The United National Party is a centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party, or as part of its governing coalition, for 38 of the country's 74 years of independence, including the periods 1947–1956, 1965–1970, 1977–1994, 2001–2004 and 2015–2019. The party also controlled the executive presidency from its formation in 1978 until 1994.
Bank of Ceylon is a state-owned, major commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Its head office is located in an iconic cylindrical building in Colombo.
The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is a self-governance movement in Sri Lanka, which provides comprehensive development and conflict resolution programs to villages. It is also the largest indigenous organization working on reconstruction from the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Founded in 1958 by A. T. Ariyaratne when he took “forty high school students and twelve teachers from Nalanda College Colombo on “an educational experiment” to an outcaste village, Kathaluwa, and helped the villagers fix it up.
Kathiravelu Nythiananda Devananda, commonly known as Douglas Devananda, is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician, Cabinet Minister and leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party. Originally a Sri Lanka Tamil militant who fought against the Sri Lankan government for an independent Tamil Eelam, he became a pro-government paramilitary leader and politician. Due to his strong opposition to and vocal criticism of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, they unsuccessfully tried to assassinate him over 10 times. Devananda is a proclaimed offender in India and is wanted on charges of murder, attempt to murder, rioting, unlawful assembly and kidnapping. He was sworn in as Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on 22 November 2019.
Karunasena Kodituwakku is a Sri Lankan politician, academic and diplomat. He was educated at St. Servatius' College, Matara. He was the Sri Lankan ambassador to China, and non-resident ambassador to Mongolia and North Korea. He was the former Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Education, Human Resources Development and Cultural Affairs and the third governor of the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. He also served as the vice chancellor of University of Sri Jayewardenepura and Sri Lankan ambassador to Japan and Republic of Korea.
His Excellency Mahinda Buddhadasa Samarasinghe is a former MP and the current Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States and Mexico and High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago.
Vidya Jyothi Sarath Wimalabandara Kotagama is a Sri Lankan ornithologist and environmentalist. He is a Professor Emeritus and former head of the Department of Zoology, University of Colombo.
Udaya Prabath Gammanpila is a Sri Lankan nationalist politician. By profession, he is a computer engineer, lawyer and a politician. He is a former Minister of Energy and Member of Sri Lanka Parliament for Colombo District.
Deforestation is one of the most serious environmental issues in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's current forest cover as of 2017 was 29.7%. In the 1920s, the island had a 49 percent forest cover but by 2005 this had fallen by approximately 26 percent. Between 1990 and 2000, Sri Lanka lost an average of 26,800 ha of forests per year. This amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.14%. Between 2000 and 2005 the rate accelerated to 1.43% per annum. However, with a long history of policy and laws towards environmental protection, deforestation rates of primary cover have decreased 35% since the end of the 1990s thanks to a strong history of conservation measures. The problem of deforestation in Sri Lanka is not as significant in the southern mountainous regions as it is in northern and lowland southern Sri Lanka, largely due to the nature of environmental protection.
Nilenthi Nimal Siripala de Silva MP is a Sri Lankan politician currently serving as the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation and one of the two acting chairmen of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party alongside Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. He served as the Leader of the Opposition for a few months in 2015, and has served in several other ministerial posts: he is the former Cabinet Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation in 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka, former Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management and former Leader of the House.
Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is a Sri Lankan politician and land proprietor. He is the current Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
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.
Mohamed Haniffa Mohamed was a Sri Lankan politician. Mohamed served as the 14th Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka as well as being a former member of Parliament and government minister. Mohamed was the first Sri Lankan Moor to hold office as Mayor of Colombo from 1960 to 1962
Local government is the third and lowest level of government in Sri Lanka – after the central government and provincial councils. The local government bodies are collectively known as local authorities. They are responsible for providing a variety of local public services including roads, sanitation, drains, housing, libraries, public parks and recreational facilities.
Herath Mudiyanselage Charitha Herath is current member of Parliament from National List, Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). and the Professor of Philosophy at the University of Peradeniya. His appointment was valid from 21 June 2019. Chair Professorship of Philosophy at Peradeniya has been one of the well established academic position. He is the former Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information in Sri Lanka and former chairman of the Central Environment Authority. Herath's academic interests are mainly based on Contemporary Analytical Philosophy and his research focused on Later Wittgenstein's Philosophy and the Environmental Ethics. He was the Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Peradeniya from 2016 to 2018.
Bodagama Chandima Thero is a Buddhist monk. As of 2015 he taught Theravada Buddhism in Taiwan. With a group of Taiwanese Buddhists, he founded the Theravada Samadhi Education Association in Taipei.
Antonythasan Jesuthasan, also known by the pseudonym Shobasakthi, is a Sri Lankan Tamil author and actor.
Sri Lanka Standards Institution also known as Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) is the National Standards Authority/Board of Sri Lanka as a subsidiary member of International Organization for Standardization was established in 1964 under the former Bureau of Ceylon Standards Act No. 38 of 1964. The institution later functioned under the new act of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution Act No. 6 of 1984 replacing the previous outdated act. The organisation works as a regulatory institution and it is a kind of state corporation on behalf of the government mainly to protect consumers from the unethical business trade malpractices. SLSI being the prominent National Standards Body in Sri Lanka is affiliated as a member to the International Organization for Standards since its inception in 1964. SLSI is currently functioning under the Ministry of Science and Technology which is held by Susil Premajayanth.
Anupa Pium Pasqual is a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament.
X-Press Pearl was a Singapore-registered Super Eco 2700–class container ship. The vessel entered service in February 2021 and was around 186 metres (610 ft) long. It was operated by X-Press Feeders.
