Features
Oddity of the National List – Twins in a Single Body: A Commentary
by Lokubanda Tillakaratne
Fforthcoming General Election allows us to revisit the state of the 29 individuals commonly known as the National List—apportion members under Article 99 of the Constitution—to join the 196 elected members in parliament as stipulated in Article 98(1). This List is akin to a shadow bicameral legislature with a moiety of members who have no accountability to the voting electors, the people, because they never had to promise anything to the voters and never received a vote explicitly intended for them.
After the September 21st awakening, citizens are yearning to vote again in the General Election to do something to repeal these unpopular, confusing, and least helpful parts in the Constitution that had soured the meaning of governing and supremacy of consent of the governed.
As stipulated in Article 93, voting for Members of Parliament (MPs) is a ‘free’ and ‘equal’ process with secret ballots of the people. In practice, that only applies to the 196 members of the 225-member body in parliament. The voters do not have any direct means to express their preference on the balance of 29 members. That preference is the unfettered prerogative of the party hierarchy, which proposes the names to be considered as potential MPs! The qualification to be nominated into the parliament under this List category is allegiance to and friendship with the party leaders. The Constitution had sidelined the consent of the people in this instance.
After the vote counts at the forthcoming General Election for the 196 representatives, the Commissioner of Elections will announce the 29 representatives selected as per Article 99A to complete the 225-members.
For the upcoming election, the Commissioner of Elections has already proposed and published nominees for this list from each party. However, the Constitution has not offered a mechanism for the electors to vote for the List members. Instead, it allows votes cast by the electors earlier in the day for the 196 to be dusted off and recycled by way of a calculation to apportion 29 names that will become the National List.
On the election night, meanwhile, potential members of this List will revel with the party leaders and bigwigs in Colombo watching the vote count, not for them but for electors who will earn the Just Powers from the masses for governing. They are partying and waiting for the cast votes to be re-used to make the List. The List hopefuls mingle in the cream of the party spending political equity hoping for a place in the 29 group. These individuals probably never left the boundary of their cozy homes to put up a poster on a street corner or hang a string of bunting across main street begging for votes for them. Such low-rung jobs are the burden of the commoners, the 196, not the ones chosen in party headquarters.
An elector can call this a second-tier group of names that gets the same powers as the 196 to govern. But the List members have diffused responsibilities, and some even get ministerial portfolios soon after taking the oath of office. So, without ever having promised anything to the people, this group gets a free ride to the Diyavanna Oya people’s house to benefit from the heavenly perks for five years without ever declaring their position on any issue affecting the lives of the electors. Sweet pensions await them at the end of the term.
Some members of this List have been MPs in parliament through this process since 1994, a full generation and more, without ever receiving a single vote, and some names have been nominated for consecutive terms by diverse parties. Some are past 90 years of age and still seek to gain entrance through the current list published a few weeks ago. This makes this hardly democracy, but a List for a form of old-fashioned gerontocracy.
The recent thundering response from the electorate yearning for youth opens the gates to look seriously at this unusual system of supposed ‘representation’ of people by a motley group of individuals.
Article 99A of the Constitution defining this 29-member List as ‘elected’ is a misnomer. This is only a group primarily known to the party leadership which does the nomination. From the composition and past and present conduct of the List members, it appears those who do the nomination lack discernment and concern for the people and the electoral process.
Recently concluded parliamentary nomination shows what’s wrong with this process. Apportion of 29 individuals as representatives cannot be considered even a Referendum as it is silent in Articles relating to the process of election of President and Representatives. Few individuals who failed badly in the recently held presidential election now appear in the proposed National List for the honour of governing as an MP. A group of men and women, some unknown to many, shall be rammed upon us through a different list as per the Constitution. This List receives legitimacy as MPs only after using votes we cast to elect the other group, the 196 MPs. The well-known secret is that the 29-member group, which could not convince electors to vote for it or would not be likely to win an election, gets the privilege now to govern the electors, We the People.
