Do you even know that the Indians are pouring in tens of thousands of troops into Kashmir today?

There is trouble brewing in Kashmir and India has asked all tourists to vamoose, as their security cannot be guaranteed and they are pouring in troops to this disputed region, in order to quell a potential uprising.

The world is silent as they don’t want to get involved and have their own problems and even the well-known rather unbiased international media are keeping mum! Such is the power of power, Indian style.

So make no bones about it, little Sri Lanka is not and never will be in that situation and cannot call the shots. Our foreign and domestic policy must be such that we know how to balance competing interests and do whatever it takes to benefit the Country, its strategic interests and take from whomever it gets, not be frightened to tell the opposition goons who have no clue about diplomacy nor understand sovereignty of a nation that is not powerful.

The Indian Govt. with Modi’s new found moral authority, is willing to go the whole hog and change the dynamics of how Kashmir is ruled. Read the links below for further information.

I am sure Pakistan is contemplating what moves they can make, but don’t want to interfere, as they have their own issues internally and the Afghanistan issues to contend with the Taliban, allowing India to effectively dictate terms.

Of course poor Sri Lanka will not dare even squeal as the Indian tiger will just Roar and our frightened leaders will just cower in fear, their words of bravado reserved for the local dimwits who believe any crap that is laid on them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/05/india-revoke-disputed-kashmir-special-status

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/05/kashmir-leaders-placed-under-arrest-amid-security-crackdown

This action of India is a salutary reminder of the possible, if we try to embrace Chinese too much into our bosom. It is just was well that potential power seekers understand the ground reality, of the delicate game that has to be played.

Narendra Modi is a fierce counterbalance to Xi Jinping of China, our jokers need to know how to play the game of balance, keeping both super powers happy with Sri Lanka. We need to warn the politicians who do otherwise, to keep their traps firmly shut, if they call themselves patriots, as nationalists we don’t want anything to do with that moniker in the present environment.

In the context of two mass killings in the USA – and how it does not draw IRE! When compared to the travel advisory issued by the US Embassy.

Sri Lankans are left wondering about the incomprehensibility with which the US Embassy issues a travel advisory for Sri Lanka on 2^nd August warning people to avoid public places, just in case, where as in the US packed store was open season for a homegrown terrorist to commit mayhem, or a restaurant where normal people also gather as another place that is unsafe.

It is fair therefore to feel slighted and perturbed by the actions of the US Govt. (the embassy after all is an adjunct of their State Department) which affect tourism adversely, where one asks doesn’t US mass shootings affect their security, or the security of a visitor.

The flip side of this argument is that the SL Government can issue a travel advisory IN THE USA via its embassy warning Sri Lankan citizens there about the dangers of home grown terrorism that could appear anywhere, and where one least expects it. The fact that the shooter in Ohio who killed 9 did so within the 30 seconds available to him, before he was shot dead speaks volumes for the deadly arms that are effectively freely available to the citizens, and could have if there were no cops nearby, have left even more people dead and injured.

I am sure the US govt. will not complain about an advisory, unlike the SL govt. which is complaining now, as being unfair. Only potential threats have necessitated the advisory. The real issue is a travel advisory from the US affects the SL economy, and the vice versa situation does not affect the US economy at all, and therein lies the inability to counterbalance the argument itself.

For the appreciation of the argument the homicide rate in the US is 4.9per 100k while in SL it is 2.9per 100k, so the US is a distinctly more dangerous place. However people don’t come to SL because our homicide rate is lower and not go to the US because its rate his higher!

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/murder-rate-by-country/?fbclid=IwAR3Kt_ooW3JOeTjoiN3S6sjP8Co8QWrGXwv0hUgFRKZWHa7Yk1kp9eVVJS8

Put it another way, the US has 100 people die from road accidents each day on average, while SL has 10 people dying. However the US population is 16.5 times that of SL. SO it is clearly more dangerous being on a SL road. The US really should point this out as being a hazard to their citizens, but they don’t, as it is difficult to explain. If they do, the SL authorities will shout saying it is not comparing apples with apples.

This whole argument boils down to chance and being at the wrong place at the wrong time and the probability of anyone being affected by a terrorist attack bei it in SL or USA is less than being affected by a motor accident in either country.

For alcohol consumption per person, to double between 2003 and 2016, something must be right or wrong! What is it?

