Sri Lanka's estimated mid-year population, last year, was 21 million, Census and Statistics Department in an article posted on its website yesterday (27 October) said.
Of this number, men comprised 10.2 million and women, 10.8 million.
Further,those between the ages of 0 and 19 years comprised 33.3 per cent of the population, followed closely by those between the ages of 20 and 49 (33.1 per cent) and the balance, those between 50 years and above (23.6 per cent). The highest population of 2.4 million was reported from Colombo district whereas the lowest was reported from Mullaitivu district (94,000).
As a result of natural increase, the excess of births over deaths, an estimated 203,207 people were added to the population last year (2015) at an annual rate of 0.96 per cent. The number of births last year was 334,821 (a decrease of 14,894 from 2014). Sri Lanka's crude birth rate (CBR)* in 2015 was 16.0 per 1,000 population, a decline from 2014 rate of 16.3.
A total of 175,939 marriages were registered last year.The crude marriage rate of 8.4 per 1,000 population in 2015 was the lowest rate in the general decline in marriages since 2000. There were 131,614 deaths registered in Sri Lanka in 2015 (74,040 -males and 57,540 –females) which is 3,856 more than the previous year. The crude death rate in 2015 was 6.3 deaths per 1,000 population as opposed to 6.2 in 2014. The highest death rate 7.6 was reported from Galle District followed by Kandy and Colombo (7.0 each).
Regardless of gender, the highest CBR (20.5 each) was reported from Trincomalee and Ampara Districts respectively, while the lowest was reported from Mullaitivu District (12.2), last year. Considering the CBR by province, highest CBR (19.4) was reported from the Eastern Province and lowest CBR (13.8) from the Western Province.
* The crude birth rate is the number of live births occurring among the population of a given geographical area during a given year, per 1,000 mid-year total population of the given geographical area during the same year.
A man has been jailed for three years for trying to rape a Sri Lankan maid in Dubai after he pretended to be the new gardener and followed her into the kitchen to get a broom.
The 35-year-old Pakistani man, A.H., trespassed into the villa where the Sri Lankan maid works and tried to rape her in October. The maid allowed A.H. to enter her sponsor's villa after he claimed to be the new gardener.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted A.H. of attempted rape and trespassing into the villa of the maid's sponsor. When he showed up in Court, A.H. pleaded guilty.
The woman fought back and foiled the man's attempt to rape her, records said. According to Wednesday's ruling, the defendant will be deported following the completion of his jail term. The Sri Lankan woman testified that she saw A.H. for the first time gardening in the front yard of her sponsor's villa in Al Barsha.
A policeman said following the defendant's apprehension he admitted molesting the woman.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days. (Gulf News)
The SLFP yesterday alleged that the process adopted by the Central Bank during Arjuna Mahendran’s tenure as its Governor to raise funds for the government through Perpetual Treasuries owned by his son-in-law Arjuna Aloysius had been seriously flawed and largely contrary to the mechanism in place in respect of issuing of bonds.
Referring to the report prepared by a Special Parliamentary Investigation Committee that probed the alleged insider trading and favoritism in the mega treasury bond issue of February 2015 and the one compiled by Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) headed by JVP MP Sunil Handunetti, Science, Technology and Research Minister Susil Premjayantha explained the circumstances under which those in authority at Mahendran’s behest exploited the system.
Investigation took place in the presence of the Auditor General to ensure legitimacy to the process at the highest level.
The alleged first bond scam had taken place during President Maithripala Sirisena’s 100-day project.
Former UPFA General Secretary and SLFP National Organiser Premjayantha asserted Mahendran’s direct intervention on behalf of Perpetual Treasuries.
Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera, a member of the COPE, asserted that Mahendran shouldn’t have accepted the post of the Governor as his son-in-law functioned as one of the 16 primary dealers tasked with raising funds for the government.
Addressing the media at SLFP head office at T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Ministers Premjayantha and Jayasekera explained that a comprehensive no holds barred investigation was required to ensure financial stability. They emphasized pivotal importance of taking tangible measures to restore confidence in the public and also to rectify shortcomings in the system.
The SLFP called special media briefing on the eve of the release of the COPE report on the alleged bond scam.
Minister Premjayantha said the subject of the probe had been a 30-year bond auction for Rs.1 billion on February 27, 2015. The CB had received 26 offers amounting to Rs. 20.78 billion, with Perpetual Treasuries and the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) on behalf of the controversial primary dealer making significant offer. This paved the way for the Central Bank Governor to accept Rs. 10 billion.
Minister Premjayantha said that the Superintendent of the Debt Department and his Deputy had turned down a request from the then Governor to accept Rs 20 bn resulting in the Central Bank settling in for Rs 10 bn.
Perpetual Treasuries had received 50 per cent share of this amount, Minister Premjayantha said, adding that though the report prepared by the Special Parliamentary Investigation Committee couldn’t be tabled in parliament due to dissolution of parliament in mid 2015, MP Handunetti’s COPE examined it.
Minister Premjayantha asserted that the two reports were basically compatible. The former Bank of Ceylon employee said that the issue was why Central Bank ended up accepting Rs 10 bn after going for a 30-year bond auction for Rs.1 billion.
Minister Jayasekera said that the SLFP believed that in addition to a thorough investigation into alleged bond scams during Mahendran’s tenure as the Central Bank Governor, his predecessors, too, should be investigated.
