Science Research Ransomed Retaken Hostage

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Science Research Ransomed Retaken Hostage

e-Con e-News 27 December 2020 – 02 January 2021

“We should not use the word privatization”

Puckis Petti Packers! Say it fast, and you hear who really controls our economy!

     ee is hallucinating: Are the powers listening to us? Last week, ee questioned the claim about local pharma manufacturing. This week, an Island feature exposes this ‘manufacture’ as mere ‘local packing’ of foreign chemical products, mostly imported from India. India imports them from the US, Europe, and China.

     The article exposes the role of the pharma importers’ mafia (now headed by Hemas, itself a pale mirage for Unilever, who excels in this labour-intensive low-skill ‘manufacture’) in dictating health policy. It doesn’t discuss making pharma machinery, nor the role of England’s Standard Chartered Bank in the import game.

     Importing pharma is a Rs50 billion scam! Further, this week, it was reported, the institution funded to do industrial technology research in Sri Lanka simply does not do any. Jayavaeva to the merchant machine-importing mafia also, and a happy white new year to you (see ee Focus).

• The EU – playing ‘the good cop’ role that Canada and the Scandinavians usually play – just signed a massive trade deal with China this week. While warning us not to deal with China, and using India as a tiger’s claw against Sri Lanka & China. The Biden gang is targeting Russia to keep Europe divided, and draw the Chinese panda away from cohabitation with the Slavic teddy bear. After loudly slapping down the Yellow Peril Dragon card, ‘the bad cop’ US Eagle plans to follow suit with a deal the Chinese may not refuse!

     Last ee spoke of China’s much-media-maligned Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that built immense rural ‘capital infrastructure’ without getting into debt. The imperialist siege that kept China’s rural population income low. This week, China’s top leadership discussed this very same issue – “eliminating absolute poverty and building a moderately prosperous society”.

While the English media howled hoarse against sorcerers’ syrups, multinational gangsters holding science to ransom, took research hostage again. Here then is the true censorship and sorcery:

     ee recently reported on the stranglehold Reuters and Elsevier have on economic news while spreading trivial fog. Their legal/corporate databases LexisNexis and Westlaw cost $100s/ hour. This week, Elsevier, more profitable than Google, took India’s science research hostage again. Despite some outraged coverage in India, it was not reported here.

     These publishing companies do not create research. They have been exposed as ‘rentiers’ – a word frequently used for those living off ‘rents’ rather than profits. Rentiers do not increase production but instead steal larger and larger slices of existing resources. (see ee Focus, Rentiers)

• Sensational media coverage of a retail crime trial would get the flashing lights of daily headlines, with reporters and cameras crowding around po-faced black-robed legal attorneys, commentators describing in lurid detail the gruesome viscera of the litigation. But never for major crimes! Makandure Madush, Angoda Lokka, and aspiring adventurers and scribes, please stand aside.

     On December 21, twixt the twilight of year-end bacchanalia, 3 foreign monopoly publishers – Elsevier, Wiley, American Chemical Society (ACS) – filed suit in the Delhi High Court, to successfully block access to science journals through the sites Sci-Hub and LibGen. They named major Indian internet service providers as related parties. On December 26, the court granted the multinational publishers, who control a $10billion industry, “a dynamic injunction”, which means they can keep blocking domains that provide such services without going before a judge, until January 6.

     The internet won’t give details, names of lawyers, legal firms, etc. Why? Searching Google amounts to ‘asking the criminal’s mom about the criminal’s whereabouts’. Nor just the mother, but gang members.

     Google should be renamed Gongle! – their algorithms worthy of Kafkaesque circumlocution! The searches only display links to law websites hidden behind paywalls. So this is the issue: The 3 firms are preventing, eg, healthcare professionals learning about the latest medical developments, engineers learning about new tech. There was not one mention of this lawsuit in the Sri Lankan media, so fascinated about the 4^th industrial revolution, without demanding even a first, while jeering at wizards’ potions. (Sci-Hub shared a full copy of the complaint: onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AGWXZnzQ7pLH%2DNU&cid=9D1C080191F21BC2&id=9D1C080191F21BC2%21369&parId=root&o=OneUp)

     The 3 ‘publishing sharks’ together control over 50% of science publications worldwide, “one of the largest concentrations of market power in any sector… Some publishers even charge by the hour – pay a couple of thousand rupees to ‘rent’ out a paper for the day. Pay again if you want to refer to it tomorrow.” Journal publishing is a $10billion industry, with one of the highest profit margins of any sector. Elsevier’s 37% profit margins are twice that of monopolist and superprofiteer Google.

     These publishers impoverish libraries by charging obscene amounts annually for journal subscriptions. Indian institutions each spend Rs15billion annually on subscriptions. Academic publishing is thus among the most profitable industries in the world: Elsevier’s parent company RELX had profits of over 30% on revenue of nearly $10billion in 2019. It calls itself “a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools”.

     Most scientists in India are paid by research grants from public institutions under ministries and departments. The major funding agencies are the Department of Science and Technology, the Dept of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dept of Atomic Energy etc. Scientists usually have to publish in academic journals run by Elsevier, Wiley, ACS, who publish after ‘peer review’ by other scientists. Most peer-reviewed scientific literature is hidden behind their online paywalls that require 1000s to lakhs of rupees to unlock. Authors and reviewers are not paid. Most journals require authors to transfer copyright to them.

     In 2016, 3 English publishing multinationals – Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Taylor & Francis Group (owning Routledge et al) – sued Delhi University and its photocopy shop. The Delhi High Court ruled: compilation and distribution of copies of texts of books prescribed in the syllabus did not infringe on copyrights of the publisher as defined in the Copyright Act of 1957. India’s Copyright Act allows for “infringing copy” of copyrighted work to be legally imported into India for personal and domestic use.

     The 3 major multinational corporations want Indian judges to follow the powerful precedent of US Twentieth Century Fox and local Disney-owned media giant UTV Software Communications who permanently blocked some of the largest torrent and streaming sites on India’s internet.

     This week, over 2,000 researchers, scientists and students from across India signed a petition demanding free access to knowledge: “Those who produce this knowledge – the authors and reviewers of research papers – are not paid, and yet these publishers make windfall profit of billions of dollars by selling subscriptions to libraries worldwide at exorbitantly inflated rates, which most institutional libraries in India, and even developed countries, cannot afford. Without a subscription, a researcher has to pay $30-50 to download each paper, which most individual Indian researchers cannot afford. Instead of facilitating the flow of research information, these companies are throttling it.”

• In October 2020, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the IFC Financial Institutions Growth (FIG) Fund LP and the IFC Emerging Asia (EA) Fund LP became the largest shareholder of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon. Promoting the import machinery mafia, what else does it do?

    During Yahaplanaya, just after the April 2019 terror attack, the SL Bankers’ Association, Finance Houses Association, Insurance Regulatory Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission, with the IFC as the secretariat and technical advisor – and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) providing financial support through its Biodiversity Finance Initiative to the Central Bank – publicized their “Sustainable Finance Roadmap”. They started talking the ‘socially responsible’ ‘sustainable’ ‘inclusive’ talk of gender equity, saying ‘parity’ was lacking in Sri Lanka. The “blueprint had been designed in Washington in April”. The Washington-based IFC also announced syndication of a $50million loan to Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank.

     In December 2019, Keell’s Cinnamon Life hosted “emerging markets investment pioneer” Mark Mobius of Mobius Capital Partners, formerly at Franklin Templeton Investments, which excelled in robbing plantation economies. From 2010 Mobius was in involved in the privatization of Romania’s OMV Petrom in Romania and Russian oil firm Lukoil. Mobius then became a member of the Economic Advisory Board of the IFC.

     Mobius reappeared in February 2020, and was asked: “What do you think needs to be done to develop the domestic bond market?” He answered: “1, issue more domestic bonds; 2, simplify and encourage the development of a liquid bond market; and 3, make sure you start listing Government enterprises. I know the Government is hesitant about this. We should not use the word privatization. I’m not talking about privatization. I’m talking about listing. You could list 5% or 10% of the stocks but list the entire equity capital of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and you immediately expand the scope of the market.” A theme constantly reiterated by the likes of Keels and the usual suspect thinktanks.

     Just before IFC took over the ‘ComBank’, it expressed its concern for the globe’s poverty line, saying significant numbers of people will “slip” below the extreme poverty line. They’re not slipping, they’re being pushed!

     On December 18, ComBank appointed former Chief Justice K Sripavan as Chairman and senior academic Prof AKW Jayawardane as Deputy Chairman. Sripavan was Chairman of the Judicial Services Commission of SL, Chairman of the Incorporated Council of Legal Education, Chairman of the SL Judges’ Institute and Chairman of the Superior Court Complex Board of Management. He was the Head of the Court of Appeal Unit in the Attorney General’s Department and was a Legal Consultant for the National Savings Bank. Jayawardane is currently a Commission Member of the University Grants Commission and a Senior Professor in Civil Engineering. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Endowed Professor in Entrepreneurship. He was the President of the Institution of Engineers, and is a Director of Sierra Cables PLC, etc.

     Again, our media, so dedicated to teledramas, will simply not add multinational corporate capitalism to the plot. After all, they are being paid to be ‘fair and lovely’.

• Is the Colombo-Kandy road for English highway robbers. The Planters Association, insolently leading the charge to prevent national wage increases, would say, YES!  All roads bleed to London’s banks. Their Unilever-massaged media refuses to discuss placing the entire output of the plantation companies with a workers’ collective, revoking the legal monopoly of licensed export firms to purchase from auctions. The driving down of plantation workers’ wages, drives down everyone elses.

• ee also recommended people switch from using monopoly US internet media. This week ee was locked out of its own google mail account of over 10 years, which readers kept warning would happen, stealing our database. So much for ‘censorship’…Watch yo Black ass, a reader warned. But, yes, ee is hallucinating…

     ee would like to thank the online journal gammiris.lk for providing an alternative to the usual media bull, and for reproducing some of this work! Meanwhile, please visit the blog, eesrilanka.wordpress.com. While it lasts!

Contents:

A1. Reader Comments –

• World Bank owns Commercial Bank • ee powerful • Corona in Canada vs SL • Media porn

A2. Quotes of the Week

• No National Plan only Begging Bowl • Free Trade is Managed • Brexit Drama Faked • Media is Capitalist Propaganda • Infodemics & Disinformation •  We are Poor and Blank

A3. Random Notes –

• Exaggeration & Doomsaying • Media Monopoly is the Real Censor • Pharma Import Mafia Sabotaged Daily Health Page • The Mighty Wurlitzer • The Media IS the Teledrama • Who owns the BBC?

B. ee Focus    

B1. Local Manufacturing or Local Packing of Drugs in Sri Lanka? – Prof OA Ileperuma

B2. Elsevier & Wiley Declare War on Research Community in India – Prabir Purkayastha

B3. Will the Real Rentiers please stand up? – Shiran Illanperuma

C. News Index

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A1. Reader Comments

• ee thanks Readers who send articles of interest. Please excerpt or summarize what is important about any article sent, or your comments, and place the e-link at the end. It’s better to email.

• “I am surprised to hear that the World Bank owns a portion of our Commercial Bank. Any more details you know would be appreciated…”

• “Got the powerful ee edition of today. The number of items before one comes to ‘Contents’ are compelling, because it gives the compilers’ views in their excellent language. People can quickly get your take on the most important issues.”

• “Compare the rate of Covid deaths per million of population between Canada and Sri Lanka. SL is way more successful (Canada 399 deaths vs SL 9 deaths). Southern Ontario is under a severe lockdown. Stores are closed – except the bigbox stores that are ‘too big to fail’ (ie they have more lobbying clout than small business).

     Of course no capitalist country can compare with China, Vietnam and Cuba when it comes to fighting a pandemic. After all, they are societies, and they do things collectively. Furthermore, they have been holding off viruses for years – the imperialist viruses!”

• ‘What’s with the online graphics of Wjieya Graphics under “Comments (Sponsored)”? One shows an airbrushed woman almost skirtless, legs crossed, revealing fleshy femur. The ad: “Real Estate Prices in Miami Might Surprise You”, with a lead in to “Real Estate | Search Ads”. The other ad shows a almost fully clothed woman in bed, displaying lateral maximus gluteus, tapping on a laptop, for an ad, “Do You Speak English? Work a USA job from home in SL”. Capital Media does the same. This media all display ample articles claiming their commitment to ‘gender rights’ etc.’