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Illicit-alcohol-consumption-up-by-300-percent---WHO-survey/108-170268

Frankly, I am shocked out of my mind at these statistics in the article. If true, I am simply lost for words. It is a clear indictment that the nation is headed for disaster, especially if illicit alcohol is 40% of the total alcohol consumed.

Where is the police on this? Surely, they must know the moonshine distilleries in their area, and are they simply paid off, to look the other way despite all the protestations of the leaders that they are concentrating on ridding moonshine? This is a social menace, as the inputs going into the illicit brew fries the brain for want of a better word.

Is there a long term breakdown of law and order, as no one seems to care, when law enforcement clearly don’t want to upset their gravy train. The clear breakdown of law and order is apparent, as this kind of activity, while so prevalent only gets reported only because a boru show is required occasionally to show that something is being done about it, to a gullible public, little realizing it is just a planned hit for a rogue in high places to earn some brownie points.

The smuggling of cigarettes that has now reached epic proportions, is an added menace, as the state is deprived of revenue, while the media is so full of “Johnny come latelys” crying about the import of Chinese Brand Cigarettes fully duty paid, to offset this smuggling racket indulged in by Chinese Expatriates, desperate for their preferred fags.

So no media explains the rationale for the Finance Minister’s request, and just another boru show for the gullible public by Leaders eager to earn some brownie points pretending they really care about the health of the nation.

How much more of these smoke and mirrors stories do we want to fed with? Everything is not what it seems, the truth purposely hidden so the agendas of the crooks are permitted at the expense eventually of the people who pay more for everything, and the state that loses natural tax revenues, that  they can easily earn, instead of forcing consumption taxes on Sugar, Dhal, Potato, Onion and Flour just to name a few essentials on the hapless public.

The need of the hour is to reform all those paid by the public purse, who are enriching themselves, while not even performing the basic tasks they have been assigned to do. While all this is going on, much of this illegal income, is also spent on these vices, I have mentioned, both buying taxed and untaxed Tobacco and Alcohol, in a circular vice that is slowly strangling the nation.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Illicit-alcohol-consumption-up-by-300-percent---WHO-survey/108-170268

As is very clear, the outcry is against the Finance Minister who is asking for permission to import Chinese Brand Cigarettes, as there is a massive Chinese Population, who are dying (leterally) for these fags, and in other countries there are procedures to import anything in demand, as long as the proper procedures and taxes are paid. So if there is a problem with the CTC monopoly on cigarettes in Sri Lanka, then just pacify them by increasing the Tax on these Chinese Cigarettes a little, as that will both increase Govt. revenue while at the same time prevent eating into the CTC revenue gravy train, and reduce the incidence of smuggling, which is now one of the biggest businesses in Sri Lanka today.

Why or why am I stating the obvious, when most of the nation is so ignorant as to what is going on in Sri Lanka. They are of course ignorant because we have a press that is pathetic. They don’t seem to want to inform the public, so the public can make up their mind on what is right and wrong as well as what is moral and immoral.

One commentator on the link said that when legal alcohol is so expensive it promotes illegal stuff. The issue is not that it does not, if we have an effective policing then we can minimize moonshine that is a health hazard killing the nation as a NCD of major proportions. However the pricing of alcohol is another issue I don’t want to touch here, but his sentiments are reasonable, where we must encourage people to change from high levels of alcohol drinks to those with lower levels, like Beer and Lager, and still ensure that the Government gets their fair share of revenue in the process, by managing the taxing to maximize on return to the State Coffers. It must be done in a way people don’t feel it, but where the state enriches. So that having cops purposely looking for speeders just so that they can tax them by giving Rs3,000 speeding tickets is an unfair way to tax, they should catch errant motorists who are a menace on the road, not one who is speeding on an empty stretch of road being no nuisance to anyone, just easy bait to a greedy policeman.

There are many philosophical questions we need to answer here, for which we don’t have any easy solutions. As you can see, I am for a very careful analysis of these social issues to maximize public policy for the public good. Students of public policy are faced with theoretical problems, while I am directing my readers to the real problems of the day.

Don't allow nonsense to get the better of common sense - a tragedy to be averted

I can see clearly, why can’t you?

The real battle is common sense against nonsense, and at present nonsense is winning.

If you watch or listen to news you are part of the nonsense crowd and if you read a paper and are able to pick and choose what you wish to read, then you may just about have in iota of commonsense to see the wood from the trees.

