The High Commission of India celebrated the 58th Republic Day of India on 26th January 2007

The Celebrations began with the hoisting of the National flag by the High Commissioner Mr. Alok Prasad at the India House. The High Commission's security contingent offered him a guard of honour and the national anthem of India was then sung with great fervour and enthusiasm. Mr. Prasad read out excerpts from the address to the Nation by Hon' President of India Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam to a large gathering of Indian nationals assembled at India House. The morning function ended with a spread of delicious Indian snacks.

The evening reception to commemorate the occasion at India House was a grand event. Cabinet Ministers, business leaders, community leaders, heads of diplomatic missions, performing artistes and noted luminaries from all walks of life attended this reception.

The Hon'ble Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights was the chief guest at the reception and was a representative of the Government of Sri Lanka. Both the High Commissioner and Hon'ble Minister spoke on the occasion outlining the strong friendship between the two countries.

The reception was enlivened by a beautiful Kathak dance recital 'Bho Shambo' presented by Ms. Geetanjali Lal and her accompanying artistes.

High Commissioner's message on Republic Day 2007

On the 58th Republic Day of India, I extend my greetings and good wishes to all my compatriots and to the Government and the people of our friendly neighbour, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

The last 57 years have seen India mature socially, economically and politically. What used to be described as India's democratic "experiment" is now looked on by the world with a sense of wonder. India's pluralistic, secular polity has weathered every challenge in the last 57 years. Its democratic institutions have emerged more robust, more inclusive and more responsive to the needs of our people.

The Indian economy is today registering the fastest growth in our history, exceeding 8% for the last three successive years. And the growth is accelerating. For March-December 2006 the economy grew at well over 9 %. India is well on track to achieving double digit sustained growth as envisioned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

While the Government is committed to doing everything to consolidate the rate of growth, there has also been a conscious effort to make the growth process more inclusive. We are introducing programmes to directly benefit people and sectors of the economy which have not fully benefitted from the growth momentum so far. There has been a special thrust to empower the less privileged sections of society and minorities and those living in conditions of extreme poverty. Between 1993 and 2004, the percentage of population living in poverty has declined from 36% to 28% and in the last three years the reduction of poverty is estimated to have been ever faster. In absolute terms this implies that over a 100 million people have been pulled out of the clutches of poverty.
Our economic growth does not make us complacent. The Prime Minister has articulated five challenges that will engage us over the next decade, both as a prerequisite for fast growth and as a consequence of it. These are: (i) revitalisation of the rural economy; (ii) improved delivery of essential public services; (iii) improved management of our urban areas; (iv) preparing our financial system for increased global integration; (v) establishing a regulatory culture to facilitate cost-effective private investment in infrastructure.

Over this same period of high growth, India has also been rapidly integrating with the global economy. While globalisation has created a wealth of new opportunities, it has also thrown up major challenges, particularly for those sections that tend to get marginalized. It is here that regional cooperation has a major role to play, to benefit from global impulses in a collective and measured manner while minimizing its negative consequences. India therefore intends to pay particular attention to regional economic cooperation.

A Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with Singapore became operational in 2005. We are currently negotiating an FTA with ASEAN which is likely to be finalized by July this year. India's participation in the East Asia Summit held recently at Cebu in Philippines reflects our growing bonds with our extended neighbourhood in the East. An observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is cementing our relations with our extended neighbourhood in the North.

In our immediate neighbourhood, we are engaged in the process of moving towards a closer knit SAARC region. Our countries are bound by age-old ties of history and culture. We need to complement this by forging a dynamic economic partnership. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said, "we have an opportunity to reclaim our legacy of interconnectedness to restore the natural exchange of goods, people and ideas that has characterized our shared South Asian space". That summarizes India's vision for the South Asian Region.

The forthcoming Fourteenth SAARC Summit to be held in New Delhi in April, 2007 provides a great opportunity to the process forward in concrete directions. We look forward to Sri Lanka's wholehearted and positive contribution.

In order to re-envigorate the SAARC process, we have to make the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)truly effective. SAFTA serves as an incentive to our neighbours to link up with the robust Indian economic growth engine, to our collective and mutual benefit.

Within SAARC, our relationship with Sri Lanka has been very special. Sri Lanka has become India's largest trading partner in SAARC region. Bilateral trade, which was stagnating at US$ 500 million in the late 90s, crossed the US $ 2.2 billion mark in 2006. The six year old Free Trade Agreement has worked well for both countries. It has vastly enhanced trade volumes, and also reduced the ratio of India's exports to Sri Lanka's exports significantly. India is the largest source of imports and the third largest export destination for Sri Lanka. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which is currently being negotiated, is expected to sustain and build on the momentum generated by the FTA and take the two economies beyond trade in goods towards greater economic integration and enhanced interaction in areas like services and investment.

India attaches the highest importance to its relations with Sri Lanka. The strength of our bilateral relationship lies in the bonds of friendship of over two millennia between the peoples of the two countries. The political leadership continues to nurture this friendship through sustained interaction and sharing of views on developments in our respective countries and in the world at large. The exchange of several high-level visits over the past few months, in particular that of H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India in November 2006, provided an important opportunity for continuing exchange of views, and strengthening bilateral cooperation.

As a close friend of Sri Lanka we have an abiding interest in peace, stability and development in this country so that it is able to harness the fruits of development taking place in our region and beyond.

We are committed to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Our firm belief is that the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka has to be resolved through a negotiated political settlement acceptable to all sections of the Sri Lankan society and consistent with the principles of democracy, pluralism and human rights.

Bilateral economic and commercial relations between India and Sri Lanka are multi-faceted. The wide swath of our economic engagement includes buoyant trade, investments, services, infrastructure development, technical training and extension of lines of credit.

It has been decided that NTPC, in a joint venture with CEB, will work on setting up a 500 MW coal based power plant in Trincomalee at an investment of $ 500 million. We are also discussing refurbishment of the southern railway corridor from Colombo to Matara under an Indian line of credit of US $ 100 million. The Indian participation in development of information and communication technology and oil and natural gas is also progressing.

Investments in India by Brandix, MAS and Ceylon Biscuits are positioning Sri Lankan companies to take advantage of the huge Indian market and as a base for their further outreach internationally. This trend of mutual investments, trade and economic partnership is a very positive development which needs to be encouraged and sustained.

Our greatest strengths in both Sri Lanka and India is our talented and hard working people. We should give them every advantage to succeed in the world of the 21st Century. It is of considerable significance therefore that the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship Scheme was launched on October 2, 2006 in Sri Lanka; 100 Sri Lankan students were awarded these scholarships. In association with the Ministry of Education, Government of Sri Lanka, the students were selected from all the 25 districts of Sri Lanka on means-cum-merit basis. The selected scholars will receive financial assistance of Rs. 1500/- per month for a period of two years to enable them to pursue their 'A' level courses. A new set of 100 scholarships will be granted every year.
The High Commission of India also awards 75 scholarships to Sri Lankan nationals for pursuing under-graduate and post-graduate courses in various reputed institutes and universities in India. Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo awards nearly 12 scholarships to Sri Lankan students to follow under graduate courses in music, dance and fine arts.
India and Sri Lanka have had cultural links through the ages. This interaction has mutually enriched both our societies'. Common cultural impulses with India abound in all parts of Sri Lanka. I am glad therefore that our cultural cooperation has continued with a renewed vigour the last few months. Art India, an exhibition showcasing the works of art of 31 Indian artists, painters and sculptors, was jointly organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi of India and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs & National Heritage, Government of Sri Lanka in September 2006. A 10-member Kathak troupe headed by Pt. Jai Krishan Maharaj visited Sri Lanka also in September 2006 to participate in the National Literary Arts Festival of the Government of Sri Lanka. I am also glad that a 12-member Sri Lankan dance troupe participated in the Navratri dance festival organized by the Government of Gujarat in October 2006.

It is well recognized that there are obstacles today to the full attainment by Sri Lanka of her goals of peace, prosperity and equitable development for her people. India can be divorced neither from her strife nor her suffering. I would like to quote from our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's public speech in July 1939 in what was then Madras - "Any person who looks at the map can realize that it is not conceivable in any scheme of things for India and Ceylon to be cut away from each other." This basic fact of geography, history and culture is even more true today. We stand with Sri Lanka as she endevours to find a fair, just and equitable solution to her problems. As Sri Lanka's closest neighbour, we shall rejoice when peace, normalcy and development return to this most wondrously beautiful island.

DEVELOPED INDIA Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The President of India 'I have three visions for India.

In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them.

Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.

My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

I have a THIRD vision.

India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

I see four milestones in my career:

Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist.

After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994.

The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss.

The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon. One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram Calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. Load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them.

Why?

We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self - sustaining, self driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture Of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE ? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied:

I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.

YOU say that our laws are too old.

YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.

YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say.

What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - OURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are.

You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU comeback to the Parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity.

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.' YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?

Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.

This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room Protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how it will matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Let's do what India needs from us. Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you Abdul Kalam

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Speech of hon'ble minister of water resources in the workshop on 'rain water harvesting' organised at kandy, sri lanka dated 27th september, 2006

Respected Hon'ble Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply, Government of Sri Lanka Mr. DINESH GUNAWARDANE, my Ministerial colleagues, participants from different countries, Ladies & Gentlemen.

I feel greatly privileged to be here today on the occasion of inauguration of this workshop on a very important subject of Rain Water Harvesting. Rain Water Harvesting, as you are aware, is not only essential in Southern Asia, but all over the globe.

Water is the basis of all living ecosystems and habitats and part of an immutable hydrological cycle that must be respected if the development of human activity and well being is to be sustainable. Only 2.5% of the water available on the earth is fresh, of which two-third is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. Ground water constitutes about 30% of the available fresh water on the earth. Water is indeed a precious resource which needs to be managed carefully.

Since Independence in our country, we have made vast strides in developing our water resources in a big way and strove successfully to meet the aspirations of our populace to a satisfactory level. We can be proud of our past achievements in terms of developing and managing our water resources, despite sharp increases in demand due to improved living standard and manifold rise in population. Water resources sector, like in every walk of life, is constantly evolving and challenging. We have to be alert and thoughtful in such a way so that traditional wisdom and modernity go hand in hand to benefit wide section of our society. A lot more is required to be done. It is necessary to concentrate on adoption of best management practices to ensure efficient utilization of created facilities. These objectives can be achieved only if all the sections of the society join hand and play active role. In view of the reducing per capita availability of water resources, we have to give the message about the scarcity value of fresh water and urgent need to conserve it and preserve its quality. It is necessary that all concerned with development and management of water resources i.e. Government and Non-Government Organizations including Industrial Houses etc. come together and work unitedly in understanding the related issues and addressing them in proper perspective.

The green revolution in India during the post independence era has led to rapid development of the country's water resources for irrigation. Economic development of the country has led to increased demands of water for various sectors. Irrigation remains the largest use of water, accounting for 80% of fresh water abstracted. More than 50% of irrigation requirements are met through ground water. For domestic supplies, however, ground water is much more important contributing about 85% in rural water supply and above 50% in urban water supply. Industrial water supply is widely provided by ground water as it is usually cheaper and more reliable than municipal piped water supplies. Ground water thus plays a significant role in sustaining both the general development and economic growth of the country.

Increasing pace of ground water development to meet the growing demands of water in agriculture, industrial and domestic sectors, has brought problems of over-exploitation of the resource, continuously declining water levels, seawater ingress in coastal areas and ground water pollution in different parts of the country. The falling ground water levels in various parts of the country have threatened the sustainability of ground water resource, as water levels have gone deep beyond the economic lifts of pumping. The speedy and uncontrolled development of ground water resources has resulted into increase in over-exploited and critical/dark blocks.

As natural replenishment of ground water reservoir is slow and is unable to keep pace with the excessive continued exploitation of ground water resources in various parts of the country, there is an urgent need to augment the natural supply of ground water through artificial recharge of ground water. Roof top rainwater harvesting can also be adopted to meet domestic water requirements. This water can be stored in specifically constructed surface or sub-surface tanks.

The most feasible option to harvest the rain water is at place, where we get it and store it. Rain water harvesting is a tool to utilize the enormous volume of rainfall which otherwise goes as waste.

Water conservation has been practiced even in earlier times. Ancient texts of India like Puranas, Mahabharata and Ramayana, contain references to the water conservation and harvesting. There are ample references to the management of natural water resources in Kautilya's Arthshastra written in 3rd Century B.C. Rig Veda also mentions the construction of artificial canals to irrigate desert areas. During Harappan period, there was an efficient system of water management as is evident from the latest excavations conducted at Dholavira in Kachch district of Gujarat. It had several reservoirs to collect monsoon runoff and had an excellent drainage system. During Tuglak and Mughal period, water conservation also assumed importance. Feroz Shah Tuglaq (1351-1388 AD), stands out or his public works, particularly for building irrigation canals, several dams across rivers, reservoirs for irrigation and repair works. Delhi had numerous baolis (steeped wells) and dams.

Since long the rain water harvesting has been the part of the Indian traditions and over centuries, Indians have developed a range of techniques to harvest rain water. The traditional structures vary from state to state. In hilly and high rainfall areas, general practice is roof top rain water collection and storage. In Rajasthan, underground tanks and embankments are constructed whereas in southern states, weirs, ponds, open wells are constructed for the purpose of rain water harvesting.

The need for conservation of ground water has been emphasized in urban areas. The roof top rainwater harvesting is proposed both by augmenting the ground water storage as well as by storing it in specially built tanks. It is estimated that 37 lakh roof top rainwater-harvesting structures are feasible in the country.

In India, a number of programmes have been initiated for water conservation and rain water harvesting through central & state govt. agencies. There are certain States where rain water harvested in every house like in the State of Mizoram. In States like Rajasthan and Gujarat, which are drought prone states, peoples are increasingly realizing the importance of rain water harvesting. As a result of this awareness, these states have been able to achieve significant improvement in the availability of water for drinking and other purposes. Voluntary Organizations and Individuals have also contributed significantly in promoting rain water harvesting.

For implementing Artificial Recharge to Ground Water on large scale, there is a need of co-ordination between various Central and State Government Agencies/ Institutions and community in funding and implementing schemes, if maximum benefits are to be obtained from such schemes. This will help in proper utilization of available funds and use of appropriate technology.

Till recently artificial recharge to ground water has been implemented mainly through the efforts of the Government. Of late NGOs and VOs have taken a quantum leap and have done commendable work in selected areas in different parts of the country. A mechanism should be evolved for continuous interaction among Central/ State Government Agencies, local bodies, NGO's, VO's and community for optimal development and management of ground water resources. Government Organizations should come forward for providing technical and financial support through NGOs and VOs who in turn will ensure optimum utilization of funds for deriving maximum benefits from schemes on artificial recharge to ground water. This mechanism will also generate additional employment opportunities for local populace.

People's participation and social acceptance is essential for popularizing artificial recharge to ground water. The strategies for generating awareness, education and capacity building should be focused. Visits need to be organized for water harvesting functionaries and other Self Helf Group members to other villages for exposure to best practices for their motivation. Implementation of demonstrative projects on artificial recharge to ground water in Government offices, Agricultural Farms, Educational and Research Institute, for dissemination of technology by example.

Local bodies like Municipalities, Gram Panchayats, Mandal Parishads need to be involved in the programme for ensuring better results.

With a view to protect ground water regime and taking safeguard measures against hazards of over-exploitation and to ensure equitable distribution of the vital and limited resource, enactment of suitable legislation to regulate and control the development of ground water is felt necessary.

A collective step is, therefore, need to evolve a pragmatic policy to improve , utilize, augment and preserve the precious ground water resources and for that, I hope, a collective wisdom emerges here during our interaction, to achieve our goal of water for all.

I wish this Workshop on ' Rain Water Harvesting' a great success.

Thank you.

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Speech delivered by Mr. P.Chidambaram , union finance minister on the occasion of launching of india-lanka chamber of commerce and industries at colombo on 13th september 2006

Hon. Minister of Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development of Sri Lanka Mr Rohitha Bogollogama, Governer, Central Bank, Mr N.Cabraal , President, Indian Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mr. Mano Selvanathanam, President, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Dayananda, Chairman, India Sri Lanka joint Business council, Mr. Tilak de Zoysa, High Commissioner, Mrs. Nirupama Rao, Deputy High Commissioner Mr. Manikam, Members of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, The Joint Business Council and the Indo Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry,

Some children are not named soon after birth. In fact , I Know of some cases where children are named even 2 or 3 years after they are born. It is a pleasure to be invited to inaugurate the Indo Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industries and though I know that this inauguration has been waiting for nearly 2 years and in the last 2 years, as my good friend Mr. Bogollagama just mentioned, India-Sri Lanka relations have taken several steps forward and in inaugurating this Chamber we are in a way celebrating the progress made in the last 2 years.

Our countries have enjoyed close relations over many centuries. The level of economic co-operation that we witness today is a natural progression of the good relations that we have had. Only 6 years ago we signed an agreement for Free Trade, perhaps more accurately, sheer trade. Trade not entirely free! The effort must be to make it freer and freer. When we did that, the level of trade was about 650 million dollars. Through centuries of trade, we reached this level of 650 million dollars. The first billion was crossed in 2002 . The second billion in less than 3 years in 2005 and the way in which the trade is growing in 2006, I am confident that the 3rd billion will be crossed sometime in the next calendar year.

That gives you the flavour, the kind of energy and enterprise that is driving trade between the two countries. The indicators speak for themselves:

• India is the largest source of imports for Sri Lanka.
• India is the 2nd largest investor in Sri Lanka and
• India is the 3rd largest destination for Sri Lankan exports

90% of Sri Lankan exports to India are under the Free Trade Agreement.
45% of Indian exports to Sri Lanka are under the Free Trade Agreement.

Both countries have benefited and both countries are confident that they will continue to benefit by free and fair trade We will benefit even more greatly if we are able to conclude the Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement(CEPA). The structure of our economies is more or less the same. A little over ½ being accounted for by services, a little less that ¼ is accounted by agriculture and the remainder by investments and in a way, your growth rates mirrors our growth rates. In the first quarter of your financial year 2006, you recorded a growth rate of 8.16%. In the first quarter of our financial year of April-March 2006-2007, although the figures are not out, I am confident that we will record a growth rate of approximately 8% . So, two growing economies tied to each other by history, cultural relations, geography, the opportunities for growing are great! And I am confident that we will seize these options!

I am happy that many Indian companies have come to do business in Sri Lanka. Some of our best known companies like Indian Oil Corporation, Tata, Apollo, which the Minister mentioned, ICICI- our largest private sector bank, CEAT, BSNL are all here. In civil aviation, tourism and banking we have strong relationships. As the minister mentioned, a comprehensive economic partnership agreement has the potential to transform the bilateral economic landscape by further unleashing the inherent synergies between the two countries.