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A2. Quotes of the Week_

• “ My colour is black and brown and not white so my words have not been taken, because of the money that is being dumped by the British. Mark my word, the dam would not be stable and it would break over the years”.  (see ee Security, Victoria Dam)

• “The country has always lacked proper national planning coupled with savvy economic options instead of simply resorting to carrying a begging bowl for loans and accumulating the loan by simply paying the interest.” (see ee Sovereignty, ECT Political Tool)

• “One of the greatest misnomers of this modern world is the term ‘free trade’. We have managed trade.” (Turbulent Times)

• “Elsewhere, a few tons of fish here or there was never going to outweigh the manufacturing interests on both sides. So this very limited agreement, covering the 22% of UK/EU trade that is in goods, was always a shoo-in.” (see ee Media, Fake)

• “The Press is not a genuine commercial enterprise. It is a loss maker on which billionaires are happy to splash money to produce propaganda for tax, regulatory and governmental regimes that aid billionaires’ wider interests.” .” (see ee Sovereignty, ICC War Crimes)

• “An infodemic is defined as a tsunami of information – some accurate, some not – that spreads alongside an epidemic. If it is not managed accordingly, an infodemic can have direct negative impacts on the health of populations & the public health response by undermining the trust in science & interventions. We are also seeing that infodemics hinder the cohesiveness of societies by increasing existing social inequities, stigma, gender disparity & generational rift.” (ee Sovereignty, Anti-China)

• “We are first ‘poor’ and second ‘blank’. By ‘poor’ I mean we do not have much industry and our agriculture is underdeveloped. By ‘blank’ I mean we are like a blank sheet of paper and our cultural and scientific level is not high. From the developmental point of view, this is not bad. The poor want revolution, whereas it is difficult for the rich to want revolution. Countries with a high scientific and technological level are overblown with arrogance. We are like a blank sheet of paper, which is good for writing on.” – Mao Zedong, 1956

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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’)_

“Exaggerating the obvious and wishing for a downfall?” – a headline in a financial newspaper ee found apt. Why on earth are there so many stories telling people what they can sense if they simply talk to anyone outside their Kolombot bubble, or take a walk down the street? The headline was of course referring to “Rating agencies and doomsayers”. But who are these doomsayers? They’re not predicting the fall of capitalism. What they wish is the downfall of the present government. Or rather, make ‘fail’ any attempt to transform the economy.

     Several critics insist ee’s “going to market for the Rajapakses.” Some even pooh-poohed ee support for the viral Miniran Balakaya video Why Can’t We Make it Here? on the same fictitious grounds. Note: None of these critics have much to say about the economy. Their music, or award-winning films, avoid naming capitalism, or demand its abolition, socially distancing themselves from such urgencies. On the other hand, they’re constantly whinging about how ignorant or sheepish the masses are.

     Media who complain of censorship do not speak of their owner’s monopoly practices that withhold vital information and spread daily diversions. Look at all the medical organizations coming out to sermonize on the burial issue. Meanwhile, the monopoly media laugh at ‘native’ cures, but rarely jeer at the multinational pharmaceutical industry’s hijacking of public health, or the toxic practices of the MNC agro-chemical giants. Smart-ass atheists insult religion, yet few attempt to transform the conditions that make people desperately flock to seek spiritual comfort.

     A daily newspaper’s health page was forthwith dissolved like a bone in acid, as demanded by the pharmaceutical mafia lobby (now headed by a ‘single mother’, who is pictorially represented midriff upward, advertising the more secretive features of the apparel and maternal dairy industry; businessmen are represented from just below the Adam’s apple, from their tie knots – perhaps as ads for imported guillotines).

•  In 1967 the US Central Intelligence Agency was exposed for secretly funding innumerable citizen front groups “to counter communist influence around the world”. CIA official Frank Wisner called his operation the “Mighty Wurlitzer”, a pipe organ on which he could play any propaganda tune. Today 10,000 social media outlets, weaponizing the latest means, repeat the same tune, their enemy’s list is even wider: China, Free Korea, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. (see ee Sovereignty, Anti-China)

• The media IS the teledrama. Take the Brexit business. Will England leave NATO? Will England and its fair&lovely front Unilever leave us? The Brexit deal was long done (industrial exchange was preserved, migrant workers screwed even more), but media, with politicians as actors, government and opposition produced a “pretend cliffhanger drama and tension”. For England and for us as well – see how our pretend economists reported it.

     The public capitalist media and political class are a version of World Wrestling Federation: the wrestlers, the referees and the reporters manufacture ‘dramas and crescendos’ to bewilder people while robbing them, creating ‘artificial crises’. They have also convinced themselves, while profiting (or renting), that the teledrama is reality, and they keep giving each other awards.

• Who owns the BBC? Arqiva is a private English telecommunications company. Its 2 largest shareholdings are the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Australian bank Macquarie (whose CEO claims to be a Lankan woman!). Arqiva controls the basic infrastructure of England’s entertainment and communications landscape: around 2,000 TV and radio broadcast transmission sites, around 8,000 ‘macrocellular’ telecom towers, and 4 of the national ‘multiplexes’ that licenses the radio spectrum to carry radio and TV signals.

     Their top customer groups are BBC and ITV, and major mobile telephony operators such as BT-EE, Vodafone, Telefónica O2, Three. BBC and ITV pay fees to Arqiva to use its transmission sites and radio spectrum. The telephony operators pay it fees to use its telecom towers. Arqiva does not make anything. They rent out transmission sites, spectrum and towers. Arqiva  is a rentier.

     As for the Canadian Pension Plan, its major investments are in nuclear weapons makers… The BBC can’t tell you this. Again, happy white new year.

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B. Special Focus_

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B1. Local Manufacturing or Local Packing of Drugs in Sri Lanka? – Prof OA Ileperuma

Recently, there has been much hype about drug manufacturing in Sri Lanka, with State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) claiming to commence the production of flucloxacillin in SL. This adds to the list of drugs the SPMC claims to “manufacture” locally, along with common drugs like paracetamol and antibiotics like ampicillin.

     The use of the term ‘manufacturing’ is a misnomer since what is actually done is getting the drug powders from abroad, including the hard gelatin capsules, and packing them here. Hence a more appropriate classification is “Packed in Sri Lanka”.

     While I am not trying to belittle what SPMC is doing, the real achievement would be to actually manufacture these drugs from raw materials, instead of importing the already prepared drug. Chemical synthesis is the key to this, and very often these can be carried out on a small to medium scale if proper equipment can be imported. We can tap unemployed graduates with a chemistry background and employ them for a useful purpose. Carrying out the synthesis even on a small scale many times is possible with the availability of abundant manpower.

     We spend nearly Rs20-30billion annually on importing pharmaceuticals and if surgical items are included, this increases to around Rs50billion. It is pertinent to ask why simple formulations like creams, ointments and syrups cannot be made in Sri Lanka by importing their raw materials. The authorities should ban or restrict the importation of the finished products such as these and also instruct the private pharmaceutical companies to produce them locally.

     Sri Lanka lags behind India, Pakistan and even Bangladesh in the pharmaceutical industry. We simply import the raw materials in the form of chemicals and do the mixing and pressing to produce tablets or capsules here. No attempts are made to at least to partially carry out some manufacturing involving chemical synthesis. Paracetamol tablets, where the active component is chemically acetaminophen, can be easily made from simple compounds like aminophenol and acetic anhydride, which can be carried out even in a school laboratory. The other ingredients in a paracetamol tablet are inert ingredients such as starch, potassium sorbate, talc and stearic acid. Out of these, some like starch and stearic acid can be locally made. What the SPMC is doing is to actually import all these chemicals and press them into tablets here. If at least part synthesis of some of these chemicals can be done here, it will help to create employment for unemployed youth and also reduce the price of drugs.

     Nearly 30 years ago, I wrote to the then-Chairman of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation about the possibility to make the anticancer drug, cisplatin, starting from basic raw materials. I have prepared this compound many times in the past for my research both here and abroad, but as expected I did not even receive a reply. Had they accepted my proposal, this drug could have been produced for one-fourth the price of the imported drug.

     What is even more hilarious is that saline, which is a solution of common salt in water, is still imported, although there is some information that this will soon be locally produced. We heard about a proposal to build a saline factory at Padukka in 2015 which promised to make the product available from 2017. I can remember, on August 19 of this year, State Minister for Pharmaceutical Production telling the media that local saline production will start before the end of the year. Even at the end of the year there is no sign of local saline Now another company is planning to manufacture saline in 2021 at Koggala and I hope the same fate will not happen to this venture as in 2015. Even a 1% sodium chloride (common salt) solution used as a nasal spray is imported from Bangladesh! Are our people in charge of manufacturing drugs incapable of dissolving common salt in water? Or else, maybe they’re scared of the powerful lobby of pharmaceutical importers who are financially benefited by importing these simple products like saline and nasal drops.

     Most of the antibiotic injections supposedly “manufactured” in SL are imported products and only filling them into vials is done in Sri Lanka. The process for the manufacture of antibiotics involves fermentation where specific microorganisms are grown in large containers in a liquid growth medium. Surely, there are enough microbiologists in Sri Lanka capable of carrying out these processes which will enable us to produce the antibiotics we need.

     We need to explore the types of raw materials we import and study their substitution with local products. For instance, calcium carbonate, which is used to treat osteoporosis and also as an inert additive in many tablets, can be easily manufactured in Sri Lanka. We have a good quality calcite deposit at Balangoda and this can be used to prepare precipitated calcium carbonate required for the drug industry. Similarly, magnesium carbonate deposits found in Wellawaya or even dolomite can be used to prepare magnesium carbonate which is used in various antacids and also can be used to produce magnesium hydroxide, popularly known as milk of magnesia and used as a laxative.

     The Indian drug industry imports around 70% of their total bulk drugs from China. Last year, the country’s pharmaceutical industries imported US$2.4billion worth of Chinese drugs and intermediate raw material chemicals. Recently the Indian Government has requested the drug industry to start manufacturing 38 essential chemicals required for the drug industry in India. What is imported to Sri Lanka are the finished products from the Indian drug companies. The same is true of the drugs we import from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The question arises as to why we cannot manufacture all drugs locally from raw materials imported from China, since what Indian companies do is to import the raw materials from China, make the drugs and sell the finished products to Sri Lanka.

     The State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) was established in 1971 and Prof Senaka Bibile was its first chairman. It had the mandate to import drugs for use in hospitals. In 1987, the State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation was established for the manufacture of drugs and it has succeeded in manufacturing about 50 drugs. This is far less compared to about 350 varieties of drugs currently imported to SL. Why you need 2 corporations to deal with pharmaceuticals is another question. Perhaps the Government wanted to create 2 Chairman posts just to satisfy the need to please political supporters. I believe that it is beneficial to merge these 2 corporations and work towards the common goal of providing all drugs needed for Sri Lanka.

     What we need is an expert panel of scientists who have no vested personal interests or political ambitions, and Lankan expatriates who have experience in drug manufacturing to formulate a national action plan to manufacture drugs required for Sri Lanka. Concurrently, the production of chemicals required for drug formulations is an urgent necessity where chemists play a major role.

– island.lk/local-manufacturing-or-local-packing-of-drugs-in-sri-lanka/

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B2. Elsevier and Wiley Declare War on Research Community in India – Prabir Purkayastha

Without access to the journals available on websites like Sci-Hub and Libgen, against which the copyright holders have filed a case in the Delhi High Court, it is almost impossible to do quality research.

Three academic publishers are asking for the blocking of Sci-Hub and Libgen in India, 2 websites who provide free downloads of research publications and books to research scholars and students. The 3 – Elsevier Ltd, Wiley India Pvt Ltd, American Chemical Society – have filed a petition in Delhi High Court, which is now scheduled to be heard next on January 6.

     The publishers, who have filed similar suits in other countries as well, would have us believe it is them versus the pirate sites. What they hide is that there is another community involved here: students, teachers and research scholars, whose access to these journals would virtually end if the publishers have their way in court. This would have serious and long-term consequences for science and technology in India.