Most people do not read, and so are force fed news as if from a bottle, being unable to decipher fact from fiction, blissfully unaware of the particular agenda of that particular news broadcaster, believing fake news as a matter of absolute truth!

Once 4/21 happened, the level of fake news, especially anti-Muslim rhetoric has expanded, and people I would never dream of circulating such arrant claptrap disburse this rubbish as a matter of pride! I am simply disgusted and there is no one in authority to contravene the obvious inaccuracy, and the farfetched hyperbola of the exaggerated and totally irrational claims that are made.

For example, that the media channels, newspapers included continue to knowingly add to the Dr Shafi case by piling on the complainant numbers without any reference to even if any of the supposed patients had ever met or been entrusted to Dr Shafi’s care. Now that the whole allegation has proved to be fabricated, no one least of all the Police are even willing to call a press conference to state they made a gross mistake due to false allegations, resulting in them chasing a red herring.

Why is no one willing to take this on the chin and call a spade a spade? They want to pass the buck, but who to is the problem.

With the latest supposedly, incontrovertible statements made by the Chief Prelate of the Asgiriya Chapter, whom most Buddhists will believe as gospel, unquestionably being a load of bullshit, our faith in the fabric of authority has been dashed.

It is now worth remembering that the Unconstitutional Coup of the President should have resulted in impeachment and then a case leading to conviction for treason and the death sentence given to Sirisena, not being acted upon, has resulted in a death row inmate making statements in his guise as President of Sri Lanka, that makes a real mockery of authority as well as the decisions being taken. No telling how many jailbirds are in places of authority ruling over us and making the wrong decisions on our behalf.

Returning to the nonsense common sense argument again. Who are you?

Given the above background it now has become all too clear why nonsense seems to have traction, and common sense disappears. Everyone who is using their bully pulpit is talking nonsense, with common sense not being given any hearing, as either the people who have it, don’t believe it is worth their while to even simply explain their point of view, because they don’t believe anyone has the common sense to decipher right from wrong. Hence, that they do not bother.

Leadership is afraid of telling the truth, or of pulling out the person who is making unfounded allegations that are blatant lies. The Asgiriya prelate’s position is a case in point, which people are afraid to counter and show it for its unfounded bias. While I am no fan of Mangala Samaraweera, at least give the devil his due, he challenged his position as being entirely false and without any foundation, and frankly against the law of the land, as of inciting racial hatred.

So who has the courage to indict him under the law of the land? No one. He has broken the law in front of millions of people, and he is untouchable. How would you feel in a minority, where every word you say is picked upon and if any word or saying contradicts the law you are liable to immediate arrest, incarceration and prosecution.

That journalist remanded for writing about the behavior of Buddhist Priests, was telling the truth, but imprisoned for belittling the religion of the land. Freedom of speech does not apply if the behavior of some religious of the main religion in the land is questioned. We must accept shortcomings of any religion, as being not unusual, so that we strive to overcome them, not sweep under a carpet.

A person with common sense DOES NOT WISH to get embroiled in an unwinnable case, where the justice system does not back the righteous, but the criminal. This is the classic case then when the law becomes the ASS itself and rules over us all. Then common sense has gone the way of the fountain pen!

We can avoid this if at least one arm of the law, such as the police are capable of enforcing the law of the land as it stands today, and prosecute all comers who break the law. Then we will not have people up and down the Country inciting racial hatred, and getting away Scot-free, while Muslims with minor transgressions are filling prisons, and their cases not fast tracked to be resolved, so innocent people have their charges dropped immediately and released.

The anger at this mistreatment is going to blow up sooner rather than later, and the consequences to Sri Lanka are dire. Another case of being caught napping when all indications are, “the odds are too high that trouble is imminent.”

The destitution caused by the banning of the use of any dynamite in SL

The plight of the daily paid quarry workers

The minute the Easter Bombing happened the Government immediately banned the sale of any ammunition or gun powder or dynamite constantly used in Sri Lanka to blow granite for the rock quarrying industry. This meant that industry came to a standstill and granite rock became scarce in the market place for use in home building.

The real side effect say in the poorer area of Kurunegala, say in the Katupotha area where there are 300 such small quarries employing people who are on the breadline, who can do no other work, were left without their daily wage. They are day laborers who sometimes come with their families who live in tents in appalling conditions to earn some money crushing rocks with their hands once the dynamite blows chunks of rock from the rock face.