Article 99 is a vehicle for favouritism and nepotism. The List seems to carry strands of DNA showing connectivity to diverse lines of political ancestry going back to early 1900s. Some have failed or are tired of their other interests or think inclusion in the List might enhance their opportunities for new pursuits. The consensus among the electors is that this List has become a landing spot for spouses, sons, and daughters of sitting or former politicians, retirees, and financial backers of the party to govern without an electoral consent. Others are close followers of the political echelon, and some are in occupations with nothing to do with governing.
After every election cycle, the new List is headed for perks like free housing in Colombo, V8-class behemoths, or luxury sedans with windows with tinted glass, all at the expense of the people. While holding office, when they get out of the car, they walk with the ostentation of a peacock. When they lose, they hide the car in a friend’s garage and disappear like Hippos out of water. To evict them from the government issued house in Colombo, the only way is to smoke them out like we do with a bee-hive.
These perks are only dreams for a teacher with 20 years of service in the Wellaragama school of 180 students in Galenbindunuwewa Education Zone. He must beg for a loan to build his home. With the first installment cheque, before starting on the foundation, he must erect the electrified elephant fence around the house plot.
Giving the powers and privileges of 196 to the 29 moiety of membership too in the parliament is a half-cooked process. Only one group goes through the rigours of the competitive electoral process while the other group, the chosen ones, gets its pass to parliament on a silver platter without shedding a drop of sweat. They come to represent people as an all-Island team without any mandate, consent of the people, or electoral district boundary which is mandated for the 196. Theirs is a shore-to-shore boundary. Although the National List is constitutional, this manifestly odd practice on the fringes and below surface democracy has been a source of dissatisfaction and discussion among the people. It is a broken moment in Sri Lanka’s democratic process we hold dear.
While the elected 196 representatives have earned the honour by going from door to door in the district, the List members have never come before the people asking for votes. They never get off stage. After failing in previous elections, some had a minimal chance of succeeding at another election to be elevated to the real ranks of the elected. The electors will not get an opportunity to hear from the List collectively or individually to know what their policy proposals for a particular electoral district are. The List members sit in the august chamber anyway, with the blessings of genealogical magic and the know-how of the party hierarchy.
The right to govern is a privilege earned by the representatives through votes of the governed. While the 196 passes this test, from the way the 29 group was nominated, it shows it is exempted from that test. The former earns the honour after campaigning at a granular level, while the latter, the handpicked colleagues of the party stratosphere, are handed the keys to the parliament at the party office in Colombo.
Political leadership has learned ways to circumvent the original intent of Article 99A. The process of the 29 is sullied, often wiled, and wandered off from the universal democratic maxim best described in the classic document of democracy, the American Declaration of Independence – governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. For the 99A, consent of the party hierarchy is what matters.
With the mandate of this Article, acutely contrary to the Just Powers maxim, the framers of the Constitution have left us with a problem. The National List supposedly was intended to safeguard the underrepresented groups and to augment the experience and expertise capital in the legislative chamber of the elected members. It was an attempt to uphold fairness to the people and encourage pluralistic themes society needs. With a formula prescribed for the tumultuous times we experienced in the early 1980s behind us, I believe time has come to open the conversation about the pros and cons of the National List model.
The past 15 years have shown Sri Lanka has moved past those treacherous times of the 80s. The country enjoys a precious state of ethnic harmony, understanding, and respect for each other, a marked distinction from the encumbrances that plagued us in the past.
Although the intent of the drafters of the Constitution had been sincere and timely, every class of previous Lists sitting in the parliament consisted of few individuals with questionable competency or potential for ability to govern. What part of national and public interest they represent is muddied, to say the least.
Furthermore, the List took its own evolutionary path, not envisioned or expected by the framers, and now appears outdated and unnecessary.
