating that leadership should pave way for “communityship”. Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, created the largest social media platform, Facebook, with a

Views - 369 Monday, 11 February 2019 00:00

Tourism in Sri Lanka was said to have reached an all-time high last year with a staggering 2.2 million tourists visiting the country. While news articles widely publicised this never before seen rate, little did anyone pay attention to return in inve

Views - 318 Monday, 11 February 2019 00:00

A Goldman Sachs analyst has compared Apple’s current troubles to that faced by Nokia in 2007. Nokia depended on customer upgrades for sales in a saturated market in 2007 for that era’s phones. Steve Jobs came out with the touchscreen iPhone that

Views - 107 Saturday, 9 February 2019 00:10

President Maithripala Sirisena sounds adamant and seems to have taken a couple of strides towards making capital punishment law in the country. He has been talking quite extensively about reintroducing capital punishment. Is this the right way forwar

Views - 198 Saturday, 9 February 2019 00:10

There aren’t steel-clad “honest persons” In a recent piece I wrote titled ‘Look not for honest men; look for systems that keep persons honest,’ I made the point that Sri Lankans have hitherto relied on appeals to persons in authority to be

Views - 207 Friday, 8 February 2019 00:20

I am celebrating Sri Lanka’s Independence Day – today. Not because I want to be perverse or contrary. But because well-meaning liberals have told me I can if I want to. And that in a democracy the individual has a choice. There are others who hav

Views - 264 Friday, 8 February 2019 00:10

Sri Lanka is in a state of backwardness and confusion in terms of its knowledge on things as well as the way it thinks. This backwardness and confusion can be seen rooted even in accepted policies of far-reaching consequences – so much so that it h

Views - 96 Friday, 8 February 2019 00:00

Almost all the companies face problems every day and those are very different from the problems that occurred in the past.  Some of them may appear on the surface, but most of them are under the water and creates a hidden factory which is responsibl

Views - 111 Friday, 8 February 2019 00:00

Happier and healthier employees take fewer sick days. According to a 2015 study, health and productivity programs can cut costs by up to $1,600 per employee in reduced leave days. In today’s competitive recruiting climate, healthy and pleasant offi

Views - 116 Friday, 8 February 2019 00:00

It is perhaps trite to say that we cannot escape our condition, the here and now. While each individual faces a private reality, together we confront a common reality, in a defined place, at a defined time. Living here in Sri Lanka, in these early d

Views - 80 Friday, 8 February 2019 00:00

“It is a fact that when disputation and disagreement … on any topic have once risen among a people, it is not possible, after they have taken root, for that disputation and disagreement to be entirely eradicated … the intelligent man will not b

Views - 185 Thursday, 7 February 2019 00:29

There is always the question, what have our universities contributed by way of research towards national needs and to the cause of development? This question is asked in many ways in many a forum. I am quite sure that most of those who question have

Views - 626 Thursday, 7 February 2019 00:22

After the publication of my article ‘The 50-day Govt. in 7 days, attempts to award biggest value contract in history’ in Daily FT on 9 January, I received number of messages from individuals involved in the industry who upgraded my knowledge. I a

Views - 178 Thursday, 7 February 2019 00:02

On the border between land and sea, a unique ecosystem covers tropical and subtropical regions around the world: Mangrove forests. Mangroves are well adapted to saline water and the tides, and they thrive along the coastlines of over 118 countries, i

Views - 220 Wednesday, 6 February 2019 00:10

As we complete 71 years of independence and look back on 2018 – it is unmistakable – once again women and girls from Sri Lanka have emerged triumphant in sport! It was heartening to see a series of news headlines, social media posts and videos c

Views - 71 Wednesday, 6 February 2019 00:00

Cancer is far from an equal-opportunity killer. In 2018 – 18.1 million new cases developed worldwide, while around 9.6 million people died from the disease. 70% of those deaths occurred in low and middle-income countries, including those of the WHO

Views - 602 Wednesday, 6 February 2019 00:00

Sri Lanka has been ranked first in many ratings highlighting the best Asian country to visit in 2019. For so many years Sri Lanka had received amazing reviews and recognition, and now it finally got ranked first and is advertised extensively in magaz

Views - 162 Wednesday, 6 February 2019 00:00

It is perceived that in the process of creating a new constitution there are two issues to be addressed. One is about the executive presidency and the other is about devolution of power as a solution to the ethnic issue. Those are not two issues, ra

Views - 276 Wednesday, 6 February 2019 00:00

Many people are talking about waste management. So much so it has become only a subject of talk shows! The City of Colombo is the prime focus and the centrepiece. It is seen as a debate that has been continuing for decades under different mayors as w

Views - 3009 Tuesday, 5 February 2019 00:22

Professor Simon Anholt, who coined the term ‘nation brand’, once asked, “If the hand of God should accidentally slip on the celestial keyboard tomorrow and hit delete and Britain went, who would notice and why?” I would like to ask the same

Views - 132 Tuesday, 5 February 2019 00:00

The President during his presidential election campaignhad stated: “I will achieve for the country 10 times the development that actually occurred during the past six years only by preventing mega corruption and wastage that existed in the country

Views - 168 Tuesday, 5 February 2019 00:00

They look at economically successful countries (built in the few decades) and then try to emulate their looks, not understanding that the high-rise buildings and highways you see in places like Singapore, Japan, Korea and Taiwan are all enabled by an

Views - 6190 Monday, 4 February 2019 00:10

The rationale of economic policy governance could be explained by drawing on the viewpoints expressed by French economist, philosopher and legislator Frédéric Bastiat in two of his publications, one in 1848 and the other in 1850. In the first publ

Views - 305 Monday, 4 February 2019 00:00

Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) became free from British colonial rule on 4 February 1948. Many opine that ours was more of an after effect of independence granted to India rather than a consequence of a struggle for independence. Be that as it may, we celeb

Views - 90 Saturday, 2 February 2019 00:10

“If the history of knowledge about Islam in the West has been too closely tied to conquest and domination, the time has come to these ties to be severed completely. About this one cannot be too emphatic. For otherwise we will not only face protract