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Lanka’s Vedda tribe linked to ethnic Indians: Study
A study by Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and Colombo University has found that the Vedda tribe was genetically linked to ethnic Indians, said a report published by the Times of India.
It said: In a landmark study published this week in ‘Mitochondrion’ journal, 10 researchers from five institutions spoke about findings on the genetic history of the Vedda population, an indigenous group of Lanka.
It has found that the Vedda share a strong genetic similarity with the Austroasiatic Munda-speaking Santhal and Juang tribes in Odisha and the Dravidian-speaking Irula, Paniya and Pallar found in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Their study has revealed that the Vedda have a greater genetic similarity with these five tribes than with either Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese or Tamil populations with whom they have shared the island for centuries.
“This was a surprise — it shows Sri Lanka as an amazing place where three populations, living side by side, interacted very differently with one another,” Gyaneshwer Chaubey, a population geneticist at the Banaras Hindu University, who supervised the study, said.
“The Sinhala and Tamil are massively mixed — you could call them genetically nearly indistinguishable, but the Vedda have remained largely isolated, they’ve maintained their identity by very low mixing,” Chaubey said.
Archaeological excavations show that modern humans have been occupying Sri Lanka for the past 30,000 years, perhaps longer. The Vedda, originally hunter-gatherers, are the island’s only indigenous population and are believed to be the direct descendants of the island’s earliest inhabitants.
“The Vedda have long intrigued anthropologists, historians and scientists because of their distinct language and culture,” said Kumarasamy Thangaraj, a scientist and study collaborator at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.
Kumarasamy added: “Our study unravels their genetic origins and affinities with Indian populations.”
The Vedda’s original language is linguistically isolated, unrelated to any known language. Chaubey said it was one of three such linguistically isolated languages on the subcontinent, alongside Nihali, spoken in central India, and Kusunda in Nepal.
For their study, the scientists extracted genetic material from blood samples collected from 37 healthy, maternally unrelated Vedda individuals and compared their genomic segments with those from other populations.
Their maternal ancestry analysis suggests that the Vedda are the descendants of people who arrived from the Indian subcontinent some 55,000 years ago and who were likely an offshoot of a branch of modern humans who moved out of Africa into India and Asia.
The genetic proximity of the Vedda with Indian tribal populations that were among the earliest populations in India shows their deep common genetic roots, Chaubey said.
“The study highlights a distinct demographic history of the Vedda,” said Anjana Welikala, a scientist at Colombo University, and the study’s first author. The findings show that the Vedda largely remained genetically isolated despite the geographic proximity with the Sinhalese and Tamil populations.
Ruwandi Ranasingh, the study’s lead author at Colombo University, said the study had shown that the Vedda had preserved their distinct genetic makeup with limited gene flow from neighbouring Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil populations.
A study by Ranasingh and her Indian collaborators had last year shown that Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese and Tamil populations shared exceptionally high levels of genetic similarities, implying centuries of intermingling despite the differences in their arrival history, ethnicity, and language.
The Sinhalese had arrived in Sri Lanka between 800BC and 600BC while the island’s Tamil population are the descendants of arrivals from Tamil Nadu between 600BC and 300BC.
British husband-wife anthropologists Charles Seligmann and Brenda Seligmann had, in a treatise on the Vedda in 1911, proposed that they were related to the Dravidian jungle tribes in southern India but should be considered more primitive.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo welcomed the U.S. Sports Envoys to Sri Lanka, former National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players Stephen Howard and Astou Ndiaye, from June 8 through 14.
The Public Diplomacy section of the U.S. Embassy said that it would launch a weeklong basketball program intended to harness the unifying power of sports, made possible through collaboration with Foundation of Goodness and IImpact Hoop Lab.
While in Sri Lanka, Howard and Ndiaye, both retired professional basketball players, will conduct a weeklong program, Hoops for Hope: Bridging Borders through Basketball. The Sports Envoys will lead basketball clinics and exhibition matches and engage in leadership sessions in Colombo and Southern Province for youth aged 14-18 from Northern, Uva, Eastern and Western Provinces, offering skills and leadership training both on and off the court. The U.S. Envoys will also share their expertise with the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation, national coaches, and players, furthering the development of basketball in the country. Beyond the clinics, they will collaborate with Sri Lankan schoolchildren to take part in a community service project in the Colombo area.
“We are so proud to welcome Stephen and Astou as our Sports Envoys to Sri Lanka, to build on the strong people-to-people connections between the United States and Sri Lanka,” said U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung. “The lessons that will be shared by our Sports Envoys – communication, teamwork, resilience, inclusion, and conflict resolution – are essential for leadership development, community building, equality, and peace. The U.S. Sports Envoy program is a testament to our belief that sports can be a powerful tool in promoting peace and unity.”
SJB Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman in parliament demanded to know from the government the reasons for CEB suspending the leave of all its employees until further notice from Thursday.
MP Rahuman said that the CEB has got an acting General Manager anew and the latter yesterday morning issued a circular suspending leave of all CEB employees with immediate effect until further notice.
“We demand that Minister Kanchana Wijesekera should explain this to the House. This circular was issued while this debate on the new Electricity Amendment Bill was pending. There are many who oppose this Bill. The Minister must tell parliament the reason for the urge to cancel the leave of CEB employees,” the MP said.However, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena prevented Minister Wijesekera responding to the query and said that the matter raised by MP Rahuman was not relevant.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) successfully concluded the 8th Annual CIPM Symposium, which took place on 31st May 2024. Themed “Nurturing the Human Element—Redefining HRM in a Rapidly Changing World,” the symposium underscored the pivotal role of human resource management (HRM) in today’s dynamic global landscape. Since its inception in 1959, CIPM has been dedicated to advancing the HR profession through education, professional development, and advocacy, solidifying its position as Sri Lanka’s leading professional body for HRM.
Ken Vijayakumar, the President of the CIPM, graced the occasion as the chief guest. The symposium commenced with the welcome address by the Chairperson, Prof. Arosha Adikaram, followed by the Web Launch of the Symposium Proceedings and Abstract Book by the CIPM President. The event featured distinguished addresses, including a speech by Chief Guest Ken Vijayakumar, President of CIPM, and an address by Guest of Honor Shakthi Ranatunga, Chief Operating Officer of MAS Holdings Pvt. Ltd., Sri Lanka.
The symposium also featured an inspiring keynote address by Prof. Mario Fernando, Professor of Management and Director of the Centre for Cross Cultural Management (CCCM) at the University of Wollongong, Australia.
Vote of Thanks of the inauguration session was delivered by Dr. Dillanjani Weeratunga, Symposium Co-chair.
The symposium served as a comprehensive platform for researchers to present their findings across a wide range of critical topics in HRM. These included Cultural Diversity and Inclusion, Talent Development and Retention, Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility, Adapting to Technological Advancements, Mental Health and Well-being at Work, Global Workforce Challenges, Employee Empowerment, and Reskilling and Upskilling.
The plenary session was led by Prof. Wasantha Rajapakse. Certificates were awarded to the best paper presenters during the valedictory session, followed by a vote of thanks delivered by Kamani Perera, Manager of Research and Development.
The annual symposium of CIPM was a truly inclusive event, attracting a diverse audience that spanned undergraduates, graduates, working professionals, research scholars and lecturers. This widespread interest highlights the symposium’s significance in the field of HRM, offering a unique opportunity for everyone to network and learn from scholarly brains.The CIPM International Research Symposium was sponsored by Hambantota International Port, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), E B Creasy & Co. PLC, and Print Xcel Company.
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
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