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Avinash Pandey Things were already turning bad after almost three decades of success in fight against hunger and starvation. Reversing the trend, hunger has been rising consistently since 2017, and the last four years have seen millions falling through the net and becoming hungry for the first time. By the end of 2019, 820 million […]

विजय शंकर सिंह  हाल ही में, हरियाणा में किसानों के एक आंदोलन पर पुलिस द्वारा बर्बर लाठी चार्ज किया गया है। किसान सरकार द्वारा पारित तीन नए अध्यादेशों या कानून का विरोध कर रहे थे। किसानों से जुड़े तीनो नए कानून देखने मे भले प्रगतिशील लगें बल्कि असल मे, वे प्रतिगामी सोच के साथ ड्राफ्ट किये गए हैं और […]

प्रकृतिसँग मानवसहित सिंगो प्राणी जगत्लाई आवश्यक प्राकृतिक श्रोतसाधन उपलब्ध गराई जैविक चक्रको निरन्तरता दिने क्षमता हुन्छ । प्रकृतिको यस्तो क्षमतालाई संरक्षण गर्दै पछि आउने पुस्ताका लागि समेत विकासका प्रतिफलहरुको निरन्तर लाभ दिलाउने विकास प्रक्रिया नै “दिगो विकास” हो । सुरुआतमा वातावरणसँग जोडिएको दिगो विकासको अवधारणालाई हाल आएर आर्थिक तथा सामाजिक विकास र वातावरण संरक्षणसँग जोडेर हेरिन्छ । […]

By – Basil Fernando With to the 20th amendment, once again Sri Lanka will return to the 1978’s constitution in its original form. From the making of that constitution up to now has been a wasted time for Sri Lanka from the point of view of the development of an organized society capable of meeting […]

Written by Mr. Gugus Elmo Ra’is1 In a virtual light discussion between me and the Asian Human Rights Commission, Mr. Basil Fernando and human rights activist, Mr. Bejo Untung, as well as human rights activist and academician, Mr. Chrisbiantoro, we obtained a common thread that human rights enforcement and law enforcement are inseparable parts of […]

Written by Mr. Gugus Elmo Ra’is1 Dalam sebuah diskusi ringan secara virtual antara saya, dengan Asian Human Rights Commission, Mr. Basil Fernando serta aktivis HAM, Mr. Bejo Untung, serta aktivis HAM sekaligus akademisi, Mr. Crisbiantoro diperoleh sebuah benang merah jika penegakkan HAM serta supremasi hukum (law enforcement) menjadi bagian tak terpisahkan dalam tujuan pembangungan berkelanjutan […]

By: Ma. Hazel Joy Faco Out of breath from running around the city with a big placard in one hand and a heavy, borrowed tripod on the other, I stood in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul with eighty other activists demanding for an official apology and reparation from the Japanese government. After that […]

By Basil Fernando SINHALA VERSION Sunil Jayawardene was a representative for three-wheele drivers. He who went to make a representation to a finance company on behalf of one of the vehicle owners, whose three-wheeler had been taken by agents of that company. Sunil was assaulted by eight or more people in front of the company […]

බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මේ දිනවල අපේකම පිළිබදව වැදගත් සාකච්ඡාවක් නිර්මාණය වෙමින් පවතී. මෙයට එක් ප‍්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වන්නේ දැනට ලංකාෙව් සමස්ථ ජනතාව තුලම ලංකාෙව් ප‍්‍රාග් ඉතිහාසය පිළිබද ගෙව්ශණ වල සොයා ගැනීම් පැතිරීමට පටන්ගෙන තිබෙන නිසාය. මෙය අතිශයින් වැදගත් වන සාකච්ඡාවක මුල් අවධියකි. මේ නිසා අපේකම යන්න පිළිබද අදහස ලංකාෙව් විකාශනය වී ඇති ආකාරය පිළිබදව කල්පනා කිරීම වටී. […]

By Shanthikumar Hettiarahchi Time and again the rhetoric of war comes to the frontline conversations and debate in international relations. The North American, as well as the European power blocks are in shock and dismay about what has befallen on their secure and comfortably wealthy economies. Deaths in thousands even though less emphasis laid on […]

By Basil Fernando For the purpose of this short essay, I use ‘folk school’ to mean the ideas of the folk school which were developed in Denmark by NFS Grundtvig and the folk school movement. The same methodology was also followed by Myles Horton of the United States. After spending several years in Denmark visiting […]

By Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi Francis Fukuyama in his Identity: Demand for Dignity and Politics of Resentment (2018) from particular perspective is a ‘soft apology’ for a ‘ miscalculated and misinterpreted’ narrative in his End of History and the Last man (1992). Some argue that he more or less provided the ideological foundation to the basically unsubstantiated […]

BY Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi I watched every single day during the self-imposed quarantine period that a flock of ‘great white pelicans’ (migrating birds) settling on a Banyan tree (ficus Benghalensis) about 30 meters across from my window. My count of them on their way to settle for the night was at least 20+. I had tried […]

By Basil Fernando  Church bells will ring and lights will be lit to remember the 2019 Easter Sunday tragedy. Meanwhile, people have also been putting up a fight against the deadly coronavirus. For some, both events will only have a political meaning, depending on what political loyalties they are committed to. In that way, the […]

BY Basil Fernando In his writings, including the book, Common Sense, Thomas Paine celebrated the triumph of reason. He saw the modern age as a product of reason and that all knowledge and all approaches to life should be based on reason alone. This was a characteristic of his age, the age that began with […]

By Basil Fernando Father James Hurley, a great man and a humanist, passed away last week. I had the privilege of associating with Father Hurley since 1970. He impressed me as a man who was very deeply concerned with individuals as well as on the great social issues of his time. As a human being, […]

By Basil Fernando I have borrowed the title of this article from the immortal work of Robert Lewis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This novel is about a mysterious and tragic transformation caused by the use of certain chemicals. By the use of such chemical concoctions, Dr. Jekyll, an amiable, […]

By Avinash Pandey Despite all the claims of them too being “atoot ang” or unbreakable part of the country, news from the North Eastern states of India seldom make it to the national headlines, with The Telegraph, published from Kolkata being an exception, perhaps because of its proximity. So there were no surprises on national […]

By Basil Fernando This article is about the manner in which unscrupulous lawyers could manipulate delays in the law to their personal advantage. This type of behavior is now a permanent feature in Sri Lanka’s legal system. Analysis of the methods used for such manipulation are based on experiences from actual cases. Reflections on the […]

By Basil Fernando The 2019 election has not generated any real enthusiasm among the people. There have been the usual rituals of meetings, distribution of rice parcels, promises of other little santhosom (gifts) – those are what the sovereign people of Sri Lanka have been offered. In reality, they have been left with a beggar’s […]