Thus, the twin or binary confusion of the moieties in the parliament chamber begs the question: If experience and expertise were prerequisites for the job of being an MP in the National List category, why not seek the same from the elected, the 196, as well? Or, since such a prerequisite is not required from the elected 196, why not ask the 29 group to enter the electoral process as well, representing assigned districts, and join as conventional MPs?
On the other hand, if the National List of 29 is so indispensable for the interests of the country as much as 196, why bother to mortgage the country to hold the elections to bring in the latter? Instead, why not commission the party leadership to nominate all 225? A few typed sheets of names will do the job. Money saved by this change will allow the Treasury to buy the basic needs of the people. Remember the Panadol days?
In a peculiar way, this governing model reminds me of the allegory in the story of the extraordinary twins in Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894). The twins, Italian counts Angelo and Luigi, immigrated to Dawson’s Landing, a frontier town on the banks of Mississippi River. They are conjoined at neck down, have two talking heads, four arms, one body, and two legs. The two heads can think differently and talk things simultaneously; four arms can move whichever way a head prefers, but two legs make the twins walk as one. The two heads have mutually agreed that every Sunday at 12 midnight ownership of the legs changed from one twin to the other. When one gets sick, even if the other’s head is healthy, the whole system breaks down and both heads feel the pain. Then the citizens in Dawson’s Landing call the only practicing physician in town, Dr. Claypool, who is yet to pass the licensing exam.
It is reassuring that since our electoral process has 70 years of experience, voters in Sri Lanka will do without Dr. Claypool’s medical Rx consisting of ingredients like a grain of gold, a bone of the stag’s heart, shavings of ivory, dates, roses, and scores of other items prescribed to ailing twins to correct the conjoined twin syndrome the Constitution has overwhelmed us with. Instead, voters will get the opportunity to heal the 29-class disorder at this forthcoming election. They can vote to stop the backdoor culture of governing and do something to remove the National List misnomer from the Constitution.
This time around, voters must think of our shadow bicameral system of governing while waiting in line to vote. They are at the doorstep of correcting this oddity by voting in a two-thirds majority for a political party of their choice.
Twins’ Story Update
: After Luigi was elected for Dawson’s Landing City Council, he was not allowed to attend 6-member executive council meetings open only to elected members. Council member Luigi was not allowed to sit in the Council chamber because Angelo was not eligible to sit as he was not an elected member. Without Luigi in the council meetings, there was no quorum, law making came to a standstill, and the town was paralyzed. It tried every loophole to make it possible for the twins to sit at the table but found no legal way to do it.
So, they hanged Luigi.
PALESTINE and IRELAND: UNITED BY PARTITION – I
by Jayantha Somasundaram
“Partition is the Englishman’s favourite way out of a difficulty. But it is a confession of failure” Irish Independent Dublin.
On Sunday, 15th December, Israel’s Foreign Minister closed their Embassy in Dublin. The following day The Jerusalem Post pointedly remarked that “if Israel were to close embassies in all countries that are diplomatically hostile, its number of representations would be dramatically reduced…Norway and Spain have also recognised a Palestinian state, and their criticism of Israel is often as equally harsh…the same is true of Belgium and smaller EU states such as Malta and Luxembourg.” Interestingly Dublin did not retaliate and closed its Embassy in Tel Aviv. Ireland had recognised Israel in 1963 and they exchanged Ambassadors in 1996.
The Irish Army has, since 1978, participated in the UN peacekeeping force in Southern Lebanon, named UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), as does the Sri Lanka Army. On three occasions UNIFIL was commanded by Irish Army officers. Not only has the Irish Army suffered 48 fatalities, the most casualties of any of the UNIFIL participants, but they claim that in 1987 Corporal Dermot McLoughlin was deliberately killed by Israeli tank fire.
Though the Tel Aviv-Dublin diplomatic standoff may seem trivial, and marginal, given the brutality, the intransigence and the intractability of the Israeli-Palestinian War, the Irish sideshow throws up a plethora of issues relating to history, religion, nationalism and conflict that impact on the main drama.