Credit for propelling the India Sri Lanka economic relationship must go to a large measure to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber particularly the special India Sri Lanka desk has played an important role in imparting momentum to our economic engagements .The new chamber or the chamber that we inaugurated here has not only benefited from the existence of the CCC but also establishes new bonds and bridges to take us to heights not reached so far.

In the matrix of India's economic relations with its neighbours in the SAARC region, needless to say that Sri Lanka occupies a very important place. Our relations with SAARC, if I may say, can be described as WTO plus and our relationship with Sri Lanka can be described as SAARC plus. A flourishing bilateral trade between India and Sri Lanka clearly shows that FTA is a win-win agreement. I am confident CEPA will also be a win-win agreement.

Many other developments have taken place and I think it is worthwhile to mention some of them:-
• Firstly, the number of tourists from India to Sri Lanka has increased tremendously and in 2005 I believe 130,000 Indian tourists arrived in Sri Lanka .
• 90 flights per week connect each country
• Flights to 9 destinations in India and more destinations likely to be added .

Even as these initiatives take root, we must not lose sight of the weaknesses and the deficiencies that till characterize India-Sri Lanka relations. We recognize that given the size of the two economies, there is an asymmetry. But it is this very asymmetry that drove us to conclude an FTA. And it is this asymmetry which drives us to conclude the CEPA. So let me assure all gathered here that we are conscious of this asymmetry and it is because of this asymmetry that we are keen to conclude a CEPA with Sri Lanka so that Sri Lanka can benefit as India will benefit from our economic engagement.

We have offered quotas to Sri Lanka in many commodities and I understand that some of these quotas have not been utilized. I would urge the Sri Lankan industry and trade to please take steps to utilize these quotas. There is also some unfinished business with the FTA. Duty concessions on 2,724 items were to increased from 35% to 70% from March 2006. Perhaps there are some constraints on the part of Government of Sri Lanka but I am confident that both President Rajapaksa and the ministers concerned will address these issues as early as possible.

CEPA has ambitious goals. Among the goals are:

• To create a liberal, transparent and competitive regime.
• To revise the BIPA and the DTAA and to include it under CEPA
• To identify priority areas of investment and
• To engage in investment promotion

Other goals are :
To expand trade in goods, to deepen co-operation in areas like education, tourism, biodiversity, IPR, Ayurveda , sports, agriculture etc., to move to a regime for services that will be based on a broad framework and to identify other sectors of co operation like telecom, construction, engineering, ICT and to expand cooperation in the financial services sector.

The whole world beckons us. The new world will be a great benefit to both India and Sri Lanka. And we would also have led by example, other countries in the region. I am confident that the two governments will seriously engage themselves to conclude CEPA as early as possible. In my short visit to Colombo, I am happy that I had the opportunity to meet the leaders of trade and industry.

I have great pleasure in formally inaugurating this already well established Indo Lanka chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Thankyou.

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Speech of the Finance Minister of India  delivered on the occasion of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting at Colombo on 13th Sept., 2006

13/09/2006

IMF/World Bank issues

Distinguished Finance Ministers, the Secretary General, other Heads of delegations, members of the delegations and the officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat:

Distinguished Finance Ministers, the Secretary General, other Heads of delegations, members of the delegations and the officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat:

Let me at the outset express my sincere thanks to the Government of Sri Lanka for their gracious hospitality and excellent arrangements.

2.The IMF and the World Bank have been with us now for six decades: advising, cautioning, cajoling, and lending to the nations of the world. While we acknowledge the role played by the two institutions, we also note that there are issues concerning their structure and management. On the issues of immediate concern - especially on the eve of the Annual Meeting - we need to focus on three aspects. First, participation in the management of these institutions has to undergo a change to reflect the current global realities more accurately. A flawed structure will increasingly undermine the effectiveness of these institutions. Second, the challenge before the world today is to meet the increasing aspirations of the vast majority of the people for freedom from hunger and for the bare minimum necessities of health and education. Third, there is a growing urge among the member countries to negotiate the development curve in a compressed time frame. The relevance of the IMF and the World Bank would eventually be determined by their ability to play a meaningful role in these areas.

The IMF Issues
Quota and Voice

3.My Government firmly believes that any exercise intended to enhance the credibility and legitimacy of the IMF has to be based on fundamental reforms in the quota structure. India has always held that the developing world deserves to have much greater 'Voice' in the management of the International Financial Institutions.

4.It is widely believed that the present 'Quota' formula of the IMF is hopelessly flawed and outdated. Obviously, an ad hoc quota redistribution based on this flawed formula cannot provide a durable solution. We need a consensus on a new formula. And we need it quickly. There must be a deep commitment to fundamental reform and there should be no postponement of a comprehensive review.


5. The Managing Director's Report states that the new formula should clearly reflect the economic strengths of countries. This is something all developing economies strongly endorse, and I urge you to join me in Singapore to articulate our united view on this matter. The issue of implementing a new quota formula is also linked to amendments to the Articles of the IMF on Basic Votes. I am hopeful that we shall all be together - united, strong and persuasive - in proposing a road map which enhances the 'Voice' of the developing community, and that a consensus on this will emerge at Singapore.

The Fund's role in the Low-Income Countries (LICs)
6.We expect that the Fund will continue to remain fully engaged in the multilateral effort to help its low-income member countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and address the issues of ensuring debt sustainability with supportive policies. We welcome positive developments in the Fund's policy advice to LICs which is becoming more focused on sustainable growth. We also appreciate the Fund's proactive approach towards the implementation of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and the development of an operative Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF) for low-income countries.

The Fund's Role in Emerging Market Economies
7. Many emerging market economies have raised significant amounts in the international capital markets. There is a need to safeguard these economies from any vulnerability to changes in market sentiments or reversal of capital flows. Clearly, a mechanism to provide liquidity support to such countries in the event of a contingency would go a long way in preventing a crisis. In this context, we do see the need for a high access contingent financing instrument.

Surveillance
8. We note the Fund's work on deepening financial sector soundness and capital flows with particular emphasis on vulnerability. At the same time, we ought to recognize that there is a wide diversity in the level of development of the financial sector across Fund membership. A 'one-size-fits-all' approach would not be appropriate. Surveillance, however, should be even-handed and also cover spill-over effects of systemically important countries.

The World Bank issues
9. Moving on to the World Bank related issues, I would say that there is an unusual focus on governance and anti-corruption issues in the Bank's strategy. The Bank proposes to integrate it into the operational policies of all its affiliated institutions. We recognize the importance of this issue in the development dialogue. However, we would be unhappy if the new focus tends to obscure or negate the Bank's historical 'development-centric' approach.

10.Being multi-dimensional, governance requires a customized response to the relevant issues in each country, based on local knowledge and possibilities. We must not lose sight of the risk of overemphasizing governance issues to the detriment of the Bank's core mission. We cannot abandon countries with somewhat weak governance structures and ask them to wait indefinitely. The Bank must recognize that fortifying country systems and institutions for governance and anticorruption is the only way to effect sustainable improvement. It should also be remembered that governance improvement is a continuous process and there are no short cuts to governance.

Fiscal policy for growth and development

11. Admittedly, infrastructure deficit is one of the major impediments to growth in many developing countries. While well-targeted investment in the infrastructure sector by the governments will continue to be an imperative, there is a need to increasingly engage the private sector in this endeavour through innovative approaches, including Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). India has been experimenting with PPP in recent years. Our experience has been quite encouraging. The Bank can help in devising suitable interventions which will help bridge the infrastructure gap. Some steps have been taken to increase the Bank's participation in infrastructure development in developing countries. Clearly, there is a need to do more.

The World Bank's engagement with Middle-Income Countries (MICs)
12. Over 70 per cent of the world's poor live in the Middle Income Countries (MICs). The Bank has to remain actively engaged with these countries. This is essential for the fight against poverty to succeed. Over the last few years, to address the concerns of MICs, the Bank has taken some steps such as reducing project processing time and offering a wider menu of financing instruments. However, a lot of ground still remains to be covered. The issues such as over-design of projects, transaction costs and lending rates need to be addressed.
13. Let me end by reiterating that I believe that structural reform reflecting the current global realities will invigorate the operations of the IMF and World Bank. This will also provide a decisive impetus to our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I am sure the deliberations in this august forum will pave the way for consensus on this issue, and that the consensus that we may reach here in Columbo will be articulated when we gather again in Singapore.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

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In response to a question regarding the statement made by the Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism

07/09/2006

In response to a question regarding the statement made by the Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism Mr. Anura Bandaranaike in Sri Lankan Parliament alleging that our High Commissioner in Colombo Mrs. Nirupama Rao interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, the Official Spokesperson said:

'It is not the policy of Government of India and its representative abroad to interfere in the internal affairs of any country. Our High Commissioner in Colombo Mrs. Nirupama Rao is a senior diplomat and has conducted herself in accordance with the highest professional standards. Her contribution to strengthen Indo-Sri Lankan bilateral relations is well appreciated by the host Government.'

New Delhi
September 7, 2006

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INDIA AND SRI LANKA: FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS
Speech by Dr. Karan Singh, M.P.,
President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations for the
First Lakshman Kadirgamar Commemorative Lecture,
Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall,
Colombo, Sri Lanka,
10 August 2006

India and Sri Lanka: Friends and Neighbours

Foreign Minister Mangala Sameeraweera, senior Ministers of the Government of Sri Lanka, Honourable Members of Parliament, Excellencies, distinguished guests, members of the Kadirgamar family, ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be in Sri Lanka again, revisiting this beautiful country after many years. I hold fond memories of this land and its peoples, many of who are dear friends. Being here in this verdant city of Colombo makes me recall Pandit Nehru's words of praise for this country, "It is ever afternoon there as the summer breezes blow and rustle through the graceful palm trees."

I am honoured to address this distinguished audience gathered in homage to the memory of the late Honourable Lakshman Kadirgamar, one of the greatest sons of independent Sri Lanka. His contribution to Sri Lanka's dignified, determined and democratic response to the challenge of terrorism is immeasurable, as is his contribution to the development of relations with India, both as Foreign Minister and as Advisor on Foreign Policy to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. It is to him that we owe the phrase 'irreversible excellence" that we often use to describe the current status of our ties.

Sri Lanka and India are pluralistic global communities that share much in common - our antiquity and traditions, our plurality and diversity, our commitment to democracy and human rights. We are inextricably intertwined in many ways - in history, in culture, in religion, in commerce and in politics. Our sharing has roots that go down deep, to our creation-tales, myths and narratives. Our mythical histories are as rich as our actual ones. We have legends and tales for every occasion to enrich our lives. Let us recall that the two great religions that flourish in Sri Lanka - Buddhism and Shaivite Hinduism - originated in India, as did your, two great communities - the Singhalas and the Tamils. Let us also recall that the great Indian Emperor Ashoka sent his own son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra to spread Buddhism in Sri Lanka in 246 BC. These are links which will forever endure, regardless of political and other factors.

Here I may mention something which will be of interest to Sri Lankans. In the Ramayana - although its author was Manarshi Valmiki, an Indian - it seems clear that Sri lanka was much more" prosperous than India." It was referred to as Swarnamayi Lanka (the golden Lanka), and contains graphic descriptions of the beautiful palaces and buildings that existed there several millennia ago. Another significant fact is that though King Ravana was a sworn enemy of Sri Rama, and ultimately met death at his hands; he was respected as a profound scholar and a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Indeed, although we have no extant writings of Sri Rama, a glorious Sanskrit hymn by Ravana addressed to Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of the Cosmic Dance, is still recited in thousands of temples and homes in India, and surely in Sri Lanka also. This clearly shows that our culture does not allow even the severest differences to cloud the intellectual and spiritual stature of our deadly opponents, what to say of our friends.

India and Sri Lanka are pluralistic societies - multi-regional, multi-linguistic, multi-cultural and multi-religious. India sustains itself through a gamut of languages that derive from the same roots and yet maintain their rich flavours. The same, on a smaller scale, is the case in Sri Lanka. We are culturally diverse communities, which believe in mutual respect and sensitivity to the variety and multiplicity, that is an integral part of our nature, our, society and our inheritance. the common strains; between Sri Lanka and India's forms of dance, music, musical instruments, literatures, religions, food, fabric, apparel, and so on, are living proof of the sharing that is so much a part of our mutual heritage.

We in India firmly believe in the strategic role that we are required to play in today's rapidly changing world. As a multicultural civilization with rich repositories of memories, refinement and values that are mature and distilled, we see ourselves as bearers of foundational ideals of special relevance to the modem world, ideas which demand a blend of the ancient and the contemporary, of the old and the new, of the past and the future. India is a model for pluralistic unity. Multiplicity is embedded in every aspect and detail of our lives and behaviour. This respect and sensitivity to diversity, and a conscious decision to allow for the freedom of variety to coexist peaceably and with dignity, is also enshrined in the Constitution of our country.

Relations between India and Sri Lanka are built on a solid bedrock of common culture, common spiritual values, a shared commitment to democracy and to independence in the conduct of foreign policy. As colonized nations in a post-colonial present, both India and Sri Lanka are boldly facing challenges that the global world presents today. We are consciously building on a common developmental experience. It is India's policy to maintain close, cordial and cooperative relations with Sri Lanka at both the popular and governmental levels. As the late Shri Rajiv Gandhi
said: "It is not mere geographical proximity which binds us. Ours is a relationship of heart and mind, finding expression in history and philosophy, literature and art, and in our contemporary concerns and daily lives." Today, more than ever, the bandwidth of our engagement for mutual benefit is wide and comprehensive. Our bilateral economic relations have shown considerable dynamism and innovation in the SAARC region, setting a benchmark for other countries to follow. The frequent high-level political dialogue between our two leaderships reflects our close ties.

We have an obvious interest in the ethnic issue, given that India is Sri Lanka's closest neighbour and we are culturally connected communities across the Palk Straits. India steadfastly supports the efforts being made by the government and people of Sri Lanka to consolidate the processes of peace and development In their country. India's support for a comprehensive negotiated settlement acceptable to all communities, and reflecting the pluralistic nature of Sri Lankan society, within the framework of a united and democratic Sri Lanka, remains undiluted.

Excellencies and friends, we appreciate your efforts to build a national consensus on a solution within a united Sri Lanka and on the basis of maximum devolution. We stand ready to share with you our own experience of unity in diversity, plural democracy and devolution. Our experience is that power sharing is a necessity for the effective management of diversity and pluralism in a multiethnic society. It is also necessary for the full enjoyment of democracy as well as maximum participation in the vast enterprise of development. A model of plural democracy and devolution has
been implemented in India which has stood the test of time, and its principles and benefits are surely relevant to Sri Lanka as well. We in India have also struggled with terrorism and the forces of separatism, having lost two Prime Ministers to the forces of fanaticism. We are of the view that firmness combined with dialogue and communication is the only way to overcome such aberrations. In the immortal words of the Buddha, 'Hatred is never banished by hatred. Hatred is banished only by love. This is the eternal law.

Acts of violence targetting innocent victims can have no justification or rationale. There is no grievance that can make us accept such behaviour, no political thesis or claim of "root causes" can be an adequate justification for terrorist actions. Our opposition to terrorism has to be firm and unwavering, resisting any temptation to compromise for tactical or political ends. Terrorism seeks to exploit the space offered by democratic societies, and to mislead those who equate accommodation and tolerance with weakness. We must not, however, allow terrorism to succeed in undermining the ancient humanist and civilizational values of South Asia, foremost among them being the celebration of diversity and the acceptance of pluralism as an existential
necessity.

The loss of Lakshman Kadirgamar shows that today, if there is fuller awareness of the dangers that threaten us, it has not been without a terrible price. The price has been paid, but the sacrifice must not be in vain. We have to build a new world from the debris of the past and harness all our creative energies at many levels in this effort, overcoming age-old conflicts-of boundaries and borders between and within nations. Our Regional Association - SAARC - should develop along the lines of the European Union, one of the most remarkable and positive developments of the twentieth century. Lakshman Kadirgamar's vision for bilateral and regional cooperation across South Asia must continue to guide us. India and Sri Lanka relations have a special role in the vast and noble enterprise of South Asian regional integration. There is no doubt that our people have benefited and will continue to do so from expanding trade and economic cooperation. Closer connectivity and interaction between our two economies is the way to a bright future of shared prosperity.

We would like Sri Lanka to be an important partner in our economic programme. The bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been hugely successful and has resulted in the trebling of bilateral trade in the last five years. Bilateral trade has crossed US$ 2 billion and the trade gap has vastly reduced. India is the third largest source of Sri Lanka's imports. Sri Lanka's exports have grown faster than imports from India and Sri Lankan Small Unit, Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in particular have benefitted from this dynamism. India was the largest foreign investor in Sir Lanka in 2002 and 2003 and FDI stock from India today is over US $ 400 million. Indian investments are contributing to employment generation, exports and skill, and technology development. Sri Lankan firms are now investing more in India. Cooperation in human resource development between our two countries is also growing.

Scholarships and training opportunities provided by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, which I have the priviledge of heading, and other Indian institutions are helping Sri Lanka acquire critical skills that today's globalized economy needs. I am happy that our two nations have reiterated their desire to accelerate their cooperation in the field of human resource development and in the fashioning of educational policies appropriate for developing skills and capacities required in the twenty-first century. Towards this end it was agreed that the Joint Working Group under the
India-Sri Lanka MOD on the Education Exchange Programme would be operationalized very soon. Several measures funded by India to enhance cooperation in the field of education and training were also agreed upon. These include the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship scheme for 100 deserving Sri Lankan students every year, the upgradation of libraries and science laboratories Upcountry areas, the setting up of a Chair in Contemporary Indian Studies in the Peradeniya University, and the commissioning of a field study of vocational training centres.

To our traditional development, partnership, anchored in lines of credit, grant assistance and scholarships, we have recently added a framework for executing community-oriented small development projects. Our intention is to orient part of our assistance towards small scale, grassroots projects with a short gestation period, thus benefitting underpriviledged communities. Closer connectivity, interdependence and harmonization at the economic level between our two countries is the pattern that we seek for the future, the goal being the alleviation and finally abolition, of poverty which resulted from centuries of colonial domination and exploitation.

India and Sri Lanka are natural partners with a shared destiny. We need to work together to tackle international issues affecting us - poverty, climate change, terrorism, migration as well as economic growth and prosperity. India is the world's' largest democracy, and is emerging as a significant economic power, especially in the areas of IT, with significant achievements in many frontier areas of technology. Its middle class today numbers close to 300 million, and is growing. As one of the largest markets in the world, India seeks to strengthen its economic interaction with the rest of the world. India and Sri Lanka can be partners in the building of a new global order based on prosperity, respect for, human rights, tolerance, plurality and diversity, and the democratic order.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen; the India-Sri Lanka relationship is a model for the region. Our constant attempt is to look for mutually beneficial partnerships in diverse fields of activity, build even greater understanding and explore ways to bring our peoples even closer together. As plural nations both India and Sri Lanka seek to forge strong national identities while at the same time highlighting our common points, our shared memories and experiences. This awareness should be the lodestar in our quest for an even deeper and stronger friendship, with the potential to become the foundation for a region of peace and harmony.

