| MESSAGES #101-151 | MESSAGES #1-50 | MODERATOR NOTE |
This is in respond to Message # 87 of Dr. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam
This refers the last para of the massage.
It is good that Dr Ethir mentioned about the works done during CFA (not in 1997) in 2002/2003.
I involved in the preparation of Water Resource and Agriculture Development Strategy. Based on this assignment I have prepared two books, few technical papers and few presentations for the ADB sponsored need assessment workshop in 2002 at Kilinochchi and other places.
Still Irrigation departments both central and provincial are using my book for their water resource development planes in North and East
For reference to others I have uploaded all these in web and the links are given below.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253233295_Post_Conflict_Development_Stretergies?ev=prf_pub
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saravanamuttu_Sivakumar/publications?sorting=newest&page=3
With regards
Sivakumar
Postgraduate Diploma in Communicative English
University of Jaffna (Faculty of Postgraduate Studies) should offer English Language program leading to a Postgraduate Diploma in Communicative English.
Duration: One year (Two semesters) – Full time Course
Over the 12 months program postgraduate students will develop each of the four English language macro skills - reading, writing, listening and speaking to a high degree of proficiency.
The highly competitive professional environment of the 21st century requires a high degree of English language skills. A job applicant without the ability to use English confidently, accurately, fluently and in a variety of contexts, is immediately disadvantaged. Communicative English program is designated to prepare graduates to meet these challenges where effective interpersonal and international communication in English can make the difference between success and failure. The Communicative English Program should be designed to produce educationally well-rounded individuals, capable of taking their places in their chosen professions and in the communities in which they live.
In today's context of globalisation, English has taken on the role of an international language, used for the purposes of international and intercultural communication. The subjects will provide postgraduate students with some basic understanding of the current sociolinguistic reality of the English language. It should introduce the basic notions in the study of English as an International Language. It will also engage students in some current debates about the communication in English and allow them to reflect on their own use of English in international and intercultural contexts.
Students will develop specialised skills in the analysis of the structure (grammatical, syntactic, and phonological) of the English language as well as the ability to critically assess its written texts. The syllabus should be designed mainly for recently passed arts, fine arts and science graduates to graduate with highly developed skills in professional writing and oral communication, skills that will make them successful employees in the current global English-centric environment.
The emphasis will be on grammar (syntax and morphology) and also explore some of the connections between grammar and semantics. In the first and larger part of the course, students will be introduced to the grammar of Standard Modern English, learning terminology and analytical techniques which linguists use to build on and modify traditional grammar. The structural characteristics of English will be compared with those of other languages where appropriate. The course will deal with variation in English, including regional, social and stylistic variation. Special attention will be paid to 'new Englishes' which have arisen as a result of the learning of English as a second language by people whose first language is not English. The purpose of the course should meet the needs of the students in the work place and in real life and teach language /communicative skills in interpersonal relations. The course should give basic expertise in problem solving and decision-making. Therefore, the course is not ‘theory oriented’ but ‘industry friendly’.
Subjects
1. Basic Writing and Grammar
2. Remedial English Grammar
3. English Composition
4. English Writing Clinic (English Laboratory)
5. Introduction to Linguistics
6. Computing Skills (Word processing)
7. Essentials of Spoken and Presentation Skills
8. English for Competitive Examinations & Interview
Referring to the Message # 94: Excellent idea . Though informal but somewhat structured organizations exist in various endeavours countrywide and globally, and the NP councilors informally interact with them, a local, formal organization in the North and East is needed.
Because of the ground situation and diverse political positions in the Diaspora it is important for such an organization to be a group of professional Forum and registered as such. This does not mean that individual members cannot have their own political positions. Initial conditions of such an organization will determine its professional success.
Formation of such an organization can be part of the Agenda at the December conference. But a small group of representative of key professional area needs to draft a paper for the December Conference in consultation with the CM and the Board of NP ministers in the first instance.
Ethir
1. All the messengers learn from each other a great deal. We are all lifelong learners. Good teachers say that they learn all the time from their students. Teaching and learning are intrinsically intertwined with each other.
