News
Indian High Commissioner hands over Padma Shri to Dr. Vajira Chitrasena
In a ceremony held at the Temple Trees on 17 November, the High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay delivered to Dr. Vajira Chitrasena the ‘Padma Shri’, Award conferred upon her by the President of India for the year 2020. Prime Minister and Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Mahinda Rajapaksa, too, was present.
On November 08, 2021, a ‘Padma Awards Investiture Ceremony’ was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi at which the President of India presented the Padma awards to the awardees for the year 2020 in the presence of the Vice President, the Prime Minister of India and other dignitaries. Two eminent personalities from Sri Lanka, Dr. Vajira Chitrasena and Late Prof. Indra Dassanayake were conferred with the ‘Padma Shri’ for their seminal contributions in the field of Dance, and Literature and Education respectively.
Dr. Chitrasena is a veteran traditional dancer, choreographer and teacher. For her achievements, she has been adorned with one of Sri Lanka’s highest national awards ‘Deshabandu’, among many others. Dr. Vajira’s unique contributions to enriching India-Sri Lanka relations through the promotion of dance and blending the art forms of both countries, especially Kandyan and Odissi have been honoured with the ‘Padma Shri’. Since Dr. Chitrasena could not travel to India to accept the ‘Padma Shri’, the High Commission of India facilitated the handing over of the award at Colombo.
The other recipient of the ‘Padma Shri’ Award, Late Prof. Indra Dassanayake was a renowned Professor of Hindi at Kelaniya University. She had a close association with India as she was born in India and was an alumnus of the University of Lucknow. Her daughter, Vathsala Dassanayake Ishtaweera received the ‘Padma Shri’ at New Delhi from the President of India.
The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian honours of India announced annually on the eve of Republic Day. The Awards which are given in three categories, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, seek to recognise achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved. This year’s Padma Awards have celebrated the accomplishments and excellence of grassroot level achievers, and have, therefore, been hailed as the “People’s Padma”.
Recognition of the personal accomplishments of Dr. Vajira Chitrasena and Late Prof. Indra Dassanayake by the Government of India attests to the abiding cultural ties between India and Sri Lanka. Through their pioneering contributions, Dr. Chitrasena and Prof. Dassanayake have been instrumental in further strengthening the people-to-people ties between India and Sri Lanka. It may be recalled that, W.D. Amaradeva, Sri Lanka’s celebrated music maestro, was conferred ‘Padma Shri’ in the year 2002.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to award the contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates for the Department of Motor Traffic for a period of five (5) years to M/s South Asian Technologies based on the recommendations of the High-Level Standing Procurement Committee and the Procurement Appeal Board.
The National Lotteries board has been established subject to the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. Having identified the requirement of amending that act which was imposed around 62 years to cater the current requirements of the lottery market, the Cabinet of Mnisters at their meeting held on 14.02.2017 granted approval to draft a new bill for the purpose.
Accordingly, the National Lotteries Board has recognized further amendments to be performed to the fundamental draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsmen.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the
resolution furnished by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to direct the Legal Draftsmen to finalize the formulation of the draft bill for the National Lotteries Board as soon as possible including the proposed new amendments as well.
The Werahara office of the Department of Motor Traffic performs issuance of temporary driving licenses in this country based on the driving licenses issued overseas, and measures have been initiated to render the service from a service window of the Department of Motor Traffic established at the Bandaranayake International Airport from 03.08.2025.
The fees charged for issuing temporary driving licenses have been published in Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 prepared under the provisions of the Motor Traffic (Authority 203) Act.
But, as the fee of Rupees 2,000/- charged for the service is not sufficient, the requirement of amending the regulations has been recognized.
The regulations for introducing the revised fees have been published in the government extraordinary gazette
notification No. 2463/04 dated 17.11.2025. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development to
submit the regulations to the Parliament for its concurrence.
M/s South Asian Technologies awarded contract to supply vehicle number plates
A new act for National Lotteries Board to be introduced
Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 to be amended
Mrs. P. K. L. S. Panduwawala appointed to the post of Surveyor General
Implementing the programme to provide concession for pepper, coffee and cardamom plantations affected by the disaster
Cabinet nod to obtain diagnostic reports under public-private partnership
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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