A book in Sinhala by Rohan Samarajiva and C.J. Amaratunge about economic strategies appropriate for Sri Lankan conditions will be launched at 4 PM on the 6th of August at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Colombo. This book draws on the senior author’s experience in teaching and researching economics of infrastructures and in implementing economic reforms in Sri Lanka as Director General of the Telecom Regulatory Commission in 1998-99 and as Team Leader in charge of infrastructure reforms at the Ministry for Economic Reforms, Science and Technology in 2002-04. The co-author is a senior journalist at the Lankadeepa.
The book covers multiple infrastructure sectors and international economic strategy. It includes discussion of transport (how to ensure that highways are maintained and railways resuscitated), irrigation and drinking water (why it is important to pay for what we use), electricity (the need for long-term planning and regulation), information and communication technologies (the lessons that can be learned from successful reforms) and education (radical proposals to restore quality of education). It concludes with a chapter entitled “The future is Asia,” where a new perspective is provided on economic relations with India.
Books in Sinhala on economic topics are few and far between. Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka W.A. Wijewardene who is among the few who have contributed to this field will deliver the principal address. There will be responses from the public and private sectors. The first copies will be presented to three representatives of the younger generation of public intellectuals in the hope that they will continue and energize the vital discourse on appropriate economic strategies.
The book marks a first in that its cover uses a Sinhala word cloud, made famous by the Wordle application in English. Word clouds enable the depiction of the content of a document giving prominence to the most frequently used words. The Sinhala word cloud application, Vachana Saramba, was developed by Pahan Sarathchandra.
gamini / August 4, 2012
What Bluff? There can be no Economy to suit only us as a Nation as we are living with the rest. A Robinson Crusoe type of living is not possible in todays context. Economic situations are created due to demand and supply situations around. What is important is for the State to provide the infrastructure for the society allowing the Economy to develop with the contribution from the Commercial activity. The State ahould provide the basic living conditions for the lower rung in society and coming up the social ladder in the hands of the hard working. If the State is represented by the corrupt who apportion State funds for their aggrandisement and preach doctrines to grant benifits to sections of society for something they are not entitled, there is no better recipie for confusion and chaos for such society.
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