Life style

“Selling the Family Silver” and India-SL bilateral relations

Published

4 years ago

2021/01/24

by Dr Sarala Fernando

A remark attributed to the US Congress that “Sri Lanka is a valuable piece of real estate” had made the news here hinting at the strategic value of our island location while some had connected the remark to the MCC, an economic project integral to the US pivot to the Indo Pacific.

This sudden interest in Sri Lanka’s land assets made the headlines after Harvard economists in 2016 advised on the incorporation of a land project under the MCC to address constraints to national growth by a re-survey, re-valuation and deed grants on lands around the country. Local experts argued that such a programme would lead to pressure on smallholders to sell land to more powerful entities for commercial exploitation increasing rural poverty, environmental and wild life destruction and water scarcity.

The Harvard economists and the MCC have come and gone. However, it seems the spirit of their view of land as a commodity is still alive judging by recent government decision to release nearly 1.5 million acres of other state forests to be repurposed for development work. This has become a hot topic of discussion and environmentalists have filed court cases to revert to the previous protection provided to unrecognized forest covers.

The silent constituents, the trees and the animals have felt the brunt of this decision with the increased deforestation and destruction of mangroves, the killing of large mammals like elephants and even our prized leopards and most recently hundreds of birds found dead, probably poisoned, off Wilpattu. Are there criminal gangs behind the sudden spate of shooting of tuskers and snaring of leopards, questions still not answered by the authorities? The government focus on land has extended to the urban areas where long standing wholesale markets, social and sports clubs have been taken over by the UDA with scant explanation of the reasons behind the seizures and plans for redevelopment of these valuable lands (urban housing/recreation for the public?). Selling lands, the equivalent of the proverbial “family silver” is to be expected in these extraordinary times where Sri Lanka has heavy foreign debt obligations.

However since the government land acquisition strategy remains opaque, without consultation or explanation of any business plan, public protests are now spreading even to non-agricultural foreign investment proposals ranging from allocating the ECT terminal in Colombo port and the KKS port to India, to mining of titanium from sands in Mannar – a water scarce area – to an Australian company . Land issues came to the fore early when the Tourism authorities set up a one-stop shop for new hotel construction despite the crisis in the hotel industry with the Covid epidemic and drying up of tourist flows. In other countries, empty hotels are being taken over by the government and converted to new uses like urban housing; however our authorities seem more concerned about allocating land in water shortage areas like Kalpitiya and Mirissa for 600 room hotels, so called “foreign” investments promoted by local barons.

In Yala, a new foreign managed hotel has suddenly emerged and is said to be destined for those “high spending” East European tourists irrespective that Yala is suffering from over-tourism and the animals are more in need of food and water. Added to the confusion, in parliament it was announced that the source of the second wave of Covid infection had been traced to a Ukrainian pilot and now the public is in a panic over the pilot project to bring in hundreds of Ukrainian tourists.

Public protests are spreading in agriculture areas with the Mahaweli authorities demarcating lands for large scale foreign investment taking from forest reservations and commons, dislocating animal feeding grounds and overriding even the demands of the local villagers for protection of their rights to customary land and forest use.

A recent news item featured the Agriculture Ministry offering Rs 700 million to local farmers to grow fruit for a foreign multinational company which will provide the plants and drip technology and presumably buy the fruit cheap and retain the export earnings for its own profit! What will be the value addition for the government if they have also provided tax concessions for the foreign investor? Even more serious, what will be the negative impact of these tasteless new hybrids on our heritage varieties of delicious local pineapple and bananas? Once the valuable land is allocated, the promised foreign money transfer may not even take place, the foreign investor’s preference usually being to bring in little foreign exchange and to borrow from local banks. Thus, when there is trouble, the “footloose” foreign investor gets away leaving local banks and insurances saddled with non-performing loans.

From the time of the Greek civilization, people have been lamenting over the vagaries of weather and other threats invariably faced by agriculture, which makes large scale operations a risky business. The problem is that tax concessions are being offered today to promote large- scale agriculture without the safeguards to prevent expensive failures. Even local large plantation companies are finding it difficult to operate today with all their experience, given the issues of soil depletion, non use of chemical pesticides and fertilizer and rising labour costs. Yet it seems an intrepid developer with more experience in seafaring than agriculture had demanded 40,000 acres to grow maize – (mind you he may not have heard about the fallworm crisis). Fortunately those in charge of the Mahaweli lands had allocated only 5,000 acres for a trial project but still this is hardly a good example of due diligence which should look for experience in agriculture rather than the usage of prison labour, as announced by the entrepreneur.