Concept-mapping is increasingly found to be useful in raising levels of teaching/learning and problem-solving in many situations:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/learningteaching/kli/research/projects/visual-learning-experience.aspx
2. #74 - ''Sri Lanka has been first position in receiving foreign aid in South Asia''. May I know the source of that info please?
Mrs.P. Selvaratnam
Retired teacher (Sri Lanka and UK) and
Former Researcher (Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka)
I would like to add some points for Message # 89.
Presently, Faculty of Management Studies & Commerce, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka is focusing Outcome Based Education through Student Centered Learning. Therefore, Staff of the Faculty of Management Studies & Commerce were written a Competitive Proposal of the Quality Innovation Grant (QIG) of Higher Education Twenty First Century (HETC) and won the 20 Million for the three activities namely;
(1) Curriculum revision;
(2) Enhancing practical skills of Students via industrial exposure;
(3)Training for enhancing research skills of the Undergraduates of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Study programme.
According to that Curriculum has been revised to fit the industry need which contains problem based learning, teach by student, study tour etc. Every course unit has IT based education for example Learning Management System (LMS) [http://www.jfn.ac.lk/maco/lms]
Moreover, we are inviting industrialist to share their experiences, life history and key factors of their success as well as we are sending to the students their industry for getting more exposures and they have to submit study report within a group with presentation. Furthermore, Fourth year Second Semester we are having internship training for 300 hours, every student will be sending an organization for industry exposure.
In addition to that we are encouraging student to undertake research works with the guidance of staff of the Faculty. Presently students are publishing papers individually as well as team. This is the evidence where we had International Conference on Contemporary Management (ICCM)-2014 on 14th and 15th of March, 2014.I believed that Graduates will be more practical exposure than theoretical perspectives and also not having paper qualifications. Therefore, we are having graduate profile like;
To empowers students as leaders who can create innovative strategies and execute them in the market.
• To equip students how to make decisions, reason strategically, and understand all the dimensions of a business problem
• To prepare talented young people with career aspiration, managerial potential, and international orientation for a career of global business leaders in the future organizations.
Dr.B.Nimalathasan
Senior Lecturer,
Department of Accounting,
Faculty of Management Studies & Commerce,
University of Jaffna,
Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
+94-777-238-282(Mobile)/ +94-21222-7519 (office)
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
/ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.nimalathasan.com
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=68a4pmIAAAAJ&hl=en
Congratulations Vinthuja, we need youngsters like you to air your views in this kind of discussion forums. Ultimately the entire education system (including the University system) is established at the cost of public money for the future generations like YOU and ONLY YOU. The supreme interests of the students should be at the heart of any education system or any educational institution. In this regard, your second point is particularly foresighted and thought provoking. Please encourage your colleagues also to provide their valuable insights and inputs to this worthy discussion forum.
MUTTUKRISHNA SARVANANTHAN
Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi)
Development Economist, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development
Thambasetty, Puloly West, Point Pedro, 40000.
Importance of Establishing Northern Provincial Council - Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre in Jaffna
The Chief Minister’s Global Advisory Board of People of Sri Lankan Tamil Origin will be constituted to draw upon the experience and knowledge of people of Sri Lankan Tamil origin in diverse fields from across the world.
Vision: Proactively engage with Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils to meaningfully serve Northern Province.
The functions of the Board will be:
i. Serve as a platform for the Chief Minister to draw upon the experience, knowledge and wisdom of the best Sri Lankan Tamil minds wherever they may be based;
ii. Develop an inclusive agenda for two-way engagement between Northern Province and Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils;
iii. Consider ways and means for accessing the skills and knowledge of the Sri Lankan Tamil diasporas for meeting Northern Provincial Council’s development goals and facilitating investments by Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils into Northern Province;
iv. Institution and capacity building in Northern Province to respond to the economic, social and cultural needs of the Overseas Sri Lankan Tamil community;
v. Lead overseas Sri Lankan Tamil philanthropy into Northern Province and facilitate partnerships through single window facilitation and by building public private partnerships; and
vi. Establish and maintain a ‘Social Capital and Philanthropy Network’ in Northern Province that can provide a list of credible institutions, projects and programmes.
