615 research outputs found
Promoting growth in Sri Lanka : lessons from East Asia
Get PDFSri Lanka's weak economic performance, although compounded by the civil war and budgetary imbalance, largely reflects the following: 1) a stop-and-go pattern of policy reform, because of political constraints - even though the results of reform were generally positive; 2) weak economic management, resulting in high inflation and a high fiscal and balance of payments deficit; 3) poor management of public spending; 4) mixed performance in exchange-rate management, with periods of substantial overvaluation; 5) financial policies that (despite recent improvements) hamper efficient financial intermediation; 6) prolonged trade protection, followed by selective trade liberalization; 7) continued distortion in agricultural policies; 8) inflexible labor markets and, despite Sri Lanka's outstanding track record on human development, problems with the quality of the labor force. To address a substantially unfinished policy agenda, Sri Lanka needs to intensify efforts to peacefully resolve civil conflict. There is also a need to squarely address its macroeconomic imbalances, involving a sharp reduction in the fiscal deficit, a cutback on public spending and redefinition of spending priorities, improvement of cost recovery for public services, and continuing to improve the management of the exchange rate. In trade policy, eliminate most quanitative restrictions, further reduce tariff protection, simplify the tariff structure, and, possibly, reform customs (to reduce leakage and abuse). Rationalize employment, exit, and bankruptcy regulations and procedures. The authors recommend improvement in communications between government and the private sector. It is necessary for the financial sector to become more competitive by legislating banking reform, giving state-owned banks more autonomy and putting private commercial banks on an equal footing with the two state banks, with the ultimate goal of privatizing the state banks, and also strengthen the supervision of banking. Also in the financial sector the authors have identified a need for privatization in insurance and pension funds to strengthen the capital market. Several aspects of the agricultural sector need to be revamped. Primarily, privatization of the estate plantations, perhaps through long-term management contracts and the gradual sale of share in assets; reduced trade protection; implementation of land reform; strengthen agricultural support; and possibly support rural financing institutions. Lastly, the authors suggest an end to government controls on hiring, firing, and wage setting as well as rationalization in civil service employment decisions.Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Decentralization,Banks&Banking Reform,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,Inequality
Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction in Sri Lanka: What Methodology?
Get PDFResearch methodology is the procedural framework within which the research is conducted. This includes the overall
approach to a problem that could be put into practice in a research process, from the theoretical underpinning to the
collection and analysis of data. Choice of methodology depends on the primary drivers: topic to be researched and the
specific research questions. Hence, methodological perspectives of managing stakeholder expectations of PDHR context
are composed of research philosophies, research strategy, research design, and research techniques. This research belonged
to social constructivism or interpretivism within a philosophical continuum. The nature of the study was more toward
subjectivism where human behavior favored voluntary stance. Ontological, methodological, epistemological, and axiological
positioning carried the characteristics of idealism, ideographic, anti-positivism, and value laden, respectively. Data collection
comprises two phases, preliminary and secondary. Exploratory interviews with construction experts in the United Kingdom
and Sri Lanka were carried out to refine the interview questions and identify the case studies. Case study interviews during
the secondary phase took place in Sri Lanka. Data collected at the preliminary stage were used to assess the attributes of
power, legitimacy/proximity, and urgency of stakeholders to the project using Stakeholder Circle™ software. Moreover,
the data collected at secondary phase via case studies will be analyzed with NVivo 8. This article aims to discuss these
methodological underpinnings in detail applied in a post-disaster housing reconstruction context in Sri Lanka
Part 1: The Congestion of Humanitarian Space
No full textYes¿Part 1: The congestion of humanitarian space¿, assesses what affect the rapid proliferation
of the international aid community¿s presence in Sri Lanka has had on local level
relationships and emergency response capacities. It contends that the burgeoning presence
of aid agencies resulted in humanitarian assistance becoming a hotly contested and
competitive activity. It goes on to identify the possible factors that have contributed to the
rapid congestion of this space in suggesting an explanation of why the humanitarian
communities¿ normative standards appear to have failed
Intellectual property law and e-commerce in Sri-Lanka: towards a jurisprudence based on constitution, Roman-Dutch law and Buddhist principle
No full textPhDModem developments in technology, connnerce and the cultural industries pose
problems for intellectual property in Sri Lanka, as everywhere. Case law may be used for
judicial guidance but there are comparatively few reported cases from the Sri Lankan
courts. By examining Sri Lanka's juridical history and Constitution, together with
constitutionally recognised Buddhist principles, it is possible to suggest further sources
of guidance for judges. Using the proposed framework, it may be possible for the judges
to apply existing law to new situations and avoid the need for constant legislative change
in an attempt to keep up with developments and comply with Sri Lanka's international
obligations.