     Who are these 3 publishers in Delhi High Court? Elsevier, Wiley and American Chemical Society together publish 40% of scientific publications. If we take the 5 top publishers, they control more than 50% of the publications in science and social sciences worldwide, one of the largest concentrations of market power in any sector. Journal publishing is a $10billion industry, with one of the highest profit margins of any sector. The profit margin of Elsevier is 37%, twice that of Google, the latter under attack globally for its monopoly practices and super-profits.

     Publishing science and social science journals is a business where the publishers do not either create the content or take care of its quality through refereeing. All of which is done free by the scientific community, who are in turn paid by the taxpayers or students’ fees. On top of that, those who produce the content, have also to pay for it through their nose if they have to read these journals.

     The libraries are finding it hard to pay the exorbitant prices of these publications, and it has become the single biggest item of cost for the universities and institutes as these monopoly publishers continuously ratchet up the price of these journals.

     Maybe the cost of the journals are going up due to the increasing cost of production? Not so if we look at the figures. The price of these journals has gone up more than 5 times – or 521% – in the last 30 years against consumer price index rise of only 118%. That means the price of these publications have increased 6 times while the rest of the goods is only twice of what they were 30 years back. This is the super-profits or the rent we, as a research community, pay for what is essentially our produce.

     Has the cost of production in publishing increased more than other sectors to justify this 3 times difference? On the contrary! As we know, there are no costs for the publishers for the content; that is the free labour of the research community. Has the cost of physical production gone up? Again, no. Only 10% of the sales of these publications today are in print form, the rest 90% is entirely digital. So the cost of production has decreased over time. Again, the major part of the production cost is off-loaded to the researchers. They have to submit their manuscripts electronically, strictly according to the guidelines of the publishers and in their format. The actual conversion to the final form is also not done by the publishers, who outsource them onto various companies in countries like India, who do the actual conversion to the digital, searchable form and maintain all the quality checks required.

     So what do the publishers do? By virtue of their monopoly, they rake in the money, while every part of this supply chain, those who produce the content, to those who create the final digital product live a hand-to-mouth existence. They push the libraries to buy bundled subscriptions of all their products, charge money for any article that may be required by a researcher anywhere in the world, charging them from $30-60 per article. Sitting on the monopoly of the prime intellectual content of the world, the money just keeps on flowing.

     The business model of scientific publishing was the handiwork of Robert Maxwell, a crook and one of the more unsavoury characters in the British industry. He was on the verge of being discovered for his theft of $400million from his workers’ pension funds, and is believed to have died by suicide by jumping off a ship. Elsevier had bought a significant part of its current publications from Maxwell shortly before he died.

     Without access to these journals, it is almost impossible to do quality research. If India aspires to be a first-rate science and technology nation, it needs access to knowledge for its students and teachers. Open Access journals that allow people to read and download content free have a different bar: we have to pay the journals to be published. Instead of access, the bar for poorer countries and universities shift to the ability of its researchers to pay for being published. And only 20% of the research content today is in such open access journals.

     It is here that sites like Sci-Hub, which holds about 80 million papers, have become a boon to researchers. A Science article in 2016 analysed – with Sci-Hub’s help – that Indian scholars downloaded about 7 million papers in one year. This would have cost the students or the universities around $200-250million in 2016, a number which has only gone up since then.

     It is not just due to cost alone why people turn to Sci-Hub. It is also the ease of downloading any paper from any journal as a single-stop shop, the quality of its search algorithm and the speed of its downloads. This is why – as the Science piece pointed out – even research scholars affiliated to universities who have access to these journals through their universities use Sci-Hub, and why university towns in the US show a high number of downloads!

     Alexandra Elbakyan, a young Kazakhstan science scholar, started Sci-Hub due to lack of access for the bulk of science scholars to good quality journal articles. Under the cases filed in the US, she can be arrested anywhere and transported to the US to face trial and a lengthy prison sentence. It is not an accident that the case filed in Delhi High Court asks for her address to be disclosed so that the full might of the US and its extra-territorial reach can be used to stop her.

     For those who may remember Aaron Swartz’s case, he downloaded a number of research papers using his university facilities and wanted to make them freely available. He was arrested, and facing a lengthy prison sentence under US law, died by suicide. Aaron is remembered by the free software and free knowledge community for his contributions to free software and his demand to liberate knowledge from its prison guards: his manifesto of liberating knowledge.

     Aaron, in his Guerilla Open Access Manifesto published in 2008: “Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitised and locked up by a handful of private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the sciences? You’ll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier.”

     It might be believed that Sci-Hub has no legal case in India. This is not true. Sci-Hub does not charge any student or researcher for the downloads – it is a free service. So it is not profiting from making such papers available. Secondly, Indian copyright law has exceptions for education and research. It is for the Courts to decide whether Sci-Hub’s use by research scholars in India constitutes a valid use of the copyright exceptions, similar to what was argued and decided by the courts in the Delhi University photocopying case. Finally, these copyright holders are sitting on content, some of which is more than 60 years old and free from copyright in India. Yet, we still have to pay money to access even this content.

     The case filed by the copyright holders in Delhi High Court asking for a blanket ban of the sites, is not against Sci-Hub and Libgen, it is against the research scholars in this country. Most of whose research would come to a halt if this case by the robber barons of the publishing industry succeed. It is the future of research in India that is at stake, not Alexandra Elbakyan’s or Sci-Hub’s future.

– newsclick.in/Elsevier-Wiley-Declare-War-Research-Community-India

______________

B3. Will the real Rentiers please stand up? – Shiran Illanperuma

Importers, landlords and tax-holidaying foreign companies rarely register as “rentiers” in the minds of neoliberals.

Sri Lanka’s resident neoliberals claim to disdain “rentiers”. But who or what do they mean by a ‘rentier’? According to our neoliberals, rentiers are local capitalists – usually small manufacturers producing for the home market – whose existence depends on the State providing some combination of subsidy (eg: tax breaks, cheap credit, government contracts) and market protection (eg: import tariffs).

     Could Elephant House survive if all restrictions on Pepsi and Coca Cola were removed overnight? Could Maliban or Munchee survive if Nestle was allowed tariff-free access to Sri Lankan consumers? Could Ambewela or Richlife survive in “perfect competition” with India’s Amul? Probably not.

     The argument goes that these local capitalists are rentiers because, instead of competing with foreign producers by improving their productivity, they rely on the State to protect them from competition. In turn, consumers must bear higher prices for the benefit of these rentiers, who enrich themselves on “abnormal profits”.

     Notably, importers are not considered rentiers in this line of argument. Importers in Sri Lanka enjoy relatively easier access to credit than producers. They extract rent from their contracts with suppliers, and add little to no value. Their “profits” tend to be reinvested in more rent-generating sectors like real estate, rather than in value-added production.

     The importer himself is a front for Multinational Corporations and cartels who have the ability to monopolize markets and control prices with the backing of powerful states (which can violently force open new markets) and multilateral institutions (which can “peacefully” open markets through conditional lending).

     In the competition between local producers and importers, the asymmetry in access to state power is clear. A local producer will never be able to compete with the levels of state-subsidized research and development that multinationals enjoy. Nor will it be able to generate sufficient savings for productive investments through paper-thin margins. Therefore, credit is key, but again, a local company simply cannot compete with the low (sometimes negative) interest rates that multinationals have access to.

     These are a few reasons why a degree of protectionism and planning is needed to create a “comparative advantage”. For example, the sole buyer of IBM’s computers in the early stages was the US state. Japanese automobiles developed capacity inside a closed market. Western subsidies on agriculture, like Canadian wheat which Sri Lanka imports, are an open secret.

     A second problem, or rather inconsistency, with the neoliberal crusade against “rentiers”, is that Sri Lanka’s neoliberals rarely tackle the most blatant and classic example of a rentier: landlords. While a few economists have advocated for a land tax to compensate the State for its investment in infrastructure, this doesn’t approach the level of critique directed at local producers.

     Foreign companies that operate in Sri Lanka based on long-term tax holidays and informal restrictions on labor unionization (diminishing workers’ ability to bargain for a higher share of returns), are generally not decried as rentiers either, despite the fact that they enjoy unfair advantages against local producers.

     Clearly, some rentiers are considered worse than others.

– gammiris.lk/will-the-real-rentiers-please-stand-up/

__________________________________________________________

C. News Index______________________________________________

• ee News Index provides headlines and links to gain a sense of the weekly focus of published English ‘business news’ mainly to expose the backwardness of a multinationally controlled ‘local media’:

C1. Sovereignty

(ee is pro-politics, pro-politician, pro-nation-state, anti-corporatist, anti-expert, anti-NGO)

ee Sovereignty news emphasizes sovereignty as economic sovereignty – a strong nation is built on modern industrialization fueled by a producer culture.

• US funds only if Sri Lanka ‘asserts sovereignty against’ China

‘Future financial support for Sri Lanka will be available after the secretary of state certifies among others things that Sri Lanka acts to “assert its sovereignty against influence by the People’s Republic of China,” the Bill says.’

– economynext.com/us-support-if-sri-lanka-asserts-sovereignty-against-china-77278/

– ft.lk/front-page/SL-could-benefit-from-new-US-spending-package-if-Chinese-influence-contained/44-710812

• SL to benefit from US foreign Military Financing program if…

– newsfirst.lk/2020/12/28/sl-to-benefit-from-us-foreign-military-financing-program/

• MCC: did we miss the bus or escaped being thrown under it?

– gammiris.lk/mcc-did-we-miss-the-bus-or-escaped-being-thrown-under-it/

• DEW Criticizes Anti-China Elements acting as Government Spokespeople

– island.lk/dew-issues-warning-over-cremation-of-covid-19-victims-stresses-need-to-take-public-into-confidence/

• ‘Pathfinder-Centennial’ to provide strategic advisory services to foreign and local investors

‘The MMBL-Pathfinder Group and the Washington DC-based Centennial Group Holdings LLC agreement was signed…The Board will comprise Dr. Harinder Kohli – President and CEO of Centennial Group International and Director and Chief Executive of Emerging Markets Forum (a nonprofit arm) of Washington DC. Dr. Rajat Nag – former Managing Director-General of the Asian Development Bank and Distinguished Fellow of National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi, and Emerging Markets Forum, Washington DC (2006-2013); and Mohamed V. Muhsin – Strategic Management Consultant, Corporate Director and former Vice President and CIO of the World Bank…former Ambassador and Chairman of the Pathfinder Foundation Bernard Goonetilleke; K. Balasundaram – CEO of MMBL-Pathfinder Group and Senior Corporate Executive; and Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy – former Governor of the Central Bank.’

– ft.lk/business/Pathfinder-Centennial-to-provide-strategic-advisory-services-to-foreign-and-local-investors/34-710745

• National Joint Committee says MoC signed by previous govt on ECT not binding, calls for cancellation

– island.lk/njc-says-moc-signed-by-previous-govt-on-ect-not-binding-calls-for-its-cancellation/

• A deal on ECT at the Colombo harbor: Hakeem says No Choice

 – lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/29/a-deal-on-ect-at-the-colombo-harbour/

• FM says there was no outright sale of Colombo Port East Terminal to Indian company

– island.lk/fm-says-there-was-no-outright-sale-of-colombo-port-east-terminal-to-indian-company/

• Will Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port ECT Terminal turn into a Political Tool or Commercial Asset?

