SRI LANKA NEWS IN BRIEF

(DECEMBER 2017)

Compiled by Victor Melder

Gale force winds accompanied by torrential rains which lashed most parts of the country especially the Southern Province and the central hills on Wednesday caused havoc, leaving seven persons dead and hundreds of others homeless. The seven deaths were reported from Badulla, Galle, Wattala and Kiribathgoda, according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC). Meanwhile, several fishing boats have gone missing in the South. It is reported that the fishermen of Dodanduwa and Tangalle have been affected due to adverse weather conditions that prevailed in the area. Three fishing vessels that sailed from Dodanduwa have gone missing. However, all the fishermen in those vessels, except one have made it to the shore safely. It was reported that Galle, Matara and Ambalangoda were the worst hit areas with many power outages. Power breakdowns were also experienced in Colombo and surrounding areas. Several trees fell on vehicles as well as public property due to strong winds and fallen trees obstructed a number of roads on Wednesday night including Gregory’s Road, Keppetipola Mawatha, Baudhdhaloka Mawatha, Maligakanda Road, Kirula Road, Hettiyawatta in Kotahena, Havelock Road, Duplication Road, Davidson Road, Gowers Lane, and Flower Road. The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) cleared the roads of fallen obstructions for vehicular traffic by yesterday afternoon. A number of vehicles were damaged in and around Colombo due to trees falling on them. Meanwhile, the Meteorology Department said the depression in the south-west of Sri Lanka had developed in to a deep depression, 200 km away from Colombo. It is expected to develop further and move to the Arabian Sea area. Heavy rains and gusty strong winds (about 60-70 kmph) can be expected over the country and heavy rains, strong winds and rough seas can be expected in the deep and shallow sea areas, too. Showers or thundershowers will occur in most parts of the country. Very heavy falls (about100-150mm) can be expected at some places in the Southern, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Western and Uva provinces. (Daily Island, 1.12.2017).

The ground breaking ceremony for Japan-funded Research and Training Complex at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna, took place recently. The government of Japan decided to extend this grant assistance worth 1.6 billion Japanese Yen (about 2.2 billion LKR) through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The new facilities to be constructed through this project include a building complex with laboratories and lecture rooms, crop and animal farms for field training, farm machinery and laboratory equipment. At the end of the project, there will be training sessions for maintenance and operation of some of the equipment. With this assistance, students will have an opportunity to receive field-based, hands-on knowledge on agriculture. From 1954 to 2016, JICA sent more than 2,700 experts to Sri Lanka, a considerable sum of them specialized in agriculture. These Japanese agriculture experts are known for their approach to go into the field with farmers to transfer their knowledge by ‘touching the dirt’. JICA expects these new facilities in University of Jaffna to produce more of these ‘farmer-scholars’ of Sri Lanka’s own and their ideas and innovations to bloom in the field. (Daily Island 2.12.2017).

Assistant Director of the Disaster Management Centre Pradeep Kodippili yesterday said that lashing rains and strong winds had left 14 people dead and one person missing. The deceased were residents of Galle (8), Matara (1), Nuwara Eliya (1), Badulla (3) and Gampaha (1). The missing person is form Matara district. There were 64 injured. The stormy weather affected 111,914 persons from 32,149 families in 16 districts and 5,664 persons belonging to 1426 families were moved to 66 safe places. The gale force winds destroyed 715 houses and left 28,997 partially damaged. Three hundred and sixty four shops were also partially damaged. Although Kalu, Gin and Nilwala rivers had reached the spill level by yesterday there were no threats of major floods according to the police. (Daily Island, 4.12.2017)
Reuters: Sri Lanka will hand over commercial activities in its main southern port to a Chinese company on Saturday and receive around $300 million out of a $1.1 billion deal soon after, Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said. The deal, signed in July, will see China Merchants Port Holdings (0144.HK), handling the Chinese-built Hambantota port on a 99-year lease.

