Features

The Aftermath of Empire – Reappraisal and Reconciliation (Part 1)

Published

6 years ago

2021/03/7

by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe*

*The author is an Honorary Professor at the University of Buckingham, UK, at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, and also at the National Institute of Fundamental Studies in Sri Lanka.

He was a former Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, Staff Member of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, and former Professor at Cardiff University. He is a pioneer of the discipline of Astrobiology and the author of over 450 scientific papers and some 35 books.

In our post-colonial modern world, the restoration of unity and harmony in our ethnically diverse multicultural polities stands out as an important priority. However, we have another task we cannot neglect – to explore and sift the enormous treasures of ancient wisdom and knowledge that have come to light following a long colonial history. An impartial assessment of competing paradigms would be of crucial importance for progress.

The British Empire finally ended in India in 1947, and a year later in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Its legacy – including the use of the English language pervades the modern world. But we also see many unresolved conflicts – conflicts between races in our newly generated polities, as well as clashes between competing paradigms. This article will explore a personal perspective of the decolonisation process focussing in particular on the Indian subcontinent. In this context it is relevant to declare my own personal background. I am very much a part of the British Empire, having grown up in the crown colony of Ceylon during the twilight years of the Raj. I went to a school (Royal College Colombo) that was modelled on Eton, learning Greek and Latin, but regretfully less of my own native mother tongue and culture. My early upbringing epitomises what the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (AD56-120) famously said of conquered people – that they readily adopt novelties of the conqueror’s ‘civilization’ whilst in fact they were adopting features of their own enslavement.

Two generations of my ancestors have epitomised this connection. My paternal grandfather Dionicious Lionel had worked in the office of the Governor General Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs for which he was later honoured with the title Mohandirum. My father Percival Herbert**, who was a Cambridge-trained mathematician obtaining the highest distinctions in the Mathematical Tripos in the 1930’s (being taught by Sir Arthur Eddington), went on to become an Indian Civil Servant with his first posting as “Deputy Collector of Customs” in the Bihar state in India. With such a background and education a more colonially-oriented upbringing could not be imagined. To cap it all my arrival in Cambridge in 1960 and the start of my long career as an astronomer and astrobiologist in the UK began with the award of a Commonwealth Scholarship, a scholarship scheme that was presumably launched as part of a process of post-colonial atonement. However, the process of decolonisation at a much deeper level, which involves accommodation and acceptance of a diversity of races as well as ideas has still a long way to go.

Injustices of Empire

British rule in India has been variously described as benevolent and generous on one the one hand, and replete with cruelty, plunder and pillage on the other. The truth lies somewhere in between. However, the evidence of cruelty, of punitive taxation and concerted attempts at de-industrialising of India throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries abound.

In the pursuance of purely commercial objectives the British administration in India has carried out many acts of violence and cruelty that in modern times would be deemed violations of human rights and crimes against humanity. These include the extraction of punitive taxation from the population of Bengal during two major famines that led to the deaths of millions of people. There was also the deliberated flooding of rice paddy fields in the coastal plains of Ceylon rendering the land unsuitable for paddy cultivation, done it would seem for the sole purpose of enhancing demand for the Empire’s new rice plantations in Burma; and the illegal sale of opium to China leading to addiction and great distress. The impoverished state of the subcontinent when the British finally left India in 1947 was at least in part due the imperial encounter of the preceding 3 centuries.

In my view, one of the most regrettable aspects of colonial rule both in India and Sri Lanka was its implementation of a policy of divide and rule – divide et impera (one that has been originally attributed to the father of Alexander the Great – Emperor Phillip II of Macedon (359-366BC)). The effect of imposing such a policy was to make it easier for the British to rule a religiously and ethnically diverse group of subjects; but on their eventual departure it undoubtedly contributed to many tragic events. The partition of India and its regrettable fallout had roots in the divide et impera policy, as did the ethnic conflicts that erupted between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka in the 1980’s.

Deep History of Empire

Empires in one form or other have existed throughout the history of human civilization. It is a process of colonisation that probably started in the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia and the Indus region over four thousand years ago. The formation of empires has always brought far-flung peoples and races together under a common banner, and this contributed to the spread of technological and intellectual discoveries over ever larger parts of the globe. But these advantages were often gained at the expense of much hardship and suffering, a feature that tends to go unnoticed in the euphoria of triumphant victories and achievement. We all know that in the recent history of empire, which included genocide, slavery and racism, amongst other evils, there is a great deal that is to be regretted. There is also much to be celebrated. I would not be writing this article in English if it was not for the British Raj that had once coloured a third of the world in its red vermilion hue and dominated world history for at least four centuries (Fig.1).