‘wonder if the overall plan is to turn Colombo Port into a base for the two QUAD partners (India & Japan) under the camouflage of developing it.’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/28/will-sri-lankas-colombo-port-ect-terminal-turn-into-a-political-tool-or-commercial-asset/

• TNA renews calls for foreign mechanism

– island.lk/tna-renews-calls-for-foreign-mechanism/

• TNA to turn to UNHRC and President Rajapaksa to obtain release of Tiger cadres in custody

– island.lk/tna-to-turn-to-unhrc-and-president-rajapaksa-to-obtain-release-of-tiger-cadres-in-custody/

• Various groups busy with groundwork for new UN resolution against SL

‘The UK is leading the front to draft the resolution since it was among the UNHRC Core Group on Sri Lanka along with the US in keeping up with the new incoming US administration. Other countries in the core group consisted of Canada, Germany, North Macedonia and Montenegro.’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/columns/govt-seeks-uns-helping-hand-for-covid-vaccine-426642.html

• EU Council adopts a Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/columns/will-it-be-more-horribilis-next-426440.html

• Defence Secy. says no room for separatism and extremism

– island.lk/defence-secy-says-no-room-for-separatism-and-extremism/

• Saving Sri Lanka’s democracy: A strategic perspective – Jayatilleka

‘During and after the 52-day event of 2018, Karu Jayasuriya functioned as if the Speaker was a third political pole, the third centre in the government, challenging the directly-elected President. This was the same Trumpian playbook as in Venezuela…and in Brazil..’

– ft.lk/columns/Saving-Sri-Lanka-s-democracy-A-strategic-perspective/4-710968

• French Government aid tranche to Sri Lanka through AFD exceeds Euros 172 million

‘Discussions are continuing with farmers in Trincomalee and Batticaloa for the implementation of the planned irrigation projects’

– island.lk/french-government-aid-tranche-to-sri-lanka-through-afd-exceeds-euros-172-million/

• UK’S largest Muslim body to sue Sri Lanka

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/UKS-largest-Muslim-body-to-sue-Sri-Lanka/108-202794

• Sinhalese Buddhists concerned as Muslims radicalize and transform into “exclusivity”

 – lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/29/sinhalese-buddhists-are-concerned-because-muslims-are-being-radicalized-and-transformed-into-exclusivity/

• Dealing with Islamist madrasas: To mainstream or to ban them altogether?

 – lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/29/dealing-with-islamist-madrasas-to-mainstream-or-to-ban-them-altogether/

• Explosives go missing from Mawanella quarry; multi-pronged probe

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/news/explosives-go-missing-from-mawanella-quarry-multi-pronged-probe-426669.html

• Theft of explosives, act of vandalism jolt police into action

– island.lk/theft-of-explosives-act-of-vandalism-jolt-police-into-action/

• Committee appointed to resolve Devanagala land issue following heated meeting

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131049/committee-appointed-to-resolve-devanagala-land-issue-following-angry-meeting

• Security beefed up in Mawanella after stone pelted at Buddha shrine

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Security-beefed-up-in-Mawanella-after-stone-pelted-at-Buddha-shrine/108-202702

• Fear that ethnic tensions may be sparked in Mawanella

– economynext.com/fear-that-ethnic-tensions-may-be-sparked-in-mawanella-77363/

• No breakthroughs in Mawanella

– island.lk/no-breakthroughs-in-mawanella/

• Police scour CCTV footage for clues to Buddha statue attack

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131372/police-scour-cctv-footage-for-clues-to-buddha-statue-attack

• Sri Lanka’s mandatory cremation policy is playing politics with the dead – GTF

– island.lk/sri-lankas-mandatory-cremation-policy-is-playing-politics-with-the-dead-gtf/

• Amarapura & Ramanna Nikayas Inter-Religious Committee on mandatory cremation

– ft.lk/front-page/Amarapura-and-Ramanna-Nikayas-Inter-Religious-Committee-writes-to-President-on-mandatory-cremation/44-710732

– economynext.com/powerful-order-of-buddhist-monks-christians-and-hindus-ask-for-burial-of-covid-victims-77282/

• Sri Lanka stokes Muslim and Christian ire with COVID burial rules

– island.lk/sri-lanka-stokes-muslim-and-christian-ire-with-covid-burial-rules/

• Burial of COVID affected dead bodies; Tail wagging the Dog?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/26/burial-of-covid-affected-dead-bodies-tail-wagging-the-dog/

• Religious clergy take stand for religious right to burial

– island.lk/religious-clergy-take-stand-for-religious-right-to-burial/

• College of Community Physicians says no solid evidence indicating burial of COVID-19 victims increases spread of virus

– ft.lk/news/CCPSL-says-no-solid-evidence-indicating-burial-of-COVID-19-victims-increases-spread-of-virus/56-710986

• Sewage poses potential COVID-19 transmission risk

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/sewage-poses-potential-covid-19-transmission-risk-experts-warn-coronaviruses-can-remain-viable-in-sewage-for-up-to-14-days-depending-on-the-environmental-conditions/

• Even you, Minister Ali Sabry?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/even-you-minister-ali-sabry/

• CFPSL condemn Ali Sabri’s interference in independent death management process

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/CFPSL-condemned-Ali-Sabris-interferance-to-the-independent-death-management-process/108-202928

• In defence of Provincial Councils

– island.lk/in-defence-of-provincial-councils/

• Abolish the Provincial Councils – Do What Must Be Done.

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/abolish-the-provincial-councils-do-what-must-be-done-do-not-hesitate-a-new-constitution/

• “Need to discuss with India before taking any decision on Provincial Councils’” – Dayasiri

– newswire.lk/2020/12/30/watch-need-to-discuss-with-india-before-taking-any-decision-on-provincial-councils/

• Dayasiri Jayasekera’s Indophile moment

‘Sri Lanka didn’t end up being Bhutanized as Rajiv Gandhi predicted. But Sri Lanka’s sovereignty remained severely wounded. Pandering to India is no salve.’

– gammiris.lk/dayasiri-jayasekeras-indophile-moment/

• India factor extremely important for fate of provincial councils – Daily Mirror

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Reality-or-Rhetoric/172-202968

• ‘Abolishing provincial councils is like playing with fire,’ says Maithripala Sirisena

– thehindu.com/news/international/abolishing-provincial-councils-is-like-playing-with-fire-says-maithripala-sirisena/article33456931.ece

• SLFP ready to go alone – Sirisena tells The Hindu

– island.lk/slfp-ready-to-go-alone-sirisena/

• The Rationality of a National Peace Council Funded by Warmongers

– gammiris.lk/the-rationality-of-a-national-peace-council-funded-by-warmongers/

• Russian Envoy alerts Minister Weerasekara on terrorist financing under Covid Cover

‘under the pretext of providing humanitarian assistance to various organisations and charities.’

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Russian-Envoy-alerts-Minister-Weerasekara-on-terrorist-financing/108-202586

• China presents a vast opportunity to Sri Lanka; Ambassador Kohona

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/China-presented-a-vast-opportunity-to-Sri-Lanka-Ambassador-Kohona/108-202913

• Turkey donates Benchtop Centrifuges to Sri Lanka

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/sunday-times-2/turkey-donates-benchtop-centrifuges-to-sri-lanka-426464.html

• Egyptian Prez intends to further expand bilateral ties with SL

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Egyptian-Prez-intends-to-further-expand-bilateral-ties-with-SL/108-202785

• US Congress Passes Landmark Bill in Support of Tibet

“Issues involving Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong “concern China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and urged the U.S. to “stop meddling in Beijing’s internal affairs.”

– voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/voa-news-china/us-congress-passes-landmark-bill-support-tibet

• China’s mission to Nepal gains traction

‘Historically, external powers have used Nepal’s porous border to stage covert operations in Tibet to destabilise China.’

– indianpunchline.com/chinas-mission-to-nepal-gains-traction/

• Chinese Communist Party delegation arrives in Nepal to ‘take stock’ of political situation

‘Nepal plunged into a political crisis last Sunday after Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, known for his pro-Beijing leanings, in a surprise move, recommended dissolving Parliament.’

– theprint.in/world/chinese-communist-party-delegation-arrives-in-nepal-to-take-stock-of-political-situation/574692/

• Chinese delegation continues assessing the political situation in Nepal and meets Deuba

– kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/29/chinese-delegation-continues-assessing-the-political-situation-in-nepal-and-meets-deuba

• Implications of China’s interference in the Nepalese political crisis: India needs to build strong leverages with its neighbours

‘S D Pradhan has served as chairman of India’s Joint Intelligence Committee.’

– timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/ChanakyaCode/implications-of-chinas-interference-in-the-nepalese-political-crisis-india-needs-to-build-strong-leverages-with-its-neighbours/

• We are ready to forget everything if Oli accepts his mistakes and the dissolved parliament is restored: Madhav Nepal

– myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/we-are-ready-to-forget-everything-if-oli-accepts-his-mistakes-and-the-dissolved-parliament-is-restored-madhav-nepal/

• Ruling party rift overshadows political stability of Nepal

– globaltimes.cn/content/1210592.shtml

• Global events that shaped India’s objectives in the 1971 Bangladesh war

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Global-events-that-shaped-Indias-objectives-in-the-1971-Bangladesh-war/172-202541

• The ‘Mighty Wurlitzer’ – How U.S. Financed ‘Human Rights’ Organizations Create Anti-Chinese Headlines

‘On its tax forms, CHRD lists its address as the Washington, DC office of Human Rights Watch. HRW has long been criticized for its revolving door with the US government & its excessively disproportionate focus on designated enemies of Washington like China, Venezuela, Syria, & Russia.’

– moonofalabama.org/2020/12/the-mighty-wurlitzer-us-financed-human-rights-organizations-create-anti-chinese-headlines.html#more

• Deadly attack at Aden airport as new government arrives

‘shortly after a plane carrying the war-torn country’s newly formed government arrived from neighbouring Saudi Arabia.’

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Deadly-attack-at-Aden-airport-as-new-government-arrives/108-202791

• Turkey upgrades ties with Israel. This is why

‘“Ankara still wants to be a part of the Western alliance while maintaining good relations with Russia and countries in the Middle East. This is clearly what multipolar foreign policy requires. This policy benefits not only Ankara but also the US and the European Union as well since Turkey is strategically located at a point where it can play a very important role between the Middle East and the West.”’

– indianpunchline.com/turkey-upgrades-ties-with-israel-this-is-why/

• Xi eyes unwavering development of China-Russia partnership

– xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/29/c_139624821.htm

• With fruitful cooperation in 2020, China, Russia eye closer partnership in new year

– xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/29/c_139627631.htm

• US risks confrontation with Russia

‘It would be strange to expect better ties “from people who, many of them, have spent their careers engaging in Russophobia and throwing mud at my country.”…US strategists continue to turn a blind eye to the prospect of an alliance between Russia and China. They blithely assume that it is possible to successfully contain and gradually grind both countries through sanctions and restrictions on trade, investment, finance and technology and simultaneously undermining their internal stability by financing the domestic opposition to the regime, the indoctrination of “pro-Western” elements and information warfare, etc.’

– indianpunchline.com/us-risks-confrontation-with-russia/

• ICC closes down investigation into War Crimes committed by English in Iraq

– craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/12/the-international-criminal-court-now-simply-indefensible/

________________________________________________________________

C2. Security (the state beyond ‘a pair of handcuffs’, monopolies of legitimate violence)

ee Security section focuses on the state (a pair of handcuffs, which sposedly has the monopoly of legitimate violence), and how the ‘national security’ doctrine is undermined by private interests, with no interest in divulging or fighting the real enemy, whose chief aim is to prevent an industrial renaissance as the basis of a truly independent nation.

• Juvenile crime and the law; an untended dilemma

‘In 2013, there were over 14,000 children institutionalised across the country.’

– island.lk/juvenile-crime-and-the-law-an-untended-dilemma/

• Sri Lanka Covid Crisis – How National decisions are manipulated to fuel ethnic tensions?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2021/01/01/sri-lanka-covid-crisis-how-national-decisions-are-manipulated-to-fuel-ethnic-tensions/

• 70% of people need vaccine to maintain a healthy immunity in the society: Dr. Jasinghe

‘Companies that manufacture the vaccines have to expedite their productions otherwise, poor countries may not get the priority.’