Being who they are, no shop gives them credit for food items either. So once they lose their livelihood they literally starve without anything to eat. There is no one they can go for relief. As transient residents, they don’t even get Samurdhi (welfare) as they are of NO permanent residence.

Can any politician understand that by their actions there are people who are so poor who have been directly affected by them and have no one to ask for help, and being low down the pecking order are the forgotten people of the land?

They need to be identified, but the government system fails this type of person, as they don’t get recorded anywhere. No one bats for them, or cares about them.

I presume often they don’t have a vote, so that is an even more serious case of willful neglect of the poorest of our society by the society itself, not having a mechanism to pick up those who don’t.

Finally, on Wednesday, 29^th May 2019, there was a decision to grant permits once again to purchase gun powder or dynamite, after getting a permit from the District Secretariat where the particular quarry is. I presument the Bureau of Mines and Geological Survey that grants this permit is also involved in the approval procedure and after over a month, these people finally have some relief.

I was given all this information by my driver Sugath who was appalled at the level to which these people had fallen into after the Easter Day Terrorist acts as innocent section of the community being most affected by the catastrophe.

This was written as a note to myself, for future reference, and action.

Embracing Change – It is not as easy as it sounds. Why?

Change for the better, right. Otherwise change is of no use, but then how do we know it will improve, we merely embrace it in the hope it will improve, whatever it is that we want improved.

In a Country where the Prime Minister comes even to open a multistory car park in the heart of Maharagama, when they should be coming up as a matter of natural growth in highly congested cities, more as an expectation and a business proposition, we are hard wired to think that even common or garden organic growth is something we must even celebrate!

It was partly with this intention, and to highlight the growth of the hair care industry, that would go unnoticed, had I not taken the plunge and dyed my hair for a dare, against the normal expectations of our society, that I was testing how this change would be taken by just those on my friends list to whom this information would go on social media.

The comments are there for all to read, and surprisingly, there were many in the older age group who one would consider less likely to approve, were complimentary, whereas the youth of course embraced it with gusto.

Coming to the nub of my argument then, is the need for an attitudinal change in our society, as far as our political culture is concerned but related to that, and much needed for the change, is the change in the whole educational system and thinking to face the next 50 years instead of teaching methods, more in tune with the last 100 years.

In social media sites such as Voice for Change, it is quite apparent that everyone wants change as the current status quo just does not produce the goods, but there is no uniformity on how it should be done, and the blame game is the result.

I am afraid sometimes there comes a time, we have to take the plunge, where the existing order is the worst of all alternatives, and anything else would be an improvement.

Let’s stick to politics here. If we don’t throw out the familiar NOW, we are again left to ponder what might have been for another 5 or 6 years, as that is what is being planned. The same faces, jockeying for position, working out the strategy to fool the people sufficiently by fears unfounded IF NECESSARY to stay or regain power, and we the people, being suckered to believe that Change cannot win, so let’s choose the lesser of two evils. IS THAT A CHOICE?

There is news and more news, but what can we believe? Now Oman denies any knowledge about the largest FDI ever!

Who is kidding whom?

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Oman-denies-it-has-agreed-to-invest-in-SL-oil-refinery-project/108-164241?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

All the newspapers are full of a full page advertisement taken by the GOSL trumpeting this investment of Rs 720,000 Million or in effect Rs 720Billion as the largest FDI ever! In includes the Oil Refinery referred to above with a company by the name of Silver Park Petroleum Private Limited and another investment of a cement producer by the name of Lanwa Sanstha Cement Corporation Private Limited. So I ask the question what to believe?

Is there a conspiracy to discredit the Government by parties coming to the BOI and fooling them to sign documents regarding FDIs and immediately having one of the parties to the agreement, or at least purported parties, denying its very existence? This is tantamount to taking the GOSL for a ride, and they seem to be quite blasé about being taken for a ride, especially when the BOI spokesperson assures the media that nothing is amiss, when a lot of this is all A MISS INFORMATION!

Who is behind this disinformation conspiracy? Should this kind of thing be a red rag to the intelligence agencies of this country, as it clearly the undermines the authority of the State in a way that discredits anything that is disclosed by the state?

I bet the intelligence agencies are sleeping soundly tonight and will wake up to this news this morning, and say this has nothing to do with us, we only worry about gun running or conspiracies to do away with the already discredited top brass of the land!

This is far more serious stuff, and we don’t have an intelligence agency to investigate the legitimacy of the jokers who come into the offices of the BOI to tell tales.