The British Empire and its European counterparts can all trace their cultural ancestry back to the Roman Empire that had dominated for a full millennium, and before that to the city states of classical Greece – “The glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome”. Beyond this point in history our westernised collective cultural memory conveniently begins to falter. What about the Persian Empire that preceded the Greeks, and the Mesopotamian and Indus Valley civilisations in the preceding two millennia? It was these most ancient civilizations that had indep0endently laid down the framework for mathematics, science as well as literature.

This is the point at which a Eurocentric culture with its built-in prejudices begin to assert itself most stridently.

Unravelling of Ancient wisdom

There is now little doubt that the Babylonians knew Pythagoras’s theorem and had even invented calculus by at least the 2^nd millennium BCE. These were probably used as tools both for their development of city planning, surveying and engineering, as well as in nurturing their interest in astronomy. The Indians and the Indus valley civilizations of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa at about the same time bear a similar testimony to a highly sophisticated scientific culture that included the invention of the so-called Hindu number system with concepts of zero and infinity, both of which were crucial for the later flourishing of mathematics. Throughout the middle ages, long after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the cumbersome system of Roman numerals continued to be used throughout Europe for arithmetic as well as for accounts for purely chauvinistic reasons. When the far better ancient system of Hindu numerals came to be discovered in Europe the reluctance to switch to this system is well documented.

The Arab mathematician Al-Khwarizmi in the 9th century was among the first to use Hindu numerals but it took over two centuries before translations of his work appeared in Europe. The great advantages of the new number system very slowly dawned on European mathematicians, although it was not until the 16th century when the Hindu numerals (renamed Hindu-Arabic numerals) completely replaced the old Roman numeral system. The delay in the transition was undoubtedly connected with a deep-rooted suspicion of the alien non-Christian pagan culture from which the system had emanated.

Trade and culture

After the start of the British East India Company in 1600CE a deeper knowledge of the ancient civilization of the subcontinent began to slowly dawn. The intellectual responses to this West-East encounter varied with time. The British colonisers and traders were initially surprised to find the Moghul empire of India far richer and more sophisticated than they might ever have imagined. Throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries the technological difference between India and Britain was minimal. Moreover, the economy of India based on its long-established supremacy in cloth weaving, combined with a thriving steel and ship-building industries, made India among the richest countries of the world.

There can be no doubt that Britain’s trade with India over the next two centuries served to greatly increase its own prosperity at home. The planned demolition of the centuries-old cloth weaving industry in Bengal (allegedly including the chopping off of the weaver’s thumbs) was directly connected with the growth of similar industries in the north of England in the 18^th century.

The development of an intellectual culture that was centred around Coffee houses (and later Tea houses) in London was also directly the result of the tea and coffee trade with India and later Ceylon. But despite all the beneficial developments that followed from Empire, responses to the encounter between Britain and India remained fraught with a deep sense of ambivalence. It was clear that Britain was dealing with an exceedingly sophisticated and very ancient civilization – albeit in straightened circumstances – one that was considerably older than any in the West. And this fact remained very difficult to admit and come to terms with.

Unravelling the treasures of Sanskrit

The realisation of the great literary and cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent began to fully dawn through the work of the British Orientalist and Philologist Sir William Jones who arrived in Calcutta in March 1783 to take up a post as Judge in the Supreme Court of India. Besides quickly mastering Sanskrit and assiduously translating a vast body of ancient Indian literature, Jones as a philologist unravelled the ancestral relationship between Sanskrit several European languages of later date including Greek and Latin. His work is seen today as the starting point of comparative linguistics and the birth of the idea of an Indo-European family of languages. The genres of Sanskrit literature that were unravelled by Jones included epic poetry, drama, history that in its total volume far exceeds the combined content of the surviving Greek and Latin literature of Europe.

The European colonial rulers at this time found it exceedingly difficult to accept that their own languages and literature had any ancestral debt to any language that belonged to the dark-skinned people of the subcontinent, people who in their view were only fit to be servants and slaves. Although this sounds a harsh indictment today it remains a fact and one that we have to grasp.