– dailymirror.lk/top_story/We-should-follow-scientific-methods-than-going-after-mythical-beliefs-Dr-Jasinghe/155-202926

• Army officers appointed to all districts for Covid control ops

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Army-officers-appointed-to-all-districts-for-Covid-control-ops/108-202925

• Sri Lanka military to run driver database, produce driving licenses

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-military-to-run-driver-database-produce-driving-licenses-77457/

• Army Chief & Defense Secretary promoted to General rank

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131134/army-chief-defense-secretary-promoted-to-general-rank

• Five Snr. Brigadiers, 560 other ranks from Special Forces promoted

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Five-Snr-Brigadiers-560-other-ranks-from-Special-Forces-promoted/108-202931

• Expert committee submits report on Mahara Prison unrest

– ft.lk/news/Expert-committee-submits-report-on-Mahara-Prison-unrest/56-710931

• Civil society demands end to deaths in police custody

– island.lk/civil-society-demands-end-to-deaths-in-police-custody/

• And now the fire at the Superior Court Complex

‘the manner in which suspects escape from custody, the manner in which lower ranks in the police were made to collect kassippu by superiors to pay for the election work of these touts, collecting and distributing money to influence the election process, the drug problem and its political influence, the daily incidence of serious violent crime’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/sunday-times-2/and-now-the-fire-at-the-superior-court-complex-426453.html

• Jaffna Teaching Hospital immersed in flood water

‘What is the role and responsibility of the Jaffna Municipality in the management of this natural disaster?’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/plus/letters-to-the-editor-6-426411.html

• Importers of hazardous waste remain above the law

– island.lk/muck-bucks-and-impunity-ii/

• Delayed legal action against the company responsible for importing British waste?

– island.lk/muck-bucks-and-impunity/

• Prison deaths: Cruel deception

– island.lk/prison-deaths-cruel-deception/

• Of heroin, drug dealers, and pastors

– island.lk/of-heroin-drug-dealers-and-pastors/

• Legitimate caveats under threat: Has the legal fraternity been caught napping?

‘legislation is being drawn to change land registration laws that permit caveats on land titles.. criminal lawyers are the dominant segment of the legal fraternity and lawyers engaged in land matters and other civil matters have not shown any inclination to introduce necessary reforms after the colonial masters left the island.’

– ft.lk/columns/Legitimate-caveats-under-threat-Has-the-legal-fraternity-been-caught-napping/4-710722

• Younger population, early lockdown and general immunity help SA countries keep low Covid-19 mortality rate

– island.lk/younger-population-early-lockdown-and-general-immunity-help-sa-countries-keep-low-covid-19-mortality-rate-says-study/

• WHO Vaccine: No Manufacturer Responsibility Within Legal Framework

– newsfirst.lk/2020/12/28/who-vaccine-no-manufacturer-responsibility-within-legal-framework/

• George Blake obituary

‘Double agent who betrayed hundreds of western spies to the Soviet Union, where he lived after escaping from jail. He continued to live in Russia after the end of the cold war, and Vladimir Putin praised his “enormous contribution to the preservation of peace”

– theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/george-blake-obituary

_____________________________________________________________

C3. Economists (Study the Economists before you study the Economics)

ee Economists shows how paid capitalist/academic ‘professionals’ confuse (misdefinitions, etc) and divert (with false indices, etc) from the steps needed to achieve an industrial country.

• Will the real rentiers please stand up? – Shiran Illanperuma

‘Importers, landlords and tax-holidaying foreign companies rarely register as “rentiers” in the minds of neoliberals.’

– gammiris.lk/will-the-real-rentiers-please-stand-up/

• Rating Agency Downgrades & the IMF – Vagisha Gunasekera

‘The IMF ordered the government to stop printing banknotes, to raise interest rates and privatize state assets. This does not mean that Sri Lanka does not have a financial crisis. But we should not go to the IMF to find a solution to that crisis.’

– http://epaper.aruna.lk/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=bfa45563&imageview=0

• Co-operative business model: An alternative to current economic landscape

‘Co-operatives and its services are discussed heavily when disasters stricken the country every time. It was obvious that how co-ops support its members and public at large during WWII and thereafter the distribution of goods and services to members and public during floods, and currently during this pan – ft.lk/columns/Co-operative-business-model-An-alternative-to-current-economic-landscape/4-710849 demic’

• Financial institutions to be protected by Central Bank

‘The lower- and middle-class people of the country deal with non-bank financial institutions. They accommodate 62% of Sri Lanka’s workforce who are unwelcomed by reputable banks and have provided them with financial facilities of around Rs. 1 trillion (the assets of RFCs being around Rs. 1.5 trillion)…. They pay 15 billion corporate taxes and cater to seven million people – this is 50% of the active population aged 18-70, one million micro companies (10 or less workers) – this is 44% of labour force in the country and 70,000 SMEs employing 17% of the labour force in Sri Lanka.’

– ft.lk/columns/Financial-institutions-to-be-protected-by-Central-Bank/4-710761

• CB gets tough; bans banks from buying ISBs for 3 months

‘the tougher action of total ban comes after it was found out that some institutions used shortcuts, such as forwarding contracts on dollars, and kept purchasing ISBs.’

– ft.lk/front-page/CB-gets-tough-bans-banks-from-buying-ISBs-for-3-months/44-710696

• SJB National Organiser predicts doom

‘The government had no plan to face the coming economic crisis created by the downgrading of Sri Lanka by Fitch rating agency to Default Rating (DR) ‘CCC’ from ‘B’, SJB National Organizer, MP Tissa Attanayake said yesterday.’

– island.lk/sjb-national-organiser-predicts-doom/

• Delivering people-centric development main goal for New Year: President

‘SL only country to pay salaries and pensions to over 2 m public workers despite COVID-19: President’s Secy.’

– ft.lk/front-page/Delivering-people-centric-development-main-goal-for-New-Year-President/44-711060

• The Geneva year and the clash of economic fundamentalisms – Jayatilleka

– ft.lk/columns/The-Geneva-year-and-the-clash-of-economic-fundamentalisms/4-710892

• Looking back at a year of human tragedies and economic disasters – Sanderatne

‘Although the trade deficit narrowed, the balance of payments deficit widened owing to a sharp decline in tourist earnings and capital outflows. Consequently, foreign reserves fell to a critical level of US$ 4.1 billion at the end of November.’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/columns/looking-back-at-a-year-of-human-tragedies-and-economic-disasters-426615.html

• The Economic Policymakers Must Aim To Build A High Volume Of Foreign Reserves – Part One & Two

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/the-economic-policymakers-must-aim-to-build-a-high-volume-of-foreign-reserves-part-one-2/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/the-economic-policymakers-must-aim-to-build-a-high-volume-of-foreign-reserves-part-one/

• Private sector records subdued performance in economic downturn

‘Around 3.4 million private sector workers and more than 200,000 employers are feeling the severe pain of aftershocks of the pandemic in the new normal situation…. If the government fails to obtain IMF and private sector credit, gross reserves could fall to about US $3.7 billion by end of 2021 or $2.3 billion on a usable basis, the Citigroup Global Markets Inc financial analysis reported…’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/private-sector-records-subdued-performance-in-economic-downturn-426314.html

• Private sector still promoting FDI but for what?

‘the ICC Sri Lanka, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Daily FT and CIMA organised a panel discussion on ‘Strategies to Attract FDI into Sri Lanka’.’

– ft.lk/business/Emerging-markets-have-especially-borne-the-brunt-of-the-pandemic/34-710928

• From Dover to Calais – Reductio Ad Absurdum

‘UK trade with EU is worth US$ 580 billion and, it accounts for nearly a half of the UK’s total trade.’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/from-dover-to-calais-426350.html

• USAID supports Verité to identify ways to improve youth entrepreneurship & employment

– ft.lk/business/US-supports-Verit%C3%A9-Research-in-identifying-ways-to-improve-youth-entrepreneurship-and-employment/34-710896

• Letters of Credit drawn by Bank of Ceylon rejected in New Zealand, UK & Switzerland: FT

‘The rejection of this LoC is a blow to local importers. They are now forced to pay directly through foreign banks’

– ft.lk/columns/Vistas-of-bankruptcy-and-misery/4-710844

• People’s Bank’s denies reports that foreign banks were not accepting their LCs

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131336/peoples-banks-denies-reports-that-foreign-banks-were-not-accepting-their-lcs

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Peoples-Bank-says-its-intl-and-foreign-trade-related-banking-activities-unaffected-and-growing/273-202883

• Instability to cost Nepal dear in 2021

‘Foreign exchange reserves should be put to good use to import industrial machinery and capital investment to boost manufacturing and infrastructure, which in turn will generate employment and create lasting downstream benefits for the economy. Says Poudel: “We are not putting this huge foreign exchange reserve to productive use. It is being wasted.”

– nepalitimes.com/latest/instability-to-cost-nepal-dear-in-2021/

• Why yuan can’t replace dollar as the global currency – David

– island.lk/why-yuan-cant-replace-dollar-as-the-global-currency/

• Tax haven UK is on its way

‘the notable absence is any reference to the EU Code of Conduct on Business Taxation’

– taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/12/26/tax-haven-uk-is-on-its-way/

• Polarisation, Then a Crash: Michael Hudson on the Rentier Economy

Allied with landlords and monopolists, the finance sector is extracting economic rents from the economy that’s impoverishing US government, industry and labor… discussing the chokehold of pro-finance, pro-rentier capitalism reaching into the present COVID-19 crisis.’

– newsclick.in/polarisation-then-crash-michael-hudson-rentier-economy

• Congress Passed Legislation Making the Treasury Secretary the Boss of the Federal Reserve During a Financial Crisis: That’s Creating Its Own Crisis

– wallstreetonparade.com/2020/12/congress-passed-legislation-making-the-treasury-secretary-the-boss-of-the-federal-reserve-during-a-financial-crisis-thats-creating-its-own-crisis/

____________________________________________

C4. Economy (Usually reported in monetary terms)

ee Economy section shows how the economy is usually measured by false indices like GDP, etc, and in monetary terms, confusing money and capital, while calling for privatization and deregulation, etc.

• Several Budget Proposals Come into Effect

– newsfirst.lk/2021/01/01/several-budget-proposals-come-into-effect-today-01/

• Inflation increases to 4.2 % in December 2020

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/inflation-increases-to-4-2-in-december-2020/

• Govt. extends forex restrictions by 6 more months

– ft.lk/front-page/Govt-extends-forex-restrictions-by-6-more-months/44-710994

• Central Bank likely to pump dollars in the market

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/news/central-bank-likely-to-pump-dollars-in-the-market-426667.html

• Treasury is facing a negative cash and bank balance

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/new-year-2021-to-dawn-with-renewed-hopes-of-overcoming-economic-crisis-426375.html

• Sri Lanka fails to sell 53-pct of Treasuries at auction, ceiling rate nudged up

 – economynext.com/sri-lanka-fails-to-sell-53-pct-of-treasuries-at-auction-ceiling-rate-nudged-up-77365/

• Weekly T-Bill auction undersubscribed for the 10th consecutive week

– ft.lk/financial-services/Weekly-T-Bill-auction-undersubscribed-for-the-10th-consecutive-week/42-710903

• Do not ask for more than 2021 budgetary allowance, Treasury tells State institution heads

– ft.lk/front-page/Do-not-ask-for-more-than-2021-budgetary-allowance-Treasury-tells-State-institution-heads/44-710730

• Sovereign bond yields moderate as investors look past pandemic

‘those foreigners who overreacted to the sovereign rating downgrades suffered losses by selling them at significant discounts while another section of investors, including locals, made substantial gains on both the October bond as well as the coming July bond….Sri Lanka has 13 outstanding sovereign bonds with a total value of US$ 14.5 billion falling due up to March 2030, which works out to under US$ 1.5 billion per annum. ‘

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Sovereign-bond-yields-moderate-as-investors-look-past-pandemic/273-202834

• Sri Lanka 7-pct mortgage loans for houses, land, apartments, renovation

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-7-pct-mortgage-loans-for-houses-land-apartments-renovation-77273/

• Vietnam signs free trade agreement with UK as Sri Lanka controls imports

– economynext.com/vietnam-signs-free-trade-agreement-with-uk-as-sri-lanka-controls-imports-77368/

• China-EU deal is a reality check for India

‘After 7 long years of negotiations, China and the European Union jointly announced on December 30 that they have reached a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). It is a hugely consequential event for the world economy and international politics.’

– indianpunchline.com/china-eu-deal-is-a-reality-check-for-india/

• China launches probe into Alibaba for suspected monopolistic behavior

– financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/china-launches-probe-into-alibaba-for-suspected-monopolistic-behavior-2

• England is a ‘rentier’ economy depending heavily on its financial and business services sector. ‘Financial services contribute 7% of UK GDP, some 40% higher a contribution than in Germany, France or Japan. The UK is a country of bankers, lawyers, accountants and media people, rather than engineers, builders and manufacturers.’

– thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/the-brexit-deal/

• Brexit: back on our heads

‘At stake has been the continuation of an export trade in goods worth £294 billion last year, and £374 billion of imports, a significant proportion of which comprised materials and components which went into our exports to the rest of the world.’

– http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87834

• The Brexit Deal Is Done But Services Are Likely To See Losses

‘The 1,256 pages of the deal are mostly about trade in goods, not about trade in services. While there will be no tariffs and quotas on goods there will be new bureaucratic measures imposed on goods exports’

– moonofalabama.org/

_________________________________________________________________________

C5. Workers (Inadequate Stats, Wasteful Transport, Unmodern Plantations, Services)

ee Workers attempts to correct the massive gaps and disinformation about workers, urban and rural and their representatives (trade unions, etc), and to highlight the need for organized worker power

• 90% of Rural Women Caught in Microfinance Debt Trap

– newsfirst.lk/2021/01/02/90-of-rural-women-caught-in-microfinance-debt-trap/

• Only 51% of daily wage workers able to access the support

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/2020-was-a-very-stressful-year-for-sri-lankans/

• FSP to crank up union action until govt, fulfils promises to workers

‘“The MCC agreement has fallen through, but the government is rapidly opening up land for large scale private companies. Land laws were being relaxed and small farmers have been reduced to penury as a result.’

– island.lk/fsp-to-crank-up-union-action-until-govt-fulfils-promises-to-workers/

• Labour Minister claims Rs. 12 b worth of EPF not paid

– ft.lk/front-page/Labour-Minister-claims-Rs-12-b-worth-of-EPF-not-paid/44-710999

• ‘No’, say plantation companies to Wage Increase

 ‘The Regional Plantation Companies, which manage Sri Lanka’s tea, rubber and coconut estates, are not budging on the estate workers salary issue, despite government leaders having repeatedly promised to increase their daily wage to Rs.1000.’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/No-say-plantation-companies/172-202659

• Employers oppose hike in compensation for termination of employment

– ft.lk/top-story/Employers-oppose-hike-in-compensation-for-termination-of-employment/26-711000

• Planning the future of unemployed youth – Namal R

‘Youth unemployment is at 20.8% which is a high youth unemployment ratio in a developing country… If corporate giants, including the leading industrialists can be encouraged to open up industries in different divisions they can operate with the work force of that particular area, where they can be trained in a particular skill & this would also help SL to manufacture more of its own products’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Planning-the-future-of-unemployed-youth/172-202662

• When a public service is no longer focused on the public

‘This Government’s decision to include in the oath taken by public servants the pledge to uphold a political manifesto has set the public services in Sri Lanka down a dangerous path’

– ft.lk/columns/When-a-public-service-is-no-longer-focused-on-the-public/4-711005

• Stalin exposes inefficiency of Education Ministry under Akila

– island.lk/stalin-exposes-inefficiency-of-education-ministry-under-akila/

• Stalin stands up to education mandarin for citing non-existing rule to harass teacher

– island.lk/stalin-stands-up-to-education-mandarin-for-citing-non-existing-rule-to-harass-teacher/

• Roadblock to the new normal

‘Children in lower income brackets could not connect with the online classes. Even for those with devices, inadequate Internet coverage proved to be the issue.’

– island.lk/roadblock-to-the-new-normal/

• Education equity in Sri Lanka: A pathway out of poverty

‘around one-fifth of poor children drop out of school after the age of 14 years and another-two thirds after the age of 16 years.’

– island.lk/education-equity-in-sri-lanka-a-pathway-out-of-poverty/

• US offers $19.5 million to support SMEs & increase women’s participation in labour force

‘The Private Sector Development Project, which is funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)…’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/sunday-times-2/us-launches-project-to-support-smes-and-increase-womens-participation-in-labour-force-426461.html

• Workers’ remittances record 19% jump in November

‘November receipts marked a 19 percent jump from a year ago. In April, the World Bank projected 19 percent slump in remittance income to Sri Lanka.’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Workers-remittances-record-19-jump-in-November/273-202625

• 29 illegal attempts to leave country with forged papers foiled within this year

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/29-illegal-attempts-to-leave-country-with-forged-papers-foiled-within-this-year/108-202588

• SL-Oman discuss recruitment process of migrant workers

– ft.lk/front-page/SL-Oman-discuss-recruitment-process-of-migrant-workers/44-710936

• Alavi Moulana – trade unionist and humane activist

– island.lk/alavi-moulana-trade-unionist-and-humane-activist/

• 2020 India: Of Derailed Disinvestments and Rejuvenated Employees’ Movements

– newsclick.in/2020-derailed-disinvestments-and-rejuvenated-employees-movements

• 600 million people with $140 monthly income worries top leadership in China

– globaltimes.cn/content/1189968.shtml

• ‘No one owns Huawei but its employees’

‘1% of all companies in Sweden’s private sector have employee share ownership schemes – more than double the European average.’

– island.lk/no-one-owns-huawei-but-its-employees/

• Seasonal farmworkers from Trinidad and Tobago brace for long Canadian winter

‘Many live in trailers and bunkers with dozens of other people who leave their families every year to work in physically demanding farm jobs that Canadians tend to avoid.’

– theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-seasonal-workers-from-trinidad-and-tobago-brace-for-long-winter

• Greek Metal Workers Protest Against Privatisation of LARCO

– newsclick.in/greek-metal-workers-protest-against-privatisation-larco

• The Year the Unions Kept Us Strong

‘Amid the devastation and misery brought by the pandemic, the working class across the world was the core of the resistance, calling to account governments and standing in solidarity with the most oppressed.’

– newsclick.in/the-year-unions-kept-Us-strong

• History from below

‘Thompson is perhaps the figure most popularly associated with ‘history from below’, specifically his totemic work, The Making of the English Working Class (1963). Expansive as its cast is, its geographical scope is constricting. Though set in the era of English conquest of vast swathes of the world, it barely acknowledges that reality. This is doubly strange, given that Thompson wrote it while decolonisation was forcing Britons to contend with the ethics of empire, and was himself descended from a line of colonial missionaries deeply engaged with such matters.’

– aeon.co/essays/what-shaped-e-p-thompson-historian-and-champion-of-working-people

_________________________________________________________________________

C6. Agriculture (Robbery of rural home market; Machines, if used, mainly imported)

ee Agriculture emphasizes the failure to industrialize on an agriculture that keeps the cultivator impoverished under moneylender and merchant, and the need to protect the rural home market. Also, importation of agricultural machinery, lack of rural monetization and commercialization, etc.

• Sri Lanka rough rice output in 2021 Maha could be down 10-pct

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-rough-rice-output-in-2021-maha-could-be-down-10-pct-77436/

• Govt. saddled with 60 disputes following shifting of Manning Market to Peliyagoda

– island.lk/govt-saddled-with-60-disputes-following-shifting-of-manning-market-to-peliyagoda/

• Regional Manager Arrested for Illegal Sale of Paddy Stocks

‘had demanded Rs. 500,000 from a mill owner’

– newsfirst.lk/2021/01/01/regional-manager-arrested-for-illegal-sale-of-paddy-stocks/

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Northern-PMB-manager-arrested/108-202909

• Fertiliser importing firms overpaid billions as subsidy program goes awry

– ft.lk/front-page/Fertiliser-importing-firms-overpaid-billions-as-subsidy-programgoes-awry/44-710880

• New Chairpersons appointed for state owned Lak Sathosa and CWE

‘Rear Admiral Ananda Peiris has been appointed as the new Chairman of Lak Sathosa while Venura Gunawardena is the new Chairman of CWE. Former Chairman of Lak Sathosa, Nushad Perera, who was appointed to the position in January has been appointed as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI).’

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131078/new-chairpersons-appointed-for-state-owned-lak-sathosa-and-cwe

• What’s behind the Sathosa ‘Shuffle’

‘Why was Perera removed? Did he do wrong? Was he inefficient? If so, was he given a new job as ‘consolation’??’

– gammiris.lk/whats-behind-the-sathosa-shuffle/

• Lanka Sathosa to augment distribution capabilities with new warehouse in Anuradhapura

‘Lanka Sathosa Ltd. is a state-owned largest retail network business in Sri Lanka with over 420 outlets island-wide and over 4,500 employees.’

– ft.lk/business/Lanka-Sathosa-to-augment-distribution-capabilities-with-new-warehouse-in-Anuradhapura/34-710926

• Legitimate caveats under threat. Has the legal fraternity been caught napping?

‘legislation is being drawn to change land registration laws that permit caveats on land titles.’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/26/legitimate-caveats-under-threat-has-the-legal-fraternity-been-caught-napping/

• “We import 10,000 metric tonnes of chillie a year from Pakistan or India.” – Sirisena

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/columns/tough-times-ahead-in-2021-priority-for-covid-19-and-economic-crises-426604.html

• President entrusts Minister Amaraweera: protect environment & cultivate unutilised farms

– island.lk/president-entrusts-twin-tasks-to-minister-amaraweera-protect-environment-and-cultivate-unutilised-farm-lands/

• Voracious Sena caterpillar may soon invade paddy cultivations, warns MONLAR

– island.lk/voracious-sena-caterpillar-may-soon-invade-paddy-cultivations-warns-monlar/

• Sri Lanka President visits maize farms hit by fall armyworm

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-president-visits-maize-farms-hit-by-fall-armyworm-77299/

• Over 6000 Indian vessels are used for poaching illegally in Sri Lankan waters

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/fisheries-industry-caught-up-in-the-devil-but-not-the-deep-blue-sea-426310.html

• JWG meeting: SL seeks safe passage for Lankan fishermen to enter Arabian Sea

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/JWG-meeting-SL-seeks-safe-passage-for-Lankan-fishermen-to-enter-Arabian-Sea/108-202781

• Sri Lanka calls for joint patrols to tackle poaching fishermen from India

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-calls-for-joint-patrols-to-tackle-poaching-fishermen-from-india-77379/

• Use of maize for alcohol and ethanol production strictly prohibited

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131109/use-of-maize-for-alcohol-and-ethanol-production-strictly-prohibited

• End irregularities when buying turmeric, maize and other crops: President

– ft.lk/front-page/End-irregularities-when-buying-turmeric-maize-and-other-crops-President/44-710814

• Turmeric smuggling intensified as shortage worsens

– island.lk/turmeric-smuggling-intensified-as-shortage-worsens/

• Sri Lankan Cocoa – a promising inter-crop with coconut

‘The first cocoa plantation here at home was set up by the British in 1819 in Nalanda, Matale. By 1960 the island claimed 30,000 acres of cocoa. Today, it is reduced to around 5,000 acres’

– island.lk/sri-lankan-cocoa-a-promising-inter-crop-with-coconut/

• Spectrify AI to launch agri-tech revolution in Sri Lanka

‘Spectrify AI, a part of VeracityAI Sri Lanka’s fastest going AI company…A subsidiary of SAKS, Veracity AI specializes in data and machine learning technologies to drive AI applications…’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/spectrify-ai-to-launch-agri-tech-revolution-in-sri-lanka-426341.html

• State-run Milco returns to profit after 4-year gap

‘consumers more often than not find Highland products missing on supermarket shelves, as the company appears to be struggling to make up with the demand.’

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/State-run-Milco-returns-to-profit-after-4-year-gap/273-202882

• Lanka Sathosa, MILCO Partnership Powers Highland to Greater Heights

‘Highland now accounts for 1 in every 3 packets of full cream milk powder sold on average at Sathosa outlets, rising from a basket share of less than 15% about a year ago.’

