Views - 442 Tuesday, 9 April 2019 00:00

Public companies including banks are legally obliged to publish their audited annual balance sheets. We therefore see them appearing in the public media from time to time. For many of us such statements do not convey much information other than leavi

Views - 75 Tuesday, 9 April 2019 00:00

Sri Lanka boasts of a relatively high literacy rate of 92% amongst its population. However, its computer literacy rate is a meagre 27.5%. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Production Report categorises Sri Lanka as a nascent economy,

Views - 368 Tuesday, 9 April 2019 00:00

The current US-China trade frictions and the broader US stance on trade relations with its key partners could trigger a substantial redrawing of supply chains across Asia and the world. This has implications for Sri Lanka, as it aims for a more trade

Views - 6070 Monday, 8 April 2019 00:20

Relying on manpower or divine powers? The University of Sri Jayewardenepura or USJ, celebrating its 60th Anniversary as a recognised university this year, had hosted two main events to mark it. One involved in kicking-off of USJ’s long-term vision

Views - 208 Monday, 8 April 2019 00:00

By Devaka Gunawardena In a recent column, political scientist Jayadeva Uyangoda argues that the polarisation of Sri Lankan politics is based on a battle between democratic and authoritarian forces. The latter is represented by the spectre of Gotabaya

Views - 183 Saturday, 6 April 2019 00:10

Robert Hare, the leading expert on psychopathy as a mental disorder, who devised a psychopathic checklist, observed that psychopaths representing just one percent of the general population possess an especially heightened need for both power and pres

Views - 82 Saturday, 6 April 2019 00:10

IPS’ New Thinkers Symposium saw researchers from several think tanks presenting their work on broad topics, under the theme of ‘Technology and Economic Transformation’. They highlighted the need for dynamic and innovative thinking to succeed in

Views - 68 Saturday, 6 April 2019 00:01

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Every month, Fathima Rifka used to suffer the embarrassment of rinsing out the rags she used during her period at a public tap – the only source of running water available in the poor Sri Lankan neighborhood she grew up

Views - 77 Saturday, 6 April 2019 00:01

People’s Daily Overseas Edition: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China has enjoyed energetic development and made remarkable achievements since it was proposed five years ago, winning wide reputation from the international society an

Views - 17 Saturday, 6 April 2019 00:00

Sri Lanka seeks to harness women’s and youth’s potential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 as the increasing ageing population will have a negative impact on the efforts in implementing the 2030 SDGs, the country’s permanent

Views - 738 Friday, 5 April 2019 00:10

The system that prevails in Sri Lanka can be considered a corrupt and predatory one that allows powerful people to exploit the rest of the people and loot their properties at their whims and fancies, no matter how unreasonable it may seem. This corru

Views - 289 Friday, 5 April 2019 00:00

‘Ardha’ is a Sanskrit word which means ‘half’. Post-modernist Sinhala writer and poet Shakthika Sathkumara wrote a short story captioned ‘Ardha’ and posted it on his Facebook page. Now he is in remand custody charged for an offense under

Views - 38 Friday, 5 April 2019 00:00

The strongest argument to my mind against a counter-terrorism law is that the state of being anti-terror is a terrible choice of status quo—for any society, by any state. It’s true that terrorism can be ‘narrowly’ or ‘objectively’ define

Views - 168 Thursday, 4 April 2019 00:41

70 years is a long time since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the UN in December 1948. Whatever the marginal biases or weaknesses that it entails, it is a fair statement on human rights that all human beings should

Views - 302 Thursday, 4 April 2019 00:38

Today, marks UN Mine Awareness Day. It provides an opportunity to focus on affected countries, such as Sri Lanka to recognise and take action to meet the needs of the affected people, and to assist them. Almost ten years after the end of the war, som

Views - 421 Thursday, 4 April 2019 00:31

Last year in October something quite interesting happened. Now I think most of you would be jumping to a conclusion, which indicates how much we know about things political but not at all about very important developments with respect to our nation

Views - 475 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 00:05

I recently attended an event organised by the Walpola Rahula Institute. In just a few years Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero has created a safe space where Buddhists, women and minorities can have a discussion about the important ideas of our time and

Views - 476 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 00:00

One of the most important and most widely-used skills in marketing is brand and product promotion. This basic technique consists of corporate messages aimed to stimulate awareness of, interest in, and purchase of its products. Nowadays, however, it

Views - 103 Wednesday, 3 April 2019 00:00

The IPS ‘New Thinkers’ Symposium featured an Innovations Hub, a space for private sector entrepreneurs and innovators to showcase their work. Citra Labs, SYNAPSYS, Dialog Digital Services, and Jigsaw Ensemble presented their work, in line with th

Views - 180 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 00:00

During the past few weeks, I have been watching the many headlines, debates, misinformation, misrepresentation of facts as well as self-congratulatory statements by some members of the delegation that went to Geneva to participate in the 40th session

Views - 87 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 00:00

Well, it was not meant for print or for public posting in social media or anywhere. But it did happen after about 12 years. They were mere rambling thoughts that I sort of gathered in story form. In fact, it was a way I relaxed on and off between tir

Views - 260 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 00:00

As the future of the longstanding core-relationship between the financial industry especially the non-banking financial industry (NBFI) and the motor vehicle-based leasing industry is highly questionable, it’s the right time to look for other alter

Views - 547 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 00:00

Dear Minister – with due respect, it is the public deposits of the depositors of the ETI that are at stake here. They are not, repeat not, the private funds of the directors and the shareholders, notwithstanding that they have been fraudulently use

Views - 49 Tuesday, 2 April 2019 00:00

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is intensifying ongoing efforts to promote good governance among its developing member countries (DMCs), according to the Office of Anticorruption and Integrity (OAI) 2018 Annual Report released y

Views - 9118 Monday, 1 April 2019 00:29

Two events bearing on each other Two events that had no direct connection to each other but could have a bearing took place in Sri Lanka last week. One was the AFP report about an unconventional method used by the country’s power producer, Ceylon E

Views - 340 Monday, 1 April 2019 00:00

By Thisuri Wanniarachchi Strengthening the agricultural sector has been a key element in the national development strategy of almost every government that has come to power since independence. While prioritising the needs of the agricultural sector

Views - 41 Monday, 1 April 2019 00:00

By Navin Dissanayake All human life, once born, has to reach its logical end, death. That eternal truth was taught to us by our eternal teacher, Gautama Buddha. Yet when it happens to your loved ones, it is difficult to bear. No person should compare

Views - 93 Monday, 1 April 2019 00:00

The funeral of the late Srima Dissanayake will be held this evening at the General Cemetery, Borella. The cortege will leave the residence, 6/1, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7, at 2 p.m.

Views - 103 Monday, 1 April 2019 00:00

In all democracies, whether they are matured or not, periodic elections to change governments have lost their credibility and substance in the prevailing neoliberal economic world order. In this order it is global capital represented by its corporate

Views - 71 Monday, 1 April 2019 00:00

Review by Laksiri Fernando Political science and political scientists, among others, could play a major role in resolving Sri Lanka’s most important problems like post-war ethnic reconciliation, construction and reconstruction of democracy, and ov