During the investigation under taken by Dew Gunasekera’s Committee it also transpired that former Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s sister had been a director at the Perpetual treasuries and the UNP at that time routinely accused clandestine relationship between the Central Bank and the firm.
Minister Premjayantha also alleged that Mahendran had altered interest rates without prior permission from the Monetary Board.
Responding to media queries, Premjayantha, Jayasekera as well as Petroleum Industries Development Minister Chandima Weerakkody alleged that the entire process had been manipulated by influential interested parties hell bent on securing unfair profits at the expense of the national economy.
SLFP spokesmen said that they couldn’t comprehend massive profits made by Perpetual Treasuries much bigger than those others in the banking and insurance sectors.
Last year, a three-member committee comprising party lawyers appointed by the UNP-led government cleared Mahendran of any wrong doing while recommending remedial measures to rectify shortcomings in other institutions involved in the process.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his pre-budget statement on the status of economy and outlining plans for the next year, said today a new set of investment incentives based on Capital Allowances and low tax regime would be introduced.
In a lengthy statement to the House in conformity with a tradition initiated by him last year, the Prime Minister said the government planned to repeal the Export and Import Control Act and bring in new legislation on the lines of Singapore’s (a) Regulation of Imports and Exports Act and (b) Strategic Goods Control Act.
“The current domestic market enterprises also have a greater role to strengthen the economy – in addition to expected Direct Investments of local and foreign origin. They too can add to export volume. The Government will assist them to connect with the Global Value Chain by introducing a Trade Adjustment Package which will include Capital Allowance for new equipment,” he said.
“We can double our personal income levels by 2025 if we set in motion a growth rate of 7% per annum. This rate was achieved in the aftermath of the war in 2009 but the momentum brought on as a dividend of peace did not last,”
He said the garment industry would see a revival when GSP+ returned.
“Agricultural exports have declined as a result of prices for tea and rubber slowing down. It must be noted that in the plantations sector, some of the companies are being run well while others not so. The Government plans to restructure the regional plantations companies by infusing new capital and introducing efficient enterprises,” he said.
Referring to the debt burden, he said the government had decided to swap debt for equity, and the Hambantota port and Mattala airport be run as PPP ventures. He outlined the creating of a Megapolis Development Authority to develop the terrain of the Western Megapolis and urban area of over 8 ½ million people.
“The second North-Eastern development corridor will connect the Eastern Province and the North Central Province to Jaffna linking the Trincomalee Port to the Rajarata. The completion of the Moragahakanda and the Malwatu Oya reservoirs will create new vistas for the country and will result in the region gaining more land for agriculture. It will further result in the historic cities of Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura emerging as modern urban centres. Trincomalee will be urbanized and transformed into a world-class Port City,” he said.(Yohan Perera)
Former central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran left the country a short while ago, a day before the COPE report on the Central Bank Bond Scam was to be released.
He left the island in Emirates EK 348 flight to Singapore at 3.12 p.m.
The UNP earlier planned to introduce an alternative report to that of COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti.
The COPE Chairman said that it was an attempt to save Mahendran from the blame for the bond scam. However, later the UNP members of the COPE said that a unanimous report will be presented to Parliament tomorrow. Mahendran is a Singapore citizen.
Army Intelligence Officer Premananda Udalagama, who was remanded in connection with the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, was released on strict bail conditions by Mount Lavinia Magistrate Mohammed Sahabdeen today.
The sergeant major was released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 with three sureties of Rs. 500,000 each.
He was barred from visiting any army camp or involve in any army intelligence service activities.
The Magistrate also imposed a travel ban on the suspect. The next hearing was fixed for November 24. (Dayarathne Pthirana)
Since the House in Ulapane where late JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera had been hiding as a recluse and the adjoining land had been confiscated by the state, the house and property cannot be handed back to members of his family, the Ganga Ihale Korale Divisional Secretary Mangala Wickremarachchi had informed Mrs Wijeweera and family in a special notification.
He said since Mrs Wijeweera would be leaving the house in a Navy Camp where she had been residing under security service after the demise of her late husband Rohana Wijeweera she had requested that the Ulapane house be handed over to her and her children for residence. Mrs Wijeweera had made this request through the Ministry of Defence.
The Divisional Secretary said the problem and difficulty in handing back this house had been explained by the land commissioner on an inquiry made by him.
The land commissioned had stated that the house and property had been confiscated by the state according to an order issued by the then President in terms of the Public Security Act No 41 section 5 through Gazette notification no 110/02 dated 15.05.1990. Thereafter the property had been transferred to the NYSC to maintain a training centre.
A bone marrow transplant will be performed in Sri Lanka for the first time in December at Maharagama Cancer Hospital, Health Ministry sources said.
According to sources, the bone marrow transplant will be performed with the assistance of an Australian doctor (Professor) attached to St.Vincent Hospital, Australia. Such surgeries are presently performed in countries such as India and Singapore.
A single bone marrow transplant costs around Rs.30 to Rs.40 million and there are over 100 cancer patients on the waiting list to undergo this surgery in Sri Lanka.
"Four Sri Lankan cancer specialists have been trained at St.Vincent Hospital, Australia to carry our bone marrow transplants at the Maharagama Cancer hospital,"sources said. "First Autologous bone marrow transplant will be done and donor's bone marrow transplantation (Allogeneic) will also be commenced thereafter," sources added.