Frankly, if we have any sense, every Johnny, the investor and their local handlers, as soon as they walk in the door of the BOI to meet the DG or the Chairman, should be in the SPYGLASS of the defense intelligence agencies and a report placed on the President’s desk within 24 hours of their entering about their bona fides, and past history, especially Interpol records, as it seems that only the low life of the world knowing the way we seem to attract them like flies venture inside, if they feel that there is an opportunity at some kind of fleecing of a nation.

Now it is time to get back to basics. We are talking of a huge investment in an oil refinery in Hambantota! Has anyone in the environment lobby even been activated on this, as oil refineries are no longer being built anywhere in the world, and only Sri Lanka seems to even encourage one as we seem to be so desperate for headaches of the future!

Yes please we will have one.

What kind of Country is this? How about an investment in an offshore solar electricity generation plant to supply the region instead with the potential to grow? No we are waiting to import surplus electricity from a Nuclear Plant in India instead, as that would provide us cheap electricity sometime in the future!

I digress, just to make a point and to belittle this hair-brained scheme!

After all we should have had the Iranian Refinery that was on the cards 30 years ago when it was discussed, we would not have had to spend BILLIONS of dollars in foreign exchange in this period for refined petroleum products if we had then. Moreover there was no environment lobby then to put the skids on.

Now once the need for fossil fuel has passed, as they are only pollutants that no one in their RIGHT MINDS want, we are getting in on the act!

My God help Mother Lanka from its own leaders!

Further clarification on this denial by the Financial Times of 21st March 2019

http://www.ft.lk/front-page/Oman-denies-it-has-agreed-to-invest-in-Sri-Lanka-oil-refinery-project/44-675045 

The Dichotomy of Public Sector Employment & Need for Reform

Background to the present malaise

There is no argument that we in Sri Lanka must restructure our Human Resource Capacity, the real driver of our economy to meet the needs of the future and in this context 20202 and beyond.

There is also no debate now that we SHOULD HAVE made a visionary decision when Three Wheelers were introduced into the Country to restrict drivers to be 55 and above, as a source of income for those who have been forcibly retired from the Public and Private Sector when they reached the mandatory retirement age which was 55 at that time.

This would then have meant that the youth do not look at driving a three wheeler as the be all and end all of their lives, which appears to be the case today, which has added precipitously to prostitution, drug peddling, gun running, moonshine distribution, poaching as added sources of income for this drivers, who are actually under employed, in that they reach their earnings target for the day, with around 2-5 hours of work, leading to the perception that factory work, and training in trades are not as remunerative and therefore less attractive than their chosen field.

Coupled with this phenomenon, the traditional career path of state sector graduates, theoretically the best and brightest of the land, due to the admission criteria into the University System, EXPECT automatic employment in the Public Sector upon graduation. That in some way explains the demands of the 55,000 unemployed graduates to be given jobs within the state sector even today, and who have made little or no attempt to find employment in other fields.

You then are now faced with the demographic time bomb, which Sri Lanka, due its success in the family planning arena, that the population growth rate has stalled, and when one counts the net emigration to other countries it has become negative, with over 4 million Sri Lankan passport holders living overseas at present.

This has created a severe labor shortage in the Private Sector for a range of skills, due in part to youth not taking up vocational training opportunities and preferring to drive a three wheeler instead. It is almost impossible to convince these youth stuck in junctions throughout the land, to perhaps take up the dearth in agricultural employment or other trades, in the Construction sector and Industrial Sector.

The above phenomena coupled with a wholesale and indiscriminate politicization of the public sector, with jobs for the boys under the Mahinda Rajapakse Administration  from 2005 to 2014, adding over 600,000 positions to the Public Sector, we have created an unimaginable set of problems in managing Government Spending, where 80% of expenditure, when loan interest and repayments are excluded on borrowings is to pay wages and pensions.

This coupled with the recent admission by the UNP administration that the Yahapalanaya Government has increased Public Sector wages by massive proportions, where the lowest paid worker now earns more than Rs25,000, you have created a problem that cannot be resolved unless some serious measures are taken to evaluate EVERY position in the public sector and determine if it is needed, and if so what the job description and expectations are, because many people now do not work, are not supervised, and a disincentive to those who want to work in the public sector, creating a situation of impotence.