Though Jesus of Nazareth and His disciples were Asian, His most influential follower Paul, through his missions to Turkey and Greece in the first century, took Christianity to Europe. There, with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in AD313, Christianity became the religion of the Empire and consequently of Europe. And, in time, traditional European religions and local beliefs disappeared.
As early as the 4th Century missionaries to England established churches along the Bristol Channel; while St Patrick is revered as having Christianised Ireland in the 5th Century. Though England would become Protestant during the reign of King Henry VIII in the 16th Century, Ireland remained faithful to Roman Catholicism despite English persecution. But over the centuries many people in Northern Ireland did adopt Protestant Christianity.
The Irish War of Independence 1919-21 led ultimately to the predominantly Catholic southern counties becoming the State of Ireland in 1937. While Ulster, the predominantly Protestant counties of the north, remain part of the United Kingdom.
Jews in Europe
The Jewish presence in Europe preceded the rise of the Roman Empire. Once Christianity dominated Europe the Jews remained the exception, a conspicuous minority who rejected Christianity. Moreover, Jewish contemporaries of Christ had listened to Him, seen His miracles and yet refused to acknowledge Him; and succeeding generations in Europe, living among Christians, continued to deny Him. This refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah long promised to the Jews was construed not as ignorance, but diabolical obstinacy.
In fact St. Augustine (354-430) the most influential Christian theologian of his time, argued that Jewish communities should be allowed to survive in conditions of degradation and impotence to underline the failure of Judaism and the triumph of the Church. Consequently Christian attacks on Jewish Synagogues in Europe began as early as the fourth century. Soon the Jews would be denied all rights and access to office in Christian Europe.
The Greek Christian John Chrysostom in his ‘Sermons against the Jews,’ delivered in Antioch, presented the Jews as murderers of Christ. Thus by the 5th Century anti-Jewish pogroms spread even to Palestine resulting in the burning of entire villages. And in 629 when Emperor Heraclitus retook Jerusalem from the Persians, there was a massacre of Jews by Christian Rome.
In Spain, Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity on pain of death, and the Inquisition was established by the Church to uncover under torture, those Jews who remained secret believers. When the Moors from North Africa invaded Spain in 711 the Jews welcomed them because under the Caliph, Cordoba became a centre of Jewish learning, a city of Jewish scholars, philosophers, poets and scientists. By the 11th Century the Muslims had created an Islamic Commonwealth that stretched from Spain to India. To the Muslims, Jewish monotheism was as pure as their own.
Rumours that Christians were being ill-treated in Palestine by Jews and Muslims, fuelled hostility in Europe and sparked the Crusades. The first Crusade was launched in 1095, and as they marched across Europe these ‘holy warriors’ targeted the Jews. “Marauding crusaders on their way to the Middle East in 1096 stopped to slaughter Jews in the Rhineland. One crusader account recalls thus: Behold we journey a long way to seek the idolatrous shrine and to take vengeance upon the Muslims. But here are the Jews dwelling amongst us whose ancestors killed him and crucified him groundlessly. Let us take vengeance first upon them – let us wipe them out as a nation,” records Collin Hansen in the journal Christian History.
Martin Luther
Anti-Semitism
By the 15th Century Jews had been expelled from all major west European areas: Vienna in 1421, Cologne in 1424, Augsburg in 1439, Bavaria in 1442, Milan in 1489 and Florence in 1494. And in Venice, in 1541, the term ghetto nuovo was applied to the area in which the Jews were confined. European Jews tended, therefore, to move east into Poland, Lithuania and Russia.
In comparison to continental Europe the Jewish presence in Ireland was not significant, but when all Jews were expelled from England, in accordance with the Edict of Expulsion of 18 July 1290, a Jewish holy day (the ninth of Ab, commemorating the destruction of the Second Temple in AD70), it is believed that Jews in the English Pale in Dublin would have been also evicted.