In a world that is under continuous threat of becoming more rigid, inflexible and unyielding, we, as Indians, believe not in the Clash but in the
the Confluence of civilizations. We trust that Sri Lanka, as a friend and neighbour to India and as an important player in the global world, believes in this too. I wish the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of Strategic Studies and International Relations, inaugurated this morning by the Hon'ble President, every success. I trust that this Institute will help to further expand understanding of the very significant trends and developments in our region and the world, and provide space for " academics to reflect together on how best to advance the community of our shared interests.

Let me conclude, as I began, with the words of Jawaharlal Nehru when he spoke at a public reception in Colombo in January 1950: "... it seems to be 'quite inevitable and right that there should be the closest relationship and cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. Geography compels it. Our history and common culture make it inevitable..." Let that spirit of kinship continue to guide us in our journey forward with peace, boundless goodwill, friendship and mutual understanding as our constant companions

and let us work for a closer partnership between our two countries in the cause of peace, democracy and development. I will end with a traditional Hindu prayer to Lord Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati, remover of obstacles, to help overcome
your current problems and move towards a Sri Lanka that flourishes on the basis of unity in diversity:

Gajananam Bhutaganadi Sevitam
Kapitjambhu Phal Charubhakhshanam
Umasutam Shokavinasha Karakam
Namami Vighneshwara Pada Pankajam

Aum Namah Shivaya
Buddham Sharanam Gachami.

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High Commissioner's message on Independence Day 2006

On the auspicious occasion of the 60th Independence Day of India, I extend my warm good wishes to my fellow Indians and to the Government and the people of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

India is today at the forefront of nations marching ahead into the modern, globalized world of tomorrow. It is not just the annual GDP growth rate of over 8%, the booming and highly diversified economy, the large pool of technically qualified manpower, the largest film and entertainment industry in the world, the growing list of book titles in a vibrant publishing industry or the independent and diversified free press, that alone contribute to India's position. Most crucially, it is the idea of India which accounts for our position in the world, the determination of our people to enhance productive enterprise and the unity in diversity that India represents. Indeed the civilizational oneness that characterises the Indian subcontinent makes the South Asian region one of abiding fascination and interest for the world.

At such a moment in our history, it would be useful to take stock of how far India has come from her early days after independence. The most striking change today is the economic progress made by India and also the nature of the economic expansion. The entrepreneur underpins India's success story. 30 to 40% of GDP growth rate is due to rising productivity - a true sign of an economy's health and progress - rather than merely due to increases in the amount of capital in the economy. India has internationally competitive private companies, a booming stock market and a modern, well-disciplined financial sector. Trade policy in India has lowered trade barriers and tax rates, exposed domestic industry to global competition and has opened up more and more of its sectors to foreign investment. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 125 now have research and development bases in India - thanks to the high quality of human resources available there. More and more Indian companies are investing in other countries and becoming world players. The recent example of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's acquisition of the European steel firm of Arcelor comes to mind as Mittal's consolidated steel company will now be among the top three steel producers in the world. Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya's company McDowell & Company has acquired French wine maker Bouvet Ladubay SAS, the wine subsidiary of French champagne house Taittinger, in another high value deal. It must be remembered however that the entire progress of the Indian economy rests on the hard working, resilient and innovative people of India.

Our people have time and again demonstrated the ability to rise above attempts to crush their spirit and have emerged from such crises with a renewed determination to fight anti- national forces. The aftermath of the inhuman terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Srinagar on 11th July 2006, attacks, which showed the utter disregard of terrorists for human lives, demonstrate clearly this resolve of the Indian people. These attacks claimed nearly 200 lives and have injured scores of others. I would like to quote here an excerpt from the resolution passed by the Indian Cabinet on this tragic occasion: "The Government reiterates its strong commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms. Nothing will deter us from our firm policy to fight this menace till it is wiped out. We are determined to apprehend and bring to justice all those responsible for the evil acts in Mumbai and Srinagar.
The Cabinet, simultaneously, pays tribute to the people of Mumbai and Srinagar for their resolve to triumph over terrorism and return quickly to normal life. The spontaneous response of Mumbai's citizens to provide succour to those in pain stands out strikingly. It is a towering example of fellowship and the best in human beings. The Cabinet also acknowledges the truly laudable work done in Mumbai by the public services, firemen, railway staff and medical personnel in providing relief.
The Cabinet recognizes the tremendous resolve, displayed over the years, by the people of Jammu and Kashmir to withstand terrorism. They have not let these influences impair our national unity and secular fabric. The spirit displayed by Mumbai and Srinagar has demonstrated very emphatically that terrorism cannot succeed. Such forces will never be allowed to check our nation's march to economic growth and prosperity."

The people of Sri Lanka have also demonstrated a similar resilience in surmounting the myriad challenges that face them. These challenges are growing. India has an abiding commitment to the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. We appreciate the Government's resolve to build a national consensus on a solution within a united Sri Lanka and on the basis of maximum devolution. We stand ready to share with Sri Lanka our own experience of unity in diversity, plural democracy and devolution.
Violence will only beget more violence and will vitiate the climate for political dialogue. The only way forward is a peaceful, negotiated settlement. We believe that today more than ever, special efforts are required to strengthen the ceasefire and work towards a devolution package that could command consensus among the major political parties, restore ethnic harmony and expeditiously address the legitimate aspirations of all sections of Sri Lankan society.
Our region is set to implement SAFTA which has become operational since 1 July 2006 this year. Provided that all member countries implement all the provisions of SAFTA in the right spirit, this development will ensure that prospects for regional trade and prosperity grow. India is negotiating a number of preferential trade agreements with countries and multi-lateral bodies such as ASEAN, Gulf Cooperation Council and the South African Development Community. India could thus become the engine for economic integration in the Indian Ocean Region.

Bilateral economic and commercial relations continue to take forward strides with trade crossing the US $ 2 billion mark in 2005. Bilateral trade has quadrupled in the last six years since the India-Sri Lanka FTA came into force in March 2000. India is the biggest source for Sri Lankan imports and accounts for almost 17% of total imports. India is also the third largest export destination. The trade gap while being in India's favour, has started narrowing. As compared to 10:1 in 2000, the ratio of Sri Lankan exports to its imports from India has come down to 2.4:1. About 90% of Sri Lanka's exports to India are under the FTA.

Indian investments in Sri Lanka have also showed similar progress catapulting India to the second position in terms of overall investments. Sri Lankan investments in India have also been on the rise. Sri Lankan brand names like Brandix, MAS, Dankotuwa, Munchee, Siddhalepa and Dilmah are gaining increasing recognition. India's commitment to socio-economic development in Sri Lanka is embodied by projects being undertaken under concessional lending schemes. These include refurbishment of the Colombo to Galle railway line, setting up of hospital at Dickoya and a cancer hospital in Colombo. The National Power Corporation, in a joint venture with Ceylon Electricity Board, is planning to set up a 500 MW power plant in Trincomalee.

Through schemes of technical cooperation under ITEC, BIMSTEC and Colombo Plan the Government of India provides 150 slots each year for pursuing professional short & medium courses in India.

India also accounts for the largest number of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka and with 90 weekly flights to India operating to 10 destinations, Sri Lankan Airlines is the largest foreign airline operating in India.
I am happy to announce that our two Governments are commencing implementation of the MoU on Small Development Projects, which is specially aimed at sharing our development expertise with rural communities. I am also happy to see the progress in agriculture cooperation, especially through the Model Farms being set up with Indian expertise to train rural youth in modern and sustainable agriculture. In the next months we will be setting up 20 IT centers around Sri Lanka, including in the North and the East, in collaboration with the Government of Sri Lanka. We hope that this would be the first step in long term collaboration in the IT field where India has proven strengths.
The Government of India is extending assistance to the Sri Lankan Government to implement a comprehensive project for upgrading the Colombo-Galle-Matara coastal railway line. The assistance was announced during the State Visit of His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India in December 2005. The project covers upgrading the tracks, bridges, signaling and induction of new passenger trains. When completed, the revamped coastal railway line system will substantially improve the rail services on the Colombo - Galle - Matara section and result in higher average speeds and increased number on train services.
A multi-disciplinary team of railway experts from RITES and IRCON, the overseas arms of the Indian Ministry of Railways for undertaking railway projects have completed work relating to the preparation of a feasibility study for the project. During their visit, the team called on high officials of the Sri Lankan Government. The Indian team made extensive site visits on the Colombo-Matara line with their counterparts of Sri Lanka Railways to draw up a detailed project implementation strategy for undertaking the coastal line upgrade and rehabilitation. The Indian Ministry of Railways had assured full support for the project including Human Resource Development and Technology Transfer to Sri Lanka Railways. The Colombo - Galle - Matara project is likely to be completed in two years.
The Indian Cultural Centre continued to foster a greater understanding among young Sri Lankans of the shared cultural and musical heritage of our two countries. A show, Nav Pratibha, was organised in March 2006 showcasing the talents of the students of the ICC in various dance and music forms. Earlier in the year, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage, Government of Sri Lanka and the High Commission of India jointly organised an Indian Handicrafts Exhibition in Colombo called Creative Hands India. The exhibition showcased the skills of Indian craft persons and the wealth of handicrafts from different states of India. Selected crafts of Jammu and Kashmir, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and other States of India were on sale. A highlight of this exhibition was the live demonstration by Indian craftpersons of leather embroidery from Bhuj, Gujarat, the famous chikan embroidery from Uttar Pradesh, wood carving from Rajasthan, papier mache from Jammu and Kashmir and cane and bamboo work from Assam. Large consignments of handicrafts were on sale. The exhibition was sponsored by the Office of the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts in India.

In February 2006, a 14 member Sri Lankan dance troupe participated at a very famous craft fair held outside New Delhi called the Suraj Kund Craft Mela. The dancers displayed their skills and brought Sri Lankan culture to the vast number of Indians who regularly throng the fair.

The High Commission of India gifted 83 rare photographs of Buddhist historical and art heritage from India to the Aluvihara temple in Matale. These photographs have been displayed in the premises of the temple.

The Government of India awarded scholarships for 60 Sri Lankan students to degree courses at prestigious Indian universities. These scholarships are funded by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). They provide to the scholar a complete waiver of all tuition fees, a generous monthly stipend for living expenses and the international airfare between India and Sri Lanka.

These courses are in a variety of subjects - degree courses in engineering, humanities, pure and applied sciences, technology, commerce and accountancy and others. There are also diplomas and degree courses offered in music, dance and fine arts. A few post-graduate courses with scholarships are also provided every year to deserving young students of Sri Lanka. Around 3,000 students have obtained degrees under the ICCR scholarship scheme over the past five decades. Sri Lanka has been one of the largest beneficiaries of the ICCR scholarship scheme. The grant of this large number of scholarships by the Government of India (GOI) is a symbol of the importance that GOI attaches to its relationship with Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan people.

This year's recipients include students from all parts of the country including Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Batticaloa, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Hambantota, Polonaruwa, Jaffna and Trincomalee who will study at Indian universities in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Osmania and Benaras Hindu University.

The people to people contacts between our two countries is growing and is set to grow further in the time to come. The newly-introduced Overseas Citizenship of India allows people of Indian origin all over the world to obtain various rights vis-à-vis access to and privileges within India. Overseas Citizens of India have permanent visa to enter India and have educational and property-owing rights within India. I am happy to note that many Sri Lankans of Indian origin have obtained this privilege and have thereby introduced another link to the many links already existing between our two ancient lands.

I am glad that the Wesak/Buddha Jayanthi celebrations at Sarnath in the year of the 2550th anniversary of the birth of Lord Buddha were telecast live in Sri Lanka. This was an invaluable opportunity provided to the people of Sri Lanka to witness the historic occasion direct from the hallowed place where the Master preached his very first sermon. I hope that this year concludes in peace and harmony for all the countries in our region under the protective canopy of this blessed anniversary.

The India-Sri Lanka relationship is a model for the region. Our constant attempt is to look for mutually- beneficial partnerships in diverse fields of activity, build even greater understanding and explore ways to bring our peoples even closer together. We have a shared destiny. That awareness should be the lodestar in our quest for an even deeper and stronger friendship. Let me conclude with the words of Jawaharlal Nehru when he spoke at a public reception in Colombo in January 1950: "... it seems to be quite inevitable and right that there should be the closest relationship and cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. Geography compels it. Our history and common culture make it inevitable..." Let that spirit of kinship continue to guide us in our journey forward with peace, boundless goodwill, friendship and mutual understanding as our constant companions and let us work for a closer partnership between our two countries in the cause of peace, democracy and development.

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Speech by the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka , H.E. Smt. Nirupama Rao at the Awareness Seminar and Exhibition on cultural Connectivity at Kandy.

I am extremely happy to be here in the historic and timeless city of Kandy today on the occasion of the opening of the Awareness Seminar and Exhibition on Cultural Connectivity in the context of Sri Lanka, Celebrating Diversity, Shared Cultures and Intangible Heritage. I felicitate the Department of Archaeology of the University of Peradeniya and the UNESCO New Delhi Regional Office on this timely and extremely laudable initiative.

'Awareness, Connectivity, Diversity and Intangible Heritage'. Together, these words are trenchant in terms of the significance of their meaning. They encapsulate in their depth everything we would like the world to become. In another sense, they are the bedrock on which our sustainability as nations is founded. It is in this sense that the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity of November 2001 states that culture is at the heart of contemporary debates about identity, social cohesion, and the development of the knowledge-based economy. The Declaration makes the significant point that cultural diversity widens the range of options available to everyone; it is one of the roots of development, understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence.

Reading through the explanatory notes relating to the Conference, provided to me so kindly by Professor Sudarshan Seneviratne, I was struck by the observation contained therein that, and I quote, 'contraction of cultural spaces through globalization and the need to reorient the existing mindset from the narrow spectrum compartmentalized time, space and cultural rubric is an imperative'. Further, that archaeology and heritage studies are 'perhaps the best avenues that could rectify the process of cultural plurality and demythifying all forms of parochialisms in a scientific manner and place alternative histories before the next generation for a better and rational understanding of the past.' I could not help but agree with the observation made in the document that the 'mindset must be reoriented beyond the mono country and monoculture and be exposed to cross-regional and cross-cultural horizons.' And, that there is a need for a convergence of all stakeholders - the state, the private sector, school children, other professionals, the clergy and the public and international organizations in this exercise. That is what this current Seminar, the Exhibition and the connected activities set out to do, and I sincerely appreciate this noteworthy effort.

Some years ago, the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh talked in his Neelam Thiruchelvam Memorial Lecture in July 2001, of an 'archipelago of hope', creating those sanctuaries that remain 'stubbornly open to the flow of opinions, stubbornly hospitable to imagined enemies, stubbornly resistant to the floodwaters that seek to grind all forms of life into uniform grades of sand'. And here, in the many storied isle of Serendib, we must build those archipelagos of hope, regain that happiness, that insight, and allow ourselves to become whole again.

The interpretation of history is the subject of interminable debate in our societies, both in India and Sri Lanka. Through that interpretation we draw maps of the present and the future, and sometimes we encounter fault lines and fissures. Very often, as Salman Rushdie observes, we work with a 'broken glass', since in his words, 'we are not gods, but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capable only of fractured perceptions. Partial beings in all the senses of that phrase.' The struggle of memory against forgetting, which Milan Kundera speaks of, is our constant companion.

We are constantly alerted by the more thoughtful and sensitive among us against the adoption of ghetto mentalities, which Rushdie calls the biggest elephant trap, and the pitfalls of defining ourselves within narrowly defined cultural frontiers. We must not go into internal exile, forgetting the world beyond, the connectivity that ties us to our common cultural space beyond the confines of imagined histories. We must open the universe a little more. Cross pollination of minds, ideas, the freedom of debate, the jousting of ideas - that should be our goal. It should be our goal not to create outsiders in our midst. Those inner frontiers within minds, those arterial blocks need to be cleared. Let us create what Carlos Fuentes called 'the privileged arena' in which great debates can be conducted.

What does the historical sense involve? To me, history is not just a construction of the past, it must create awareness of that collective heritage that is imprinted on our DNA, our bones as South Asians, that common heritage from Gandhara to Galle, that we are more than the sum of our many parts. T.S. Eliot, whom I will quote from more than once in these remarks, said '..the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence, the historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of Europe from Homer and within it the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order.' Furthermore, we must understand that the relationship between the past and the present is complex, and is not as simple as it seems, and neither can we compartmentalize this relationship in some fit of myopia.

How many of us are aware of the fact that Greek civilization was known originally to have roots in Egyptian, Semitic, and various other southern and eastern cultures, and that it was redesigned as 'Aryan' during the course of the nineteenth century, its Semitic and African roots either actively purged or hidden from view? So too, with our own histories, whether it is the linkage between southern India and Sri Lanka, or the fact that India's past before the Muslim invasions, was not merely Hindu, but strongly Buddhist and Jain for many centuries.

If there is a theory of liberation that we must internalize it is that culture, and all the ideologies that surround us, have what Edward Said called 'a complex genealogy'. We are liberated when we learn to be generous about these human realities of the cultures, the communities, the neighbourhoods which we populate. Let me quote from a beautiful passage from Said on this subject: 'No one today is purely one thing. Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim, or American are not more than starting-points...No one can deny the persisting continuities of long traditions, sustained habitations, national languages, and cultural geographies, but there seems no reason except fear and prejudice to keep insisting on their separation and distinctiveness, as if that was all human life was about. Survival is in fact about the connection between things, ... reality cannot be deprived of 'the other echoes [that] inhabit the garden'.

We can, as Ananda Coomaraswamy once noted, become windows on each other's past, our souls reflected in each other. This is particularly relevant when it comes to the case of India and Sri Lanka. I came across an article by the American naturalist, Dillon Ripley, the other day that referred to the age-old bridge between India and Ceylon, and the flora and fauna we share from Assam and the Brahmaputra basin through Kerala to Sri Lanka and the Malay Peninsula. This then is the story of convergence, or a step pyramid of coalescent histories, common origins and shared affinities. This is the history, the 'muffled footsteps' of which, to use the words of Rabindranath Tagore, beat in our blood. That convergence and the ability to speak of it, and speak beyond it, should be the source from which we draw our strength.