The extent to which such guidance may be useful is explored by looking at specific
issues, which have caused difficulty in other jurisdictions. It is hoped that the proposed
techniques could be used to build up a body of Sri Lankan jurisprudence. Ms may prove
more stable and effective than incremental legislation.
'Status juris - 'Mis study (unless otherwise stated) based on material available as at
0 1.12.2004 and the law in force on that date
The (unknown) role of map librarian and the challenge of satisfying the cartographic user needs
No full textThe (unknown) role of map librarian and the challenge of satisfying the cartographic user needs
The profession of librarianship is developed and is being recognized in Sri Lanka. But we have neither heard of a map library nor a map librarian in our local environment. In Europe and USA map libraries are well known and map librarians are recognized
Librarians who deal with maps come under the special library group and have to manage the map collection in a special manner. It needs specialized knowledge in managing map collection. Reading of maps needs technical equipments and storage and preservation too is different from books. Hence the librarian who deals with maps should undergo training to familiarize himself/herself with the technical methods of storage, search co ordination and manage archives and enhance access of cartographic materials.
After world War 11 traditional map depositories are converted into cartographic centres and new technology is heavily used in map production, storage and usage. This paper highlights the role to be played by map librarians in a modern library using new technologies.
Map users are very much advanced in using different type of technologies in reading, creating, copying etc.maps. This technological advancement has not caused much change in map collection in the developing countries. Even in the 21st century we see the traditional collection of maps in Sri Lanka.
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While studying the situation (advance collection and advance users) in other countries, a sample study was carried out with reference to the local environment by selecting academic and special library groups. This paper elucidates the role played by a librarian who handle maps, who is not recognized as a map librarian It also discuses the attitudes of the cartographic users towards map libraries in our country the institutions where map collections are available, the barriers experienced by the users in accessing the collections, important issues neglected by the higher authorities and lack of a national body to authorize map production in the country.
The role that could be played by the national body or a regulatory body such as management of collection and databases, setting of standards, copyright law and implementing a national policy in map production and the problems faced in producing maps are discussed.
The study reveals that the gap between the traditional map libraries (collection) and the users of cartographic material is widening. The author suggests that the librarians could overcome this problem by undergoing professional training. This will change the attitude of the users towards the map librarians and map libraries. This will give recognition to the professionals who work as map librarians
Students' Involvement in International Humanitarian Aid: Learning from Student Responses to the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka
Get PDFAid delivery has been critiqued for its failure to be locality-specific and culturally relevant for recipients. Humanitarian responses to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami involved volunteers, professionals, and social work and other students. In this article, we consider students' endeavours in two responses to this tsunami in Sri Lanka. These initiatives involving professionals, academics and students from financially wealthy Western countries working in a less wealthy and powerful country sought to empower victim survivors receiving aid in rebuilding their lives after the tsunami. We draw on a large scale three-year qualitative study of two models which began shortly after this disaster—one institutional, the other professional. The research covered many dimensions of humanitarian aid in Sri Lanka. In this paper, we focus on: students' perceptions of their preparation before going overseas; the support they received while abroad; their debriefing upon return; and implications of their experiences for empowering approaches to humanitarian aid. The research revealed many positives in students' experiences. However, structural inequalities perpetuated inegalitarian relationships, despite individual attempts to the contrary. This paper offers lessons to improve the quality of students' experiences and their contributions to local people's well-being
System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for Mitigating the Risks of Climate Change: A Study of Three Settings from Tamil Nadu
Get PDFClimate change is seen not only to reduce the number of rainy days and freshwater availability but also increase crop water requirement due to rising temperature. Therefore, cultivating paddy, which is a water guzzling crop, under the conventional inundation method is going to be very difficult venture for farmers in the future. The new method of paddy cultivation popularly known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) seems to be very useful to paddy cultivating farmers to overcome the issue of water scarcity arsing due to climate change. Though SRI has been in practice over the last few years in India, not many studies have attempted to find out as to whether SRI method of paddy cultivation will be useful to farmers to mitigate the risks of climate change covering different ecological settings namely tank, canal and groundwater irrigated areas. In this study, an attempt has been made to fill this gap using data collected from a total of 300 sample farmers from three different settings in Tamil Nadu state. The study shows that SRI farmers are able to save 34 per cent of water in canal irrigated setting, about 41 per cent in tank irrigated setting and about 45 per cent in groundwater irrigated setting as compared to non-SRI farmers. With substantial saving of water, SRI farmers were able to harvest about 46 per cent of higher productivity than non-SRI farmers; the highest productivity difference of about 51 per cent was observed in groundwater setting. Through saving of water, fertiliser and other inputs, about 23 per cent of reduction in the cost of cultivation were also realised by SRI farmers. Because of increased productivity and reduction in cost of cultivation, SRI farmers were able to generate an additional profit of Rs.17,169/acre over the profit earned by farmers cultivating paddy under conventional inundation method