Initially, European Jews had welcomed the Protestant Reformation in the expectation that the persecution they had endured for centuries at the hands of the Roman Church would end. Martin Luther in turn expected the Jews to voluntarily accept Protestant Christianity. When he realised that the Jews still remained faithful to their own beliefs, Luther turned on them with fury in his 1543 publication On the Jews and their Lies. “First their Synagogues should be set on fire…their homes smashed and destroyed…they should be put under one roof or in a stable like Gypsies…banned from roads and markets…their property seized…drafted into forced labour.” The Holocaust had been chartered!
Not only Karl Marx but Eduard Bernstein in Germany, Rosa Luxembourg in Russian Poland, Bela Kun in Hungary, Kurt Eisner in Bavaria and Leon Trotsky in Russia dominated revolutionary politics in Europe. Jews like Martov, Dan, Radek, Zinoviev and Trotsky were conspicuous in the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. The Russian Revolution prompted the creation and dissemination of a forged document, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion about an international Jewish conspiracy. The ‘Revolutionary Jew’ became a further excuse for Europe’s Christian establishment to persecute Jews.
Holocaust
Race theories that Nazi intellectuals were formulating concluded that as Teutonic Aryans, the Germans were inherently superior to the Jews of Semitic ancestry. Even before the Nazis took power in 1933, Jewish lecturers and students were being driven out of German universities. Adolf Hitler himself was explicit – as early as 1922 he said: The annihilation of the Jews will be my first and foremost task. Paradoxically, there is reason to believe that Hitler’s own father may have been the illegitimate son of a Jew.
Once they took power, the Nazis used the 1935 Nuremberg Decrees to strip the Jews of their basic rights. On the Kristallnacht or Crystal Night the Nazis attacked and looted Jewish shops and burned all the Synagogues. Hitler had promised a ‘final solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem.’
Himmler responded by opening the first concentration camp at Dachau. By the end of World War II in 1945, of the eight million Jews in German-occupied Europe, six million had been killed.
Not far from the Dachau concentration camp is the Bavarian village of Oberammergau. Because its inhabitants believed they were spared during the Bubonic plague of 1634, they enact a now world-famous passion play every 10 years. In 1934, having witnessed the performance, Adolf Hitler said, “it is vital that the passion play be continued; for never has the menace of Jewry been so convincingly portrayed. There one sees Pontius Pilate, a Roman racially and intellectually superior, who stands out like a firm, clean rock, in the middle of the whole muck and mire of Jewry.”
At the height of the Holocaust, in 1942, when the Papal Nuncio – the Pope’s Ambassador – in Slovakia was asked to intervene on behalf of Jewish children destined for the gas chambers, his response was: “There is no innocent blood of Jewish children in the world. All Jewish blood is guilty. You have to die. This is the punishment that has been awaiting you because of the sin of deicide (the murder of God).”
A contrite Pope John Paul II admitted in 1997, that many Christians had looked the other way during the Holocaust because in their estimation, the Jews were getting what they deserved for rejecting Christ.
By Ifham Nizam
The Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, biodiversity hotspots along India’s southeastern coastline, play a pivotal role in sustaining marine ecosystems and supporting the livelihoods of coastal communities. Amid growing concerns about climate change and human-induced pressures, a comprehensive study, titled Marine Ecosystem Status and Health Monitoring 2023-24, has brought much-needed attention to these vital regions.
Edited by Dr. Terney Pradeep Kumara of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, along with Dr. Jayanthi M. of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Dr. J. K. Patterson Edward from the Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, this publication focuses the importance of regular ecosystem monitoring.
Speaking to The Island, Dr. Kumara, Professor in Oceanography, Department of Oceanography and Marine Geology, University of Ruhuna/ Director of the Centre for International Affairs (CINTA), told The Island: “Marine ecosystems are the lifelines of coastal economies. Their degradation not only impacts biodiversity but also the communities that depend on them. Our study aims to provide actionable insights for sustainable management.” With over 4,000 species reported in the Gulf of Mannar alone, these ecosystems are treasures of marine biodiversity.