Each one of us then, is composed of many identities - our identity as members of pluralist societies. Shashi Tharoor once noted that India can only be spoken of in the plural. The pluralism of my country is confirmed by its history, its geography and by its ethnography. I believe that plurality of existence defines the civilizational ethos of Sri Lanka also, in a Sri Lankan sense, in a manner that is uniquely Sri Lankan. Like India, this country's is a map of many migrations, of wars lost and won, victor and vanquished, and ethnicities that have coexisted for centuries. Our uniqueness as countries derives from such plurality.

The idea and the vision of unity within diversity is the idea of India, it is, I believe, also the idea of Sri Lanka. And through this warp, we must introduce the weft of connectivity, of overlapping identities, to show that we are as Tagore once said, 'a confluence' of cultures. And this cloth has to be dyed in what else but communication. Communication that respects the distinctiveness of cultures, their heterogeneity. Here in your country, every community derives interesting facets to its own identity by the imprint of interaction with the other groups that reside on the island. And, that has come about through communication, through creative interaction, which results in each person possessing many, even myriad identities just as we Indians possess.

Amartya Sen notes that while we cannot live without history, we need not live in it either. Our faculties of reasoning, of exercising rational choice over what facets of history integrate rather than separate us, and understanding the numerous phases and epochs of history that have created the cultural space in which we live must operate constantly. Thus, the need for an inclusionary view of our identities - I am a born Malayalee, but my formative years were shaped faraway from my birthplace in places like Pune, Lucknow, and Aurangabad. I am married into a Tulu and Kannada speaking family from Udupi that traces their origin to a great migration of Kashmiri Brahmins who came down the west coast of India to escape military invasions in their place of origin. My own heritage is Nair, and matriarchal but I belong to a state that was almost the most globalized of all of India's regions, trading with the Levant, to which the Arabs, the Romans and the Portuguese came. From where do I draw my identity? From all these influences that have shaped my past and my present and which guide me to my future.

So let us hold fast, in spite of divisions and angularities, let us go on trying. Let me end with the words of T.S. Eliot - these lines are from The Dry Salvages:

'- Right action is freedom
From past and future also
For most of us, this is the aim
Never here to be realized;
Who are only undefeated
Because we have gone on trying'.

I thank you all.

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Prime Minister's Statement to the Press following meeting with the G-8 at St. Petersburg
New Delhi
July 18, 2006

Following is the text of Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh's statement on his arrival at New Delhi after attending G-8 Outreach Summit meeting at St. Petersburg:

"I speak to you after a very intensive round of meetings over the last two days. I would again like to thank President Putin for having taken the initiative to invite India, Brazil, China, Mexico, South Africa and Congo for discussions with the G-8 on some very crucial issues. The Outreach Session of the G-8 Summit embodied the spirit of close international cooperation in its approaches to the pressing problems of energy security, education and infectious diseases, terrorism and the special challenges facing Africa. The G-8 and Outreach countries expressed outrage at the barbaric terrorists attacks of July 11 in Mumbai and Srinagar and expressed solidarity with India. They expressed their readiness to undertake all necessary measures to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers, sponsors of these and other terrorist acts and those who incite terrorists to commit them. We are greatly encouraged by this unified expression and support of solidarity by all major countries of the world. The Outreach Session of the St. Petersburg Summit also allowed the G-8 and the Outreach countries to share views on global energy security, education and the fight against infectious diseases. I believe that our views and perspectives on these important issues made significant contributions to the discussions. I appreciate that the documents adopted by G-8 reflect a willingness to work in partnership with developing countries. I find their willingness to explore trilateral cooperation in the field of education to be particularly useful. We exchanged views on world trade. The G-8 has called for concrete endeavour to conclude the Doha negotiations. We are willing to join them in such an effort, but progress will only be possible if negotiations take fully into account the development concerns of the developing countries. In my bilateral meeting with President Lula Da Silva of Brazil we agreed that the transformation in our bilateral relations that commenced during his visit to India in January 2004 must be continued. We shared perspectives on energy issues including alternative fuel sources including ethanol and bio-diesel. I said that I was looking forward to visiting Brazil for a bilateral visit, followed by the IBSA Summit in September this year. In my meeting with President George Bush yesterday we reviewed developments in bilateral relations since the landmark visit of the President to India earlier this year. President Bush again condemned the blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar and we discussed ways to end the menace of terrorism. With regard to civil nuclear cooperation President Bush expressed optimism on successfully carrying the process forward to an early conclusion and also expressed understanding at some of the concerns on the proposed legislations that I conveyed. We agreed to take effective steps to expand on the collaboration in areas such as science and technology, education, agriculture, trade and industrial cooperation. In my meeting with Chancellor Merkel of Germany, we discussed several current international problems including the situation in the Middle East and the impasse in the Doha Round. I had the opportunity to discuss some issues pertaining to India's energy sector and to personally extend an invitation to H.E. President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to visit India. We discussed potential for business to business cooperation, in particular in the IT sector.

Japanese PM Koizumi and I reviewed recent developments in our bilateral relations. A copy of the Joint Study Group report on enhancing economic cooperation was handed over to both of us. Both of us expressed satisfaction that the Joint Study Group had completed its work in a timely manner. We agreed to examine the recommendations expeditiously. I conveyed appreciation to PM Koizumi for his contribution to the recent positive momentum in our relations; the railway sector in particular has benefited from this.

I also had the opportunity of jointly meeting with the Presidents of China and Russia. The simultaneous emergence of India, China and Russia as important economies of the Asian region is one of the remarkable developments of the 21st century. In their past meetings the three countries have identified six key areas for closer economic cooperation which includes energy, civil aviation, biotechnology, information technology, pharmaceuticals, and financial services. I underscored the importance of moving ahead rapidly on developing concrete projects of cooperation.

The special relationship India enjoys with the Russian Federation really requires no further characterization. President Putin has agreed to be the Chief Guest of our Republic Day celebrations in January 2007. We both agreed that there is a strong agenda of bilateral cooperation projects that needs to be completed before the forthcoming visit of President Putin.

I took up with all the Heads I met, the candidature of Mr. Shashi Tharoor for UN Secretary-General. He has very strong credentials for the post and I urged my interlocutors to give him their full support, in the forthcoming election process."

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President of Srilanka, H.E. Mahinda Rajapakse unreservedly condemns the series of bomb blasts in Mumbai, India in his message to the prime minister of India

"It is with great shock and sadness that I have learnt of the series of blasts in Mumbai and Sri Nagar, causing death and injury to innocent civilians.

The government and people of Sri Lanka unreservedly condemn these senseless acts of terror. No cause justifies this kind of terrorism against innocent civilians.

At this time of grief our solidarity and support are with the Government and people of India. We wish to convey our heartfelt condolences and symathies to the families of the victims.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration."

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Text of Lecture delivered by Professor T.K. Oommen on 2nd April, 2006, under the auspices of Foundation for Community Transformation at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo-07

Political Federalism and Cultural Diversity

Mr. Kumar Nadesan who chaired this event introducing the speaker Prof. T.K. Oommen said that he is a specialist in multiculturalism and diversity. Formerly Dean of the faculty of Social Sciences and has been professor for 26 years, he retired from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2002. He was also President of the International Sociological Association from

Mr. Chairperson, Mr. Devaraj and the rest of my Victims! I am very happy to be here and speaking to you though I grant that Sunday evening is not the right time to listen to lectures. It is the time for one's family and/or to visit the city and friends. When Mr. Devaraj requested me to give a talk on ‘Diversity, Multiculturalism and Pluralism' I readily agreed. But later I learnt that it will be delivered towards the fag end of a workshop which is specifically discussing the third tier of government in the context of democratic decentralization in Sri Lanka. I assume that some of the participants of the workshop too will be present and hence I propose to speak on ‘Political Federalism and Cultural diversity'.

Confucius was once asked: ‘What will you do if you were requested to be the chief of China? He smiled and said: ‘I will first set the terms of reference right'. When we talk about multiculturalism, diversity and a hundred other notions, each one of us may have different connotations in our mind. Therefore, it might be useful to begin with conceptual clarifications of a few terms. As a matter of fact this is a stratagem that I adopt to escape from the real theme, which grips all of you at the moment namely, the Sri Lankan turmoil. Let me make a candid confession that I don't know much about the Sri Lankan situation. I have been listening to people occasionally about the issues involved but would not consider myself as adequately informed. However, I think I have a framework to look at problems of multicultural polities.

I stand before you with considerable trepidation as I am addressing a group of academics and activists who are well informed about the Sri Lankan situation. It is indeed outrageous on my part even to provide a framework to understand Sri Lanka. Therefore, what I will try is to provide a conceptual framework with which one can look at all South Asian countries. If so, that framework can be invoked to understand the Sri Lankan situation also.

Many people tend to dismiss a conceptual framework as academic and theoretical. But I believe that nothing is more practical than a good theory. The test of a good theory is its practicality; therefore you can judge for yourself whether my conceptual framework is of any practical value for Sri Lanka.

One of the complaints that our policy-makers make is that Social Scientists from South Asia simply borrow the conceptual kits from West Europe and North America. I will not address that controversy in this lecture but will acknowledge that many of these concepts are alien and insist that we need to contextualize them to suit our purpose. The most crucial concept in the context of my lecture today is certainly the concept of ‘nation-state' which is West European in its origin. Several of the problems we face stem from the fact that we are willing to accept the notion of nation-state uncritically. The institution of nation-state itself is very recent in human history.

Political scientists among you will know that this idea crystallized with the Treaty of Westphlia signed in 1648. That is, there is a certain historical context in which the idea of nation-state emerged. Concepts to be useful should transcend the specific context of their origin. I want to suggest that while cultural homogeneity was a fundamental aspiration of West European nation-states, cultural diversity is a necessary accompaniment of federal polities. The moment we extrapolate the notion of ‘nation-state' from the West European to the South Asian context we are walking into a trap because there is an enormous gap between the concept and the reality it refers to. Further, federal state is an institutional innovation to govern democratically polities which are culturally diverse.

In West Europe what happened was that culturally diverse polities were homogenized. I shall give just two examples. When the French Republic was constituted only18% of the people spoke what was then called high French. But over a period of time everybody was compelled to learn high French; they were frenchified. When Italy was constituted only 3% spoke sophisticated Italian. So much so the populist Massimo D'Azeglio remarked: ‘We got Italy, we have to create Italians now'! The South Asian situation is entirely different from that of West Europe on two counts. One, South Asian polities are characterized by substantial cultural diversity; some more, some less. Two, their formation occurred in mid-twentieth century when the trade off between equality and identity was rejected by the cultural minorities; they insist on individual and collective equality as well as keen on maintaining their collective identities. To grapple with our reality we must critically look at the West European version of ‘nation-state'; I would even say that we should abandon it.

There are three problems inherent in the institution of nation-state all of which militate against cultural diversity. First, the manner in which the principle of national self determination is practiced. I hope you know that the first Vice-Chancellor of Peradeniya University in Sri Lanka was Sir Ivor Jennings. He said something very evocative and I quote him: ‘The people cannot decide until somebody decides who the people are'. Are the Tamils a people, that is a nation, is a very critical question for Sri Lanka. I am not saying that Tamils are a nation or they are not a nation. But somebody else will have to decide whether the Tamils constituted a nation so that the right to self-determination is conceded to them. This is the paradox. By denying the right to self-determination to various peoples within its territory the so-called nation-state endangers the principle of self-determination; the foundational principle on which it stands!

My country, namely India, has many such problems. When the Nagas or Mizos, small tribal communities in India's Northeast claim that they are nations, the Indian state does not accept it. Such a self-appellation even by the huge Tamil population of India, three times bigger than that of the total population of Sri Lanka, counting 60 million people, is also not conceded. But in terms of my conceptual framework they are all nations existing within a federal polity; in a multi-national state if you will. But why is it that South Asian states are afraid of conceding the label ‘nations' to these people? This is because they are haunted by the West European spectre wherein each nation is supposed to have its own sovereign state. But this is a false imagination; most South Asian nations are state-renouncing nations. To concede the label nation to smaller/weaker cultural entities within a federal polity is but to recognize and respect cultural diversity.

The second problem about nation-state arises when citizenship and nationality are conflated. The Chairman referred to my book: Citizenship Nationality and Ethnicity: Reconciling Competing Identities, which discusses this issue at length. Conventionally citizenship was conferred on the basis of membership in the nation. Some people were not accepted as nationals and hence denied citizenship. But this was/is not uniformly applied even in West Europe, the cradle of nation-states. Let me illustrate. If my ancestors were German and they lived outside Germany for generations, say in Peru, and if I returned, because of blood and soil I get German citizenship. But if I am a Turk and lived for generations on the soil of Germany I cannot easily get German citizenship. British citizens, in contrast, were drawn from four nations-England, Scotland, Wales and part of Ireland. The French citizenship was conferred on those who had undergone frenchification; even non-whites and non-Christians. The point of my argument is that to maintain cultural diversity within the state territory requires de-coupling of citizenship and nationality. This I consider to be inevitable in a multi-national or federal state. For example, in India it would mean conferring citizenship only to Hindi speaking Hindus and they form only 38% of the population!

How do we get out of this impasse? The rationale behind the notion of multi-cultural citizenship is precisely the decoupling of citizenship and cultural identity. The idea of multicultural citizenship did not arise in West Europe, but in the New World (particularly in Canada) because people from all over the world came to the New World and wanted to become citizens in the states to which they migrated. The conventional West European idea of fusing nationality and citizenship would not have worked there.

The idea of multicultural citizenship is fast gaining ground all over the world. But there is a crucial difference between multi-cultural and multi-national polities. We can conceive of several nationalities within federal state, the classic example is that of the erstwhile USSR. In the passport of USSR one could find two entries: Citizenship, designated as ‘Soviet' was common to all but the citizens were differentiated based on their nationalities-Russian, Uzbek and the like. It would be blasphemous in India if I say that my citizenship is Indian but nationality is that of Kerala, because we want to fuse citizenship and nationality. However, India has to learn to decouple the two notions if it has to survive as a true federal state. Cultural diversity and federal polity are two sides of the same coin.

In India we have a single citizenship regime in spite of its staggering cultural diversity. Everyday we see in the newspapers headlines such as ‘Indian national shot dead' or ‘Sri Lankan national arrested' and the like but actually the reference is to citizenship and not to nationality. The conflation of the concepts of state and nation has necessarily led to the conflation between citizenship and nationality. The moment we de-couple them we would have found solutions to several of our contentious issues.

The third problem about nation-states is their relentless pursuit of the ideal of creating culturally homogeneous societies. That is the aim but let us look at facts. Only a tiny proportion of the world's religious, cultural and linguistic groups have formed their own states. Anthony Smith, the British sociologist, in his study of Europe published in 1971 reports that there were 73 nations in Europe at that time but only 24 sovereign states. Britain is a multi-national state; I have told my British audiences several times that there were 3½ nations under the British political roof - the English, Scottish, Welsh and of course, some Irish. Similarly, the Spanish state has several nations within its territory.

Some states are uni-national but several states even in West Europe are multi-national. Indeed, only a precious few of the world's existing states approximated the cultural homogeneity conjured up by the label of nation-state. Jurgen Habermas the famous social theorist, although from Germany, interestingly observed: ‘Citizenship was never conceptually tied to national identity' and hence the feasibility of de-coupling citizenship and nationality. To get out of the present disjuncture between conceptualization and empirical reality I propose the concept of national state. What is the difference between a nation-state and a national state? A nation-state, as I said earlier, relentlessly pursues the goal of cultural homogeneity but a national state by definition is a state which celebrates cultural diversity.

The second conceptual clarification I want to make relates to multiculturality and multiculturalism. Multiculturality always existed. Think of empires, the Ottoman empire for example. But in the Imperial regime everybody did not have the same status or equality. If multiculturality is social fact, multiculturalism is a value orientation to that social fact. If all the cultural groups within a polity are treated equally and are provided with dignity and respect, that is cultural pluralism. Multiculturalism is patently against cultural homogenization, the unique selling point of nation-state. A truly multicultural/multinational society should not only accept diversity but should celebrate it.

Let me also remind you that cultural diversity in itself is not a problem but cultural diversity coupled with inequality is a real issue. If the Sinhalese people and Tamil people in Sri Lanka were equals in all respects, at all times, there would not have been any problem in their co-existence in one polity. Earlier the British colonizers for various reasons favoured the Tamils and they were better off during the colonial era; that is history. But when the national state was installed, the Sinhalese tried to reverse the situation. Therefore, the real issue is not that of cultural diversity as such but inter-nation inequality in a culturally diverse polity. I am fond of saying that cultural diversity plus equality equals cultural pluralism but cultural diversity minus equality leads to hegemony. Therefore, we have to negotiate between cultural pluralism and cultural hegemony in a federal polity.

If we think through it would be absolutely clear that a number of problems in many polities in the world, including yours and mine, emanate from cultural hegemony. How do we tackle these problems is a very pertinent question. Intercultural group inequalities often manifest in differentiation between the majority; the cultural mainstream and minorities. Minorities could be religious, linguistic or tribal. In India 8% of the people are tribal counting 80 million which is as big as the population of united Germany. Marx said famously: ‘quantity makes quality'. It is one thing to deal with a few dozen individuals but another to deal with millions of them. Cultural minorities be they religious, linguistic or tribal are found in federal polities.

I distinguish between two types of minorities - national and ethnic - which is also a crucial distinction like nation-state and national state. National minorities have historically legitimate claims to a homeland. Some of you may concede that the Sri Lankan Tamils constitute a national minority but may ask, how about the ‘Indian Tamils'? I am afraid you rushed into an unwarranted conclusion because a homeland could be ancestral or adopted. When the Americans claim that USA is their homeland we accept it even though they were immigrants. Similarly when Indian Tamils assert that they have adopted Sri Lanka as their homeland how can we deny it? Is it not true that both the Sinhalese and Tamils (Sri Lankan or Indian) came from India, although at different points in time and from different locations? Incidentally, what is the predicament of Veddas, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka today?

Not only homeland but also language can be adopted and rendered national; this is the case of Bhasa Indonesia. National minorities, then are minorities, who have a distinct homeland and language, ancestral or adopted. Viewed thus, ‘nation-ness' is always in process; a group can gradually intensify it and/or abandon it. Both ‘nationalization' and ‘ethnification' are perennial possibilities.

National minorities are minorities only when viewed in terms of the total population of the country. In India at present there are 24 officially recognized languages which are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The actual number of mother tongues count in hundreds and the biggest language is Hindi. But only 38% Indians speak Hindi which is a minority! That is, national minorities are majorities in their homeland. This fact is very crucial for promulgating proper policies. Because through a process of redrawing the political/administrative boundaries minorities can be transformed into majorities in their homelands. Conversely by dividing communities they can be ethnified. Thus both nationalization and ethnification of minorities are possible through re-drawing political/administrative boundaries.