Adding to fuel to the fire, Minister Eran Wickremeratne said recently, that certain public sector positions are not filled as the pay scale is woefully inadequate to draw in the skilled people as needed, you come to the reason I called my essay “the dichotomy of public sector employment”

In a further development, partly due to the fact that there is a severe skill shortage in the economy, and positions in both the Public and Private Sector remain unfilled, there are steps taken to remove age limits of retirement altogether to legally permit people to work as long as they wish.

Here again we try to catch the tail and try to run with it, instead of grasping the real issue, which is to “Permit the Private Sector Company and the Public Sector Institution to grant an extension to the employee, say one year at a time, legally, AS LONG AS THAT INSTITUTION DETERMINES HIS OR HER SERVICE IS NECESSARY FOR THE PROPER FUNCTIONING OF THAT ORGANIZATION.

To me, that bold statement should be at the heart of the evaluation, NOT a blanket right of the employee to stay on as long as he or she feels!

One can therefore determine the mandatory retirement age as being 60 or above and have it the same for men and women as many countries now do, but permit service extensions, without the need to break the law or circumvent legislation after that age as long as that particular institution needs it. Additionally, according to need, any person who fits the requirements should be permitted to be recruited at whatever age that person is, where there is NO age discrimination, as long as he or she is the most suitable applicant for that job.

The Path to Public Sector Employment & Remuneration Reform

I believe that there is a commission that looks into the public sector pay scales and makes recommendations to the President on this, so that positions can be filled, remuneration can be made, and competent personnel hired or retained. This was apparently used to increase the pay scales of judges at all levels to retain qualified personnel in these positions as their income appeared to be way out of line with what lawyers seem to earn in the Private Sector, reducing the judiciary to be filled with failed lawyers, not good jurists!

This enormous burden on the state of inefficient public sector performance, due to overstaffing with political appointees, and lack of clear job description, evaluation of the need for that position, and poor supervisory and managerial responsibilities over staff, needs a complete overhaul and no one wants to grab this obvious issue and deal with it, first improve public sector efficiency, and cull the numbers not needed, perhaps by as much as 500,000 positions over a 5 year period.

If that is done institution by institution, then there is hope that a more efficient public sector, where the remuneration scales reflect the needed skills for those positions, will be able to handle their tasks as best as they can, and with the obvious proviso that corruption too will be reduced dramatically.

Then at a stroke the Private sector dilemma of people gravitating to the public sector as their remuneration and benefits, and need to work are more attractive will be over. This factor has not been appreciated by the lawmakers as a serious matter, as they have forgotten that it is the Private Sector that pays the taxes that are used to pay the Public Sector Wages.

The labor shortage in the Private Sector and the Agricultural Sector will be relieved somewhat, and not until the old practice of providing jobs in the Public Sector for political patronage is completely eliminated, can we see light at the end of the tunnel here.

The problem of the numbers engaged in three wheelers have to resolved purely on the supply and demand situation, where once Pick Me and Uber take over the hire business, the three wheeler era will disappear with midlife retraining for unskilled youth being the issue to be dealt with in the real world. This is not counting the need to remove them on the grounds of severe air pollution caused.

The economy can grow ONLY if companies are able to fill their vacancies and the HR issue in Sri Lanka must be directed at providing the needed training to fill those vacancies, and concentration should be on this task above all others.

Spice Garden Trails of Sri Lanka – Nutmeg the unheralded spice is actually made up of two spices Nutmeg and Mace

Spice Gardens are very much on the tourist trail, and are of different quality, one compared with the other, dotted around spice growing areas. Their whole objective is to entice the tourist to purchase product after seeing some spice plants and to a limited extent demonstrations on how they are processed.

The reality of the farmer faced with growing these spices commercially is a whole different subject, as issues facing them don’t get highlighted on a tour of a Spice Garden, that is usually located on the side of a main road, leading into Kandy or Matale from various parts of the Country, and are of limited size.

Surrounding the hills of Kandy are the main spice growing areas, but Pepper and Cinnamon grow more profusely in other areas too, not just in just the hills referred to here. Sri Lanka is also famous for Cloves and Cardamoms. Nutmeg on the other hand is a relatively unheralded spice where the tree in fact produces two spices, namely, Nutmeg (Sadikka) and Mace (Wasawasi), both of which are sold as spices, and are used for flavoring of sweet and savory foods.

The hills on either side of the Weuda Valley which extends from the Northwestern Province towards the Kandyan Hills, a means of getting into Kandy from areas such as Galagedera, where the new Central Expressway is to spill out before the approach into Kandy, is also an area where spices are grown extensively, but latterly with climate change, extensive droughts and invasion of the immigrant pests from other parts, has created a nightmare for spice growers. It is here that I highlight some of the challenges of growing nutmeg.

