{"id":230928,"date":"2023-01-20T16:17:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T10:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=230928"},"modified":"2023-01-24T20:22:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T14:52:43","slug":"just-rewards-for-hard-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/just-rewards-for-hard-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Rewards For Hard Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/p><\/div>\n

A newspaper headline caught my eye. It said that the last assembly of our \u201cPinnacle of Democracy\u201d, the lavishly appointed and imposing edifice by the Diyawanna, recorded the lowest attendance ever, of the 225 Honourable custodians, of all that the State deems fit to bestow on its citizens.<\/p>\n

To add insult to injury, we were treated to a glimpse of the vast number of empty seats. I trust, the Quorum was met. Apparently, the proceedings included a Second Reading of two, (maybe) important Bills. What, one may well ask, is the \u201cFirst\u201d? Never mind. How many of the Assembly read anything? It cannot be a question of literacy, within this \u201cAugust Assembly\u201d, judging by the number of PhD\u2018s who sprout like mushrooms (or more accurately Toad\u2019s Tools), after a shower of rain. Despite the very small numbers being present, that forbiddingly expensive \u201celectronic Score Board\u201d comes into play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Did someone quite aptly, say that our Parliament is \u201cRich in ritual bur poor in performance\u201d?<\/p>\n

\"\"Parliament meets, on average, 100 to 115 sitting days per year. This is about a two-day week. Public Servants and others who have a 6-day working week, should not envy this. After all, these representatives carry ponderous responsibilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the question arises \u2013 how do they spend the other 5 days? Evidently, on \u201cElectoral Work\u201d. For which they receive an extra Rs 200,000 per month? Not at all excessive, considering how heavy this load could be, for a mere extra two lakhs per month. Even a tea-plucker can get more than a tenth of this, per month (for a work week of a mere five Days).\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the old itinerant Chinaman cloth-sellers would say \u201cCheap things no, good: Good things no cheap\u201d. Or, \u201cIf you pay Peanuts, you will get monkeys\u201d. One may\u00a0 <\/span>wickedly say that \u201cEven if you pay Gold ingots, you can still get monkeys\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNettle\u00a0 <\/span>Grub\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":339,"featured_media":229629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nJust Rewards For Hard Work - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/just-rewards-for-hard-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Just Rewards For Hard Work - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/just-rewards-for-hard-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-20T10:47:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T14:52:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Pic-Parliament-Sri-Lanka.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Upatissa Pethiyagoda\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/just-rewards-for-hard-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/just-rewards-for-hard-work\/\",\"name\":\"Just Rewards For Hard Work - 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