North and East of Sri Lanka, if I understood the situation correctly, are homelands of the Tamils. By linking the two regions a Tamil majority political unit could be created. Through the state-sponsored Weli-Oya scheme the cultural contiguity of North and East has been blurred; by caging the Tamils into two geographical areas the Tamils have been ethinified. This diminished their political legitimacy for demanding a separate politico-administrative unit within or outside the territory of Sri Lanka.

Let me now turn to the distinction between a national minority and an ethnic minority. An ethnic minority is spatially dispersed in the territory of the national state. Therefore, it cannot make a legitimate claim to any part of the national territory as its homeland. I will give an example from India. I am sure you have heard about the Sindhis; Sindh is in Pakistan. At the time of partition Sindhi Hindus of Pakistan migrated to India and being a business community they are dispersed all over India. Today they count little over two million but to date there is no claim made by the Sindhis of India, even for a district as their homeland, because they are distributed all over Urban India. Please note that Sindhi is a recognized language in India and is included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

In the process of migration, both in-migration and out-migration, a community may get ethnified. It is also possible that because of state sponsored migration or colonization a national minority may be rendered into an ethnic minority. This happened in many states including the New World, when the territories of the natives were occupied by the European colonizers. Ethnic minorities are spatially dispersed minorities which are products of migration and/or state sponsored colonization. Now it should be clear that a national minority may become an ethnic minority through the process I designate as ethnification.

Nationalization and ethnification are two diametrically different processes. One can nationalize a minority by facilitating them to be in their native place and/or by transforming a territory into theirs through transplantation. One can also ethnify a national minority, as I have noted above. But what is important to note is that nationalization is an enabling and ethnification is a disabling process. The state can do both but to the extent it represents mainly the interests of the cultural mainstream it tends to indulge in ethnification. I remember somebody once telling me in Europe: ‘India is such a huge country, there is so much of population and you can easily colonize the Kashmir valley with Hindus and solve the problem'. Yes, India can easily do this and turn the Muslims in Kashmir valley into a minority. But fortunately Indian state has not yet done it. And please remember that India has a single citizenship regime which permits free spatial movement of its citizens to all parts of the country. But this free movement is restricted in the case of some parts of the country - Kashmir valley, Northeast India and tribal areas in Central India. This enables the peoples of these areas to sustain their geographical and cultural integrity and remain as national minorities.

The third point I want to make relates to the difficulty faced by ethnic minorities in sustaining their cultural identity. The possibility of ethnic minorities maintaining their cultural identity, particularly linguistic identity, becomes precarious even if official recognition to their language is given. I told you about Sindhis in India. Studies show that the third generation Indian Sindhis do not speak their language, not even at home, although it is an officially recognized language. Similarly, one can argue that even as Tamil is a recognized second language in Sri Lanka, if it is not used in everyday life, if it is not used in local administration, if it is not made available for school education what good is done by simply recognizing it as a second language? Herein lies the importance of creating a provincial state or a district for a linguistic national minority. The distinction that I make between national and ethnic minorities is crucial in a federal polity. Ethnic minorities cannot pose any serious threat to the federal state as it is dispersed all over. Its striking power is very limited. And yet, the voice of ethnic minorities should be heard and they should be incorporated into the process of governance in democratic polities. Ethnic minorities like Burghers and Muslims of Sri Lanka should find place in relevant and appropriate levels and contexts of decision making.

The example of Urdu speaking people from India is a fit case to illustrate the point I am making. Urdu is the sixth major language of India and spoken by 56 million people according to the 2001 census of India and it is officially recognized. But given its spatial distribution Urdu is not the first language in any of the provincial states. In three or four states it is the second language and the perennial complaint is that Urdu is not make available as a medium of instruction to school going children who opt for it.

On the other hand, Tripura the homeland of tribes is colonized by Hindu Bengalis, largely from Bangladesh. Today Tripura is a Bengali majority state and the Bengalis in Tripura are not perceived as outsiders by anybody although they are immigrants. Bengalis in Tripura have become a national minority. Bengalis are also a huge diasporic community; for example, they are two million in Delhi. However, they cannot claim Delhi as their homeland. This makes clear the importance of distinguishing an ethnic minority from a national minority. Perhaps there are similar cases in Sri Lanka also. Both ‘ethnification' and ‘nationalization' of minorities can occur due to population movements which have implications for their acquiring or losing political power and sustaining cultural identity in a federal state.

The national minorities in turn can be categorized into tow, state-seeking and state-renouncing minorities. The Sri Lankan case is very interesting in this context. In India with the solitary exception of the Tamils no big national group ever asked for its sovereign state. But the Tamil demand is contained now through a process of incorporation into the federal polity. In South Asia most national minorities are ‘state renouncing' minorities. This is a very interesting feature of South Asia and an utter contrast to West Europe. South Asian national minorities in spite of their huge numbers, their own homeland and distinct language rarely demand exclusive sovereign states but they want some level of political autonomy within a federal polity. However, there are a few national minorities which have been state (i.e. sovereign state) seeking. But as compared with West Europe, South Asia is quite different. Napoleon prescribed: ‘For each nation its own state' which led to the proliferatin of nation-states in West Europe. But that has not happened in South Asia. I am from Kerala and a Malayali; we have a distinct culture and language, we have a homeland but Malayalis never demanded a sovereign state. I would say Malayalis are a state-renouncing nation. In fact, many national minorities are happy to be within a federal state.

Just as in South Asia there are a few national minorities which demand sovereign states, in West Europe a few of them renounced sovereign states. The trade off was between sovereignty and autonomy. When the Scottish and Welsh people were incorporated into Great Britain some level of autonomy was conceded but sovereignty was suspended. Whether or not a national minority demands sovereignty depends upon the depth of deprivation it experiences and the quantity and quality of autonomy the federal framework concedes. How much autonomy the federal polity is willing to concede to its national minorities is a very important issue in containing secessionist tendencies.

If the trade off does not work secessionist demand will persist and if the national minority has enough striking power the redrawing of the political boundary is a distinct possibility. If both the federal state and the national minority are accommodative of each others compulsions and aspirations a solution within the federal framework is possible resulting in the formation of a multinational federal polity.

While discussing the cases of national and ethnic minorities I have emphasized mainly the case of linguistic communities. The discussion is as much relevant for tribal communities because they also have accredited homelands and identifiable languages. The main problem of tribal communities is that some of them are too tiny and hence very difficult to have viable provincial states.

In such cases the structures below the provincial states such as Autonomous Regions, Districts or Panchayats are feasible. I once wrote a newspaper article suggesting that if there is a group of 10,000 people speaking a common dialect and occupying an identifiable territory a Panchayat should be granted to them. The idea here is that of creating co-terminality between political and cultural boundaries. And, language is so crucial in this context because communication is a pre-requisite for participative governance. In my understanding the number of tiers in a federal polity should depend upon the number of cultural layers. One can postulate at least four levels - provincial, autonomous regional, district and panchayat - below the federal level. That is, the number of political tiers will depend on the cultural complexity and layers the society has.

My plea is: Do not predetermine the number of political tiers, let the empirical reality dictate the direction in which we will go to determine them. The point is that the federal polity should be conceptualized as a layered political system. And, we must keep in mind the size factor because it is important for financial viability. Having said this let me recall the wise words of W.S. Livingstone, the Canadian social scientist. He writes: ‘The essence of federalism lies not in the constitutional or institutional structure, but in society itself. Federal Government is a device by which the federal qualities of the society are articulated and practiced'.

We in South Asia have to grapple with the most complex empirical reality but we have not yet dared to think of out of box solutions. We are habituated to blame the West and western social science for our failures. It is time that we re-invent western concepts to suit our needs. I have made a modest attempt in that direction.

Let me conclude by noting that a federal polity is not required for a culturally homogenous society; it requires simple administrative divisions depending upon the size factor. Sri Lanka would not need a federal polity if there were only Sinhala Buddhists here. That is, there is an inextricable inter-linkage between the nature of society and the kind of polity or state. Now you can apply my conceptual framework to Sri Lanka and point out the pitfalls, which will help me to eradicate my ignorance about Sri Lanka and improve my framework.

Thank you for your attention.

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SPEECH DELIVERED BY SMT. NIRUPAMA RAO, THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR INDIA IN SRI LANKA AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY OF THE SARVODAYA TRUST FUND ON JUNE 18, 2006

Venerable Members of the Clergy, Dr. Ariyaratne, Mr. Gunasinghe, distinguished award winners whom we felicitate today, dear friends..

It is indeed a genuine privilege and honour to be present here today in the midst of so many distinguished men and women who have made service to their fellow human beings a sacred cause. That is indeed the mission of Sarvodaya, an institution whose cause we celebrate here today, and its founder Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, a legend in his own lifetime, who has fought relentlessly to further the cause of social justice and the removal of discrimination and divisiveness in society. Since 1969, when he won the Magsaysay Award, Dr. Ariyaratne's has been a household name in Asia, and his receipt of the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award is a reflection of the high esteem and regard with which he is held in all of India.

Sarvodaya - the name evokes hope, the awakening of all as its literal translation suggests. "Awakening" is a term that has been the goal of philosophers since the dawn of history. Awakening, in the sense of awakening from ignorance to awareness and knowledge, awakening in the sense of being sensitive to the sufferings of your fellow men and women, awakening to the true meaning of life - a meaning that you can achieve only when you are willing to be the change you want to see around you, as Gandhiji once said.

How many of us are truly awake? We all go about our daily activities thinking that we are awake but do we really know the meaning of the state of true awakening? I think we should seek that meaning through understanding in depth the mission of Sarvodaya, acquainting ourselves with the life's mission of Dr. Ariyaratne and his wonderful family, particularly Mrs. Ariyaratne who is here in the audience, and his vision for peace and development of all sections of Sri Lankan society regardless of language, religion or ethnicity.

In Dr. Ariyaratne, we have a man, who like it was said of Mahatma Gandhi, is able to to voice the sentiments of his country's culture and ethos as probably no one else can do. Even in today's age of information and communication technology, Dr. Ariyaratne's is the genuine voice of his people in so many ways. He is the soul of simplicity, claiming no exclusive validity for his creed or religion - because we know that all religions aim at the same goal of the inner life, the inner truth. And, Dr. Ariyaratne and Sarvodaya recall the age-old tradition of both Sri Lanka and India, the tradition not of mere tolerance but of profound respect for diversity. And, having inculcated in his inner self and his work the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave, Dr. Ariyaratne, I know, sees politics as a branch of ethics and religion, not as a struggle for power and wealth, but a continuous effort to raise the quality of human beings, "to train them for freedom and fellowship, spiritual depth and harmony." In his work, which I have admired and kept track of over the years, I know that he has striven always for reconciliation, and the removal of suspicion, bitterness and resentment. He does not want Sri Lankans to think in water-tight compartments as Buddhists, Hindus, Christians or Muslims but as one people.
It was Jawaharlal Nehru who remarked that the voice and message of Mahatma Gandhi sounded so often to us as a reiteration of the Buddha's. I know that the ideals of Lord Buddha have guided the work of Sarvodaya, too. The message and teachings of the Buddha, enable us to look at our problems in the right perspective, draw back from conflict, violence and hatred. Mahatma Gandhi often laid stress on the manner of doing things, on the means employed. It was not enough, he used to say, to have a right objective, to have right ends in view, but also to adopt the right method and right means. I believe that ideal guides the work of Sarvodaya, too. It is particularly creditworthy that Dr. Ariyaratne has set up the Sarvodaya Trust Fund to further benefit the people from the money received from his various international awards. This is a testimony to his generosity of spirit, and his dedication to the cause of social justice and non-discrimination.

The true test of leadership is to draw out the best in those who work with you. I know that through Sarvodaya, thousands of people have been inspired to give of their best to society, and to their fellow Sri Lankans.

Mahatma Gandhi once enunciated the cause for the violence that plagues the world:

He said such disharmony and violence was caused by the seven blunders:

"Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principles".

As human beings, and responsible members of society, we must strive to overcome these deficiencies, so that the world is a better, more peaceful place to inhabit. Organizations like Sarvodaya are striving successfully to do that since they are dedicated to the cause of the welfare of all, particularly the weak and the underprivileged. And, I know that Sarvodaya also provides a strong anchor for those who are dejected and dispirited, and gives them the spiritual sustenance that enables them to face life with a smile and with hope. I therefore, wish Sarvodaya and Dr. Ariyaratne greater and greater success in all their great endeavours.

Let me conclude by saying that we in India share a special relationship with Sri Lanka - a relationship that is no mere friendship but a symbiotic twinning, an organic affinity that is not just geographical, but dictated by ties of shared religions, cultural practices, family ties, linguistic commonalities, economic ties, political understanding between two democracies, and so much more. The linkages between Sarvodaya and India are manifold and I need not elaborate on them. Suffice it to say that our two countries must share a precious and everlasting harmonious understanding cemented by the ideals of great visionaries like Lord Buddha, Emperor Ashoka, and Mahatma Gandhi. Sarvodaya is very much a part of the tradition inculcated in us by those great visionaries. Let us therefore celebrate the work and the mission of Sarvodaya - the true awakening of all.

Thank you.

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Speech by High Commissioner delivered at annual dinner of the Sri Lanka-India Society on Saturday, 4th March, 2006 at the Taj Samudra
(Dinner is in honour of the Sri Lankan Independence Day, 4th February)

Col. R. Harindran, President of the Sri Lanka-India Society,Mr. Kiron B. Shenoy, Organiser of tonight's dinner meeting, Distinguished office-bearers of the Sri Lanka-India Society and friends,

It gives me great pleasure to be present at this dinner organized by the Sri Lanka-India Society (SLIS) to celebrate the Sri Lankan Independence Day which was marked on 4th of February, 2006.

I am glad to note that the SLIS is continuing its good work in fostering greater understanding between the peoples of India and Sri Lanka. I note that the Indira Gandhi Memorial Library project is being carried out successfully. I am happy to note that sets of books will be presented to three schools in Sri Lanka with the worthy objective of expanding the knowledge of the students about India and fostering the reading habit among school children. I trust that the goodwill mission that the Society will be taking to India will come to fruition very soon. An exchange of visits between friendship societies in both our countries can provide opportunities for brainstorming for both the Societies to come up with newer ideas on promoting goodwill between the two countries.

I take this opportunity of felicitating the three members of the Society who have recently been awarded national honours - Prof. M.T.A. Furkhan who has been awarded the title of Deshmanya, Mr. Mano Selvanathan who has also been awarded the title of Deshmanya and Mr. Tilak de Soyza who has been awarded the title of Deshbandhu. My deepest congratulations to all three of you and I hope that the Society and its members will continue to grow rich with honours in the time to come.

Pandit Nehru once said it is quite inevitable that there should be the closest relationship and cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. Geography compels it. Our history and common culture make it inevitable. Today the bandwidth of engagement is broader than ever and the frequent high-level contact between our two leaderships is testimony to our close ties. We have had the important and successful visit of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka, to India. This was his first visit overseas after assuming the office of President and resulted in agreements in a number of areas. Trade and people-to-people contacts, of which your society is a living example, continue to scale new heights. India today is the largest source of Sri Lankan imports and its third largest export destination. India is also the third largest investor in Sri Lanka. While FTA was and remains an important stepping stone, we are now working towards graduating to a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Our bilateral economic relations have set a benchmark for the SAARC region.

Ladies and gentlemen, India continues to support and encourage the efforts of the Government and people of Sri Lanka to consolidate the processes of peace and development in their country. We welcome the holding of talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in Geneva on 22/23 February 2006 and the announcement that the next round will take place in April. We are also happy to note that both sides have renewed their commitment to respecting and upholding the Ceasefire Agreement. Peace is important for Sri Lanka's development and for the well-being of all her communities.

I would like to take this opportunity to inform the members of the Sri Lanka India Friendship Society of the many projects that the Government of India is undertaking in Sri Lanka. Government of India is developing the Colombo-Matara rail network. We aim to provide a fully modernized rail network in this sector drawing upon the valuable expertise of the Government of India in this area. The Government of Sri Lanka will soon be setting up a joint working group to supervise the progress and implementation of this project.

Government of India is providing a grant of US$ 7.5 million to set up a cancer hospital in Colombo. We are also modernizing and upgrading the base hospital at Trincomalee. In Dickoya in the upcountry area, Government of India is adding a 100-bed hospital to the existing hospital at a cost of US$ 5 million. We are providing state-of-the-art medical equipment to the tsunami-affected hospitals in Hambantota in the south and Point Pedro in the north.

We have also recently announced the establishment of the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship Scheme for Sri Lankan students. You may have read of this in the press recently. We will be selecting a hundred students every year from all parts of Sri Lanka and they will be granted SLR 1,500/- every month to assist them with their studies. Each scholar will receive the scholarship for two years. Thus, several ‘O' level students will be receiving this benefit at a crucial time in their studies.

In response to a long-standing demand of persons of Indian origin settled abroad, Government of India decided to institute the Overseas Indian Citizenship some time ago. I am glad to announce that several persons of Indian origin in Sri Lanka have recently been granted the Overseas Indian Citizenship. This citizenship provides many benefits to its holders, including a lifetime visa to India, the right to buy urban property in India and rights to avail of certain educational services in India.

Our Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has emphasized the importance of the global community of Persons of Indian Origin in the following quote from his speech delivered at the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas or Overseas Indian Day on 7th January, 2006 - "To my mind, the most important aspect of re-connecting with the world is for us to reach out to People of Indian Origin. The NRIs and the PIOs are the most important elements of our globalization. There is a fundamental difference between the globalization of India and may other developing countries. For us, globalization is a natural means of linking up with the international community of Indians. As I said last year, if there is one phenomenon in the world over which the sun truly never sets, it is the phenomenon of the global community of people of Indian origin".

I may mention that the Hon'ble Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Shri Vayalar Ravi has launched an interactive portal for the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs on 27th February, 2006. This is the electronic version of the monthly magazine ‘The Overseas Indian' which was launched by our Prime Minister in January this year. The online edition of the magazine will appear in English and seven other Indian languages, Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Telugu, Punjabi, Tamil and Urdu. This magazine will cover news, views and events related to Overseas Indians and activities undertaken by Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs.

I am confident that the SLIS will be able to maintain its momentum in the various activities it has undertaken. I look forward to more interactions with the Society in the time ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a toast -

• to H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,

• to friendship and amity between the peoples of India and Sri Lanka

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Interview of Smt. Nirupama Rao, Indian High Commissioner with Bandula Jayasekara on Channel Eye telecast on 23.12.05 at 10.00 p.m

Q. India is our neighbour, India is our friend, India is our relation. Today, I am joined by that lady who leads that friendship, who leads that relationship in Sri Lanka. H.E. Mrs. Nirupama Rao, High Commissioner of India in Colombo. Welcome to Rupavahini.

