Author: Rohan Samarajiva

July 3, 2008 (LBO) – In mid 2006, I wrote a column entitled “The Sri Lankan state: Failed, failing or maligned?” It was about a comparative ranking on countries on their likelihood of becoming failed states.  At the end of a critical assessment of their methodology, I concluded that “Notwithstanding these methodological problems, the index does […]

May 19, 2008 (LBO) – The loss of tens of thousands of lives in Burma (Myanmar) in our region’s largest human disaster since the 2004 tsunami reminds us once again of the urgency of solving the problem of the last mile of the early-warning chain. I no longer call these events “natural” because, for the […]

May 08, 2008 (LBO) – As an educator, I have found the economic transaction at the heart of education to be deeply problematic. If I was selling bread, and gave the customer less than what she paid for, she’d be outraged and haul me before the Consumer Protection Authority, if not worse. When in the […]

Mar 31, 2008 (LBO) – A Bill will be brought to Parliament within days to give broad-ranging discretion to the Minister in charge of the subject of Finance (President Rajapaksa at this time) to impose an environment conservation levy on households (as defined by the Bill),  goods made in Sri Lanka or imported into Sri Lanka […]

Feb 25, 2008 (LBO) – Reactions to the 2nd Galle Literary Festival that very successfully concluded last month testify to the entrenched strength of statist thinking in this country. It could also be interpreted as more evidence of the pre-eminent role of envy in the Sri Lankan psyche (Rusiyavata vadiya lokui irisiyava as three-wheeler philosophy puts […]

Feb 18, 2008 (LBO) – The rather unusual step taken by the CEB to actually follow the law and make available for comment its proposed tariff has stirred up significant interest.   This short contribution will not address all the issues pertaining to the tariff revision, but simply seeks to shed some light on one key proposal: […]

Jan 28, 2008 (LBO) – At a conference organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, an interesting question came from the audience: what would be the most globally competitive sectors of the Sri Lanka economy in ten years? The top sector that most of the panellists agreed on was agriculture, though one panellist did raise […]

Dec 24, 2007 (LBO) – The big news is that the CEO of the airline with the highest number of flights out of Colombo and a major investor has been stripped of his residency permit by the government body established to encourage foreign investment. Like the Appos of yore, the VIPs have to keep up […]

Nov 09, 2008 (LBO) – “I, therefore propose to introduce an Environment Conservation Levy Act ensuring environment conservation. Individuals, businesses or items considered as harmful to the environment will be subject to this levy. The Central Environmental Authority will be empowered to register relevant Chief Occupant to enable the process of recovering of this levy. […]

Oct 29, 2007 (LBO) – The Supreme Court is going to do to traffic in Colombo what it did to Year One admissions to popular schools.   It has ordered the submission of an action plan to reduce air pollution caused by vehicles in Colombo city by mid November 2007. Presumably, it will then hand down fine-grained […]

Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – It’s a strange question.  It has always been Posts AND Telecom, even back in the bad old days when it was an inconsequential Ministry given to a junior/marginal Minister.   It has been one of the few constants in the ever-changing kaleidoscope of Ministry nomenclature. But it is a choice.  A choice, […]

Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) – Once Parliament figures out what really happened when the taxation provisions were supposedly debated and passed on the 6th of September, hopefully, we will find out that the regressive LKR 50 tax on mobile subscribers has been removed. So much for the braggadocio of the Government Whip, Minister Fernandopulle, about getting […]