The report, authored by V. Naganathan, Deepak S. Bilgi, A. S. Marimuthu, T. K. Ashok Kumar, and Bakan Jagdish Sudhakar, highlights several key findings:
Coral Reefs: Live coral cover has seen a slight recovery in the Gulf of Mannar, increasing from 23.3% in 2022 to 23.5% in 2023. However, the Palk Bay’s coral cover remains precariously low at 18.4%.
Seagrass and Mangroves: Seagrass beds, critical for carbon sequestration, exhibit varying health across regions, while mangroves, vital for coastal protection, remain under threat from anthropogenic activities.
Pollution: While physico-chemical parameters are largely within safe limits, seasonal fluctuations and marine debris continue to pose significant challenges.
Dr. Kumara emphasizes the global significance of these findings: “As part of the Indo-Pacific realm, the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay hold a unique place in global marine conservation efforts. Collaborative actions between India and Sri Lanka are crucial.”
The report, backed by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, and other key stakeholders, provides a framework for future conservation efforts. Dr. Kumara and his co-editors, Dr. Jayanthi and Dr. Patterson Edward, hope the findings will catalyze policy changes and foster stronger community involvement.
“This decade is critical,” Dr. Kumara concludes. “We must act now to ensure that future generations inherit thriving oceans.”
For conservationists, policymakers, and researchers alike, this report is a clarion call to protect the invaluable marine ecosystems of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay.
Marine Ecosystem Monitoring: Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay (2023-2024)
The Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, located along the southeastern coast of India, are biodiversity hotspots with immense ecological and economic significance. These marine ecosystems encompass coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests, supporting a vast array of flora and fauna while providing livelihoods to coastal communities. This article explores the findings of the 2023-24 monitoring report, highlighting the status and health of these ecosystems, the threats they face, and recommendations for their conservation.
The Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay fall within the Indo-Pacific realm, known as the world’s richest region for marine biodiversity. With over 4,000 species reported in the Gulf of Mannar and nearly 3,300 species in Palk Bay, these ecosystems are critical for sustaining marine life. The Gulf of Mannar is India’s first marine biosphere reserve and was designated as a Ramsar site in 2022.
However, these ecosystems are vulnerable to both climatic and non-climatic factors, including coral bleaching, pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction. Recognizing this, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has established permanent monitoring sites to assess and manage the health of these vital habitats.
Dr. Terney Pradeep Kumara
Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. The monitoring data for 2023-24 revealed a slight improvement in coral health in the Gulf of Mannar compared to previous years:
The live coral cover averaged 23.5% in the Gulf of Mannar and 18.4% in Palk Bay. However, these figures are significantly lower than the baseline of 37% recorded in 2005 due to multiple bleaching events and human-induced stressors.
Some 70 coral species were identified in the Gulf of Mannar and 36 in Palk Bay. Massive corals dominated, followed by branching and table forms.
Juvenile Coral Density: This metric, indicative of reproductive success, averaged 9.0 m2 in the Gulf of Mannar and 5.8 m2 in Palk Bay.
Coral reefs are threatened by invasive species like Kappaphycus alvarezii, marine debris, and rising sea temperatures, which have consistently exceeded the bleaching threshold during summers.
Seagrass Meadows
Seagrass beds are crucial for nutrient cycling, coastal protection, and as habitats for species like dugongs and sea turtles. The study recorded:
Seagrass Cover: The Gulf of Mannar showed seagrass coverage ranging between 27.9% and 67.8%, while Palk Bay ranged between 19.5% and 60.9%.
Species Diversity:
Nine seagrass species were identified, with Cymodocea serrulata, Syringodium isoetifolium, and Thalassia hemprichii being the most common.