William Jones founded the Asiatic Society on 15 January 1784 (later to become “The Royal Asiatic Society”) based in structure on the Royal Society of London. Its declared aim was ‘…….the investigation of subjects connected with, and for the encouragement of science, literature and the Arts in relation to Asia’. It perhaps came as no surprise that native Sanskrit scholars were initially excluded from membership of the society, a society that was ostensibly dedicated to unravelling their own indigenous intellectual culture and traditions! This constraint was lifted in later years but the racist overtones of the entire venture became clear at the outset and echoes of it rumbled long after.

A more recent shock to Eurocentric pride came in 1905 with the discovery in India of a Sanskrit text dating back to the 3^rd century BCE dealing with statecraft which was amazingly similar in spirit and content to Niccolo Machiavelli’s classic work “The Prince” published in the 16^th century of the common era. This was Kautiliya’s Arthashastra which was a comprehensive treatise on how a king should rule so as to enlarge his empire and his treasury as well as to bring happiness to his subjects. In one memorable statement Kautiliya recommends scrutiny of accounts supplied by his staff because: “Just as it is impossible to know when a swimming fish is drinking water, so it is impossible to find out when a government servant is stealing money”. This book that predated Machiavelli by nearly two millennia was a bitter pill for Western scholars to swallow. But the lesson to be learnt from the experience of Empire became clear – that no single polity or civilization can claim a monopoly of intellectual attainments of any kind.

(To be continued)

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Features

El Niño and Sri Lanka: Safeguarding food security in uncertain times

Published

3 hours ago

2026/09/21

Thilina Walpola

El Niño

by Prof. Janaka Wijesinghe, Dr. Nishala Wedamulla and Gayathma Weerawanni

As climate variability becomes an increasing challenge for nations worldwide, Sri Lanka faces growing concerns over the impact of El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon that can disrupt rainfall patterns, increase temperatures, and place additional pressure on agricultural production. For a country where agriculture remains a vital part of the economy and rural livelihoods, preparing for climate uncertainty has become essential to safeguarding food security. Food security includes not only the availability of food but also access to nutritious and affordable food.

Climate-induced disruptions to agricultural production can affect all dimensions of food security. Vulnerable populations, including low-income households and rural communities, are often the most affected by fluctuations in food supply and market prices.

Cause of the phenomenon

El Niño occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become unusually warmer than normal, influencing global weather patterns. Although the phenomenon originates thousands of kilometres away, its effects are felt across many regions, including South Asia. According to experts, in Sri Lanka, El Niño events can contribute to irregular rainfall, prolonged dry periods, higher temperatures, and changes in the timing and intensity of monsoon rains.

Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector is particularly vulnerable to these climate fluctuations and faces increasing challenges from climate variability, with the El Niño phenomenon emerging as one of the most significant threats to national food security. As global temperatures continue to rise, understanding and preparing for the impacts of El Niño has become essential for ensuring a stable food supply and protecting the livelihoods of millions of Sri Lankans. Mainly, rice, the staple food of Sri Lanka, depends heavily on reliable water availability.

Reduced rainfall during critical cultivation periods can lead to drought conditions, lower reservoir levels, and can affect paddy yields, while excessive rainfall at unexpected times can damage the crop through flooding, diseases, and poor field conditions. In addition, other crops, including vegetables, fruits, and plantation crops, may also experience productivity losses due to heat stress and water shortages. These impacts can result in food shortages, rising food prices, and reduced incomes for farming communities.

The consequences of climate-related agricultural disruptions extend beyond farmers. Reduced crop production can lead to increased food prices, greater dependence on imports, and challenges in maintaining a stable food supply. For vulnerable communities, especially small-scale farmers and low-income households, these impacts can significantly affect nutrition and livelihoods.

Need to reduce postharvest losses

In such circumstances, reducing postharvest losses becomes a critical component of national food security strategies. Food that is produced but lost after harvesting represents wasted land, water, energy, labour, and financial resources invested in the production. In Sri Lanka, significant quantities of fruits, vegetables, grains, and other agricultural commodities are lost due to inadequate harvesting practices, poor postharvest handling, unsuitable storage conditions, inefficient transportation, and limited processing facilities. During periods of climate stress, such as El Niño-induced droughts, these losses become even more serious because the available food supply is already under pressure. Minimising postharvest losses can, therefore, increase food availability without requiring additional land or agricultural inputs. Hence, strengthening postharvest management can make a major contribution to climate resilience. Improved harvesting techniques, better packaging, temperature-controlled storage, efficient transportation systems, and modern processing technologies can extend the shelf life of agricultural products and reduce wastage.

