Transport in Sri Lanka is based on its road network, which is centred on the country's commercial capital Colombo. A rail network handles a portion of Sri Lanka's transport needs. There are navigable waterways, harbours and three international airports: in Katunayake, 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Colombo, in Hambantota, and in Jaffna.
Hambantota is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. This underdeveloped area was hit hard by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and is undergoing a number of major development projects including the construction of a new sea port and international airport finished in 2013. These projects and others such as Hambantota Cricket Stadium are said to form part of the government's plan to transform Hambantota into the second major urban hub of Sri Lanka, away from Colombo.
Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the first openly gay politician from Sri Lanka. He was the Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2019, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for two terms from 2005 to 2007 and 2015 to 2017. He created a stir in Sri Lankan politics when he was sacked as a minister by President Mahinda Rajapakse in 2007, after which he formed a new political party called the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana) Wing, which later merged with the United National Party in 2010.
In Sri Lanka, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in Parliament that is not in government. This is usually the leader of the second-largest party in Parliament. Sajith Premadasa officially took office as Leader of the Opposition on August 20, 2020, after Speaker announces the appointment in parliament.
A Governor of a Province in Sri Lanka, is the head of the provincial council and representative of the President of Sri Lanka in the province. Established in 1987, under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka and deriving its powers from the Provincial Council Act No 47 of 1987, a governor exercises executive power in respect of subjects devolved to provincial council.
Savumiamoorthy Arumugan Ramanathan Thondaman was a Sri Lankan politician who served as a Cabinet Minister. He was the grandson of prominent unionist Saumyamoorthi Thondaman. He was the leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, a Member of Parliament representing the Nuwara Eliya District and was an advocate for the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka. His career as a politician spanned over 20 years, holding several ministerial portfolios in different governments. He was regarded as one of the prominent politicians from Nuwara Eliya.
Rishad Bathiudeen is a Sri Lankan parliamentarian and former senior cabinet minister. He is the leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Party, a registered political party in Sri Lanka. Bathiudeen was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Vanni Electoral District in December 2001 and was re-elected in April 2004, after which he was again re-elected in April 2010 and 2015 June from the same Electoral District which comprises Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullathivu Administrative Districts. Rishad Bathiudeen holds a National Diploma in Technology (NDT) in Civil Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Engineering (C.I.E.) in the UK.
Alexander Ekanayake Gunasinha trade unionist and politician. A pioneering trade union leader, known as the "Father of the Labour Movement", he was the founder of the Ceylon Labour Party, Sri Lanka's first labour organisation. A former Mayor of Colombo, he served as the Minister without portfolio, Minister of State and Chief Government Whip in the First Parliament of Sri Lanka and Ceylon's Ambassador to Burma and Indonesia.
The 2011 Sri Lanka worker protests were a series of violent and non-violent protests involving workers from the Free Trade Zones (FTZ) of Sri Lanka against the government. Approximately 250,000 workers took part in the protest against the Sri Lankan government's Private Sector Pension Bill (PSBP) which lasted two weeks, from 24 May – 6 June 2011. The pension bill was effectively cutting wages and limiting employee benefits, which had a negative effect on the FTZ workers and prompted the mass protest. The protests were the largest that the FTZ had seen since its establishment in 1978.
Ramesh Pathirana is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and is serving as the current Minister of Education and Plantation Industries. He belongs to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. He was educated at Richmond College, Galle and University of Peradeniya. He is a physician by profession and is the son of former Education and Higher Education minister Richard Pathirana.
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) is a trade union in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1926 as the Government Medical Officers’ Association in Kandy, it was renamed as Government Medical Officers’ Association of Ceylon in 1927 and in 1949 registered as a trade union under the leadership of Dr E. M. Wijerama.
Parliamentary elections were held in Sri Lanka on 5 August 2020 to elect 225 members to Sri Lanka's 16th Parliament. 16,263,885 people were eligible to vote in the election, 31.95% of whom were young voters.
The following lists notable events that took place during 2019 in Sri Lanka. This year marks the fewest non-working holidays in the country as most of the public holidays fall on weekends.