“After one month, we will be getting another 10 percent ($100 million) and in six months we will get the balance,” Samarasinghe told reporters in Colombo. The Chinese firm last year agreed to pay $1.12 billion for an 80 percent stake in Hambantota port, which is located near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe. But the deal triggered protests by opposition groups and trade unions, saying they feared China would take control of the port. Government and diplomatic sources told Reuters that the United States, India and Japan had also raised concerns that China might use the port as a naval base. Both sides then agreed to redraw the deal and the Chinese firm will now hold 70-percent-stake in a joint venture with the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), part of a plan to convert $6 billion of loans that Sri Lanka owes China into equity. Sri Lanka has said the Chinese firm will invest an additional $600 million to make Hambantota port operational and $1.12 billion from the deal will be used for debt repayment. India is in advanced talks with Sri Lanka to operate an airport near Hambantota port. (Daily Financial Times 7.12.2017)
Leader of the House and Higher Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella yesterday told Parliament that Rs. 1,992 million was needed to pay compensation to those who had lost their lands due to the construction of the Mirijjawila-Sooriyawewa road. Making a ministerial statement in response to a question raised by JVP MP Nihal Galappaththi on Nov. 28 Minister Kiriella said that 1,958 plots of land had been taken over from Hambantota and Sooriyawewa Divisional Secretariats. Compensation would be paid for 1,534 land, he said.The minister said: “The notice to acquire lands according to Section 2 of the Land Acquisition Act have been given on 28.01.2009, 01.04.2009, 25.08.2009 and 15.11.2010. Also, Gazette notifications have been published on 10.11.2010, 31.01.2011 and 21.08.2013 on speedy acquisition of land under section 38 (a). The widening of the road up to the first five kilometres was completed in 2011. The next phase was started in 2013 and should have been finished by 2015. However due to the delay on the part of the contractor, the work continued until 2016. The acquisition of land started in 2009 and compensation should have been paid by 2014. However, the former government failed to even carry out the valuations, let alone pay compensation.” “The former government used Sri Lanka army and forcibly took over those lands. Although four lanes are enough for this road, they had taken over land for constructing six lanes. They have not estimated the value of those land and had not paid a single cent to the owners. Now, we have to bear it but we will pay them all. Our government has paid approximately Rs. 400 million for them to date.” (Daily Island, 8.12.2017))

The crippling railway strike is likely to continue as yesterday’s talks between warring unionists and Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Nimal Siripala de Silva, failed. General Secretary of the Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union DH Indika said the strikers had decided to enlist the support of other railway workers including Station Masters and Railway Superintendents for their trade union action.The strike was launched on Tuesday night in protest against what the strikers called failure on the part of the railway authorities to address their grievances including ad hoc enrolment of locomotive engine driver assistants and unresolved issues related to salaries increments and scales. Thousands of commuters were stranded yesterday due to the strike. However, the Railway Control Room maintained that several office trains would operate on all train routes to mitigate the situation. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport said train season tickets had been made valid for travel in Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses due to the ongoing strike. Extensive talks were held between the railway officials and the strikers at the ministry auditorium at D. R. Wijewardena Mawatha with the participation of the Minister, Secretary of the Transport Ministry G. S. Withanage, Railway General Manager S. Mahanama Abeywickrama and representatives of the Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union, to address grievances. Issuing a statement following the discussion, the Ministry of Transport said a ruling had been given after a case was filed in the Supreme Court over the Railway Engine Driver Assistant exam issue, which was the main reason for the strike. Withanage said a public servant could not reverse a decision given by a court and assured that he would dedicate himself to somehow bring about an acceptable solution to the problem. The secretary requested the trade union to end the strike, considering the fact that it would affect the students who were preparing to sit the GCE O/L examination and other commuters. (Daily Island, 8.12.2017)