How to face challenges

Promoting small-scale processing and value addition can also help farmers preserve surplus production and maintain income during periods of market fluctuations. Achieving food security in an era of climate uncertainty requires a comprehensive approach that considers both production and preservation. Increasing agricultural productivity alone is not sufficient if a significant portion of harvested food is lost before reaching consumers. Reducing postharvest losses should be recognised as one of the most practical, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions for ensuring food availability.

Moreover, Sri Lanka has opportunities to strengthen its resilience against El Niño-related challenges. Improving climate forecasting systems and ensuring that farmers receive timely weather information can help communities make better decisions on planting dates, crop selection, and water management. Climate-smart agricultural practices, such as drought-tolerant crop varieties, efficient irrigation methods, soil conservation, and improved water storage, can reduce risks associated with changing weather patterns. Water management remains one of the most important strategies for climate resilience. Expanding rainwater harvesting, maintaining irrigation systems, and protecting watersheds can help communities manage water shortages during dry periods.

Importance of climate-smart agriculture

At the same time, Sri Lanka must continue to promote climate-smart agricultural practices. The use of drought-tolerant crop varieties, efficient irrigation systems, soil conservation methods, and improved weather forecasting services can help farmers adapt to changing climate conditions. Providing timely climate information enables farmers to make informed decisions regarding crop selection, planting schedules, and resource management.

Investment in research and innovation will also play a key role. Agricultural institutions and researchers can support farmers by developing technologies and practices suited to changing climatic conditions. Promoting crop diversification can further reduce dependence on a limited number of crops and provide alternative sources of income during periods of climatic stress.

Food security in the face of climate change requires cooperation among government agencies, farmers, researchers, private-sector stakeholders, and communities. Early warning systems, disaster preparedness plans, and supportive agricultural policies can help minimise the effects of extreme climate events. As climate uncertainty becomes the new normal, proactive measures are essential to protect Sri Lanka’s food future. While El Niño presents significant challenges, strategic planning, innovation, and collaboration can help the nation build resilience and ensure that every citizen has access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food. More importantly, policy support is crucial in building a resilient food system. Government agencies, research institutions, and the private sector must work together to develop sustainable agricultural practices and strengthen food supply chains. Diversifying food production and reducing post-harvest losses can also contribute to greater food security.

El Niño as a stark reminder

El Niño is a reminder that climate challenges do not respect geographical boundaries. While Sri Lanka cannot control global climate phenomena, it can strengthen its ability to adapt and respond. By combining scientific knowledge, sustainable farming practices, and effective planning, the nation can protect its food systems and ensure a more secure future in an era of increasing climate uncertainty.

As the climate continues to change, preparedness is no longer an option; it is a necessity for protecting Sri Lanka’s food security and the livelihoods of generations to come.

Features

Getting organised for the new arrival

Published

4 hours ago

2026/09/21

Thilina Walpola

BY Dr B. J. C. Perera
MBBS(Cey), DCH(Cey), DCH(Eng), MD(Paediatrics), MRCP(UK), FRCP(Edin), FRCP(Lond),
FRCPCH(UK), FSLCPaed, FCCP, Hony. FRCPCH(UK), Hony. FCGP(SL)
Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and Honorary Senior Fellow,
Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

An independent freelance medical correspondent

KEY POINTS

=Being parents of a newborn baby is a tremendous responsibility.

=To attend to the necessary chores and duties at home, the home set-up must be well organised.

=The routine care of a baby, throughout 24 hours, is a demanding one. But if things are well looked after and prearranged, it would make the task that much easier.

=It is a joint responsibility of the mother, as well as the father, and all other inmates of the same household.

At long last, the baby has arrived, and the parents will be taking him or her home. Usually in uncomplicated deliveries, even after Caesarean operations, the baby is sent home in a couple of days. It is generally a hectic time, and if steps have not already been taken to get things organised at home, it can be quite difficult for new parents. Getting things in shape should have started well before the baby’s birth, but even if he or she arrives earlier and unexpectedly, getting organised at that stage is important to make life easier for both parents. This is perhaps easier said than done, especially for a young couple, but it is a process that would pay dividends. All that is required is plenty of common sense. Getting organised for the newborn baby well in time will make life that much easier in the subsequent months and years to come.