The Board may, on approval of the Chief Minister, invite such experts and academics, as required, to assist it in its work. The Board may, on approval of the Chief Minister, invite such person or persons, as it may deem fit, to participate in its deliberations.
The advice of the Board will be recommendatory in nature and serve as valuable inputs for policy formulation and programme planning. The Chief Minister’s Office will create Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre in Jaffna to serve as the nodal point for follow up action on the advice and recommendations.
The Board would meet twice a year.
Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre will provide the secretariat support and through inter-ministerial consultations, follow up on the recommendations and monitor their implementation. The Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre will provide an action taken report to the Chief Minister periodically.
Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre (OSLTFC) will be an initiative of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) will be established in 2014 with a mandate of:
· Promoting Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils investments into Northern Province and facilitate business partnerships;
· Establishing and maintaining a Diaspora Knowledge Network;
· Function as a clearing house for all investment related information;
· Function as a clearing-house for all philanthropy related information.
· Promote accountability and ‘good practices’ in Diaspora philanthropy
· Assisting other Provinces in Sri Lanka to project investment opportunities to Overseas Sri Lanka Tamils; and;
· To provide a host of advisory services to Overseas Sri Lanka Tamils.
Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre will provide investment know-how and business facilitation services to the Overseas Sri Lanka Tamils, with the active support of its 'Knowledge Partners', which firms are specializing in the areas of foreign investment consulting, regulatory approvals, market research, joint venture partner identification, project financing, accounting, taxation, legal, portfolio investments and others.
Working with the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora for Development
Overseas Sri Lankan Tamils Facilitation Centre will manage the Global-Sri Lankan Tamil Network of Knowledge Internet Portal.
The spectacular rise of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in recent years has brought into focus two key facts. First, there is a large expatriate population of skilled people in the developed world. Second, that overseas Sri Lankan Tamil communities form a significant economic and knowledge resource. Therefore, lending a strategic dimension to Northern Province’s engagement with overseas Sri Lankan Tamil will help deepen and widen a vital relationship. In the endeavour, a technology-knowledge bridge will best serve Northern Province as a rapidly growing economic power while meeting the expectations of its Diaspora as well.
An institutional framework will pull in the Diaspora as ‘Knowledge’ partners, the institutions in Northern Province as ‘Stakeholder’ partners and the Northern Provincial Council as a ‘Facilitator’. Towards this end, a ‘Global Sri Lankan Tamil Knowledge Network’ — will be a dynamic electronic platform for knowledge transfer — will be supported by a programme of training and visits by overseas Sri Lankan Tamil knowledge partners would help boost knowledge exchange between the Diaspora and Northern Province.
An electronic network that connects Overseas Sri Lankan Tamil (the knowledge providers) with the development process (the knowledge receivers) in Northern Province will empower them to partner in Northern Province’s progress. This network, a strategic ‘virtual think tank’, will connect people of Sri Lankan Tamil origin from a variety of disciplines.
The knowledge network called the ‘Global — Sri Lankan Tamil Network of Knowledge’, seeks to catalyse Diaspora ability and willingness into well thought out programmes for development, and transform individual initiatives into community action.
I would like to put forward an important issue regarding the system of Indigenous medicine which is believed to be a stakeholder of health system of SL
As a physician and a graduate of Siddha medicine I feel that the system must be upgraded to serve our people in a better way. However it’s my experience that only few of the officials and politicians take it as an important one which needs to be developed. Presently Provincial Department take steps to deliver better service to people with limited resource. But working within public sector system only will not help to improve.
University needs to play important role in it. Creating postgraduate studies for the graduates is one of very important requirement. In addition promotion of entrepreneurs in herbal medicine is also vital area to develop the system.