Before it is too late, we should learn from the experience of our neighbour India. I recall a lecture by the eminent Dr M. S. Swaminathan many years ago at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute (then Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations) where he prophesied that the intensive agriculture “green revolution” would eventually render barren productive areas of their country due to heavy chemical applications degrading the soil. In India today, they are returning to traditional farming practices to revive the soil, re-foresting and trying to connect the farmer to the markets.

Instead of cattle grazing on open land, sheds are being constructed within the village and herders encouraged to bring feed to the cattle. Should we not even now look to small, smart and more sustainable practices to make small farmers more independent? Talking with farmers growing organic high value rice varieties on their lands in Wellawaya with support from Jetwing, it seems they still have faith in traditional practices, calling the mechanical harvester “boothaya” and preferring to bring down buffaloes from Bandarawela to the tractor! Bangladesh is tapping the Indian experience in elephant conservation which is a new area of their bilateral cooperation. Private sector investors in India have recently set up a hospital for treatment of sick domesticated elephants with ultra modern equipment.

Here in Sri Lanka, despite the interest of private philanthropists, the government appears unwilling to give land for an elephant sanctuary or “soft” release area for translocated bull elephants. A central question is why, as a Buddhist nation, Sri Lankans have not included into the Constitution, the protection of animals and living creatures as illustrated in every step of the Gautama Buddha’s life journey and his preachings? Even today, many proposals to strengthen the environmental safeguards and ethical treatment for animals have been sent to the Committee to prepare a new Constitution, but no one has even received an acknowledgement! By contrast, the Indian Constitution is way ahead of us, Article 51-A (g) which deals with Fundamental Duties of the citizens states: “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.”

Our land endowment also includes the small islands, over 100 around the mainland, enabling extension over expanses of territorial seas. Instead of pushing only commercial fisheries, should the government not think about declaring a marine sanctuary zone all around our island, a domestic security Zone of Peace with proper management safeguards for national land and maritime resources? Sri Lanka received too many multi-day boats after the tsunami, several of which have been converted to nefarious purposes like illicit immigration and smuggling.

Furthermore, why prioritize investment in commercial fisheries at a time when global attention is being called to clean

ing the oceans, replenishing fish stocks, restoring coral reefs and mangroves affected by rising sea waters and ocean temperature rise? Protecting our seas and coastline should be given high priority since our island is in the vicinity of some of the busiest sea lanes in the world and vulnerable to disasters such as New Diamond oil tanker which caught fire off the East Coast.

Cooperation with India has been vital in this regard throughout the years as they have access to both expertise and stocks of fire fighting foam which can be quickly deployed.

While enhancing cooperation with India in addressing marine disasters and security issues such as smuggling, illicit immigration and terrorism/criminal related activities of mutual concern, as a small state with no pretensions for offensive power projection, we should feel free to disagree with India on the imperatives of high defence spending and partnering with the US on security manoeuvres in the Indian Ocean with their latest weaponry.

The recent Malabar naval exercises by the Quad in the Bay of Bengal and naval sonars are believed to have impacted the unprecedented beaching of some 100 pilot whales in Kalutara around the same time, rescued after a marathon effort by our navy and volunteers.

(Sarala Fernando, retired from the Foreign Ministry as Additional Secretary and her last Ambassadorial appointment was as Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. Her Ph.D was on India-Sri Lanka relations and she writes now on foreign policy, diplomacy and protection of heritage).

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Life style

Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society gifts sight to the world

Published

6 days ago

2025/03/16

Thilina Walpola

A School Eye Camp

Founded by the late Dr. Hudson Silva, the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society (SLEDS) which is nearing 65 years is the first of its kind in the world to provide corneas completely free of charge to locals as well as foreigners through its International Eye Bank. Among the donors of eyes are several Presidents and Prime Ministers of the country. The other affiliated bodies of SLEDS are the Dr. Hudson Silva Memorial Eye Hospital and the Human Tissue Bank which provide a yeoman service to the public.

BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE

At age 18, Eranga Madushan’s future looked bleak with keratoconus (a disorder of the eye that results in progressive thinning of the cornea) claiming both his eyes. Thanks to his physician’s recommendation for a corneal transplant, Eranga was fortunate to have received suitable corneas from the Eye Bank of the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society which were successfully transplanted at the Kandy National Hospital.

