Features
The decline and fall of the British State
Part the Second
By Michael Patrick O’Leary
Declinism
Last week, I wrote that for decades there had been a thriving literary genre consisting of works that portrayed Britain as the sick man of Europe (as the Ottoman Empire used to be known) and, indeed, in poor health globally. Much of this rhetoric came from the right but there were also voices on the left. Tom Nairn, who died on January 21 at the age of 90, was one of those voices. Nairn was a Scot who graduated in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh and , thanks to a British Council scholarship, spent a year at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he learned Italian, discovered Marxism and explored the writings of Antonio Gramsci.
Together with Perry Anderson at the New Left Review he developed a thesis to explain why Britain did not develop in a “normal” way. “The decline, mediocrity and archaism are also related to something else, less visible. As well as the socio-economic peculiarities of the United Kingdom, one should take into account its distinctive state. What seems to be happening in the new phase of British problems is that a long-standing illness of society is turning, rapidly and unmistakably, into a crisis of the state. For the first time outside the experience of war, ‘crisis’ has grown sufficiently acute to involve and threaten the form of state power.”
Diminishing Returns
Since 1948, spending power has increased in the UK, doubling every 30 years. It was about twice as high in 1978 as in 1948. It was close to doubling again by 2008, before the financial crisis intervened. Since then, stagnation.
The Resolution Foundation notes that average real earnings have fallen by 7% since a year ago and predicts that earnings will take four or five years to recover to the levels of January 2022. A quarter of the people the foundation surveyed said they couldn’t afford regular savings of £10 a month, or to spend small sums on a night out, or to replace electrical goods, or to turn on the heating when they were cold.
Had the pre-banking crisis trend continued, the typical Brit would by now be 40% better off than they are now. Instead, they are slipping ever backwards. What Britain has instead is a broken polity and people who cannot afford to heat their homes. Taxes are high but public services are appallingly bad. Voters have lost trust in the police (who are not investigating crimes but adding to them by raping and murdering) , the NHS, public utilities, ability to renew a passport or driving licence, the freedom to get from one place to another on time without paying a fortune and suffering extreme discomfort.
Causes of Decline
The current government doggedly attributes the sorry state of the country to the pandemic and the Ukraine war, which they claim have led to inflation throughout the world. Critics of the regime look elsewhere and put the blame on incompetent response to the 2008 financial crisis, the austerity policies of the Cameron government and Brexit. There is also the matter of ministers spending all their psychic energy on the problems of a hopelessly fragmented, fractious and fissiparous Tory party rather than attending to the needs of the nation.
Veteran political commentator Nick Cohen makes a good point in his blog Writing from London: “It’s not wholly the fault of a succession of failed prime ministers that Ireland, a nation the British once patronized as a rural backwater, has surpassed it.” Ireland was Britain’s first colony and now it is in better health than its former master. Being part of the EU has something to do with Ireland’s success. Astra Zeneca is planning to build a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Blanchardstown in Ireland rather than in Macclesfield, citing Britain’s “discouraging” tax regime.
Those failed prime ministers (I have lost count) will not be able to convince voters that they are blameless for what has happened during the 13 years of their rule. The tendency is to blame someone else including a Labour Party that has had no control over events.
Brexit
I exhausted myself a couple of years ago writing about the dangers of Brexit. I was one of the doom mongers, the Remoaners. I used to write a column on Europe for two Sri Lankan business magazines. Looking back at those columns, I am not surprised to find that all of them were critical of the EU. I was not blind to the corruption, the undemocratic lack of accountability, the arrogance. However, it was clearly the height of folly for the UK to withdraw from a successful trading bloc without having a plan.
Liz Truss made a terrible hash of being prime minister but she is now back claiming that the current regime under Rishi Sunak is stifling growth by not cutting taxes. This ignores the obvious fact that growth has been retarded by willingly stepping out of the nearest (and powerful and influential and successful) trading bloc and failing to get better trade deals elsewhere. The trade deal that she negotiated with Australia did not go any way to replace the beneficial relationship with the EU. The minister, George Eustace, who negotiated it has recently said it was useless.
There were Leavers and Remainers, now we have Regretters. A poll by Savanta, found that. of people who voted to leave the bloc in 2016, 30% said they wanted the relationship with the EU to be closer. Of those surveyed, 29% believe Brexit is the primary reason for staff shortages in the UK, impacting a range of sectors like the National Health Service and agriculture. The proportion of respondents said Brexit was partly to blame for gaps in the labour market was 34%.