More than 30 percent of Sri Lanka’s population live in absolute poverty and private -public partnerships could help reduce this number to a great extent, Additional Secretary, Presidential Sustainable Development initiative Jayantha Wijeratne said.” Sri Lanka has initiated several poverty eradication projects since independence and those projects have done a lot to reduce poverty levels but we have to do a lot more to reduce the poverty level overall because more than 30 percent of the total population lives in absolute poverty, he said at an event yesterday where Unilever Sri Lanka, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sri Lanka and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Sri Lanka announced the initiation of a strategic Public Private Partnership (PPP) around the country’s key priorities related to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Wijeratne said that President Maithripala Sirisena took the initiative to reduce the poverty level in Sri Lanka through various long term sustainable development projects targeting key areas. Out of 320 Divisional Secretariat divisions, 1000 Grama Niladari (GN) divisions were selected for the programme. “Of the 1000 GN divisions, 700 are blow the poverty level, from Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Badulla and several other districts in the country, while the balance 300 have the potential for development as important economic centers, Wijeratne said. He said while the government continues to work towards bringing about sustainable development the people have to understand that this cannot be done without the involvement and support of the private sector and all other stakeholders. (Daily Island, 8.12.2017)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced yesterday that its Executive Board had completed the third review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement, which enables the disbursement of about US$ 251.4 million to Sri Lanka. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on December 6, 2017 completed the third review of Sri Lanka’s economic performance under the Extended Fund Facility project. Sri Lanka’s three-year extended arrangement was approved on June 3, 2016 in an amount of about US$ 1.45 billion. Total disbursements in the three tranches under the EFF arrangement amounted to around US$ 759.9 million. Issuing a statement following the third review, the IMF Executive Board said Sri Lanka’s fiscal performance has been satisfactory and all targets until September were met. ‘While the authorities met fiscal targets and legislated the income tax reform, further consolidation is necessary, given Sri Lanka’s high debt burden and large gross financing needs, the Board said. The government’s reform program, supported by the IMF, aims to reduce the fiscal deficit, rebuild foreign exchange reserves, and introduce a simpler, more equitable tax system to restore macroeconomic stability and promote inclusive growth. Following the Executive Board’s discussion of the review, Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Acting Chair and Deputy Managing Director, said Sri Lanka’s performance under the Fund-supported program has remained broadly on track since the second review. “Macroeconomic and financial conditions have been stable, despite a series of weather-related supply shocks. The authorities remain committed to the economic reforms under the program and have undertaken measures to improve government revenue and accumulate international reserves. Going forward, it is important to build on the progress made and accelerate reforms to further reduce fiscal and external vulnerabilities, Furusawa said. According to the IMF Executive Board, the new Inland Revenue Act will make the tax system more efficient and equitable and generate resources for social and economic development programs. “Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s high debt burden, large gross financing needs, and weak financial performance of state-owned enterprises increase the importance of further fiscal consolidation. Timely progress in structural reforms, including tax administration and energy pricing, will support fiscal consolidation, the Board said. (Daily Island, 9.12.2017)

The Budget 2018 was passed in parliament last evening with a two-thirds majority. The final vote, which took place at the end of committee stage debate, received 155 votes for and 56 votes against. The JVP and Joint Opposition MPs voted against, while the TNA joined government MPs to vote for the budget. Accordingly, the budget was passed with a two-thirds majority. When the second reading of the budget 2018 was put into vote on Nov. 16, it received 151 votes for and 58 against. The JVP voted against the budget with the Joint Opposition, while the TNA voted with the government on that day too. Appropriation Bill for the budget 2018 was presented to Parliament on Oct. 9 by State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne. Mass Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera presented the budget proposals for the financial year 2018 on Nov. 9. The proposals were debated for six days since then daily except on Sundays from 9.30 am to 7.30 pm till Nov 16. The third reading stage stated on Nov. 17 and the budget proposals went through the committee stages till yesterday. (Sunday Island, 10.12.2017)
The Moragoda police recently arrested a farmer who is allegedly responsible for the death of a 40-year-old wild elephant at Aalagollewa, Tirappane. The 33-year-old farmer was produced before the Kekirawa Magistrate and remanded till Dec. 15. According to police, the farmer had laid an exposed electrical wire across his field with the motive of killing the marauding elephant. In another incident, two tuskers had been shot dead in Puttalam and Navagattegama. Wildlife Department officers have found the carcass of a lone tusker in the Kaladiya-Sellakandal forest reserve in Puttalam. The post mortem revealed that the pachyderm in its early 30s bore gunshot wounds. The Wildlife Department officers said that they had, on a number of occasions, treated the same elephant which had suffered injuries. On Saturday morning Civil Defence Force members who went to inspect the electric fence at Navagattegama found the carcass of an elephant which had bled to death. It was around 15-20 years of age. Police are conducting investigations. (Daily Island, 11.12.2017)

