Groundviews

Photo courtesy of JRS The recent intervention in parliament by Batticaloa District MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam has brought renewed attention to an important humanitarian issue that Sri Lanka can no longer afford to handle through bureaucracy, uncertainty and political promises: the safe and dignified return of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who have lived in India for decades. Many of these families did not leave Sri Lanka by choice. They fled during years of war, violence, displacement and insecurity.

Photo courtesy of BASL Sri Lanka’s justice system is burdened by serious delay and reforms are unquestionably necessary. The question is not whether reform is needed. The question is whether extending the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal is demonstrably connected to the causes of judicial delay and whether it is likely to produce a measurable reduction in the backlog.

Photo courtesy of srilankatwo Last month, a video showing Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe removing the microphone of a private television channel while saying, “Remove this, brother” was widely circulated. A single incident cannot by itself establish that media freedom in Sri Lanka is under threat. However, it raised a fundamental question: who determines the terms of engagement between those in power and the media? Who is recognised as a journalist?

Photo courtesy of Daily Sabah Plastics have plagued Sri Lanka for decades. Since it was first introduced here in the 1940s, its innocent beginnings and promises of convenience have mutated into something quite sinister. Today, Sri Lanka drowns in close to 1.6 million metric tons of plastic waste a year. For the last decade, the government has tried to tackle this plastic cancer.

Photo courtesy of The Island Once again, the spectre of the hangman has returned to Sri Lanka’s policy discourse. At National Operations Council convened at the Presidential Secretariat on August 10, the imposition of the death penalty for drug-related offences was raised as a possible response to the country’s deepening narcotics crisis. The cabinet spokesman has since clarified that no final decision has been taken.

Photo courtesy of ARTRA For ten days in August, a scattering of galleries in Colombo and Galle Fort became something larger than the sum of their walls. ARTRA Trail Edition Two, the second edition of the platform’s circuit of exhibitions, artist talks and collector conversations turned the two cities into a single, loosely connected conversation about what Sri Lanka carries beneath its surface.

Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera Sri Lanka’s crisis of 2022 was much more than an economic collapse. It was a profound crisis of governance that exposed the weaknesses of the relationship between the state and its citizens. Economic mismanagement, political upheaval, institutional decay and social divisions came together to demonstrate how vulnerable a state can become when public institutions lose their credibility and citizens lose confidence in those institutions. The lesson should be clear.

Photo courtesy of  The Court Reporter The 22nd Amendment to the constitution gazetted on August 7, 2026 under the auspices of the Minister of Justice and National Integration. This amendment aims to strengthen institutional efficiency and formality within the judiciary. The bill introduces major revisions to the retirement ages of superior court judges while expanding the bench capacity of the Court of Appeal.

Photo courtesy of Nayanahari Abeynayake The title of the exhibition, which was held at Haputale Town Hall, is very powerful and resonant on several levels. For an agricultural society, the growing of crops is the focus of their lives. This is why the harvest festivals in many cultures celebrate prosperity and abundance, and invoke divine intervention and assistance to support the growing of grain, vegetables, rice and other foods grown in the ground.

Photo courtesy of Logistics Middle East The Colombo Port City project was promoted as the largest foreign investment initiative in Sri Lanka’s history. It promised to transform the nation’s economy by attracting $15 billion in foreign direct investment, creating more than 80,000 jobs and positioning Colombo as a leading international financial and commercial hub. These promises formed the basis upon which Sri Lanka agreed to lease 116 hectares of strategically valuable reclaimed land for 99 years.