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/lanka-sathosa-milco-partnership-powers-highland-to-greater-heights/

• Tense situ. at Panama wildlife office: Five arrested

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Tense-situ-at-Panama-wildlife-office-Five-arrested/108-202977

• Minister says pine forests will be cleared to make way for environment-friendly trees

– island.lk/minister-says-pine-forests-will-be-cleared-to-make-way-for-environment-friendly-trees/

• We need to convert elephants from economic liability to economic asset – Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya

‘ The more we shrink the forest habitat that provides connectivity between protected areas, the greater is the possibility of elephants coming into contact with humans and aggravating the conflict. Land for agricultural development appears to be a priority for this Government. Agricultural development of a country is measured not by the land area under cultivation, but on the agricultural productivity of the land. Sri Lanka’s agricultural productivity or yield per acre is quite low.’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/We-need-to-convert-elephants-from-economic-liability-to-economic-asset-Dr-Sumith-Pilapitiya/172-202891

• Strike Zone: Sri Lanka is a leading place for whales getting hit by ships

– economynext.com/strike-zone-sri-lanka-is-a-leading-place-for-whales-getting-hit-by-ships-77266/

• What’s become of our local mermaids? There are heartbreaking reasons to think they are not coming back.

– economynext.com/whats-become-of-our-local-mermaids-there-are-heartbreaking-reasons-to-think-they-are-not-coming-back-77459/

• Valuable Indian lessons on human-elephant conflict

– island.lk/valuable-indian-lessons-on-human-elephant-conflict/

• Save Indian Farmers

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/28/save-indian-farmers/

• ‘Modi Govt. Should Repeal Farm Laws’: Yashwant Sinha

– newsclick.in/modi-govt-should-repeal-farm-laws-yashwant-sinha

_____________________________________________________________________

C7. Industry (False definitions, anti-industrial sermons, rentier/entrepreneur, etc)

ee Industry section notes the ignorance about industrialization, the buying of foreign machinery, the need to make machines that make machines, build a producer culture. False definitions of industry, entrepreneur, etc, abound.

• Govt. to appoint retired military officer to oversee mining sites

– island.lk/govt-to-appoint-retired-military-officer-to-oversee-mining-sites/

• Cracks on the Victoria Dam: When a Professor’s cautions were thrown to the winds

‘He had told the government in power that this dam should not be built at this spot. No one took any heed of his advice. At one time there had been air bubbles on the Dam and these are supposed to have been sealed.’

– dailymirror.lk/news-features/Cracks-on-the-Victoria-Dam-When-a-Professors-cautions-were-thrown-to-the-winds/131-202715

• Hardly any worthwhile return on govt. funding of research at ITI

‘The government spent Rs. 95.4 million as research allowances to officers at the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) from 2015 to 2019, but it has only earned Rs. 1.61 million for technology transfer by research during the same period, the Auditor General has said in a recent report.’

– island.lk/hardly-any-worthwhile-return-on-govt-funding-of-research-at-iti/

• Technology and Sri Lanka’s future

‘Sri Lanka with its 1% of high-tech products in manufactured exports is still in 2IR. Anyone visiting a tea factory, or a garment factory will observe that the whole manufacturing process is operated manually by using electricity-powered machines. But they are the largest export earners for the country’

– ft.lk/columns/Technology-and-Sri-Lanka-s-future/4-710723

• Protest in Mannar against sand mining moves by Australian company

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131120/protest-in-mannar-against-sand-mining-moves-by-australian-company

• Government promises National Gas Company

– ft.lk/top-story/Government-to-set-up-National-Gas-Company/26-711050

• PUCSL Employees Union call for Presidential Commission of Inquiry on plant delays

– ft.lk/top-story/70-renewables-goal-needs-legal-boost-Industry/26-710944

– island.lk/pucsl-employees-call-for-probe-to-find-out-who-delayed-construction-of-power-plants/

• Finance Ministry rejects power ministry’s plans to extend deals with three companies

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/news/finance-ministry-rejects-power-ministrys-plans-to-extend-deals-with-three-companies-426663.html

• The Darker Side and the Light at the end of the Energy Tunnel

– island.lk/the-darker-side-and-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-energy-tunnel/

• Minister Gammanpila says he wants local engineers to build pipeline project, denies halt

– island.lk/minister-gammanpila-says-he-wants-local-engineers-to-build-pipeline-project/

• Independent engineers express fears over moves to block solar power projects

– island.lk/independent-engineers-express-fears-over-moves-to-block-solar-power-projects/

• Fate of Rs 25 billion CEB consumer deposit fund in doubt – Activist

‘there were around 45,000 electricians in the country and that 90% of them did not have professional certification.’

– island.lk/fate-of-rs-25-billion-ceb-consumer-deposit-fund-in-doubt-activist/\

• 273 SLTB buses repaired and added to fleet

– sundaytimes.lk/article/1131362/in-pictures-273-sltb-buses-repaired-and-added-to-fleet

• Sri Lanka’s offshore crew transit hub gains traction

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/sri-lankas-offshore-crew-transit-hub-gains-traction/

• Local manufacturing or local packing of drugs in Sri Lanka?

 ‘The use of the term manufacturing is a misnomer since what is actually done is getting the drug powders from abroad including the hard gelatin capsule and packing them here. Hence a more appropriate classification is “Packed in Sri Lanka”’

– island.lk/local-manufacturing-or-local-packing-of-drugs-in-sri-lanka/

• Hemas subsidiary Morison is the largest oral solid dosage pharmaceutical manufacturer in SL

– ft.lk/news/Metropolitan-Engineering-installs-state-of-the-art-YORK-air-conditioning-solution-at-Morison-Pharmaceutical-Manufacturing-Facility/56-710866

• Ensuring sustainability in pharma industry: Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry

‘The Chamber recognises the need for self-regulation, which is pivotal to address non-ethical practices in the healthcare industry.’

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/ensuring-sustainability-in-pharma-industry-key-focus-for-2021-says-slcpi/

– island.lk/ensuring-sustainability-in-the-pharma-industry-key-focus-for-2021-says-slcpi/

• SL focuses on electrical component manufacturing

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/sl-focuses-on-electrical-component-manufacturing-426300.html

• Billions given mainly to SMEs as low-cost loans to overcome the crisis

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/living-dangerously-426362.html

• INSEE Cement main sponsor of 11th Int’l Conference on Sustainable Built Environment

– ft.lk/business/INSEE-Cement-drives-innovative-research-as-main-sponsor-of-11th-ICSBE-2020/34-711038

• Vehicle owners fall prey to counterfeit spare parts

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/motor-trade-increase-your-vehicle-value-by-taking-it-to-the-authorized-agent-426335.html

• Change at Information & Communication Tech Agency helm after shocking COPE revelations

‘The ICTA board consists of Prof. Lalith Gamage, Reshan Dewapura, the Chief Executive Officer at GSS International (Pvt) Ltd, Vimukthi Janadara, Director General, Information Technology Management Department, Oshada Senanayake, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, Kushan S. Kodituwakku, Managing director of Orel Corporation, Mano Sekaram, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Co-Founder of 99X Technology Ltd and Madu Ratnayake, Group CIO and the Center Head for Virtusa Sri Lanka’

– island.lk/change-at-icta-helm-in-the-wake-of-shocking-cope-revelations/

• Prof. Lalith Gamage to assume duties as new ICTA Chairman

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Prof-Lalith-Gamage-to-assume-duties-as-new-ICTA-Chairman/273-202833

• Local contractors awarded contract to build 3,000 middle-income housing units

‘Maga Engineering, Access Engineering, Sanken Construction Company, Nawaloka Construction Company, Tudawe Brothers, International Construction Consortium, State Engineering Corporation, George Stuart Engineering and Edward and Christie will undertake the project as a joint venture.’

– ft.lk/front-page/Local-contractors-to-build-3-000-middle-income-housing-units/44-710941

• Responsible urbanism: Inclusive cities and national development

‘The uprooted Colombo is ghost town in the nights and public holidays. The recent lockdown exposed the creation of a dead space.’

– sundaytimes.lk/200719/sunday-times-2/responsible-urbanism-inclusive-cities-and-national-development-409940.html

• Anti-Covid Issue: Science versus Superstition

– island.lk/anti-covid-issue-science-versus-superstition/

• Elsevier and Wiley Declare War on Research Community in India

‘Without access to the journals available on websites like Sci-Hub and Libgen, against which the copyright holders have filed a case in the Delhi High Court, it is almost impossible to do quality research.’

– newsclick.in/Elsevier-Wiley-Declare-War-Research-Community-India

• India’s role vital in equitable global distribution of Covid-19 vaccines

‘Indian pharma industry was able to manufacture and maintain supply chains even during the lockout period, and exported medicines such as HCQ and paracetamol to more than 150 countries’

– island.lk/indias-role-vital-in-equitable-global-distribution-of-covid-19-vaccines/

• Speed Up the Socialist Transformation of Handicrafts

‘It is a good idea to organize co-operatives of the blacksmiths and carpenters who make the rounds of the villages to repair farm implements and serve agricultural production, the peasants will certainly welcome this.’

– marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_50.htm

• Japan to launch first wooden satellite in 2023

‘In 2006 a tiny piece of space junk collided with the International Space Station, taking a chip out of the heavily reinforced window’

– dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Japan-to-launch-first-wooden-satellite-in-2023/108-202700

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C8. Finance (Making money from money, banks, lack of investment in modernity)

ee Finance tracks the effects of financialization, the curious role of ratings agencies, false indices, etc.

• ‘BOC profit soars to Rs. 16.5 billion; foreign remittances exceed $ 2.5 billion’

– island.lk/boc-profit-soars-to-rs-16-5-billion-foreign-remittances-exceed-2-5-billion/

• Sri Lanka plans gold backed securities, corporate debt repos: CSE Chairman

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-plans-gold-backed-securities-corporate-debt-repos-cse-chairman-77438/

• Regulator notices JKH and Central Finance to reduce their Nations Trust Bank stakes

– island.lk/regulator-notices-jkh-and-central-finance-to-reduce-their-ntb-stakes/

• ComBank launches CBC Finance as successor to Serendib Finance

– island.lk/combank-launches-cbc-finance-as-successor-to-serendib-finance/

• SEC probes On’ally Rights on UDA complaint against Renuka

‘On’ally owns and manages the Unity Plaza Complex in Bambalapitiya, on a complaint made by On’ally’s major shareholder, the Urban Development Authority (UDA).’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/sec-probes-onally-rights-on-uda-complaint-against-renuka-426388.html

• MTD Walkers directors likely to face more charges

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/mtd-walkers-directors-likely-to-face-more-charges-426371.html

• MTD Walkers- Lakma Holdings acquisition agreement terminated

‘MTD Walkers informed that Lakma Holdings (Private) Limited had agreed to purchase from MTD Capital Bhd, the majority shareholding of the company …’

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/mtd-walkers-lakma-holdings-acquisition-agreement-terminated/

• Prime Finance’s Rs. 526.6 m Rights Issue subscribed

– ft.lk/front-page/Prime-Finance-s-Rs-526-6-m-Rights-Issue-subscribed/44-710735

• New CEO for People’s Leasing & Finance

‘working overseas for the HSBC Group’

– island.lk/new-ceo-for-peoples-leasing-finance/

• ComBank wins Robotic Process Automation award from SLASSCOM

‘Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.’

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/combank-wins-robotic-process-automation-award-from-slasscom/

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C9. Business (Rentierism: money via imports, real-estate, tourism, insurance, fear, privatization)

ee Business aka ee Rentier focuses on diversions of the oligarchy, making money from unproductive land sales, tourism, insurance, advertising, etc. – the charade of press releases disguised as ‘news’

• Fitch downgrades SriLankan Airlines 2024 bonds to ‘CCC’, trades at steep discount

– economynext.com/srilankan-airlines-2024-bonds-downgraded-to-ccc-trades-at-steep-discount-77277/

• Sri Lanka-Japan Business Council holds AGM

 – ft.lk/ft-click/Sri-Lanka-Japan-Business-Council-holds-AGM/15-710835

• South Africa willing to consider slashing tariffs for SL tea exports

– http://bizenglish.adaderana.lk/south-africa-willing-to-consider-slashing-tariffs-for-sl-tea-exports/

– ft.lk/business/South-Africa-desires-balance-in-trade-ties-willing-to-consider-slashing-tariffs-for-tea-exports/34-710804

• Sri Lanka in region with highest population which US or Canada does not have much access to

‘Looking at SL’s economy, approximately two-thirds are import based and mostly one-third is manufacturing for other brands, contrary to having some of the best raw materials generic to SL’

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/business-times/huge-potential-for-local-brands-to-tap-us-and-canada-426345.html

• Unprecedented lull in business as festive buying takes a battering

– island.lk/unprecedented-lull-in-business-as-festive-buying-takes-a-battering/

• Institute of Directors signs MoU with Institute of Chartered Corporate Secretaries

– ft.lk/business/Institute-of-Directors-signs-MoU-with-Institute-of-Chartered-Corporate-Secretaries/34-710989

• Vietnam, England sign free trade deal to take effect on December 31

– dailymirror.lk/business-news/Vietnam-Britain-sign-free-trade-deal-to-take-effect-on-December-31/273-202959

• African free trade bloc opens for business, but challenges remain

‘The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to bring together 1.3 billion people in a $3.4 trillion economic bloc that will be the largest free trade area since the World Trade Organization.’