Condemning the strike launched by the railway unions demanding higher salary structures as unjustifiable, Deputy Transport Minister Ashok Abeysinghe yesterday told Parliament that an engine driver earned Rs. 226,000 per month with overtime. Abeysinghe said following the increase of government servants’ salaries by Rs.10,000, in the last two years, the salary of an engine driver had increased by Rs. 22,000 and by 2020 it will reach Rs. 54,000. The Deputy Minister said “An engine driver earns between Rs.175,000 to Rs.180,000 per month on overtime only. He who works for eight hours will get a nine-hour break and paid 1 1/2 hours pay for every hour and this works out to 600 hours of overtime a month.” Members of one of the unions had already reported for work, he said. (Daily Island, 12.12.2017)
The full picture of the havoc wreaked by torrential rain, floods and gale-force winds that battered 17 districts of Sri Lanka in late November has now emerged with the Disaster Management Center (DMC) enumerating that apart from 15 deaths, 78 injured and five persons still missing, almost half a million people were affected by the stormy weather. In addition to 412,470 persons (124,137 families) hit by inclement weather conditions that prevailed, 923 houses were totally wrecked,while another 37,000 suffered partial damages together with 716 small/medium enterprises and 35 infrastructure facilities, the DMC reported. Puttalam district bore the brunt of nature’s fury in terms of disruption of lives with 217,089 persons (67,103 families) badly affected, followed by Kalutara district 76,963 persons (19,496 families), Kurunegala district 46,092 persons (15,360 families) and Galle district 33,470 persons (8,825 families). The highest number of eight deaths were reported from Galle district, while three persons lost their lives in Badulla district, two from Matara and one each from Nuwara Eliya and Gampaha districts respectively, according to the DMC. A total 3,312 persons (764 families) were evacuated to ‘safe locations’ due to the adverse weather conditions that also disrupted power and telecommunication services in many parts of the country. “We have so far disbursed Rs. 330 million to district secretariats to grant relief to those affected by the natural disaster”, says Pradeep Kodipilli, DMC’s Deputy Director (Sunday Island 17.12.2017).

The largest number of elephants and tuskers were killed after the Yahapalanaya government came to office and after appointment of Gamini Jayawickrama Perera as the Wildlife Minister, the convener of the national movement to protect tamed elephants, Magalkande Sudaththa Thera said today. While speaking at a media briefing at Rajagiriya, the Thera said, another four more tuskers had been killed after killing the iconic Galagamuwe ‘Dala Puttuwa’ recently. “According to the statistics and other information obtained from the Wild Life Department, same number of elephants have been disappeared. Special search operations are being conducted with the support of several army teams,” the Thera said. “After this government came to office 117 elephants have been killed in 2015. After the appointment of the Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera as the Wild Life Minister, 131 elephants have been killed in 2016. 60 elephants had been killed by July, 2017,” the Thera said. According to the Wild life reports, in 2005, 85 elephants have been killed. The number of elephants killed in the subsequent years as follows; 2006-117, 2007-110, 2008-153, 2009-136, 2010-123, 2011-137, 2012-110, 2013-100, 2014-104, the Thera said. Therefore, the Minister should resign from his portfolio taking the responsibility for these killings of elephants reported in the country, except for the natural deaths of elephants. (Daily Mirror, 13.12.2017)

Responding to the brutal killings of several tuskers over the past few weeks, the government has adopted immediate measures to counter wildlife criminals. As the first step of the process, a new ‘Wildlife Force’ will be set up to battle wildlife crimes and criminals, Minister of Wildlife and Sustainable Development, Gamini Jayawickrama Perera told the Sunday Observer. “The new unit will also be given weapons training. At present, we don’t have trained officers to effectively counter armed criminals,” the Minister said. This unit, according to the Minister, will operate under the Director General of Wildlife. He said that similar mechanisms are currently in place, in Bhutan and several African countries. The Minister said this unit would also detect poachers, prevent the felling of trees in nature reserves and curb other forms of wildlife offences. “Recently, there were three incidents where baby elephants were found tethered to trees in Udawalawe, Gonagal Aru and the Menik Ganga area. We suspect that they were tied up in this manner for the purpose of smuggling the animals across international borders. Blood ivory from Sri Lanka is in very high demand in certain foreign countries,” the Minister said. The Wildlife Ministry will also seek Cabinet approval next week to deploy the Police, the STF and military to protect wildlife parks and sanctuaries across the country. The involvement of law enforcement bodies has been sought due to human capital issues faced by the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Wildlife, Douglas Nanayakkara said stringent punitive action will be introduced against wildlife criminals. “The officers of the new unit will patrol alongside a wildlife officers and capture poachers and others committing wildlife offences,” the Minister said. (Sunday Observer 17.12.2017)

Inflation, as measured by the change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) (2013=100), which is compiled by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), decreased to 8.4 per cent in November 2017 from 8.8 per cent in October 2017, on year-on-year basis. The change in the NCPI measured on an annual average basis increased from 7.1 per cent in October 2017 to 7.5 per cent in November 2017. When the monthly change is considered, the NCPI increased from 124.8 index points in October 2017 to 126.4 index points in November 2017. This monthly increase was mainly due to the increase in prices of the items in the Food category which was led by adverse supply side developments. Price increase of coconuts, green chillies and vegetables were prominent. Nevertheless, prices of fresh fish and some fruits declined. Meanwhile, prominent price increases were observable in payments to medical laboratories and Payments to private hospitals room charges. The NCPI Core inflation, which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy, continued to follow the declining trend exhibited since the early months of the year. As such, the NCPI Core inflation decreased to 2.8 per cent in November 2017 from 4.1 per cent in October 2017 on year-on- year basis. Annual average NCPI Core inflation declined from to 5.6 per cent in October 2017 to 5.2 per cent in November 2017. (Daily Island, 23.12.2017).

