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“A friend in need is a friend indeed”: Sri Lanka’s praise for India

Published

3 years ago

2023/03/10

India had helped Sri Lanka more than any other country, especially, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said during Raisina Dialogue ‘Ideas Pod.’

While the Indian government took some bold decisions to help Sri Lanka face its economic crisis, even the Indian public came forward to support Sri Lanka, the country’s foreign minister said in the podcast released on Tuesday.

Sabry said, “Your real friends are tested when bad times come. India has stood by us, a friend in need and a friend indeed that they say. So we are very grateful to India, for what it has done for us.”The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister also stated that the Indian government took some

very bold, decisive actions by providing the island nation with about 3.9 billion worth of bilateral credit and accreditation. He further stated that it is the line which gave Sri Lanka the lifeline to fight the battle for another day, which probably saved the bankrupt country from oblivion.

Recalling India’s effort in saving Sri Lanka from drowning in the debt, Sabry said that India comes at the very beginning. He further stated that India’s intervention was higher than the others countries.

India sent financing assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), becoming the first of Sri Lanka’s creditors to officially back the crisis-hit island nation’s debt restructuring programme.

“This takes Sri Lanka one step closer to getting a crucial USD 2.9-billion package from the IMF, made contingent on “receiving financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s official creditors and making a good faith effort to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors,” Sabry said.

Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister was on an official visit to New Delhi to attend Raisina Dialogue – 2023, India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, jointly hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs of India from March 2-4.

Notably, China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka’s three largest bilateral lenders.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in January visited Sri Lanka and said that India is committed to increasing investment flows to Sri Lanka to hasten its economic recovery.

Talking regarding the IMF bailout package at Raisina Dialogue ‘Ideas Pod’, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister said, ” Yeah, I think it will help out in the sense when it comes to IMF bailing out of a country which has been declared bankrupt or otherwise, it had been declared as unsustainable of paying the debt. There are two components.

“One is you have to get debt assurances from the bilaterals which is not challenging. And as far as the IMF pre-actions that we need to take in terms of the staff level agreement we have taken all those things of 15 of them for example cost, reflective pricing, more revenue basis and then independent central bank. So many of those things we have done,” Sabry said.

“I think those things we could have done or should have done with or without IMF, which is good for the country, though it is not very popular. But the problem is how to sell these reforms to the people because it will directly affect them. All these files, what we have done is used printing machine to print the money and then inflation resulted in that giving hope to people,” he added.

He further stated that IMF will bring a lot of confidence to the country. It will probably give the island nation access back to the financial market as well as it will also open up an investment which was ceased last year or so.

Sri Lanka sank into a financial crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic affected tourism and remittances from citizens working abroad fell. The war in Ukraine escalated the crisis as prices for imports, particularly fuel, rose sharply due to soaring inflation.

With worsening fuel and medicine shortages, thousands of protestors took to streets and stormed government buildings leading to President Gotabaye Rajapakse to flee the country and send in his resignation from abroad in July last year.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected President of the island country on July after defeating his main rival, Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82 in a parliamentary vote. Source – NDTV

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya extended

Published

10 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

The landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya by the Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation have been extended till 0600 hrs on 15th February 2026.

Accordingly,
The Level II [AMBER] warnings issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Walapane and Nildandahinna in the Nuwar Eliya district and the
Level I [YELLOW] warning issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Pathadumbara in the Kandy district have been extended.

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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces and Badulla and Nuwara-Eliya districts

Published

11 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 11.30 a.m. 14 February 2026 valid for the period until 11.30 p.m. 14 February 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces and in Badulla and Nuwara-Eliya districts after 1.00 p.m. There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers.

The General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:

The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Teacher recruitment examinations will be conducted in accordance with the relevant court decisions – PM

Published

21 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the forthcoming two teacher recruitment examinations will be conducted in accordance with the relevant court decisions pertaining to the ongoing legal proceedings and further noted that, taking into consideration the requests received, steps have been taken to make a request to Court’s approval to revise the conditions of the effective date of degree completion.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing a meeting held at Monaragala Royal College to brief education authorities of the Monaragala District on the new education reforms.

Under the new education reforms, Smart Boards will be provided to 132 schools in the Monaragala District as part of the program to equip secondary schools with modern technology. As a symbolic step under this initiative, Smart Boards were presented to 10 secondary schools under the Prime Minister’s patronage. This program is being implemented with the intervention of the Digital Task Force operating under the Prime Minister’s Office. It was also emphasized that a new digital policy, formulated with special attention to child protection, will be introduced in April.

As part of her visit to the Monaragala District on the 13 th of February, the Prime Minister observed the implementation of the new learning methodologies introduced for Grade One under the new education reforms. She visited Kumbukkana Sri Shanmugam Tamil Maha Vidyalaya and Maduruketiya Maha Vidyalaya in Monaragala to observe the educational activities of Grade One students.

Considering the increase of student numbers and the development of infrastructure facilities, the Prime Minister also approved a proposal submitted by the School Development Society to rename Maduruketiya Maha Vidyalaya as Monaragala Dharmaraja Maha Vidyalaya.

Teachers briefed the Prime Minister that the new education system, supported by revised workbooks and activity-based learning methods, has proven to be effective, with students participating enthusiastically.

Addressing education officials further at the meeting held at Monaragala Royal College, the Prime Minister stated:

“Although this will not provide a complete solution to the existing teacher vacancies, these examinations can offer considerable relief. According to the Court’s previous determination, the effective date of degree completion had been set as 30.06.2025. However, considering numerous requests and following the cabinet approval we have sought Court’s consent to revise this date. We will act in accordance with the decision granted.

Funds allocated for school infrastructure must be utilized transparently and in line with proper planning, and progress must be reported accordingly. We cannot move forward by dividing ourselves along national, provincial, rural, or urban lines. As education authorities, you must make swift and accurate decisions based on correct data.

Further, discussions are already underway within the Piriven Committee of the Ministry of Education to develop Piriven education and to address the issues faced by Piriven teachers.”

The event was attended by the members of the Maha Sangha, Uva Province Governor Attorney-at-Law Kapila Jayasekara, Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce R.M. Jayawardhana, Member of Parliament Ajith Agalakada, Uva Provincial Education Secretary Nihal Gunarathne, and several officials from the education sector.