Presently there are hospitals in NP which provide special therapies such as Panchakarma, Acupuncture, and yoga. But these services are limited due to inadequate infrastructure facilities. It’s high time that the private sector in Indigenous Medicine need to be strengthen to improve the system. There are a considerable percentage of physicians from private colleges available in the province with unemployment.
Therefore combined effort is required to uplift the system rather that blaming Ayurvedic/siddha physicians. As a system own by our tradition we all need to work together to re-emerge it.
Dr. S. Thurairatnam
Provincial CommissionerNP
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Moderator Note: The Unit of Siddha Medicine has submitted the proposal to upgrade as an Institute. Once it becomes and Institute, hopefully all the development activities including postgraduate courses, will be achieved. Provincial commissioner role is very important to this.
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Referring the message # 89, Dear Vinthuja. You have raised an important issue. Work experience in the higher secondary and higher/Tertiary education system is important to complete ones education. I have made recommendations elsewhere at various times during the last 20 years without any success so far.
I would like you to outline a program of work experience year by year in each of the Terms the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, U of J. for it to adopt to make the program you followed better. That is, a program of work experience you would like to have followed during the four years. You can get two or three of your classmates to help you if you wish. If you can publish it in this forum I am sure the participants will constructively examine and help you improve it. You are in the best position to present such a proposal. Your feedback will be of benefit to your faculty of staff and others interested in improving and making the curricula. I am sure they will not take it as a criticism of the course of study or their persons as it is a feedback from one of their student. An academic will always ask for a feedback from their students to improve the content and methods of teaching. I have done this throughout my career since 1965. You can also add courses in your and related field or field of general interest you would like to have learned. Think freely and express freely.
Ethir
Referring to the message # 90, “Unity is expected at all levels”. Conflict and confronting attitudes are barriers at every level and hindrance for the development. Since it is an academic exercise, the “honoured academia” is expected to unite and work towards the provincial development. Conflict among the “intellectuals’ yields nothing other than cultivating revenge and cruel mentality. There is no peace in the working place. Since staff members behave like trouble creators, this is simply reflected among the students. Staff members spend much of their time to create trouble to other staff members, then how a cordial atmosphere exists to think and work towards the development? The team work, communication skills especially the electronic media are used without a common sense simply to throw mud on other staff members and attempt to disturb their regular duties.
Let the learned people try to establish “Peace’ at their home and in the working place first then can talk about for the province and nation. Since the “staff member- academia” down play covert acts, the junior staff and students are ultimately affected. A teacher is a respectable person in the society once upon a time. But now a teacher/lecturer is not respected as before. There are reasons behind this and the life style, behavior, personality, attitude, commitment and dedication are the basics for all of this. To my understanding “Discipline” is number one priority than the education in any educational institutions. An educated person behaving ‘undisciplined’ has no value at all. Let us live as disciplined person and cultivate the disciplined life among the students. “Discipline” cannot be taught, but has to be practiced and experienced. Still there are good teachers among us and they receive the respect from the students always.
Psychosocial problems are the hitting stories daily among the students and those are the vulnerable groups for any changes. Often these students are misguided for some one ’s self interest. Unions are to promote unity and to exhibit the strength for constructive and productive activities, but sadly unions are fragmented like political parties. All kinds of politics are seen in a department and is successful to create disharmony among the members. Let us be a model to the students before advising others.
Prof.Daya Somasundaram has taken a wonderful initiative together with Prof.Rachel Tribe from University of East London, to establish a Drop-in Center in the University of Jaffna to help the students who need the assistance to recover from their psychological problems. We as mentors, councilors should give hand to activate the center. Many of them got trained in counseling and do not bother about the students afterwards. Some of them claim that it is not the duty of the lecturer If so, what changes are we going to create in the society? Let us first understand the values of every individual, the members in the society and then talk about thediscrimination etc. We discriminate our own staff and students in the working place itself. Do the Professional ethics have a role here?
We all should understand that majority of the students are from very poor families and many of them work during night and study in the day. Those lost their parents and close relatives in the family are getting assistance from others but never brought out their difficulties and sad stories. It’s the right time the Drop-in- Center establishment and to deliver its services not only to the students bud also to the staff.