The revenue collected by the Police as fines over traffic offences across the country during the first ten months of the year stood at a record Rs. 1.958 billion (Rs.1,958,821,220), Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake said. “Spot fines amounted to Rs.1, 302, 171, 043,” he said “The fine imposed by the courts on traffic offences is Rs.564, 793,206 and amount of fine imposed on those involved in accidents by courts is Rs.91, 856, 971,” the Minister said.(Daily Mirror, 25.12.2017)
Former Deputy Director of Customs Samantha Gunsaekara , a specialist in gems and wildlife trading said there are no tusk shells in the tusks of elephants in Sri Lanka. He further said that the tusk shells springs up in an elephant which lives nearly hundred years and there may be tusk shells in one among thousands of elephants. He said he could state with responsibility the racketeers are selling pearls taken from pearl oysters or glossed parts taken from the elephant tusks and selling them as tusk shells. There are some items made of crystal, cattle bones or some rocks, the racketeers are trying to sell them, saying they are made of elephant tusk shells. He said that he had done hundreds of postmortems on elephants and had never come across tusk shells in any elephant and requested the general public to reject these deceivers. (Daily Mirror 26.12.2017)

Marking more than 45 years of development cooperation between Sri Lanka and France, the Government of the French Republic has agreed to extend its assistance to Sri Lanka, by providing a Euro 13.9 million (approximately SLR 2,514 million) concessional loan for the implementation of six mini dairy projects. The proposed project will include complete modernisation of the pre-selected six mini dairy cooperative societies and organisations by establishing state of the art equipment chains to produce pasteurized milk and sterilized milk at a capacity of 4,500 liters per day. The high quality equipment will allow stable, homogenizsed and high quality products with computerised monitoring. In addition, technical assistance will also be extended to dairy farmers in order to improve the breeding process by a French non-profit entity and to carry-out a proper market survey on the dairy sector of Sri Lanka. It is also expected that, this initiative will support the Government’s ambitious target to achieve self-sufficiency in dairy production by 2020 and to contribute to closing the gap between demand for dairy products and local supply. (Daily Island, 28.12.2017)

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says the exports of fish products to the European Union (EU) has increased by 45.9 percent compared to the previous year while export earnings grew by 47.7 percent. “Since the lifting of the ban the export of fish products to the EU has grown remarkably by the end of 2017. In the first nine months of 2017 from January to September, Sri Lanka has exported 18,262 MT of fish worth Rs. 28.685 billion to the EU,” Minister Amaraweera told The Island. The fish exports had increased significantly since the lifting of the ban imposed by the EU in January 2015 on the country’s fisheries product, Minster Amaraweera said. The ban was lifted on 22nd June 2016 following extensive discussions held by the government with the EU. During the one-and-a-half year period the ban was in effect, Sri Lanka’s loss had amounted to Rs. 18 billion, Minister Amaraweera said, noting that 52 total integrated processing plants including 33 EU-approved fish processing centres, and 16 packaging units had contributed to the exports of fish products, and Sri Lanka exported quality products. (Daily Island, 28.12.2017)

