Frances Bulathsinghala, Colombo
Lack of political will stymies garbage management in South Asia
Concealed from privileged city dwellers, tucked away from posh tourist resorts and invisible to policy makers are the rubbish dumps in the cities of South Asia. But the thick...
The Hambantota Port deal with China: To sign or not to...
Treading a tightrope of local criticism and Chinese pressure, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe insisted this week that the government has not got into an...
After Ambedkar, caste rules India
Despite the legacy of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, father of independent India’s Constitution and first Law and Justice Minister who initiated his relentless campaign against...
South Asia vulnerable to conflict as a result of climate change
An expert on climate change, food security and agriculture warned this week that South Asia should consider the seriousness of extreme weather patterns that...
CHATRAK : A cinematic introspection into the trapped soul of Kolkata
Out there, in seemingly split second distance, is the shimmer of the dark green forest. The strands of sun escape through the scalp of...
A glimpse into the saga of Sri Lanka’s constitutional reforms
The attempts by Sri Lanka’s National Unity government to draft a new constitution in order to seek a permanent solution to the long drawn...
Mehboob Khan, Pakistan’s Chef with a mission
En route to the Pakistani food festival in Colombo last month, a Tamil Brahmin friend tags along unwillingly, vowing that he will starve. He...
Indian Foreign Secretary rules out Indian pressure on Lankan North East...
Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar Monday ruled out ‘going back to the past’ and distanced himself from committing to a possible Indian role...
Former LTTE commander Karuna says his new party will welcome Sinhalese...
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna Amman, the former LTTE Commander for Batticaloa and Amparai, who this week formed a new party, Tamizhar Aikkiya Suthanthira Munnani...
Lanka’s Northern Province CM calls Muslims to support federalism
The Chief Minister of the Tamil-majority Northern Province of Sri Lanka, C.V.Wigneswaran, admitted that “some unfortunate incidents” of the past had broken the unity...
SAARC, its impediments & way forward through dialogue
Despite the string of postponements since it began in 1985, and impacted by last year’s ‘cancellation’ of its 19th summit scheduled to have taken place...
Lanka re-negotiating Hambantota port deal with China
Welcome or not, it does look like the Chinese are here to stay, at least in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. In the port and the envisaged industrial zone, to be precise, it’s...
Understanding Islam and accepting diversity
"We bring ourselves to religion. We bring our impulses in to religion. If we want violence and hate, we bring that to religion and...
Sri Lanka’s new constitution and the long shadow of Rajapaksa
Sri Lanka’s new constitution-making process remains embroiled in an enigmatic muddle where it is caught between sentiments of Tamil politicians, the central government, and...