Category: Watch Tower
Opinion: Should Sri Lanka Adopt Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard?
By Sujit Christy, Director, Information Security Professional Associates (iSPA) During the past few years several data breaches have made global headlines. You may remember the Target Stores data breach in 2013 that put the credit-card numbers and personal information of millions of people into the hands of cyber criminals.According to the court documents about 42 […]
Opinion: Peopleizing governance – Acute need of the hour
Return to the roots of Democracy – Athens & Sparta … By Chrishmal Warnasuriya Proposed Constitutional Reforms – “Grama Raajya”: So, almost 70 years on since our independence we are now discussing the need to return sovereign power back to the grassroots, thus it has taken us all this time to realize that bit-by-bit, the […]
Opinion: Jaffna, high literacy, low employment and lowest income. How come?
By Jekhan Aruliah Despite the Jaffna district having the second highest Literacy Rate in Sri Lanka, it does badly on employment and dismally on incomes. What’s up? I have heard it said here in Sri Lanka and abroad that unemployment is high in Jaffna because so many people don’t need to work. It is asserted […]
Opinion: Cashing in on APIs – leveraging technology to boost your business
By Sanjeewa Malalgoda, Technical Lead at WSO2 Even if you’re not an excessively tech-savvy individual, you most likely would have used a mobile application in your mobile device via an internet connection, used a Gmail client, Twitter, Facebook, or mobile apps, or purchased something online. In a tech world, you’re already reaping the benefits of […]
Opinion: Projects in conflict in Megapolis transport plan?
By Commuter Colombo’s chronic congestion is everybody’s favorite bugbear. The government’s Megapolis Plan identifies it as one of the “6 key urban development challenges” which it expects to address, to achieve the “5 fundamental goals” of economic growth and prosperity, good governance, an efficient, well-planned region, social equity and harmony and environmental sustainability. That would […]
Opinion: Is Jaffna a quaint tourist destination, or an economic powerhouse waiting for some diesel in the tank?
By Jekhan Aruliah Deloittes, one of the top global accounting firms, has for many years produced a “London Office Crane Survey”. The Deloittes website states: “The level of construction is widely used as a measure of economic activity – counting the number of cranes / construction sites across Central London is a relatively easy and […]
Opinion: Blood on your hands? Guard the safeguards
By the Commuter The politicians have a new excuse. So do the bureaucrats, and seemingly some segments of the public. Apparently, projects are getting delayed due to regulatory requirements to safeguard environment and citizens’ rights. Such as having to do a proper EIA. Or comply with equitable procedures in land acquisition. And the “smarter” ones […]
Opinion: No room should be left to ‘distort’ freight market in Sri Lanka
By Dinesh De Silva The impact of shipping surcharges including terminal handling charges have been battering the Import and Export industry from 1991 to 2004. Import Export trade knowing the effects on their respective business and keeping the end consumer in mind lobbied with every government from the inception, highlighting the unfair trading practices that […]
Opinion: IT security for your enterprise, have you got it all covered?
By Dimuthu Leelarathne, director of solutions architecture at WSO2 Cyber security and the resultant risks, if not addressed properly, was a hot topic in Colombo recently. And it’s now taken the spotlight globally as well with various discussions taking place to commemorate US cyber security month. Even a top regional study released in Singapore recently […]
Opinion: Is electricity from Norachcholai coal power plant cheap?
By Vidhura Ralapanawe CEB (and the CEBEU) has been touting a cost of 5-6 Rupees for Norachcholai, saying that it is cheap. PUCSL approves the CEB’s bulk supply tariff every six months, and based on the last such approval, the fuel cost is Rs 5.75/kWh (based on a USD80/tonne delivered), the fixed cost (maintenance, salaries […]
Opinion: ‘Drexit’ from Bribery Commission – The good, bad & ugly
By Chrishmal Warnasuriya So His Excellency the President has ended all speculation and accepted the resignation. If the exit of Britain from Europe was “Brexit”, the resignation of our learned friend Dilrukshi from the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) must surely be our very own “Drexit”; at least for the massive sensationalism […]
Opinion: Perpetual and the problem of unfettered capitalism
By Chamath Ariyadasa Questions about rampant capitalism are raised not just in Sri Lanka but in all developed financial markets. Hence, calls for a more subdued, socially conscious process reverberate here as well, and these arguments are important. Once we set the rules, the private sector steps in to maximise profit — acting within the […]