A300-day protest staged by a group of persons demanding that the army vacate 133 acres at Keppapilavu in the former LTTE stronghold Mullaitivu had been brought to an end by relocating troops stationed there, Rehabilitation Ministry spokesperson told The Island. The spokesperson said that Rehabilitation Minister D. M. Swaminathan had, following consultations with relevant authorities, paid Rs. 148 mn for the relocation of troops. The land would be officially handed over today (Dec 28), he said. Newly appointed Military Spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu confirmed the arrangement to shift troops from Keppapilavu in the Muhudubadapattu Divisional Secretariat area. The Rehabilitation Ministry spokesperson quoted veteran UNPer Swaminathan as having said that tangible measures would be taken in the new year to resettle those who had been displaced at Keppapilavu. Asked whether Rehabilitation Ministry had paid the Army previously to relocate troops, the spokesperson said that the Army was compensated to the tune of Rs 50 mn on an earlier occasion. Gradual releasing of public and private property began some time after the successful conclusion of the war in May 2009. On the instructions of former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the armed forces had released significant portion of military-held land by January 2015 presidential polls. The LTTE, too, held tracks of land in the Vanni region, both east and west of the Kandy-Jaffna road, where the group maintained high security zones. The Army cleared LTTE high security zones during 2007-2009 Vanni offensive. According to the Rehabilitation Ministry, since the change of government in 2015, the armed forces had released altogether 37,427 acres in the Jaffna peninsula (3,660 acres), Killinochchi (24,174 acres), Mullaitivu (4,507 acres), Mannar (1,709 acres), Vavuniya (1,496 acres), Ampara (549 acres),Trincomalee (323 acres) and Batticaloa (1,005 acres). The ministry said that in accordance with instructions issued by the National Election Commission (NEC) pertaining to February 10 Local Government elections, Minister Swaminathan wouldn’t be able to attend the handing over ceremony at Keppapilavu. (Daily Island, 28.12.2017)

Sri Lanka has been ranked the best in the South Asian region in the recently published Global Food Security Index 2017, which comprehensively examines food security in 113 countries. Sri Lanka ranked 66th in the global index and was grouped among countries with “good performance” with an overall score of 53 averaged over three core issues – affordability (54.8), availability (52.8) and quality and safety (49.5). On affordability Sri Lanka ranked best at 61 followed by 66th in availability and 76th on quality and safety. As per the Index compiled by The Economist, in South Asia, India ranked, 74th while Pakistan was placed 77th. Nepal ranked 81st in the index and Bangladesh ranked the lowest at 89th in the Global Food Security Index 2017.
Globally, Ireland ranked at the top while the United States, the UK, Singapore and Australia rounded up the top five in that order.
Sri Lanka’s strengths – subcategories scored above 75 on a scale of 0-100 – were Nutritional Standards (100), Food Safety (96), Food Loss (89.8), Volatility of Agricultural Production (84.3), Proportion of Population under Global Poverty Line (84.2), Urban Absorption Capacity (77.5) and Access to Financing for Farmers (75).Sri Lanka’s challenges were Public Expenditure on Agricultural R&D (0), Gross Domestic Product per Capita (US$ PPP) (7.7) and Protein Quality (17.4). (Daily Financial Times, 28.12.2017)

The Government of Japan has extended US$ 604,731 (Approximately Rs. 90 million) in grant aid for humanitarian demining in Northern Sri Lanka, under its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP), a Japanese embassy media communiqué issued yesterday states. It said “The Project for Demining in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka in Assistance of Peace Building, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation” will be implemented by Delvon Assistance for Social Harmony (DASH) and the Grant Contract was signed between Ambassador of Japan in Sri Lanka Kenichi Suganuma, and Programme Manager of DASH Ananda Chandrasiri on December 28 at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo. It is expected that this project would contribute to facilitating the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka to make mine contaminated areas safe lands for internally displaced people to return and resume their livelihood activities. Japan, welcoming Sri Lanka’s accession to the Mine-Ban Treaty, has decided to extend this grant to contribute to its effort for being mine-impact free by the year 2020. Being the sole donor supporting all demining NGOs in Sri Lanka, the Government of Japan has provided a sum of nearly US$ 32 million for demining activities in the North and the East under its Grant Assistance schemes since 2003. DASH Program Manager Ananda Chandrasiri appreciated the vast and unceasing assistance extended by Japan to Sri Lankan mine action programme, where DASH has been continuously funded by Japan since 2010. He mentioned; “The close and supportive friendship of Japan and its people is admired by every Sri Lankan. Our Government has further consolidated its commitment to the interminable peace in our country and in the entire world by having recently acceded to the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines. The Sri Lankan programme is one of the most successful mine action stories in the world and the generous support of our friendly countries, with Japan in the forefront, has been a key factor behind this success. DASH believes that the most important factor contributing to the peace building process of our country is the availability of livelihood opportunities to the young people, who were directly or indirectly affected by the conflict, for them to have not only a source of income, but most importantly the recognition in our society is vital. The funding assistance of our precious donors has enabled DASH to provide employment to a large number of young and needy people living in the North, strengthening in our mite the peace and reconciliation efforts of our Government”. (Daily Island, 29.12.2017)