Nutmeg (Sadikka) is a spice grown in Sri Lanka that is used for flavoring drinks and food, and is poisonous in large quantities if ingested. In fact the nutmeg yields two spices, the kernel of the seed which is what we generally refer to as the nutmeg, and the crimson mace that surrounds the seed, that has to be carefully removed from the seed, and dried prior to sale to the processors.

In the past, in order to get the best quality, the fruit was allowed to ripen on the trees, split open and fall to the ground, to reveal the scarlet aril, better known as ‘mace’ which surrounds the nut, They are then collected and taken from the fields.  The scarlet mace is removed by hand carefully and dried for sale separately from the nut. The nut has an outer shell which is hard to crack revealing the kernel inside, which is the actual nutmeg itself which is powdered for sale. The growers generally sell the nut with the shell, for processors to do the rest, namely removing the kernel, as consistency and hygienic standards can only be achieved by those who have the necessary equipment, and can do it in the quantity that makes economic sense.

Latterly, due to the menace of pests, such as monkeys and giant squirrels to name the worst offenders, they pick on the fruit while on the tree and often damage them, as the ripening process is not uniform on a tree. Now it requires the laborious process of knowledgeable pickers, who have to pluck these fruit when they know it is sufficiently ripe and then take it away in bags for processing. This therefore is an added labor intensive process, an expense, which was not the case in the past.

Mace - Red balance is the nut

The pericarp of the fruit is edible and is made into jams, but in reality most of it is simply thrown away, unless a market is created by someone for fresh pericarp, in order to process it further, and make it economical to save.

Farmers dry the mace and sell it to the traders at the prevailing market price, and the seed is sold in similar fashion, where, whatever the market price of the day is the price at which it is sold. The farmer therefore is generally one who has only small quantities for sale, and so has no bargaining power of his own to determine or influence price, and so is at the mercy of the market makers, as far as price is concerned. I would challenge, considering the effort to grow, protect, and ensure the needed rainfall is obtained, producing nutmeg in Sri Lanka as a very profitable business and I believe there are fewer farmers going into cultivation of this crop. Wholesale theft of ripening fruit is also something to contend with, unless the property is sufficiently well guarded.

The Peacocks are rising in numbers and urgent action is required

“Diyawanna We have a problem!” – The peacocks are rising, and of course you have not noticed, as you don’t care, there are too many deals in the offing

One only needs to travel around the Country and observe. Peacocks are everywhere, they are in greater numbers than before, and they are crowding out other creatures, because their natural predators are dying due to traps, road kill and fewer areas for shelter.

Not only are peacocks in farmland, and rural areas of habitation, they are also in forests in greater numbers, perhaps crowding out other species. Recently I saw them compete with the Raptors for space on top of large trees, where they take shelter for the nights. The trees I saw peacocks did not have any raptors and vice versa, and I wondered what comes first. My hunch is when the peacock takes up residence on a tree and starts letting the world know of his presence, with its unmistakable call, (annoying, when you hear it all night, when preferring the other sounds of the night) NO raptor worth his dignity, or pride, wants to be near it, as it draws attention. Raptors prefer anonymity and camouflage, in order to pick and choose its morsels for the kill.

Of course those who have not lifted a Mammoty or driven a Tractor, are the first to come to their aid, not even aware of the real situation on the ground. I will now call for a biodiversity balance study to ascertain, region – wise, how certain species are more prevalent than others starting of course with those that affect agriculture most. You will say if we start with this what next! Cool it buddy!

There are endangered species. They need to be acknowledged, so we don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. I call for temporary culls when things get out of hand, for a limited period. I don’t envisage any encroachment into protected areas to do this. That should remain free from human encroachment.

To begin with I propose picking some areas where the infestation is highest after a quick research into the numbers as statistical sampling techniques and even using drone technology enable more accurate and speedy studies these days, and determine that an area be permitted to kill peacocks.

Kill and you all shout, but don’t forget that EVERY village has people who poach for a living and if they are allowed to kill a 100 peacocks and sell their meat then you save 100 other animals they are killing anyway, from all the varieties of deer, to anything else they can lay their hands on.

In fact my proposal will help some endangered species get a chance for their numbers to grow, while over-populated species are culled.