Comparison of characteristics of Asian and non-Asian tourists visiting eco-lodges in Sri Lanka
No full textAs the demand for ecotourism and nature-based tourism increases, eco-lodges are becoming a popular alternative accommodation choice. Consequently, the development of an ecolodge industry has wider implications for countries such as Sri Lanka, especially when considering the country's high potential for ecotourism and the need to provide alternative forms of accommodation for increasing tourist arrivals. In the Sri Lankan context, the eco-lodge industry still remains relatively undeveloped and the understanding of characteristics of visitors who seek accommodation in eco-lodges is limited. In this study, the author distinguished Asian and non-Asian ecotourist market segments visiting ecolodges in Sri Lanka, to enable ecotourism operators and policy makers to better tailor their products to target groups. A survey of 362 ecolodge occupants in 16 selected ecolodges found that the Asian and non-Asian visitor segments differ in terms of travel motivations, their perceptions on various ecolodge attributes, trip characteristics and demographics. However, both age and level of education were found to be strongly related in other studies. The study found that non-Asian ecotourists stay for longer periods by comparison with Asian ecotourists. Seeking novel experiences appeared to be the main motivation of Asian ecolodge occupants, and they typically demanded physically challenging activities. Non-Asians' motivation was friendliness of the people of the host country, followed by visiting nature and learning local customs. The management implications of distinguishing the Asian and non-Asian market segments are discussed.</p
Coral reef fish and the aquarium trade: ecological impacts and socio-cultural influences in southern Sri Lanka
Get PDFThe chronic degradation of coral reefs globally and its negative impact on coastal communities such as those in southern Sri Lanka dependent on the marine ornamental trade for their livelihood forms the focus of this study. Attempts to improve the conservation status of Sri Lanka's coral reefs and their associated fauna have failed because they omit to address the social circumstances of local people. Such social-ecological systems require an integrated approach, which provides holistic reasons for the degradation of natural ecosystems and livelihoods of coastal people. The aim of this study was therefore to ascertain the current sustainability of the marine ornamental trade in southern Sri Lanka through an interdisciplinary study employing a participatory bottom-up approach, and derive from findings alternative pathways to restore and maintain the health of the reef and thus provide better livelihoods for the fishing communities.
Findings confirm both the fragile state of nearshore coral reefs, their fish populations and the precarious nature of local communities’ livelihoods. Historical and recent environmental and anthropogenic impacts reduced resilience in all trade sectors and current fishing practices and the unjust supply chain compound these effects. Therefore, a holistic co-management framework is recommended that recognises local ecological knowledge and involves fishing communities as citizen scientists to improve monitoring and also provides communication channels to facilitate interaction within and across all groups of the ornamental trade. In this way, all actors are involved in making decisions and taking responsibility for the management of the supply chain at their particular level. This single, coherent framework would thus employ diverse groups and ways of doing as a resilience strategy to halt the degradation and reinvigorate the reef for more sustainable utilisation whilst simultaneously developing highly acceptable alternative income generating livelihoods, such as the community-based aquaculture experiment undertaken during this study
Population aging and the labor market : the case of Sri Lanka
Get PDFSri Lanka's population is predicted to age vary fast during the next 50 years, bringing a slowdown of labor force growth and after 2030its contraction. Based on a 2006 representative survey of old people in Sri Lanka, the paper examines labor market consequences of this process, focusing on retirement pathways and the determinants of labor market withdrawal. The paper finds that a vast majority of Sri Lankan old workers are engaged in the informal sector, work long hours, and are paid less than younger workers. Moreover, the paper shows that labor market duality carries over to old age: (i) previous employment is the most important predictor of the retirement pathway; (ii) older workers fall into two categories: civil servants and formal private sector workers, who generally stop working before they reach 60 because they are forced to do so by mandatory retirement regulations, and casual workers and the self-employed, who work until very old age (or death) due to poverty and insufficient income and who stop working primarily because of poor health; and (iii) the option of part-time work is used primarily by workers who held regular jobs in their prime age employment, but not by casual workers and self-employed.Labor Markets,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Policies,Work&Working Conditions,
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