The 2019 Sri Lanka electricity crisis was a crisis which happened nearly a month from 18 March to 10 April 2019 faced by Sri Lanka caused by a severe drought that depleted water levels at hydroelectric plants. Sri Lanka experienced rolling blackouts for three to five hours per day except on Sundays in all parts of the island nation at different time schedules that started from 24 March 2019 to present. This is regarded as one of the worst blackouts confronted in Sri Lanka since 2016 and the longest ever blackout recorded in history of the country. However it was revealed that the main electricity providing institution Ceylon Electricity Board had restricted the power supply to almost all regions of the country without proper prior notice and implemented a time schedule unofficially from 24 March 2019. However the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy revealed that it didn't grant and approve permission to CEB to impose power cuts.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus. The first case of the virus in Sri Lanka was confirmed on 27 January 2020, after a 44-year-old Chinese woman from Hubei, China, was admitted to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Angoda, Sri Lanka. As of 1 September 2021, a total of 462,767 COVID-19 cases had been recorded in the country, 386,509 patients had recovered from the disease, and 10,140 patients had died.
Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre previously known as the Kandakadu Drug Rehabilitation Centre is a rehabilitation center located in the Welikanda, Polonnaruwa District, North Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is currently operated by the Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation under the Ministry of Justice. The rehabilitation centre is currently used to treat drug addicts and COVID-19 patients along with Senapura Rehabilitation Center.
Shani Abeysekara is a former Sri Lankan police officer and former director of Criminal Investigation Department. He was leading in investigations into numerous high-profile cases of human rights abuses such as the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda and assault on Lasantha Wickrematunge. He was also accused of several other allegations including his involvement in giving pressure to the current Sri Lankan government lead by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In January 2020, he was suspended from the Service of Sri Lanka Police after his leaked telephone conversations with Ranjan Ramanayake which was termed as a discredit to the police services of the country. On 25 November 2020, he was tested positive for COVID-19 and was transferred to a different prison. On 16 June 2021, he was granted bail by the Court of Appeal after spending jail term for nearly one year.
The 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 156 voting in favor, 65 against and four abstained on 22 October 2020. The 20th amendment became a subject of political controversy as political activists, civil societies, international community expressed concerns over its bias towards Rajapaksa family. Critics called it as a constitutional bombshell as it was deemed as in violation to the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The proposed amendment reverses most of the reforms and amendments which were introduced in the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka in 2015. 20th amendment brought back most of the constitutional powers to the President which was previously abolished in the 19th amendment. The 19th amendment was the first instance in Sri Lanka where the executive powers were equally shared by the President along with the cabinet. The 20th amendment was often a political objective of ruling party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration which recorded landslide victories in both 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election as well as 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. On 22 October 2020, the amendment was successfully passed in the parliament with a ⅔ majority in the parliament.
The 2022 Sri Lankan protests are a series of ongoing protests by various non-partisan protesters, mainly the general public and opposition political parties against the government of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, accused of mismanaging the economy which has resulted in an economic crisis with severe inflation, daily blackouts of 10 to 13 hours, a shortage of fuel and many essential items. The key demand of the protesters is that the government run by the Rajapaksa family immediately resign, paving the way for a completely new set of qualified and democratic rulers. Most protesters were unaligned with any political party, and some expressed discontent with the political opposition. The protesters commonly chanted slogans such as "Go home Gota", ''Go Home Rajapaksas'' and "Gota pissek". The protests have been mainly staged by general public including teachers, students, doctors, nurses, IT professionals, farmers, lawyers, few police officers, social activists, sportspersons and engineers without any political affiliation and most of the protestors are considered to be apolitical. Few protests have been carried out by individuals with political connections and political parties but have relatively fallen apart due to lack of support. The youth population of Sri Lanka has come to the forefront as they have been carrying the protests in Galle Face Green by chanting slogans "You have messed with the wrong generation" and "Don't play with our future".
The 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis is an ongoing political crisis in Sri Lanka due to the power struggle between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The crisis was fuelled by the anti-government protests and demonstrations by the public and also due to the worsening Economy of Sri Lanka since 2019. The anti-government sentiment across various parts of Sri Lanka has triggered an unprecedented political instability creating shockwaves in political arena.