Now 22-years old, this young man from Minipe has successfully finished his education and is employed. “I even passed the vision test and got my driving license – all made possible thanks to the noble service of the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society,” says Eranga.

His is one of thousands of such success stories. These exemplify the thought-provoking discourse of Sivi Jathaka story delivered by the Buddha when, in one of his Bodhisathva’s births, he gave away his eyes to a blind beggar. There cannot be a better living testimony to this concept of dana than the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society (SLEDS), now approaching 65 years.

Separating the cornea from whole globe

Giving life to a dead eye

In 1958 Hudson Silva, a medical student started a campaign under the banner, ‘Give life to a dead eye,’ to popularize the donation of eyes after death to obtain corneas for the Colombo Eye Hospital which had long waiting lists for eye replacements but without sufficient donors. Eyes at this point were obtained only from those who died without custodians in hospitals and homes for the elders and executed prisoners.

With the help of newspaper articles and public meetings, Hudson Silva’s campaign continued. By 1961, he had qualified and appointed a resident surgeon at the Colombo Eye Hospital. SLEDS got underway officially in a very small scale on June 11, 1961 at Dr. Silva’s Ward Place home in Colombo. Among the 40 founding members of the Society was Dr. Silva’s mother who pledged her eyes to be donated after death. When she died shortly thereafter, he himself grafted her corneas on the eyes of a poor farmer and thereby restored his sight. In 1965, Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake presiding at the official opening of the International Eye Bank, pledged his eyes after death. After his demise in 1973, his wishes were fulfilled.

With the objective of extending this service to foreigners awaiting eye replacements, Dr. Silva started connecting with senior eye surgeons from various parts of the world. In 1964 he dispatched his first eyes overseas – flying three set of donor eyes packed in dry ice to Singapore’s Government General Hospital. Thus commenced the country’s international eye donations on a Vesak Poya Day when five Singaporeans regained their sight.

Following the wide media coverage this attracted the world over, SLEDS was able to open its doors to the entire world. In the late 70s, on government-donated land on Vidya Mawatha in Colombo 7, SLEDS’ headquarters along with its Eye Bank were relocated and the present building was built with the help of Japanese funds. It was opened by the then Prime Minister R. Premadasa in 1984.

President William Gopallawa at the event of donating the the land at Vidya Mawatha, Colombo to set up SLEDS

Global demand

Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment, according to the WHO statistics. In at least one billion of these, vision impairment could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness at a global level are refractive errors and cataracts.Vision impairment, according to the WHO, poses an enormous global financial burden, with the annual global cost of productivity losses estimated to be US$ 411 billion.

The demand for corneal transplants (keratoplasty) is on the rise with increasing prevalence of eye diseases and the rising elderly population. “Global statistics indicate that over 12.5 million people worldwide are waiting for corneal transplants. We are committed to bridge this gap every year by donating corneas and to date our International Eye Bank had donated 95,151 corneas to foreigners from 57 countries. In addition, nearly 60,000 locals including many soldiers injured in combat, have received corneas,” says the Senior Manager of the SLEDS’ International Eye Bank, J.S. Matara Arachchi.

Donor registration

Having ‘grown’ with the institution since he was recruited in 1979 by the founder himself, Matara Arachchi says that the Eye Bank has decentralized its operations today with 150 branches island-wide enabling more people to become potential donors. The online consent registration facility is also available now on the SLEDS website. “We see an overwhelming interest among youth registering themselves with us to donate their eyes which is very encouraging,” says the official noting that many Sri Lanka Presidents and Prime Ministers have donated their eyes. “A cornea taken from President J.R. Jayewardene was split in two and grafted on to two Japanese patients and his other cornea was grafted onto a local patient,” he says.

Dr Hudson Silva

Potential donors need to be excluded from certain diseases for them to be eligible donors. Apart from registered donors, corneas from the dead are also donated by surviving family members. The youngest such donor was a four-year-old whose parents offered to donate their deceased child’s eyes to help another regain vision.

Harvesting of the eye needs to be done within four hours of a person’s death and the cornea itself has to be used on a patient within 14 days explains Matara Arachchi. “We hardly have any corneas left beyond the shelf life given the big demand for them. In case any are not grafted, they are often used to practice surgery and research purposes.” Donation of eyes does not cause any disfiguration to a body of a deceased, says the official who reiterates that the process enables the donor to look natural.