– ft.lk/front-page/African-free-trade-bloc-opens-for-business-but-challenges-remain/44-711053

• For Past 18 Years, US Adults Have Preferred Real Estate as Investment Over Stocks

– wallstreetonparade.com/2020/12/gallup-polling-for-the-past-18-years-u-s-adults-have-preferred-real-estate-as-an-investment-over-stocks/

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C10. Politics (Anti-parliament discourse, unelected constitution)

ee Politics points to the constant media diversions and the mercantile and financial forces behind the political actors, of policy taken over by private interests minus public oversight.

• There’s movement within and without (parties and nations)

‘Those who worship free markets would say, ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch.’’

– island.lk/theres-movement-within-and-without-parties-and-nations/

• The woes of Kotte

 ‘In 2015 Harsha de Silva accused the then Kotte MC Chairman of corruption. In 2020 the ex-Chairman jumped ship to Harsha’s party.’

– gammiris.lk/the-woes-of-kotte/

• MPs engage in private business transactions with the Government

– ft.lk/columns/Alas-Sri-Lanka/4-710948

• SJB to form Grand Opposition alliance

‘All allies of SJB such as Tamil Progressive Alliance and SLMC will be part of a grand opposition alliance with the exception of MP Patali Champika Ranawaka.”

– dailymirror.lk/print/front_page/SJB-to-form-Grand-Opposition-alliance/238-202813

• Ranawaka forms 1943 Brigade – the year when ‘free’ education was first introduced

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/columns/tough-times-ahead-in-2021-priority-for-covid-19-and-economic-crises-426604.html

• ‘‘We seek to bring about a thinking revolution”- Patali Champika Ranawaka

‘The Government does not uphold protectionism. This Government is heading for a neo-liberal economic model.’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/We-seek-to-bring-about-a-thinking-revolution-Patali-Champika-Ranawaka/231-202716

• The Pohottuwa Government of Sri Lanka Part 2 C9a, c, d

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/29/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c4a/

 – lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/26/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c9c/

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/29/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c9d/

• Electoral system should be changed to have many more young members

‘Most youth are reluctant to live in this country, which they will leave, at the first opportunity… One may recall that the wall art spree that followed the 2019 regime change; thousands of young artists turned the country into an art gallery. They acted on their own and received public assistance; it was a form of catharsis. But they lost interest in their artistic endeavour after a few weeks probably because the new government failed to live up to their expectations, and the promised new beginning became yet another false dawn.’

– island.lk/youth-and-sombre-presage-of-trouble/

• Jaffna Mayor election defeat causes crisis in TNA-ITAK

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Jaffna-Mayor-election-defeat-causes-crisis-in-TNA-ITAK/172-202969

– island.lk/epdp-beats-tna-in-mayoral-battle-in-jaffna/

– island.lk/senathiraja-and-sumanthiran-lock-horns-again/

• Province unsuitable as a unit of governance

‘by 1889 the nine provinces ended up being divided into the 25 districts.’

– island.lk/province-unsuitable-as-a-unit-of-governance/

• Why Provincial Councils Elections should not be held at this moment?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/28/why-provincial-councils-elections-should-not-be-held-at-this-moment/

• Rs 4 bn needed to conduct PC polls

– island.lk/rs-4-bn-needed-to-conduct-pc-polls/

• Safety comes before franchise

– island.lk/safety-comes-before-franchise/

• Attempts to exhume the provincial council cadaver: a reply to Mr. Austin Fernando

‘If Modi wants Hindi as the Indian mouth to the world, if Tamilnad is forced to learn Hindi by administrative fiat, if the Indian water development plan is reaching Tamilnad with a nuclear power plant already located in the southern tip of Tamilnad, and if he takes Jammu and Kashmir back to an Indian Union, how could he tell us to pave way for an Eelam in this island? Yes, India forced Nepal and Bhutan to dance on the Indian tune, because of their land-locked location, Mody cannot interfere if we follow the Buddhist principles of governance.’

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/30/attempts-to-exhume-the-provincial-council-cadaver-a-reply-to-mr-austin-fernando/

• PC polls postponement partly due to Right-Wing pressure

‘Collective of Nationalist Organisations met key members of the Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters in Kandy on Sunday.’

– economynext.com/pc-polls-postponement-partly-due-to-right-wing-pressure-77360/

• SL proposed New Constitution must reconnect itself to the country’s precolonial rich heritage

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/12/31/sri-lankas-proposed-new-constitution-must-reconnect-itself-to-the-countrys-pre-colonial-rich-heritage/

• Some questions on protection and promotion of democracy in Sri Lanka?

‘Many considered democracy to be a given thing or limited to holding elections, running political parties, following or drafting a constitution and at best developing the economy.’

– ft.lk/columns/Some-questions-on-protection-and-promotion-of-democracy-in-Sri-Lanka/4-710721

• Frenemies of democracy: A response to Dayan Jayatilleka

‘His recent writing is full of divisive tropes that burn bridges with other parties and forces in its camp, including the SJB’s predecessor UNP, the TNA, the and civil society… his attacks on former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who is presently the Chairman of a formidable social movement that made the 8 January victory possible.’

– ft.lk/columns/Frenemies-of-democracy-A-response-to-Dayan-Jayatilleka/4-710843

• India’s EC mulls electronic voting machines for 300mn plus internal migrants and NRIs to vote

– island.lk/indias-ec-mulls-new-age-evms-to-help-300mn-plus-internal-migrants-and-nris-to-vote/

• China – A Marxist Analysis – Vijay Prashad

– mronline.org/2020/12/28/china-a-marxist-analysis

• On the Ten Major Relationships in China

‘The Political Bureau of the Central Committee has heard reports on the work of 34 industrial, agricultural, transport, commercial, financial and other departments under the: central authorities and from these reports has identified a number of problems concerning socialist construction and socialist transformation. In all, they boil down to ten problems, or ten major relationships.’

– marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_51.htm

• On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat

‘China responding to the USSR’s criticisms of Stalin’

– marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sino-soviet-split/cpc/hedp.htm

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C11. Media (Mis/Coverage of economics, technology, science and art)

ee Media shows how corporate media monopoly determines what is news, art, culture, etc. The media is part of the public relations (corporate propaganda) industry. The failure to highlight our priorities, the need to read between the lines. To set new perspectives and priorities.

• Three aspects of the ‘Dhammika Paniya’ controversy – Balachandran

‘There are questions over the place of indigenous medicinal concepts and modes of preparing drugs in a globalised medical world which has a bias towards Western concepts…. survival of traditional knowledge is threatened by globalization backed by MNCs and their supporters in the media.’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Three-aspects-of-the-Dhammika-Paniya-controversy/172-202661

• Sri Lanka to sell airtime on ex-DW relay station to Encompass Digital Media

‘Sri Lanka has agreed to sell airtime on a former Deutsche Welle relay station in Trincomallee in the North East of the island to UK based Encompass Digital Media Services, London, which has proposed to transmit shortwave and medium wave programs from the station. It has offered to pay 49,000 dollars and 16,000 dollars a month for the airtime.’

– economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-sell-airtime-on-ex-dw-relay-station-to-encompass-digital-media-77342/

• Will free expression become a casualty of 2020 dystopia?

‘Whether the chaos of free expression is the worth the mayhem it leads to or whether the inherently contradictory notion of a benevolent dictatorship is best suited?’

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Will-free-expression-become-a-casualty-of-2020-dystopia/172-202718

• SLPI asks Media Minister to consult stakeholders when drafting media law reforms

‘Sri Lanka Press Institute delegation comprised Newspaper Society, The Editors’ Guild, Free Media Movement, Working Journalists Association, Tamil Media Alliance, Muslim Media Forum, Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Union, South Asia Free Media Association’

– island.lk/slpi-asks-minister-to-consult-stakeholders-when-drafting-media-law-reforms/

• Sri Lanka’s Democratic Institutions and a Global Nod for Right to Information

– dailymirror.lk/opinion/Sri-Lankas-Democratic-Institutions-and-a-Global-Nod-for-RTI/172-202967

• Tougher laws called for to halt maligning of female candidates in social media

– island.lk/tougher-laws-called-for-to-halt-maligning-of-female-candidates-in-social-media/

• Saying ‘there’s no time’ is no excuse – Defence Secretary

‘time restrictions aren’t an issue to produce a sound artwork/writing.’

– island.lk/saying-theres-no-time-is-no-excuse-defence-secretary/

• The Goddamn Heathens

‘Multinational advertising companies linked to ‘Anglo-Dutch’ Unilever, controlled by non-Sinhala people, are experts on ‘ethnicity’ in Lanka. They insist we are all too ‘dark and unlovely.’

– gammiris.lk/the-goddamn-heathens/

• Yaka and the Test Tube Students

– gammiris.lk/yaka-and-the-test-tube-students/

• Media marketing veteran back to ITN

‘prematurely retired by the previous Government on allegations of biased telecasting of election ads carried at Presidential Elections’

– ft.lk/business/Media-marketing-veteran-back-to-ITN/34-710993

• Sri Pada season begins

– island.lk/sri-pada-season-begins/

• Spread of Buddhist Education in Sri Lanka; the role played by Col Olcott and Theosophists

– island.lk/spread-of-buddhist-education-in-sri-lanka-the-role-played-by-col-olcott-and-theosophists-2/

• Biography of Ashoka India’s 3rd Emperor of Mauryan Empire, History, Buddhism& Facts.

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2021/01/01/biography-of-ashoka-indias-3rd-emperor-of-mauryan-empire-history-buddhism-facts/

• Is Buddhism a Great Blessing Upon Sri Lanka?

– lankaweb.com/news/items/2021/01/01/is-buddhism-a-great-blessing-upon-sri-lanka/

• Who was the Buddha?

‘A feature of the modern mindfulness movement, inherited from fairly recent Burmese innovations, is its appeal to the laity, and hence its essentially therapeutic, rather than salvific, aim. Nothing could be further removed from the Buddha’s radical ideal of sagehood. By insisting on ascetic discipline and a life of homeless wandering, Gotama presented mindfulness as a total life commitment…’

– aeon.co/essays/was-the-buddha-an-awakened-prince-or-a-humble-itinerant

• Real life tragic drama at Dhaka Film Festival

– sundaytimes.lk/201227/magazine/real-life-tragic-drama-at-dhaka-film-festival-426257.html

• Indian Chronicles: dive into a 15-year operation targeting EU and UN to serve Indian interests

‘we uncovered an entire network of coordinated UN-accredited NGOs promoting Indian interests and criticizing Pakistan repeatedly.’

– disinfo.eu/publications/indian-chronicles-deep-dive-into-a-15-year-operation-targeting-the-eu-and-un-to-serve-indian-interests

• Indian Chronicles: a total abuse of the UN Human Rights Council

‘the Srivastava Group – a New Delhi based conglomerate – controls 10 UN-accredited NGOs, most of them “resurrected”, and currently 9 of whom speak regularly before the UNHRC.’

– disinfo.eu/publications/indian-chronicles-a-total-abuse-of-the-un-human-rights-council

• The Fake Political and Media Class

– craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/12/the-fake-political-and-media-class/#click=t.co/0JLH5eJvid

• The Weird Story of the FBI and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

‘In the moment of post-war paranoia, even the idea of a community bank could be read as Communist.’

– smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/weird-story-fbi-and-its-wonderful-life-180967587/