A. Thank you very much.

Q. You are first female High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. I remember one of your friends said that after Sanghamitra, you are the first female envoy to Sri Lanka.

A. Well I feel extremely privileged to be the High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. Being the first lady High Commissioner, of course, brings with it special responsibilities. I think we females have been prepared with a capacity to think holistically and I always remember also what the psychologists say about the female mind and I think in diplomacy it gives you a special advantage. I am particularly happy to be in Sri Lanka as I was here in my youth as a young diplomat, I think First Secretary, here and I am back in a country I feel I have known well. I am happy to renew that relationship.

Q. You have been High Commissioner for 16 long months. How do you feel? I know you are into literary activities, art, music and I have seen you contributing to the newspapers. How do you look back?

A. I do not know how 16 months have zipped by. It feels like yesterday that I walked into your foreign ministry and met the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, the first Sri Lankan dignitary I met. 16 months - you call them long - to me it seems short. So much has happened and I literally had to hit the ground running, as they say. I had a number of visits from India and a number of visitors from Sri Lanka - dignitaries, leaders - to India. Of course we had the unfortunate tragedy of the tsunami and the whole chapter of Indian involvement in emergency relief, I must say its been interesting and professionally fulfilling. You mentioned India is a friend, India is a relative. I think we approached Sri Lanka not only with our heads but also with our hearts.

Q. Talking of tsunami, you were the first to help us. I had the opportunity of visiting one of your ships. The Indian forces won the hearts of the Sri Lankans more than others, though we had a lot of other support. I know you visited the ships. How do you see that?

A. I think the tsunami - national calamity -afforded a great opportunity to work together to provide emergency relief. So our team worked together with the international teams that were here and I think we established a harmonious relationship with the other teams. India was the first country to come to Sri Lanka's help when the tsunami struck and I had the opportunity to visit a number of tsunami affected areas. I had never seen devastation on that scale in my life. Our team worked together with the local community. In fact, our team members spoke Tamil and in the East they were able to relate to the people and provide the assistance that is necessary. We built the bridge across the Arugam Bay - we put 5 bailey bridges together - which is emblematic of the assistance that India had offered. That itself was quite an engineering feat.

Let me tell you that our College of Military Engineering back in India debated that issue, whether the bridge could be built and we did. Our army team pulled it off magnificently. We restored communication in a very important part of the island.

Q. How do you describe the relationship between the two countries?

A. Extremely healthy, very productive, multiplex relationship I would like to call it. It exists at so many levels - the political, the economic, the cultural, the people to people. We issue at the Indian High Commission over 300 visas per day. You can imagine the volume of visitors with the increase in flights between the two countries. We had at the last count almost 110 flights per week between the two countries. So Colombo is connected to so many metropolitan centres in India today. Earlier it was perhaps, Chennai, Trivandrum, Trichy. But now its across the subcontinent. We have so much pilgrim traffic now, tourists coming from India and I think the Sri Lankan tourist authorities are targeting this community of tourists and we have tourists from all over India, they love the beaches, they love the hill stations and we Indians particularly love Nuwara Eliya. Lots of celebrities come here who have made a name for themselves among Sri Lankans. Of course, you have the enormous magnetism of the Bollywood film industry. Sri Lankans love Indian songs, people sing Indian songs. In many ways India and Sri Lanka are coming even closer.

Q. I want to talk in detail about our art, culture, education, sports, if you could elaborate?

A. There is a seamless process that goes on between the two countries. We have cultural affinities. I always say that you hear the muffled heart beats of our collective past wherever you go in Sri Lanka, the influence of Indian culture and the give and take that has happened. People have gone from here to India and I know Anagarika Dharampala in the 19th century went to India and made a name for himself. We all grew up knowing about Anagarika Dharampala. The other day an old book I opened - I happen to collect old books - I had acquired an old book on the Parliament of Religions in the 1890s when Swami Vivekananda delivered an extremely impressive and thought-provoking speech and in that volume there was an impressive photograph of the Indian delegation and Anagarika Dharampala was part of that delegation. India and Sri Lanka we worked together.

BJ : And we had his grandson, Mangala Moonesinghe, going as the High Commissioner to India!

HC : And just the other day when I was in Kandy - great surprises come up all the time - a Professor from Peradeniya University gave me a book he had written on the Sri Lankan community in Malaysia. The book spoke about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the Azad Hind Fauj, the Indian national army that Netaji formed, in the Second World War, and do you know that there was a Sri Lankan in that Azad Hind Fauj. So a Sri Lankan contingent was in the INA and defended the region from colonial rule. There is this organic link between us.

As far as culture is concerned the Cultural Exchange Programme is an excellent framework of cooperation between the two countries. Some cultural administrative officers from Sri Lanka, I think 12 - 13 of them, are currently in India interacting with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. We had representatives from all over the country, including the North East, who are part of this delegation.

Q. How do you see the defence cooperation between the two countries?

A. We have had training facilities for Sri Lankan defence personnel in India - this is a long-established programme that has gone on for over three decades now. A number of your officers have been trained in our defence establishment. I think it is a very beneficial relationship that has been established between the two training establishments. This is an ongoing interaction. I meet a lot of your army and navy officers who have been in India. They have a great sentimental attachment for the years that they have spent in India; there are close friendships between our officers and our men.

Q. What about naval exercises?

A. Two ships were here recently and we had a wonderful day at sea. The weather was glorious and our ships and your ships had some training exercises and some maritime surveillance. We have as you know in South East Asia the problem of piracy on the high seas. Thus these are normal interactive exercises that exist between friendly navies all over the world. The Indian Navy does similar exercises with other neighbouring countries.

Q. In which area would you say is the highest Indo-Lanka cooperation?

A. Well, the level of our cooperation in all areas is extremely satisfactory. There is a logic of such close relationships that should expand further. There is a high level of political understanding between the two countries.

Q. People say that sometime ago when President Rajapakse was Prime Minister, he mentioned to a certain group in India that he would be contesting the Presidency. It is very significant that he is going to make his first trip to India as President. How do you see the significance of this?

A. It is very significant and first of all let me say that we warmly welcome President Rajapakse and Madame Rajapakse with a very high level delegation. I think this is a visit that is reflective of very enduring ties of cooperation and understanding between our two countries. This is significant that this is the first visit he is making abroad after taking charge as President, after his victory. We hope that during this visit we would be able to strengthen our dialogue further. Our leadership will have the opportunity to know the new President even better and I believe that this is an opening chapter of what is going to be an extremely cordial and mutually beneficial relationship.

Q. What can we in Sri Lanka expect from his visit?

A. Well we expect to finalize a number of bilateral agreements and MoUs on functional cooperation in a variety of fields. Officials are preparing for that. In fact, during this year we had a number of bilateral exchanges between the two countries. The Foreign Secretaries met for consultations earlier this year, that was followed by a meeting of the Joint Commission at the Foreign Minister level. We have in a sense paved the way for this high level visit. Right now, we have a delegation from the Indian railways visiting Sri Lanka. The National Thermal Power Corporation was here to discuss the setting up of a coal-powered power plant. We have in a sense prepared the way for the visit of H.E. the President of Sri Lanka.

Q. Excellency, any other area that the two leaders will explore?

A. The exchanges are there - the bilateral exchanges, the economic flowering that you have witnessed. Very shortly we hope to conclude the discussion on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries. How to strengthen this economic partnership, how to promote educational exchanges and I think the ties between the youth of our countries are very important. India is now getting into development work in Sri Lanka. An MoU on small development projects was signed during the Joint Commission meeting a few months ago. Now we are actively exploring the avenues of that. We have a couple of proposals for consideration. We are not only looking at economic partnership in trade and commerce but also in development. Today the Sri Lanka India Parliamentary forum is being launched as we understand in your Parliament. So there will be exchanges between the parliaments of the two countries. So you have very holistic and comprehensive exchange of delegations not only in terms of parliamentary exchanges.

Q. You are not only a diplomat, you are a poet, an artist, writer. Anything in particular in the cultural exchanges between the two countries?

A. I think a number of areas of the Cultural Exchange Programme have been somewhat dormant. My mission is to activate and activise cultural troupes going from Sri Lanka and vice-versa. I think it is a very small stretch of water that separates the two countries. But there is a gap in communication that needs to be bridged. And what better way to do that than by cultural exchanges. Information on both sides can be better exchanged. Television stations show a lot of Indian programmes. We must have more information about what is happening in India - about the IT industry, about the growth of our cities, about the minds of our people - what they think about Sri Lanka and what do Sri Lankans think about India. Mutual awareness building is very necessary. It can form the bedrock of a more mature relationship.

BJ: Sri Lankan culture needs to be made accessible to India. We need to reach out to India.

A. Recently in Delhi at the Purana Qila, the old fort - you lived in Delhi - we had a number of cultural programmes in winter. An India-Sri Lanka group performed some dances based on the Ramayana. I believe it was a great success. You may be knowing Sanjeev Bhargava. He is a very well known cultural personality. He plans to bring that performance to Sri Lanka. We have to work out how to arrange that. That would be a performance by a joint troupe performing in each other's country. That's one way we could enhance the relationship. Another idea - we have the zonal cultural centres of Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Chennai, Bangalore, Trivandrum - we think we can develop programmes around them. We can have interaction between these zonal centres and Sri Lanka. Southern peninsular India and Sri Lanka could develop a special relationship, which is part of the natural organic flow that has existed between the two countries through centuries.

Q. What do you think of the Sri Lanka peace process and what support would you extend to it?

A. We have always maintained that dialogue is very necessary between the two sides, that violence is not the solution. Recourse to violence is very unfortunate. India has never approved of that. So it is very important that serious, productive and mutually-accommodative dialogue should be there. And India has always been supportive of the peace process, of the efforts that are being made to come to a solution. We hope you will reach a peace settlement that preserves the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka, with respect for pluralism, ethnic and religious pluralism; a peace process that your new President Mr. Rajapaksa has mentioned should be characterized by openness, by inclusivity and by transparency.

Q. How do you see the consensus building by the new President?

A. I see it as a healthy development - a positive development. You need consensus, you need to build common ground between all the parties concerned. To enable this dialogue to move forward, it is very rational, very logical.

Q. Final question to your Excellency . You are from Kerala. Arundhati Roy when she was in Sri Lanka said that this is "Kerala without relations". What would you like to say to that?

A. It is a home away from home for me. Being from Kerala I have to endorse what Arundhati Roy had to say of Sri Lanka. I do not have relatives here. But the muffled heartbeat of our collective past echoes in my heart. Somewhere, I feel that there is a link, some unspoken relationship between me and every Sri Lankan that I meet. Like I said before, I can't help working on the relationship both with my head and my heart.

The interview ended by B.J. quoting Mahatma Gandhi "it is, at least it should be, impossible for India and Ceylon to quarrel"

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PM's address at the Confederation of Indian Industry National Conference - 2006

April 18, 2006
New Delhi

I am delighted to be here with you at your annual session. I compliment the Confederation of Indian Industry for the good work done in promoting the cause of Indian business and in projecting India's achievements at home and abroad.

I am indeed privileged to share this dais with one of our most dynamic and dedicated business leaders, Shri Brij Mohan Lall Munjal. He has come to symbolize the dynamism, entrepreneurship and dedication of Indian manufacturing enterprise in our times. The journey of his life mirrors the journey of free India. I salute the patriotism and commitment of our business leaders. In the past two decades, Indian enterprise has responded handsomely to the challenge of global competition. I compliment CII for being a partner in this saga of change and development. Our Government has been working hard to make the global environment even more hospitable for Indian enterprise. As I have often said, the world wishes India well. The challenges we face are essentially at home and we are committed to addressing these challenges.

I am encouraged by recent trends in the rate of investment in our economy and in the state of expectations. This has been a good year for Indian manufacturing enterprise. As I look ahead, I feel that we can not only sustain the current rate of economic growth of around 8.0% but can realistically hope to target a rate of 10%. However, we face the challenge of making our growth process more socially and economically broad-based. Our Government is committed to providing an economic, political and social environment that allows the full flowering of the creativity and enterprise of our people.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year you have chosen to focus your attention on competitiveness and development. Both are linked. Unless the Indian economy becomes more globally competitive, unless each of your firms has globally competitive capabilities, we will not be able to sustain the development process. At the same time, unless we are able to take development forward in a broad based manner, investing in social and economic infrastructure and in human capabilities, we cannot build a more competitive economy.

Our Government recognizes that for balanced and all-round development, and also to sustain higher growth, both agriculture and manufacturing need to grow in tandem. Indeed, our strategy for higher growth in agricultural production and productivity, and our strategy for industrial growth and development, have to be inter-linked. We recognize this fact. Only the manufacturing sector can provide the jobs that are required to absorb the vast numbers of our people who will need to move out of agriculture. The manufacturing sector cannot develop in isolation. Its growth cannot be sustained in islands and enclaves cut off from the rest of the economy. We need a credible macroeconomic environment, better infrastructure, and a supportive political and social environment, to sustain higher rates of industrial growth.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to note that the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council set up by our Government has in fact adopted such a holistic perspective. I share the Council's view that manufacturing is a force multiplier. We seek an acceleration of employment generation and of income and output growth. This must come from an increase in the share of the manufacturing sector in national income. This must happen not just through expansion of large-scale industry, but also of small and medium enterprises and rural enterprises. Our industrial strategy must focus on all tiers of modern manufacturing.

I am also aware that effective policy intervention in manufacturing requires better coordination between various wings of the Government. To enable this, we have decided to create a mechanism that will speed up decision making and improve inter-ministerial interface in policymaking. I have constituted a High Level Committee on Manufacturing under my chairmanship and including my senior colleagues dealing with various aspects of industrial policy. This committee will make recommendations and review the implementation of policies formulated under the National Manufacturing Initiative. Our endeavour will be to create a policy framework that can deliver an annual rate of growth of manufacturing output of at least 12%. The High Level Committee on Manufacturing should become a single window for generating, coordinating and monitoring policy initiatives in this area.

The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council has also identified key sectors where India can become a global manufacturing hub. It has advocated a "cluster approach" to ensure economies of scale and scope in the development of key industries. The boom in SEZs we are witnessing will also create competitive export clusters. I hope that this concerted effort on our part will match the aspirations and needs of our business enterprise. A combination of planned macroeconomic support and intervention, on the one hand, and firm and industry level initiatives by private enterprise can help speed up the process of industrial development.

Our information technology and telecom sectors have developed impressively in recent years. We must now facilitate the growth of an electronics, IT and telecom hardware industry. I have constituted a Task Force to focus on the growth of electronics and IT hardware manufacture. To maintain the vibrancy of the telecom sector, we have set up a Group of Ministers to enable early vacation of spectrum by existing government users. We hope to make this capacity available for commercial use in a time bound manner.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have paid special attention to infrastructure development. I am happy that the programme for construction of new airports and modernization of existing ones is going ahead as planned. The national highway programme has not only gained speed but the movement towards greater private participation through the BOT route has begun showing exciting results. We have recently contracted three major BOT stretches of the NHDP with large negative viability gap funding. I am confident that this is the path for the future. You are also aware that we are working to build dedicated railway freight corridors. These, along with the initiative to allow private container trains, will transform the face of Indian logistics and will be critical contributors to industrial competitiveness. We are paying special attention to urban renewal and urban transport. I assure you that by 2009, Indian infrastructure will have a new look and a new sense of dynamism.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to see that associations like CII have graduated from the era of petitions and pleas to a more self-confident stage when you come up with plans and proposals for national development. I therefore urge you to consider using the influence you have acquired to create a wider national consensus in favour of long-term initiatives for economic growth and social development. The development of our manufacturing sector depends not just on the tax regimes we have or the infrastructure support we can give. It also depends on the pace at which our home market grows, on the pace at which we create domestic skills, and the pace at which we generate technical competencies and new technologies. Industry must start addressing these issues pro-actively as they can be the most significant constraints on growth.

In each of these areas an industry association like yours can play an active role in generating new ideas and creating the required political consensus for policy change. I compliment CII for the interest it has taken in Bharat Nirman. I am happy that you see a business opportunity in rural development. I also compliment you for the good work you are doing to promote a "green agenda", to promote "quality consciousness" and to battle HIV/AIDS.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Indian industry must pay closer attention to the environmental consequences of industrial development. You must pay more attention to the rehabilitation of people displaced by the spread of industrial activity and by urbanization. I think the time has come to squarely address the issue of development, displacement and environment. Expanding the pie through rapid economic development is essential if we have to meet the challenge of eliminating chronic poverty, ignorance and disease. At the same time, we are frequently faced with situations where developmental activities displace people from their traditional habitat, vocations and lifestyles; where industrial growth can have adverse environmental implications. We need to quickly evolve credible mechanisms whereby these issues do not degenerate into confrontations between sections of our society; whereby development is not perceived as a threat to people's lives and habitats; whereby development is done in the most cost-effective, environment friendly and least disruptive manner; whereby all stakeholders benefit to some degree from development. This is the only path to the prosperous future we dream of. And our government is committed to addressing these issues in the near future.

The private sector too must realize the importance of this issue. You must invest more in the education and health care of your workers and their dependents. You must provide better working conditions for employees and a more congenial working atmosphere for women. Our Government has taken many steps to empower women. Industry can follow suit by proactively taking steps that make it easier for women to be employed and remain in employment. Industry can also do much more for resource conservation, for better utilization of water, land and other scarce resources and the development of backward areas.

Going beyond these social concerns, Indian industry must also think big about rural development and agrarian change. To sustain double-digit industrial growth and national income growth of 8-10%, we must make the growth process more broad-based. This is also vital to the balanced industrial development of our country. I know that many of you have given great thought to some of these issues. I have been impressed by the rural development work that ITC has done under Yogi Deveshwar. I hope CII will pay greater attention to rural development. A widening of the social and economic base of consumption can only benefit our manufacturing industry.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A supportive macroeconomic policy framework, modern infrastructure and investment in skills and capabilities are important supply-side initiatives. These must be matched by a focus on the demand-side as well. Our government has taken many steps that will generate new demand for manufactured goods. We have effected a massive increase in development expenditure. We have taken initiatives to generate new employment opportunities. We have eased the flow of credit to farmers. These are some of the easier interventions that can stimulate rural demand. The redistribution of land and tenancy reform can improve the income and asset base of the rural poor. It can generate demand for rural housing and other infrastructure.