An important thing to do is to arrange everything in the bedroom so that the ‘baby things’ are easily accessible and you know where to find each item. As an example, it should not be necessary to look high and low for nappy pins once a nappy has been put on the baby. What is advocated today is to keep the baby in the same bed as the parents, and this means an extra cot may not always be necessary. It would also provide a little more space in the room, which would otherwise have been taken up by a cot. However, a small baby cot is sometimes useful to put the baby to sleep and provide some rest and relaxation to the mother.

If the baby is kept on the same bed as the mother, there is no danger of the mother rolling over the baby during sleep, as the natural in-built maternal instincts would wake her up at the slightest touch from the baby or the tiniest noise from the baby.

Clothes and nappies

The clothes and nappies of the baby should be easily accessible and available at all times. It is not necessary to buy a new almirah or a cupboard for the baby. A couple of shelves of a cupboard that is already in the bedroom would do nicely. Even a small separate wooden or cane rack with shelves too would be more than adequate for this purpose. The secret is to still have sufficient room in your own bedroom to move about even after getting the baby’s things organised. Sweeping and cleaning the bedroom should be done every day. Some people elect to wet-mop the floor, which is a really good thing. These tasks should not take too much time and could be quickly attended to when the baby is resting quietly after a feed.

Other people in the household and perhaps the father of the baby could help in this regard. Battery torch lights and emergency lights for power failures should be kept in places that are easily accessible, even in the dark. It is no joke to start looking for these things when there is a loss of electrical power. One needs to be prepared, as such unexpected power failures are so very frequent in certain areas of the country. Incidentally, there is nothing against the use of electric fans in the bedroom where the baby is.

During very warm days, it will only make the baby more comfortable. It will not cause any illness. The same applies to air conditioners, provided they are maintained well and serviced regularly. If there is a telephone in the house, it would be worthwhile getting a cordless extension so that the mother does not have to run around in circles to answer the phone while attending to the needs of the baby. This is of course minimised completely today with the use of modern mobile phones.

Feeding the baby should not cause any problems at all. The need of the hour is to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months. THERE IS NO OTHER MILK THAT COMES EVEN CLOSE TO THE GOODNESS OF MOTHER’S MILK – FULL STOP; NO ARGUMENTS AND NO BUTS. There is extremely convincing and overriding scientific evidence for breast milk being the very best form of nutrition for a new arrival. It is the golden elixir of life, and there is nothing else, absolutely nothing else, that is as good as mother’s milk for a baby. The infant milk-food companies can even shout from the rooftops but they have no chance, whatsoever, against proven scientific medical evidence. It is also important to stress that babies need to be fed on demand and very definitely NOT BY THE CLOCK. All babies will indicate by various actions when they are hungry and feel the need to be fed.

Breastfeeding obviates need for bottles, etc.,

Exclusive breastfeeding would obviate the need for bottles, teats, cups, spoons, formula milk powder, sterilising equipment, etc. There is no extra cost involved as well. Government legislation has provided working mothers with sufficient maternity leave to feed their babies with human milk for at least the first four months. If there are ways of getting a little bit more leave to stretch it to six months, this should be explored to the fullest, as the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding are worth a lot more than money could buy. There are added benefits of breastfeeding such as control of the mother’s weight and figure as she burns up a significant number of calories in producing her milk.

When it is time to give the baby a bath, arrange everything you need around the place where you are going to bathe the baby. Towels, soap, etc., should be at arm’s length. If there is help available at home in the form of members of the extended family or domestic aides, this is the time you could really make use of them. When the mother gets used to the procedure, bathing a baby is no big deal. In most instances, it is a thing that both mother and baby would enjoy. Get the baby used to bathing as early as possible. This will prevent him or her from making an almighty fuss at bath time later on. Almost all babies love to be in water provided they are introduced to bathing very early in their lives.

The mother must arrange her mealtimes and resting periods to coincide with the times when the baby is quiet or is sleeping. Mother’s meals just need to be nutritious, and everyday foods are more than adequate. It is not necessary to go out of the way to provide her with expensive supplementary foods or additional forms of nutrition. There is no scientific evidence to say that certain foods are not good for nursing mothers. The notions of “heaty” foods and “cooling” foods have no scientific rationale.