“Our culture is our identity” and we should not lose it at all at any time.
Hillman's book review of Easterly's book, though 12 years old, has captured essence of the problems of WB's approach. Such issues are also with other international funding agencies such as IMF, ADB. Are there any latest books critical of the WB?
Corruption in all its forms is prevalent in all countries. Some say India is the worst and others say Nigeria. In SL it is prevalent in all Ministries, departments, business world. In the North I can vouch it exists in the Education system and I am sure in other departments also. If the WB does not mention it in writing anywhere because they can't get into legal issues or prosecutes any governments. But there policies and processes take such matters into consideration. Privately those who are in the system and now out of the system can relate details.
Hillman quotes Easterly, "Both Nigeria and Hong Kong increased their physical capital stock per worker by over 250 percent over the 1960 to 1985 time frame. The results of this massive investment were different: Nigeria’s output per worker rose by 12 percent from 1960 to 1985, while Hong Kong’s rose by 328 percent (p. 67)."Then goes on to say that." At this point, Easterly does not tell us why he believes that the achievements of Nigeria and Hong Kong were so different. Our own thoughts about differences might be that Nigeria had natural-resource wealth, a government, and was a World Bank client, while Hong Kong had no natural-resource wealth, a minimal colonial government, and was not a World Bank client." Hillman speculates his reasons for the difference. I am surprised he does not observe other significant differences that are more important. Most significantly, Nigeria had many Coups and military governments alternating with civil governments during the 1960 and 1985. Most importantly a Civil War of separation. Nigeria is composed of strong large competing ethnic groups. It solved it my establishing many states under a federal constitution. Its population at that time was about 50 million. In all these factors and many others Hong Kong is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Hillman's speculation lacks supportive relevant evidence. (I was in Port Harcourt Nigeria as UNESCO advisor establishing the Rivers State University of Sc and Tech from 1980 to 1985. Before that at Univ of Sierra Leone from 1965 to 1977.)
Countries are poor because they failed to develop while other countries were developing. The reasons are many. Each country's problems are different though there is some common element. Solutions need to be tailored for each country to fit its history, current situation and its resources including human resources. It is not an easy task. But the North needs to start soon as a united community.
We as a community are at the brink of becoming a subservient community.
Hope we as a people can unite to make a difference.
Ethir
I am Vinthuja Murukesampillai as a fourth year student of department of accounting faculty of management studies and commerce university of Jaffna.
Sri Lankan Education System
In my point of view Sri Lankan education system must revised according to the job market requirement. Now a day’s mismatch is growing between education output and Labour market requirements. If we provide effective education system that leads to the sustainable development of our country.
In present situation most of the young population has to spend few years after their education to search a job, because their capabilities are not valued at the labour market.
The following are my points for your considerations.
1. We have free education system, so we need to provide that in effective way. Specially Sri Lankan university students are encourage towards enter any work while they studying.
2. At present most of the students depend on paper based qualification. It’s not only enough real working life, so education system must revised according to the working requirement such as improve students skill based education, innovation, motivate students for learning different language in worldwide that help entered global job market.
M.Vinthuja,
Fourth Year Student, Department of Accounting
Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce,
University of Jaffna.
We were a feudal society before the Portuguese took over. We served them and the others who came after well for over 400 years. We refused such a role when the Sinhala majority imposed their majoriatanism since 1948. We paid a high price and continuing to do so without any recognizable success. Sri Lanka - Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese - is a feudal structure with a fragile veil of democracy. The challenge is whether the current generation can improve on the status quo and leave the next generation less of feudalistic and more of democratic governance in the North, in the East and in Sri Lanka.
The current generation has to take into consideration all the attempts of the past and prepare strategies and action plans to improve all sectors of development that would improve the quality of life of the people.
To use high jumping as an example, we who are jumping only six feet want to jump 8 feet. We cannot set the bar immediately at 8 feet and try to jump it hoping that after some attempts we will jump it!!! We need to start at 6 feet and train systematically and continuously trying out various training methods and correct the form and improve the strength. One generation may not jump the 8 feet but subsequent generation can based on the experience and lessons from the previous generations from all countries that are recorded and scientifically proven methods.