The industrialization experience of economies as diverse as Japan and China demonstrates the importance of agrarian reform and security of tenure in sustaining higher rates of industrial growth. Land reform is a state subject but a national priority that requires a national consensus. The social and economic empowerment of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the security of tenure for poor farmers, and the assurance of tribal rights to forest produce are all interventions that can increase rural incomes and rural consumption. The highly visible correlation between agricultural development and the market for manufactured goods tells us that in agrarian prosperity lies the route to industrial development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am aware that CII has taken interest in the social aspects of development. But I urge you to give more attention to questions of social and economic discrimination and deprivation, to the educational and health status of our people, to employment generation, to social security, and to the empowerment of women and minorities. These are important social responsibilities of both Government and business. A stable, equitable and just growth process can only be in the best interests of business enterprise.

I do sincerely believe that industry can play a leading social role in the empowerment of less privileged, marginalized groups. We all need to ensure that no group feels excluded from enjoying the fruits of rapid economic growth. I urge industry to seriously consider enhancing educational and employment opportunities for weaker sections, investing in their skill enhancement and promoting their employment in an affirmative manner. CII has done good work through their ITI initiative. I urge all of you to invest much more in vocational training and technical education, particularly for youth from a less privileged background. I urge you to assess at a firm level, the diversity in your employee profile and commit yourself voluntarily to making it more broadbased and representative. Such affirmative action on your part can be a crucial component of the inclusive society we hope to build.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope your National Conference will reflect on all the issues I have touched upon, apart from the very important agenda that you have set out for your deliberations. I wish you well in your endeavours.

Thank you.

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Conference of Association of SAARC Speakers & Parliamentarians in Colombo
(29th to 31st March, 2006)

K.M.Ravindran,AIR Special Correspondent, Colombo

The 4th Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians concluded in Colombo this week was a major milestone by the very fact that it was being held after a gap of seven long years. Last time it held was in Dhaka in March 1999.

Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Sardar Charanjit Singh Atwal led a seven member delegation from India that included Members of Parliament - Mr. Mr.Prasanna Acharya, Dr. K. Malaisamy, and Dr. Karan Singh Yadav and the Lok Sabha Secretary General Mr.P.D.T.Achary.

Declaring the conference open, the Sri Lankan President Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse urged the SAARC members to build 'structures' that are mutually helpful for taking on the 'numerous economic and social problems' that the region face today. The Sri Lankan leader said that the people of SAARC region 'broadly share a common culture, common values and common way of relating to the world which are deeply rooted in history.' 'We may speak different languages, follow different religions and our appearance may be a little different from one another. But we cannot move away from the fact that the people of SAARC countries look upon our part of the world - South Asia - as a distinct social and cultural entity or region' Mr.Rajapakse observed.

The leader of the Indian delegation, in his opening remarks, said that parliament as the Supreme legislative body has the cardinal duty of ensuring the welfare of the people. Sardar Atwal added that the Parliamentarians' Associations serve to strengthen people-to people contacts and promote mutual understanding and trust among the SAARC members.

India's Deputy Speaker also drew the attention of the delegates to the Right to Information Act passed by the Indian Parliament. 'Once the people have access to information and start questioning activities that are not in consonance with rules and regulations, it will automatically work as a deterrent against negligence and corrupt practices'.

Referring to the social responsibility of the Parliamentarians, Sardar Atwal said that the law makers were well versed with the problems of the people and were better placed to provide inputs to the Government on issues affecting the people. The leader of the India delegation also noted that widespread poverty which continues to mark the SAARC region posed the most formidable challenge. He termed the adoption of the Social Charter by the SAARC an important milestone in the history of the regional grouping.

During the three day deliberations the delegates discussed the role of Parliamentarians in the emerging global scenario. The topics with special focus were 'Parliament and Non-Government Organizations', 'Public Duty and Private Interests of the members' and 'Promotion of inter-Parliamentary Relations among the SAARC Nations'.

The other heads of the delegation at the conference were Mr,W.J.M.Lokubandara, Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament, Mr.Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui, Deputy Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament; Sardar Muhammad Yaqub, Deputy Speaker of Pakistan Parliament' Mr.Dasho Ugen Dorje, Speaker, Bhutanese Parliament; Mr.Ahmed Zahir, Speaker of Majlis, Maldives; and Mr.Taranath Ranabhat, Speaker of Nepalese Parliament.

Addressing a joint media conference in Sri Lankan capital, the Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament and the Chairman of the conference Mr.W.J.M.Lokubandara said that the conference discussed the ways and means to enhance the cooperation between the legislative bodies of the SAARC nations. He suggested setting up of bilateral Parliamentary Friendship Groups between all the member countries citing that such a forum already exists between India and Sri Lanka.

In his address on the concluding session Sardar Charanjit Singh Atwal said that there is need for the Parliamentarians to devise mechanisms to ensure that public good prevailed over individual interests of the law makers. He observed good governance is not threatened by conflicting political ideologies, but by corrupt practices.

Sardar Atwal added that as the elected representatives of the people the parliamentarians would complement and supplement the political, economic and cultural relations among the SAARC countries. Referring to the Right to Information Act passed by the Indian Parliament last year the Deputy Speaker said that it is a valuable tool to promote transparency and accountability.

The 5th conference is to be held in Pakistan next year.

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'Conference on Enlargement of Indo-Sri Lanka FTA'
KEYNOTE ADDRESS at Inaugural Session
Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Chennai, February 17, 2006


KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Your Excellency Mr Jeyraj Fernandopulle, Mr S. Ramanathan, President SICCI, Deshbandhu Macky Hashem, Ms. Shashi Sareen, Mr Prasad Davids, captains of business and industry form Sri Lanka and India and other distinguished invitees, it is heartening to see such an overwhelming response to this event from both the Sri Lankan and Indian sides. The response is reflective of our upbeat bilateral economic and commercial relations. Let me begin by lauding the initiative taken by Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry to organize this Conference. In today's scenario of increasing economic engagement between India and Sri Lanka, South Indian states have a privileged position due to proximity and familiarity. In Sri Lanka there is a strong realisation that for economy to grow at expected levels, linking up with the Indian economic growth engine is imperative. If India moves at 8% sustained GDP growth rate, the South Indian states are growing much faster. And that is precisely where the opportunities lie. It is not surprising therefore, that Sri Lanka has set up a trade centre in Chennai and Sri Lankan Board of Investment office in Bangalore.

[Bilateral trade]

In the last five years, since implementation of the India-Sri Lanka FTA, bilateral trade has trebled. The billion dollar mark was crossed in 2002 and the 2 billion dollar mark has been reached in 2005. The trade balance in favour of India has declined from 15.7 : 1 in 1998 to 2.4 : 1 for 2005 demonstrating that Sri Lankan exports have grown much faster than India's and the result has been a more equitable trade expansion. India today is the largest source of Sri Lankan imports and the third largest export destination for Sri Lankan products. Our bilateral economic relations have shown greatest dynamism in the SAARC region, setting a benchmark for other countries to follow. India is also the second largest investor in Sri Lanka.

[Sri Lanka in the our regional economic matrix]

In the matrix of India's economic relations with its neighbours in the SAARC region, Sri Lanka occupies a very special place. We regard economic relations within SAARC as WTO+ and India - Sri Lanka bilateral eco relations as SAARC+. This is evident from the fact that we have the first FTA for both countries and are taking strides towards Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Our PM has often cited the flourishing bilateral trade between India and Sri Lanka to dispel the fear that FTAs would hurt smaller countries. Speaking on our FTA at the first SAARC Business Leaders Conclave in Delhi in Nov, 2005, PM Manmohan Singh said, ' This FTA is a win-win agreement for both countries and could be a model for similar agreements in the region.' You have very aptly christened this event as a 'Conference on enlargement of FTA'. Enlarging FTA would enlarge gains for both sides.

[Enlarging FTA - the way to CEPA]

While FTA was the stepping stone, CEPA is the way ahead. During the State Visit of President Rajapaksa to India in December 2005, both sides had expressed confidence that the finalisation of CEPA would further unleash the inherent synergies between the two countries. CEPA is expected to sustain and build on the momentum generated by the FTA and take the two economies beyond trade in goods towards greater integration and impart renewed impetus and synergy to bilateral economic interaction. The CEPA process factors in the asymmetries of the two economies.The scope of FTA will be widened to include more items and deepened to improve market access through trade facilitation and removal of non trade barriers. CEPA would also include in its ambit, trade in services, facilitation measures on bilateral investment and bilateral economic cooperation to complement economic liberalisation.

CEPA would be largely based on the Joint Study Group which drew representation from the business communities from both sides. It would address their aspirations in our part of the world which is one of the least economically integrated regions. While multilateralism in South Asia has not kept pace with EU or NAFTA, we are committed to achieving progress on the bilateral track. The CEPA draft texts on Goods, Services, Financial Services, Investments and Economic Cooperation are almost complete. Some ground remains to be covered on Recognition of Mutual Standards and reduction of Negative Lists. I am glad that Export Inspection Council has taken a lead in organizing today's Conference. This only underscores the importance of MRAs in facilitating trade. I would like to assure the business community that officials on both sides are working assiduously for early conclusion of CEPA.

[Sri Lankan economic outlook and business opportunities]

A strategic location on Asia's trade routes, extensive liberalization and an extremely conducive socio-political and economic environment have made Sri Lanka one of the fast growing economies in South Asia. The economic advantages and complementarities offered by the Sri Lankan economy have attracted the attention of Indian industry and investors. President Rajapaksa has set a target of foreign direct investment of US$ 1 billion for 2006. Addressing a press conference last month Mr Rohita Bogollagama, Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, stated that about USD 600 million may come from India alone. SL has launched a 300 factories programme which involves various tax holidays for investments in different parts of the country. Prospective investors must tune their antennae for details.

Preferential tax rates, constitutional guarantees on investments, exemption from exchange control, 100% repatriation of profits, permission for 100% FDI, make Sri Lanka an investors delight. Sri Lanka provides a springboard to the west through the GSP, South-East Asia through the Bangkok Agreement and the Indian sub continent through the five year old Free Trade Agreement with India and recently implemented FTA with Pakistan. What also beckons you also is visa free travel and over 100 flights a week.
[Investments on either sides]

With CEPA, we expect a quantum leap in bilateral investments. While India is today the second largest overall foreign direct investor in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan investments in India are also increasing.

Major Indian investments include Lanka Indian Oil Corporation, TATAs, Apollo Hospitals, LIC, Aditya Birla Group, Ambujas, Rediffusion, Ceat and Nicholas Piramal. Two Forbes 500 company are already in Sri Lanka (Indian Oil Corpn and ICICI Bank), another two are about to begin operations (NTPC and ONGC)

Although Sri Lankan FDI in India is still modest, a good beginning has been made. Increasing number of Sri Lankan investors have been making forays into India. Damro and Bodyline are popular brands in Chennai, soon to be joined by 'Munchee' biscuits in North India. What is heartening is the entry of Sri Lankan investors in the infrastructure sector in India. I am referring to the lead taken by Brandix in setting up a 'Garments City' in Vizag SEZ, Celyinco eying investment in real estate sector and John Keels and Aitken Spence knocking the doors of the hospitality industry.

[A word of caution --- Areas of concern in investments]

While talking of investments in Sri Lanka, there have also been a few areas of concern. One is the pending subsidy of Lanka IOC which has now mounted to US$ 74 million. While we appreciate government efforts to resolve the issue, a lot more needs to be done to shore up sagging investor confidence and market sentiment. LIOC is widely acknowledged to set new standards in the petroleum retail sector in SL. Not only their profitability but their planned investments in SL hinge on the pending subsidy payment.

Another issue of concern is the quality of investments from India to Sri Lanka which have been well below expectations. Quality investments are expected to generate local employment, improve the human resource pool, assist infrastructure development, increase bilateral trade and play the role of a catalyst in economic development. Investments in the field of Copper and Vanaspati and now Bakery Shortening have not addressed these objectives. While I would like to congratulate a professional outfit like the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka for setting up its first offshore office in Bangalore last year, I would also urge them to suitably address this issue.

[India's role in the development process in Sri Lanka.]

India has been a committed partner in the development process in Sri Lanka. This has largely been through the credit lines extended to Sri Lanka and programmes for technical and economic development. Today we see this role in an expanded form. During the State Visit of President Mahinda Rajapakse a decision was taken to develop a Master Plan for the development of the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee, and its surrounding region. This would include building up of the necessary infrastructural support. It was agreed in this context that a coal based power project of capacity 2x250 MW will be set up in the Trincomalee region of Sri Lanka, as a joint venture between the National Thermal Power Company Ltd and the Ceylon Electricity Board. The areas of agriculture, IT and renewable energy were also identified for potential cooperation.
In recognition of the high priority accorded by the President of Sri Lanka to reconstruction and development in the North and East, Government of India offered to support these efforts through technical and financial assistance. We announced assistance in constructing a library and a stadium in Jaffna. We are currently working on the construction of a new 150-bed Hospital at Dickoya in the Central Province. GoI has also announced a grant of US$ 7.5 million for a Cancer Hospital in Colombo.

Development of human resources is a key to driving our development process. During the State Visit we also decided to accelerate co-operation in the field of human resource development. Some measures in this endeavour include the Mahatma Gandhi scholarship scheme for 100 deserving Sri Lankan students every year, the upgradation of libraries and science laboratories in the Upcountry areas, the setting up of a Chair in Contemporary Indian studies in Peradeniya University and commissioning of a field study on vocational training centers.

India, as you al knowl, while dealing with the aftermath of tsunami in our country, extended spontaneous assistance to Sri Lanka. This included relief supplies, medicines, floating hospitals, construction of Bailey Bridges etc. In addition to the immediate relief efforts, India has donated medical equipment to the affected hospitals of Point Pedro and Hambantota. We have also initiated action to prepare a Detailed Project Report on the rehabilitation of the tsunami-damaged Base Hospital in Trincomalee.

[Conclusion]

India and Sri Lanka have shared traditions, cultural affinities and a commitment to enhance and strengthen our political, economic and cultural ties. In the immortal words of the great poet Subramania Bharati, there is a veritable 'bridge of friendship' between our two countries. With strengthening economic and political ties, we can see this bridge broadening. Today's event organized by Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry is also a bridge of sorts, bringing together businesspersons from both sides. As time moves on, new challenges emerge and new opportunities spring up. These have to be addressed by policy makers in order to fashion the right enabling environment for further enhancing trade and investment. This cannot happen without constructive inputs from business persons and trade associations. That is where lies the importance of events such as this Conference. I am confident that this Conference will result in opening new business opportunities and strengthening existing ones.

I wish to conclude by thanking the organizers and participants and wish the event success.

Thank you very much.

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On the occasion of the 57th Republic Day of India, I extend my warm greetings to all my compatriots as well as to the Government and people of Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka attained independence from colonial rule during the same period, and our countries spontaneously chose to follow the democratic path of development in line with our civilizational ethos.

Today many decades later, I think that our countries have reason to be proud of the exemplary way in which we have preserved our democratic systems of governance and our commitment to a pluralist society and to fostering macro-economic practices which provide sustenance to the ordinary citizen and at the same time provide the space and opportunities for world-class competitive companies. I hope that we will continue to march together to avail of the huge opportunities and confront the equally great challenges that lie ahead in the globalised world of tomorrow.

Indeed, the India-Sri Lanka relationship can be a model for the countries in our sub-continent. Sri Lanka itself can lay claim to being well-equipped by nature and geography to play a leading role in the region. Mahatma Gandhi saw the island as a 'pendant in a long chain' that makes the sub-continent what it is: plural, complex and destined for great achievements.

At the start of the year 2006, we are at a historical juncture in our bilateral ties which are today more cordial and deep than ever before. H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has just concluded a successful state visit to India. This was the first state visit by a Sri Lankan President to India in more than 7 years. This reflects the importance attached by the Government of India to the bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka, its Government and its people. The President was accompanied by an impressive delegation consisting of cabinet ministers, business leaders and officials. The Indian and Sri Lankan leadership held wide-ranging and substantive discussions on bilateral and regional issues. It was noted with satisfaction that India-Sri Lanka bilateral relations have continued to be in a state of excellence characterized by political consensus in both countries, understanding, friendship, cooperation and mutual respect and benefit.

The discussions on international issues during the visit reflected the long-standing consonance of views between the two friendly nations. Both sides remain resolutely committed to opposing terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, while reiterating that terrorism can never be justified, either on political, or on religious, or on ideological grounds. The two sides agreed that the current global challenges require the reinvigoration of multilateralism, including through the strengthening of the UN system. In this context, Sri Lanka reaffirmed her support for the candidature of India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. We deeply appreciate the policy decision taken by the Sri Lankan Government in this regard.

India and Sri Lanka emphasized their commitment to work for the full realisation of the objectives identified by the 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka last November. They were of the view that the South Asian Free Trade Agreement once operationalised should pave the way for the SAARC nations to move towards even closer economic cooperation, with the eventual goal being that of an economic union encompassing the entire region.

The bilateral economic relationship continues to be dynamic and has the potential to expand exponentially once the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) comes into force. The Governments of India and Sri Lanka are building on the success of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement by negotiating the CEPA. The CEPA will further unleash the inherent synergies between India and Sri Lanka.

India has made an initial allocation of a Credit Line of US$ 100 million for the integrated development of the Colombo - Matara rail network. It was agreed at the request of the Sri Lanka side, that India would take this process forward by the extension of concessionary terms to be mutually agreed upon, for the allocated credit of US$ 100 million, and for any additional credit to be made available for the said project. A multi-disciplinary delegation from India has already visited Sri Lanka. A delegation of officials from Sri Lanka will now visit India to discuss and agree on the technical and engineering aspects of the project, and the terms and conditions of the Credit Line.

India has expressed interest in developing Trincomalee and its surrounding region. During the Presidential visit, we have agreed to prepare a Master Plan for realizing, including through the building up of the necessary infrastructural support, the full economic potential held out by Trincomalee and its environs. It was agreed in this context that a coal based power project of capacity 2x250 MW will be set up in the Trincomalee region of Sri Lanka, as a joint venture between the National Thermal Power Company Ltd, a Government of India enterprise and the Ceylon Electricity Board, a Government of Sri Lanka entity. It was agreed that the Government of Sri Lanka will facilitate and extend necessary help in setting up this project.

During the visit, the Indian side, in recognition of the high priority accorded by the President of Sri Lanka to reconstruction and development in the North and East, offered to support these efforts through technical and financial assistance. The Sri Lanka side welcomed this offer of assistance and agreed to facilitate the related initiatives. The Indian side also announced assistance in constructing a library and a stadium in Jaffna.

India and Sri Lanka will also collaborate to set up an Information & Communication Technology Park in Sri Lanka. This is expressive of the strong desire in both our countries to harness the potential of the knowledge revolution that is taking place globally. We have the talented and trained human resources to take this process further.