Most authorities believe that a nursing mother could and should eat anything and everything. The only thing necessary is to provide a nicely balanced and adequate diet. The mother needs to get a sufficient and acceptable amount of sleep, especially during the day. This is particularly important because she may have to get up several times during the night to feed and change clothes of the baby. Steps must be taken to provide her with these essential periods of rest. Organising a routine to help her with this aspect would be most desirable.

Father’s work schedule

It is also advantageous for the father to get his work schedules and duties rearranged as much as possible and in such a manner so as to provide sufficient time at home to help in caring for the baby. This, of course, depends on the exact type of work that he is involved in. In each and every case, a genuine effort should be made to have quality time with the mother and the baby. This is particularly useful for the first few months of the baby’s life. As far as possible, the father should be equally involved with the rearing practices of the baby. Looking after a baby should be a shared responsibility. This process also enhances the baby developing a very beneficial and desirable bond with both parents.

The arrival of a new baby should not lead to a complete social embargo for the family. One could travel outside the home with the baby, especially if the times of travel are carefully planned to suit the requirements of the baby, such as feeding times. Even then, if the baby is breastfed, he or she could be fed almost anywhere. Some babies are, however, prone to throwing up while travelling immediately after a feed. It is generally better to avoid intensely overcrowded social gatherings, but social visiting, attending weddings and parties, with the baby in tow, are quite in order, even when the baby is just a few weeks old.

If the parents own a car, it is a good idea to get a commercially available baby car seat that is fitted to the rear seat of the car. The sooner you get the baby used to travelling in this baby seat, the better it is for all around. It is the safest way to take the baby in the car. In some of the Western countries, newborn babies are not discharged from the hospital till a car seat is fitted to the car. Unfortunately, baby car seats are not that popular in this country, but it must be pointed out that they contribute a great deal towards the safety of a baby in the case of a traffic accident.

Unnecessary expenditure

Many parents spend unnecessary amounts of money on a baby. All kinds of expensive items, such as perfumes, colognes, powders, etc., are not quite essential for a baby. The natural milky smell of a baby is quite unique. The clothes that one buys for a baby should be simple, uncomplicated, light and preferably of cotton origin. Their design should be very safe for the baby. It is best to remember that babies grow up very fast, especially in the first two years of life and tend to outgrow clothes in next to no time. Even the toys for the baby should be appropriately selected and should be very safe and eminently affordable.

There is no reason whatsoever that the expenses for a little newborn baby should be more than what one would normally need to spend on an adult.

A newborn baby should be such a joy for the entire family, including the extended family. Grandparents would usually dote on the baby. If there are other children, it is important to provide the necessary attention to them as well so that they would not feel neglected. It would prevent sibling rivalry, and the other kids would go on to love the new arrival. All newborn babies are quite a delight and not a burden, and it is definitely their right to be treated as such.

Features

Shouldn’t foreign expert be appointed MD of SLP?

Published

4 hours ago

2026/09/21

Thilina Walpola

by J. A. A. S.R anasinghe,
Productivity Specialist
rathula49@gmail.com

The recent appointment of Vipul Misra, an Indian national, as Acting Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lankan Airlines deserves to be viewed from a much broader perspective than simply as an appointment to a vacant position. In my view, it is a sensible and courageous decision by the Government.

Sri Lankan Airlines is a national asset operating in an intensely competitive international aviation industry. It requires specialised aviation knowledge, commercial acumen, operational discipline and international exposure. According to the report on his appointment, Misra brings more than two decades of aviation engineering and leadership experience, including experience with major Indian carriers such as Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera, a high-profile CEO and the former Managing Director of Colombo Dockyard PLC contends the appropriateness of filling senior corporate positions of the public sector from foreign nationals, when positions of high-calibre CEOs are not locally available. He says that Sri Lankan Airlines has previously benefited from expatriate professional leadership. During the Emirates management period from 1998 to 2008, British aviation professional Peter Hill led the airline through rebranding, fleet modernisation, network expansion and improvements in service standards.

The airline reported profits during several of those years, although later analysis showed that gains from aircraft sales and leaseback transactions contributed significantly to some results. Nevertheless, the airline was run with greater commercial discipline, clearer accountability and considerably less day-to-day political interference.