Preserving a single cornea cost about USD 300- 450 says the official. Corneas are donated to patients operated in both the state and private hospitals without discrimination. The institution, he says, is run on donations made by individuals and organizations. “Although we do not charge foreign recipients, many of them come forward to assist the institutions as means of expessing goodwill and appreciation.”

Eranga Madushan who regained sight thanks to the International Eye Bank

Free eye care

The eye hospital founded by Dr. Hudson Silva in 1992 at the Vidya Mawatha premises, was named in his honour after his death. It is committed to make eye care available to local patients at an affordable price aligned with the vision of its founder. The hospital is equipped with a fully-fledged operating theatre and an OPD with state-of-the-art equipment. Dr. M.H.S Cassim, a former consultant at the National Eye Hospital serves as the Medical Director of the SLEDS and Dr. Shamintha Amaratunge serves as consultant surgeon. “The hospital performs nearly 1,200 cataract surgeries per year and the patients are provided with lenses completely free of charge. In addition, we also provide spectacles to needy people,” says the Eye Hospital’s Manager, H.D.A.J Abhayawardena.

He adds that island-wide eye camps at village and school level are conducted by them to make eye care more accessible to people. The contact lenses laboratory is another ambitious initiative of the SLEDS which is planning to expand its work says Abhayawardena. “With the help of Japanese technology, we set up our own production plant to manufacture contact lenses locally- the first of its kind here at home. This venture can save a lot of money spent on imported lenses.”

Human Tissue Bank

Following the passing of the Human Tissue Transplantation Act in 1987, Dr. Hudson Silva succeeded in establishing the Human Tissue Bank of SLEDS in 1996 enabling Lankans to donate human tissue and limbs in addition to the eyes. “Only people under 70 who are free of certain diseases are eligible to donate tissue and limbs after death and we need to obtain the tissue within 12 hours of a person’s death,” says the Manager of the Tissue Bank, T.B Prabath.

Many orthopedic, plastic, cardiac, neuro, eye and maxillo-facial surgeons have successfully grafted these tissues. During the time of the war, many in armed forces have benefited from the Tissue Bank, says Prabath. “There is an overwhelming demand for tissues for patients involved in motor traffic accidents and those who have sustained burn injuries,” says Prabath urging more people to come forward to pledge their support.

Fashion

Mythical Ceylon Collection by CHARINI

Published

6 days ago

2025/03/16

Thilina Walpola

By Zanita Careem

CHARINI is a well-known brand renowned for its bold yet elegant statement designs and unique concepts. This season,popular designer CHARINI will be presenting a collection that gives Sri Lankan traditional art a contemporary twist, bringing the mythical creatures of Sri Lankan history to life, beautified with floral elements from ancient paintings.

Each element has been meticulously hand-drawn with intricate details, staying true to the rich heritage of Sri Lankan artistry. These hand-drawn illustrations have then been carefully transformed into artworks, which are printed onto fabric to seamlessly blend tradition with modern design. This fusion of craftsmanship and innovation brings a unique depth to each piece in the collection. This is… the Mythical Ceylon Collection by CHARINI.’’

Life style

Experience a memorable Iftar at Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort

Published

6 days ago

2025/03/16

Thilina Walpola

This Holy Month, Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort invites guests to gather in the spirit of Ramadan and indulge in a sumptuous Iftar dinner buffet at S Kitchen, during this month of Ramazan said a press release.

The release said to begin the evening, guests can break their fast with a thoughtfully curated selection, including dates, kanji or soup, dry fruits, and a choice of four refreshing beverages. Light hot appetizers such as samosas, spring rolls, fish rolls, fish buns, mini pizzas, cutlets, mini hot dogs, and satays, along with fresh salads and assorted sandwiches, ensure a nourishing start to the meal.

Following the breaking of fast, guests can then indulge in a lavish Iftar dinner buffet, featuring a rich international spread crafted by our culinary team. From Middle Eastern delights to Sri Lankan specialties and a variety of global flavors.

The Iftar dinner buffet also offers a special promotion, where when you ‘Reserve For Five, One Dines Free’, making it the perfect way to celebrate together with family and friends.

At Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort one can enjoy a truly heartwarming Iftar experience, blending tradition, community, and world-class cuisine in an elegant setting said the release.