We are one year past the tsunami. I venture to say that both India and Sri Lanka have put the tragedy behind them and have forged ahead in rebuilding the lives and livelihood of their affected communities. India was in the forefront of providing immediate relief post-tsunami and is prepared to strengthen the initiatives of Government of Sri Lanka in disaster risk management and disaster risk reduction. A team of senior officials from Tamil Nadu had made a successful visit to Sri Lanka after the tsunami and exchanged suggestions and ideas with Sri Lankan officials from some of the tsunami affected districts. A delegation of Sri Lankan parliamentarians has also visited India to study our disaster management set up. Sri Lankan officials involved in rehabilitation from tsunami affected districts will be visiting some of the tsunami affected areas in India in order to gain first hand knowledge in rehabilitation and reconstruction.

An important new step forward that the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka is taking in the educational sector is the institution of the Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship Scheme for 100 deserving Sri Lankan students every year. These scholarships would be granted to 'O' Level school students all over the country and would consist of a financial grant to be paid on a monthly basis to each student while completing his/her studies in Sri Lanka. I trust that the first batch of scholarships would be granted by the summer of 2006.

Apart from this, every year the Government of India grants several scholarships to Sri Lankan students to high quality Indian educational institutions. Presently, High Commission of India annually awards 47 fully paid scholarships of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to young and bright Sri Lankan nationals for pursuing various under graduate courses in Indian Universities. Every year talented young Sri Lankan students of music and dance are granted around 10 scholarships to follow under graduate courses in music, dance and painting. We have also continued to award 5 scholarships/fellowships under the Commonwealth programme and 3 scholarships under the Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) for pursuit of post graduate / Research studies at reputed universities in India. Besides, Sri Lankan nationals have also been annually awarded two scholarships for pursuit of Undergraduate/Post graduate courses and one fellowship for research studies in India, under the SAARC scholarship/fellowship programme.

In addition to these under graduate and post-graduate courses, Government of India provides around 150 scholarships annually for shorter-term technical and professional courses. We grant 50 annual scholarships under the Colombo Plan, another 50 scholarships under the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and yet another 50 scholarships under the Indian Technical & Educational Cooperation (ITEC) programme. These courses range from month-long to year-long courses which are of practical relevance to Sri Lankans in nation-building.

The proposed setting up of a Chair in Contemporary Indian Studies at the University of Peradeniya with assistance from the Government of India is also a significant development which will assist in bringing the academic communities of the two countries closer together and help the exchange of views and insights on issues of relevance to the social, economic and political situation in both India and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has welcomed the donation of medical equipment as tsunami relief to the affected hospitals of Point Pedro and of Hambantota. The Government of India is preparing a Detailed Project Report on the rehabilitation of the tsunami-damaged Base Hospital in Trincomalee. Construction of the 150-bed Hospital at Dickoya in the Central Province is expected to commence shortly. The Government of India will also provide equipment to set up a fully-equipped Obstetrics and Gynaecology unit in the existing hospital at Dickoya.

We have had an active period in cultural exchanges. 13 cultural promotion officers from different parts of Sri Lanka have made a 10-day visit to India in December 2005 and have studied the functioning of the various zonal cultural centres in India. A 14-member dramatic group has performed a Sinhala play, Sihina Horu Aran at the prestigious drama festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav organized in January 2006 by the National School of Drama, India. The Methodist College of Sri Lanka has also performed an English play at the same festival. Ms. Ranjana Gauhar, a renowned Odissi exponent, will be giving a series of performances in Sri Lanka on the occasion of our Republic Day under the aegis of the Governments of India and Sri Lanka. We are also jointly putting up a handicrafts exhibition to mark this happy occasion. The Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo has continued to provide opportunities to young Sri Lankans to train in classical music and dance and to study Hindi. The ICC and the Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Kandy provide a platform to Sri Lankan artistes to display their talent and virtuosity in public performances.

It is only fitting that India and Sri Lanka, both vibrant and flourishing democracies, are setting up parliamentary friendship associations. The Sri Lanka-India Parliamentary Friendship Association was set up in the Sri Lankan Parliament on December 22, 2005, and the decision to form an India-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Indian Parliament has been taken. I hope that we will be able to exchange visits of parliamentary delegations in the year ahead.

The people-to-people contacts between India and Sri Lanka continue to grow apace. Nearly 500 visae were issued per day by the High Commission of India last year. Almost 110 flights per week are scheduled between our two countries. Colombo is now connected to several metropolitan centres of India and Indians have formed the largest group of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka for the second year in a row. I foresee that these contacts will become more frequent and deep in the time ahead, spurred on by our growing economic ties and by the strengthening ties of popular culture.

India is firm in its support for the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka. We are for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the ethnic issue. Recent acts of violence have rendered the security situation fragile. We appreciate the Sri Lankan President's resolve to build a national consensus for a solution based on achieving maximum devolution which preserves the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. We stand ready to share with Sri Lanka our own experience of unity in diversity, plural democracy and devolution. It is in this context that a presentation was made to the Sri Lankan delegation during the recent visit of the President on the Indian experience of local government in India. We hope that a political settlement of the ethnic issue based on devolution, openness, transparency and inclusivity would emerge through negotiations between the parties concerned so as to ensure a peaceful and bright future for all Sri Lankans in an undivided and democratic Sri Lanka.

As we enter the year when we shall be celebrating the 2550th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, let us pause to reflect on the myriad bonds that link our ancient lands. And then let us pledge to rejuvenate them and to make them ever more meaningful for our young nations. I once again extend my best wishes for the year ahead to my fellow citizens and to the people and Government of Sri Lanka.

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India Visit By Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweer
By K.M.Ravindran, AIR Special Correspondent, Colombo

'The crucial importance of strengthening and sustaining this country's friendly ties with India - particularly in the context of efforts to resolve our conflict peacefully - has been freshly underlined by the current goodwill visit to India by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera'.

This was how, 'Daily News', the state run, mass circulated newspaper opened their editorial on Friday, the day after Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Mr.Mangala concluded his two day visit to India.

The visit, from 30th November to 1st December has been hailed quite significant and opportune as it took place within a fortnight after the swearing in of Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse as Sri Lanka's new Executive President.

While spelling out his foreign policy Mr.Samaraweera had clarified that he would follow the policies of the former Foreign Minister Laxman Kadirgamar who fell to snipers' bullets on at his private residence on 12th of August this year. The new Foreign Minister's assertion to carry on the legacy of Kadirgamar perhaps has a wider intend. Kadirgamar, the most prominent Tamil in the erstwhile Chandrika Kumaratunga Government was the secular mascot of the Government. At the same time he led many a crusades world over to get the LTTE banned as a terrorist outfit. And all the more, the slain Foreign Minster believed that India has an important role in tackling the decades long ethnic crisis.

President Rajapakse conveyed similar thoughts when he said at his inauguration on 19th of last month that Sri Lanka look forward to support from India and other international community including friendly Asian Countries in its efforts to achieve 'honourable peace' in the island nation.

Hence it was no surprise Mr.Samaraweera took his flight to New Delhi for his first overseas visit within a week soon after taking over the Foreign Ministry at the Republic Building inside the historic Colombo Fort overlooking the Indian ocean.

The warmth of reception accorded to Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister by the Indian leaders was more than enough to stave off the wintry chill in the Indian capital. Mr.Samaraweera held extensive talks with the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh and the Minister of state for External Affairs Mr.E.Ahmed. While briefing on the bilateral talks, India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman termed the relations between the two countries excellent. 'It is marked by frequent interaction and good understanding at the political level; rapidly growing trade and investments; expanding infrastructural linkages and increasing people-to-people contacts' the spokesman added.

The 'good understanding' and 'expanding linkages' were evident during Mr.Samaraweera's talks with the Indian leaders. The joint statement after the meeting said that Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister apprised the Indian side of the policy that President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeks to follow with regard to the peace process in the island nation. Mr.Samaraweera used the opportunity to convey his Government's continued commitment to the Ceasefire Agreement signed with the LTTE in February 2002. He also conveyed to the Indian leaders Colombo's desire for a review of the operation of the Ceasefire Agreement for making it more effective.

Before the November 17 Presidential poll there were misgivings in some quarters in Sri Lanka that Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse is likely to embark upon a hard-line course, dictated by the majority Sinhalese, to resolve the ethnic issue. But Mr.Samaraweera, who was the indefatigable campaigner for Rajapakse's Presidency, articulated his leader's view of 'the greatest possible degree of openness, transparency and Inclusiveness' in the peace process. The joint statement adds that 'Mr.Samaraweera spelt out the approaches that President Rajapakse and his administration would adopt towards this end of arriving at a broad national consensus'.

Appreciating the approach of President Rajapakse and his administration towards the peace process the joint statement said that New Delhi 'believes that an enduring solution can only emerge essentially through internal political processes'. Reiterating India's unambiguous stand on Sri Lanka's ethnic crisis, the joint statement added that 'India supports the process of seeking a negotiated settlement acceptable to all sections of Sri Lankan society within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, and consistent with democracy, pluralism and respect for human rights'. India also used the opportunity to convey to Sri Lanka New Delhi's 'abiding interest' in the security of Sri Lanka and continued commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its southern neighbour. The joint statement added that India supports the process of seeking a negotiated settlement acceptable to all sections of the society within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. Lanka.

During the talks Mr. Samaraweera had affirmed that the Sri Lankan Government would continue to appraise India in regard to the ways and means by which the peace process could be made more effective.

Besides the peace process, several other matters of mutual interest, including further strengthening of economic and commercial cooperation, were addressed during the talks. In the context of Free trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries both sides underlined the need to wrap up, at the earliest, he Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, CEPA for which the talks are at an advanced stage.

FTA, a major milestone in the bilateral cooperation, has now entered its Sixth year. The last five years had witnessed the bilateral trade registering almost 300% growth. The total value of trade which was about US $ 658 million in 2002 touched 1732 million last year. An encouraging fact, in the perspective of Sri Lanka is that the trade balance in favour of India has declined over a period from 15.7: 1 in 1998 to 3.5: 1 in 2004, demonstrating the vitality of Sri Lanka's economy to look at India as an opportunity.

India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ms.Nirupama Rao who was in New Delhi during Mr.Samaraweera's New Delhi visit told Prasar Bharati in Colombo the that the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister's engagements in the Indian capital , the first high level one after the Presidential election, was 'quite significant, useful and productive'. Both the sides discussed 'wide ranging matters and agreed to be in regular touch for furthering mutually beneficial the relationship' she added.

Underscoring India's 'predominant position' the 'Daily News' in its editorial said, '...nothing could be left to chance or taken for granted and constant rapport between Sri Lanka and India on issues that matter is the best approach for sustaining India's goodwill and moral backing in our peace-building exercise'.

And it is certain that Mr.Mangala Samaraweera's visit to New Delhi is a reiteration of this goodwill and Colombo's resolve not to leave anything to chance.

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Sri Lanka - Presidential Election And After
By K.M.Ravindran, Prasar Bharati Special Correspondent, Colombo
Colombo 24 Nov 2005

With the formation of the cabinet, the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse is fully in place and the process of power change in India's southern neighbour is complete.

The November 17th poll, to choose the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka, could be termed a watermark in the Sri Lanka's political history. It heralded the beginning of new a political leadership with none from the illustrious Bhandaranaike family in the vanguard. It also signaled the end of Ms.Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike's charismatic presence as the President of the island nation for 11 years as the constitution doesn't allow the head of the state to seek a third term.

The polls, patented by the boycott call by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) than the sporadic violence in the East and the North, the incumbent Prime Minister and the nominee of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse edged past the opposition stalwart and former Premier Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe by a slender margin. The boycott call by the Tamil outfit led to the lowest ever polling percentage in Wanni electoral districts of Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Mannar besides Jaffna and Trincomalee. This, to a large extent, ensured the defeat, second raw, of Mr.Wickremasinghe who as the Prime Minister of the island nation had brokered the historic Cease Fire Agreement with the LTTE in February 2002. As the counting of the ballots, that began soon after the polling and continued non-stop overnight got over next morning Mr.Rajapakse, the lawyer turned politician from the south turned out to be the winner polling 50.29 % of the votes, just 0.29 % more than the mandatory requirement. That was his 60th birthday.

Two days after his swearing in Mr.Rajapakse appointed Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, a veteran SLFP leader as the Prime Minister. 73-year-old Wickremanayake, a 'soft speaking hardliner' was the Minister in charge of interior and Buddha Sasana besides being the deputy in the Defence Ministry that was held by the President herself in the previous Ministry.

In another two days, the Council of Ministers comprising 25 Cabinet Ministers was constituted by the new President.

The President seemed to be well on the course to break his on path as he successfully restricted the number of cabinet Ministers to 25 while there were 35 in Ms.Kumaratunga Ministry. Also sworn in were 25 non-cabinet Ministers and 30 Deputy Ministers.

The Priorities and immediate challenges

Soon after his inauguration, President Rajapakkse had declared that he would 'steer a macro-economic policy that ensures social justice' and widen the opportunities for individual development that could lead to 'building a new economy', which could take Sri Lanka to a strong position globally. On finding a solution to the decades long ethnic crisis, the new president said that he was committed to 'peruse the peace process to achieve 'honourable peace' that will 'respect the aspirations of all the communities'. He also expressed his readiness to engage the Liberation Tigers in discussing a 'political solution' once they are ready to return to the negotiation table 'which they unilaterally abandoned'.

On economic policies front Mr.Rajapakse, has been labeled as 'conservative' and 'traditional' as opposed to the 'liberal open economic policy' of Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, his challenger in the Presidential poll. The hard-line, pro-left Sinhala party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya, a political entity of powerful Buddhist Bhikkus that supported Mr.Rajapakse in his Presidential bid are also known for their opposition to liberalization and open market. However the new President, who has more than three decades of parliamentary experience and claims to come from grass roots, is expected to know what is good for his larger constituency that is Sri Lanka.

Coming to the issue of peace, that has been almost a perennial unanswered question for the past two decades or more. Mr.Rajapakse is quite clear in his perception here. His approach could be summarized in three points. 1. No question of division of the country.2 The peace has to an honourable one, acceptable to all the sections of the 20 million Sri Lankan population.3. LTTE is not the sole stakeholder in the ethnic issue. Hence it was no surprise that the new Head of the State wants to review the Cease Fire Agreement, which according to its critics gave 'too much' to the LTTE.

Mr.Rajapakse, who is a known human rights activist in his country said after taking the oath that 'as the President of all the Communities - Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils and others, the peace I envisage will ensure human rights of all' in the country.

Colombo-New Delhi ties

The bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanaka, which the slain foreign Minister Mr.Laxman Kadirgamar once termed as 'at an irreversible excellence' is expected to continue its onward journey during Rajapakse regime as well. The importance he attaches to New Delhi was unmistakably evident when he said at his inaugural address, which was delivered in astute Sinhala, that he in his efforts to achieve 'honourable peace' invites 'India that had always showered affection on our little island' and other international community including friendly Asian Countries...' At one of his campaign rallies Mr.Rajapakse said 'India is very important in Sri Lanka's peace efforts'.

President Dr.Abdul Kalam in his congratulatory message to his counterpart said 'Sri Lanka and India enjoy excellent bilateral relations in all spheres'. Dr.Kalam expressed the hope that under the leadership of President Rajapakse the two countries 'will be able to cement and strengthen it further'.

Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh besides sending his message of felicitation also telephoned to Sri Lanka's new leader. Dr.Singh told Mr.Rajapakse that he 'look forward to working together in further strengthening bilateral relations'. The Indian Premier added that he is looking forward to welcoming Mr.Rajapakse to India' at an early date'.

The UPA chairperson Ms.Sonia Gandhi echoed similar sentiments when she, in her message, said 'the two countries are tied through deep and special bonds'.

India's High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Ms.Nirupama Rao was the first diplomat to have called on the new President on the day he assumed office. During the talks, that lasted more than half hour, both discussed matters of mutual concern. Ms.Rao, on behalf of the Government and the people of India, conveyed to the President continued commitment to peace and prosperity of the island nation. Mr.Rajapakse responded by saying that he looks at India as a very valuable and great neighbour.

The 'special bonds' between the two neighbours ranges from the shared culture to shared history and to shared perception on global realities. If the successful Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, signed more than five years ago, stand out as a testimony of excellent model of bilateral economic cooperation, the stupendous efforts by India, the first country to have rushed in for relief and reconstruction works when the tsunami waves devastated the Island nation last December is seen as a great gesture by a great neighbour. It is hoped that 'showering of affection' as said by Mr.Rajapakse and sharing the common concerns would continue 'irreversibly' in the days to come.

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Press Release - VISA

A. Manickam
Deputy High Commissioner

November 22, 2005

Dear Sir,

We have seen the letter from one Mr. S. Rajaratnam through your newspaper of November 19, 2005, criticizing the system of issuing visas to Sri Lankan Nationals by the Indian High Commission in Colombo. Through this letter we would like to convey the factual position.

2. It is claimed by Mr. Rajaratnam that the visa applicants are made to wait outside the High Commission gate, standing in long queue from dawn. This is not true. We receive, daily, on an average 600 applications. Majority of the applicants receive their visa the same day. We do not have long queues outside the High Commission building as claimed in the letter. We invite you to check this out yourselves. In fact, the applicants need not line up outside the gate of the High Commission as they are permitted to enter the visa section as soon as the High Commission opens. To improve the existing facilities, we are planning for a major renovation in the visa and consular area of the High Commission. After renovation we will have a large waiting area for visa applicants. We hope to complete this project by June, 2006.

3. The same letter from Mr. Rajaratnam claimed that 50% of business visas were rejected in the Indian High Commission. It is a fictional statement. We do not know how Mr. Rajaratnam has arrived at this interesting conclusion which is not based on facts. The High Commission last year issued about one lakh visas. 75% if the visas issued were for tourist purposes and 10% were for business. The number of cases in which visas were rejected was very low last year and it was 1.25%. Only 0.6% of business visa applications were rejected.

4. Mr. Rajaratnam makes the lofty claim that Sri Lankan emigrants who live abroad face difficulties in getting visas when they apply in the High Commission of India, Colombo. This is a false statement. We do receive applications from Sri Lankans who live abroad and hold dual citizenship. In such cases, we take a maximum of 5 working days to issue visas, since we need to follow stipulated procedures of the Government of India. Alternatively, they could also apply to the Indian High Commission/Embassy in the country where they live.

5. Another important matter I would like to communicate through you to the Sri Lankan public is that we have in place a system of easy access in case anybody has a grievance on visa related issues. The public could approach the High Commission through a letter, fax, an e-mail or in person on visa matters. Our contact details are available on the website of the Indian High Commission http://www.hcicolombo.org. All complaints are attended to by the Consular Officer promptly and painstakingly.

6. I hope you will give due publicity to this letter in your newspaper.

Yours sincerely,

(A. Manickam)
Mr. P. Sahabandhu
Chief Editor
The Island
Upali Newspapers Ltd
223, Bloemendhal Road
Colombo 7

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