Following the end of Emirates management, due to direct intervention by the then President, Sri Lankan Airlines faced turbulent situations and passed through numerous chairmen, chief executives, restructuring proposals, procurement controversies and political interventions while taxpayers continued to carry its debts and losses.

It would be unfair to suggest that every Sri Lankan chairman or CEO was incompetent or corrupt. Sri Lanka has produced many outstanding aviation professionals. The deeper problem has been a governance system in which even capable executives can be weakened by political appointments, interference in commercial decisions, frequent leadership changes and the absence of measurable accountability. He says that the arrival of Indian professional leadership is not limited to aviation.

Colombo Dockyard presents another significant example. Following the acquisition of a controlling interest by India’s state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Capt. Jagmohan was appointed its non-executive chairman. He is a naval architect with extensive experience in warship design, naval dockyards, shipbuilding and major maritime projects. (Mazagon Dock leadership)⁠

This partnership could give Colombo Dockyard access to capital, technology, Indian and international orders, specialised naval work and a much larger supply chain. However, because the Dockyard is an important national maritime asset, success must be measured by the creation of skilled Sri Lankan employment, expansion into commercial and offshore engineering, growth in exports, transfer of technology and development of local managerial successors—not merely by a change of ownership or boardroom nationality.

The rise of Indian professionals should not surprise us. Sundar Pichai leads Alphabet and Google, while Indian-born executives have led several other globally important technology and industrial corporations. India has built an enormous pool of engineers, scientists, accountants and managers through technical education, English-language capability, exposure to large competitive markets and international professional mobility.

India’s formal national ambition is Viksit Bharat 2047—to become a developed nation by the centenary of its independence. The target is 2047 rather than 2040, and its vision specifically combines economic growth, skills, social progress, sustainability and good governance. (Government of India)

The important lesson is that nationality should not be the principal criterion for selecting the person to lead a strategically important State enterprise. Competence should be, according to Dr. Obeysekera. This principle should now be extended to another equally important national institution — the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), as this post has fallen vacant and an advertisement has appeared in the newspapers calling for applications from suitable applicants.

The recent discussion surrounding the vacant substantive post of Managing Director of the SLPA, including Dr. Sarath Obeysekera’s call for the appointment of a “developer, not merely an administrator”, raises a fundamental question: Are we looking for someone merely to administer the existing machinery of the Ports Authority, or someone capable of transforming Sri Lanka’s ports into major engines of investment, industry, employment and foreign-exchange earnings?

The distinction is crucial. On the other hand, one should not be over excited for the manner in which foreign nationals are employed not in hundred perhaps in thousands in manual operational activities in heavy industries in Sri Lanka. In the case of Shipbuilding and Construction industries, the deployment of welders and skilled workers have now become a norm rather than an exception.

Sri Lanka possesses enormous maritime advantages. Colombo is strategically located on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, while Hambantota and Trincomalee offer substantial possibilities for future development. Yet the challenge is no longer simply to operate ports efficiently. The country must develop the ecosystem around them — logistics, ship repair, shipbuilding, offshore services, maritime industries, warehousing, bunkering, technology, investment and related export-oriented activities.

This requires a different type of leadership. The government should therefore consider applying the same bold thinking demonstrated in the Sri Lankan Airlines appointment to the SLPA. If the best person to transform the Ports Authority is a Sri Lankan, appoint that person. If the best candidate is an internationally recognised professional from India, Singapore, Dubai, Europe, Japan or elsewhere, why should nationality become a barrier?

Indeed, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act itself provides that the Minister shall appoint a “competent and experienced person” as Managing Director, whose responsibility includes directing the business, exercising the Authority’s functions and controlling its employees. That statutory emphasis on competence and experience should guide the selection.

What Sri Lanka needs is not another appointment based primarily on seniority, institutional familiarity or traditional public-sector credentials. It needs a leader with a proven international track record in port development, maritime logistics, commercialisation, investment attraction and large-scale project execution. Such a person should be given clear targets and held accountable for delivering them.

The appointment of an international professional should not be regarded as an admission of failure on the part of Sri Lankan professionals. On the contrary, it would demonstrate confidence in the principle that Sri Lanka’s national assets deserve the best available talent, wherever that talent may be found.

The government has already demonstrated this new approach through the Sri Lankan Airlines appointment. I respectfully suggest that it should now have the courage to apply the same principle to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

Our national assets are too valuable to be confined to a search for talent within national boundaries. The best person for the job should be given the job irrespective of nationality.