There are countless convincing reports that conclude that Brexit was a disaster for the UK economy. The OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) has predicted that, over the 15 years from 2016, Brexit will reduce the UK’s GDP per capita by 4%. The Irish think tank the ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) released a report on 19 October 2022 showing reductions in trade from the UK to the EU reduced by 16% and trade from the EU to UK by 20%. Brexit has led to a significant decline in trade with the UK in almost all cases although by varying magnitudes. For most countries across the EU, the size of the impact is broadly similar for both export and imports. Ireland stands out as having had a particularly large reduction in imports from the UK relative to its other international trade patterns. Exports from Ireland to the UK, on the other hand, continue to perform in line with those of other markets with no notable impact to date of Brexit on the total levels traded.
Households across the UK are suffering the worst living standards since the 1950s.The think tank UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) said trade barriers introduced after leaving the EU had led to a 6% increase in UK food prices between December 2019 and September 2021. Energy companies have been forcing their way into people’s homes to install pre-payment meters. The courts have declared this illegal. Energy companies have declared record-breaking, obscene profits but the government argues against them paying more tax while elderly and disabled people suffer from hypothermia because they cannot pay their extortionate bills. What would Dickens make of this?
The LSE ( London School of Economics) Centre for Economic Performance found that a “clear and robust impact of Brexit-induced trade frictions” had led to the increase in prices. It said Covid-19 could be ruled out as an influencing factor because there was a correlation between price increases and the share of EU imports for a particular product.
Figures from the accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young show that UK businesses and consumers paid £4.8bn in customs duties on imported goods last year, a new record, and up from £2.9bn a year earlier.
A recent meeting took place to discuss Brexit. The highly unusual cross-party nature of the gathering – and the seniority of those who agreed to attend – reflects a growing acceptance among politicians in the two main parties, Remainers and Leavers, as well as business leaders and civil servants, that Brexit in its current form is damaging the UK economy and reducing its strategic influence in the world.
I Deny that I Am in Denial
Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, declared that the UK’s new long-term economic plan is “necessitated, energized and made possible” by post-Brexit freedoms. We should face the future with bright eyes and confident smiles, because “declinism about Britain is just wrong“.
What planet is he living on? Adam Tooze summarized the argument against Hunt’s delusions: “For most of the last 60 years when critics have spoken of decline, they have tended to exaggerate the extent of the malaise. GDP and per capita income actually continued to increase. In the 1970s they did so quite buoyantly. By contrast, since 2009 there is nothing exaggerated about declinist talk. For a significant part of the British population real incomes actually fell. The shocking novelty lies in the fact that decline and stagnation are not figures of speech, but a literal reality.”
Private Affluence and Public Squalor
I am not an economist but I have seen this decline in the streets and in the shops – the pound shops, the charity shops, the food banks, the pawnbrokers. There were legions of homeless people sleeping in the street in freezing December because the government is too incompetent to provide enough affordable housing. Data collated by multi-agency database the Combined Homelessness And Information Network (Chain) and published by the Greater London Authority showed a 23% increase in the number of people permanently living on the streets in the third quarter of the 2020-21 financial year, compared to between July and September. There was also a 10% rise in the number of people who were seen occasionally sleeping rough but were not deemed to be a living on the streets.
I wrote in these pages how the elegant city of Bath Spa is so accustomed to homelessness that there is a statue of a homeless man and his dog. Food banks are struggling to meet record demand from people who are in work – including NHS staff and teachers. More than 80% of people running food banks reported supporting a significant number of people using them for the first time, while many said demand was growing among pensioners and families with babies.
Rishi Sunak helped out at a soup kitchen and asked a client if he was interest in a career in financial services. The man said he was interested in finding a home. Sunak’s wife has a pair of slippers designed by JW Anderson that cost £570.
People are dumping old clothes in the streets and I have seen with my own eyes seemingly respectable people picking through them. People are dumping old furniture and soiled mattresses on the street. Everybody looks drab, shabby and tired. Every second person you see is grotesquely obese and struggling to walk. Nearly two-thirds of adults in England are overweight, according to new data from a government public health agency. There are 19 district local authorities where more than 70% of adults are overweight or obese. Copeland, Cumbria, has the most overweight people in England – 75.9% of Copeland’s population are overweight or obese. Obesity is a disease of poverty not affluence. Many people in London look unhealthy and there are countless wheelchairs.
Today’s high taxes are not purchasing quality public services. It is a Kafkaesque nightmare embarking on a train journey. People are carrying Pringle cartons to pee into because the toilets are shut. People are dying while waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive. Those who are lucky enough to get to hospital wait for hours on a trolley in a corridor. In a declining country, even high taxes cannot provide sufficient funds to improve public services or reduce the national debt.
The water companies are giving out huge dividends to their foreign shareholders but cannot control the leaky system and the rivers and beaches are full of shit.JK Galbraith wrote of “private opulence and public squalor.” That is Britain today and successive Tory governments, Truss’s mayfly regime being the most egregious, have pursued policies which give to the already rich and take from, not just the poor, but the middle class. They will surely pay the price for rising public anger.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