Shoot Density: Higher in regions with greater seagrass cover, showcasing a healthy ecosystem.
Mangrove Forests
Mangroves are natural buffers against coastal erosion and provide critical habitats for marine organisms. The study recorded:
Gulf of Mannar: The largest mangrove cover was in the Tamiraparani river estuary, spanning 172 hectares. Four mangrove species were identified, including Avicennia marina and Rhizophora mucronata.
Palk Bay: The Karankadu region had the highest mangrove cover of 250 hectares, with three dominant species.
Challenges: Mangroves face threats from habitat destruction, pollution, and encroachment.
Coastal Pollution
Physico-chemical parameters indicated that water and sediment quality were generally within acceptable levels. However, seasonal fluctuations caused by strong winds and water currents led to elevated turbidity and suspended solid levels. Heat stress during summer also exacerbated coral bleaching.
Marine Debris: Significant debris was observed, affecting 838 m2 of reef area in the Gulf of Mannar and 90 m2 in Palk Bay.
Conservation Efforts and Recommendations
The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has taken steps to mitigate threats and improve the health of these ecosystems:
Invasive Species Control: Manual removal of Kappaphycus alvarezii has significantly reduced its spread.
Community Involvement: Programmes, like eco-development committees and self-help groups, empower local communities to engage in conservation.
Regular Monitoring: Permanent monitoring sites provide long-term data critical for effective management.
Recommendations: Strengthen marine protected areas and expand eco-sensitive zones.
Promote sustainable fishing practices and regulate tourism.
Enhance public awareness about marine conservation.
Continue monitoring and restore degraded habitats using scientific interventions.
The Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay are ecological treasures that require vigilant protection. While the current state of these ecosystems is fair, ongoing threats necessitate robust conservation efforts. By fostering a balance between biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods, these marine ecosystems can thrive for generations to come.
by Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne
(Former Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy
and Former Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Pakistan)
The Navy, under the aegis of its Commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera and his lady, and President of Sri Lanka Navy Seva Vanitha Unit, Mala Lamahewa, conducted the National Canoeing and Kayaking Competition in the Jaffna lagoon last September. It was a difficult task as boats/equipment and teams required to be transported to Jaffna.
The National Regatta, held in the Jaffna lagoon off the picturesque Jaffna Dutch Fort, under the able leadership of the President of the National Association in Canoeing and Kayaking in Sri Lanka (NACKSL) Rear Admiral Chinthaka Kumaratunge, and with the assistance of Secretary of NACKSL Captain Wijesiri – injured Navy Special Forces (SBS) officers and their staff.
Practising at Diyawanna Oya
Canoeing champs
Delft Dragon Boat youngest member receiving her gift from Mala Lamahewa
What is interesting was that the Boys and Girls teams from Delft Maha Vidyalum beat all Colombo Schools in the Dragon Boat category, after just one week of training !
It was amazing to see these youngsters paddling together as a team and winning both the categories convincingly.
The President of the Navy Seva Vanitha Unit, who was present with the Chief Secretary of the Northern Province, L Ilangovan, kept to her promise and arranged these talented Northern Children to visit Colombo last week and undergo special training sessions at the Diyawanna Oya Navy Rowing Club, under the guidance of proper coaches.
Out of 42 children who visited Colombo, under Navy arrangements, 32 of them were visiting Colombo for the first time. They were delighted. Students of other leading schools joined their counterparts from the North at Navy Rowing Club and now they have friends in the Delft Island when they visit Jaffna next time and enjoy the breakfast at Deft Island with pittu, Ssodai curry and sambol!
The children were hosted to Dinner at the Navy’s Wave-N-Lake Restaurant at Walisara and the First Lady of the Navy had a gift each for those students from Jaffna .
They are badly in need of two Dragon Boats and I wonder if there is anyone who could sponsor them?
Canoeing is in their blood. They paddle Theppam with their fathers every morning, before going to school!
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