We should set realistic goals in all sectors, including politics. Karl Popper in his book Enemies of the State Vol 1 (Plato) Vo II (Karl Marx) uses the term "Piecemeal Social Engineering" as opposed to Plato's and Marx's Blueprints.
I don't think Britain is blocking development in the North-East. Nor are other countries. But the Western Powers and China, Pakistan and India have their interests and "Guiding" us to construct channels that would carry our "water" to their "goals". They and the donor institutions such as WB and ADB, the UN Institutions such as UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, INGOs such as KOICA, JAICA have their own agenda and use funds to "Guide" us to what they want us to do and reach their goal. All of the above have to work through the GoSL or the PTF - the Command and Control Force for Northern Development - and others). Politically the 13th A is not a viable process for any development or Governance that the GoSL does not want.
It is important for the North (and East) people and their representatives and professionals to think freely and express freely of what and how development we wantwithout consideration to what any of the institutions mentioned above want us to do or not to do. Then we need to come up with strategies as to how we can get the funds to implement the development projects. If there are compromises that we need to make, then the North should decide what and to what extent compromises have to be made. In any event the elected representatives of the people in the North are the ones who have to make the decisions that affect the lives of the people who live in the North and not the Central government. Academics, professionals and the public's role is to advise the NPC on the choices and consequences.
To progress Unity is important. I have heard many Tamils mention that "Tamils are Thaniyar." If people hold on to what they believe or express is the only way, there will not be unity. It is important for diverse opinions to be expressed and healthy criticism of such opinions - not of the person - to take place. Consensus is essential to progress.
Ethir
What the discussions so far shows is that we are scratching the surface of Development and try to formulate development plans. Development is development of people. Physical developments are for the development of people. Where people are the centre politics is a key factor. Water is a key element in Development of the people and all other sectors. Water also has its political element. A comprehensive study of water is important. Engineer Ramathasan is highlighting a key issue that need to be studied in depth.
Prof Guganesarajah is a specialist on the subject. I am sure there are others from the North who are in the country or outside it. Hopefully they can be invited to contribute between now and December.
A forum such as this is highlighting the issues and the various factors. Hopefully the conference in December can address this issue and come up with approaches. Conferences, academic or otherwise do not prepare development plans. They can highlight the problems. But between now and then much more need to be done in small groups/ So far only a few who have contributed their thoughts, and criticism. The public need to be consulted and a mechanism need to be put in place for that. The Provincial Board of Ministers should take the lead as it is they who can implement whatever plan is finalised.
There were plans on paper that was prepared in 1997 and then during the CFA. Both of the documents need to be consulted by whoever is going to review the past, current situation and the future predictions.
The universities and the relevant gosl departments can do a lot of the fundamental work such as the technical one Engr Ramathasan has raised.
Ethir
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D.
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Moderator Note: The purpose/objective of the e-conference is given at the beginning. For your reference it is given below.
This conference is aimed to gather experiences, suggestions, views, comments, thoughts, and of course constructive criticisms on the development of Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. The development taking place in different sectors needs attention as they have to fulfill the aspirations of the people in the North and East. After forming of Provincial Councils these developments are to be shared between the Central-Provincial set up and a collective responsibility is expected from both frame works for the betterment of the province/country. This e-conference platform is to discuss constructively on the theme related issues and is purely an academic exercise.
When a team of University academia met Hon. Chief Minister of NP through an informal discussion taken place at his office early this year and proposed several plans of the Provincial development and contribution. On this discussion, the Chief Minister requested us to help them to find out the projects, have feasible project proposals to submit the donor agencies to implement them based on their priority. Intellectuals could assist in this way to carry out the developments in the Northern Province productively.
The development process should go on par with the political settlement. No one wait until the "settlement' arrives. It is appropriate to quote Mother Teresa's saying (as heard) here."A political cum academic dignitary one day met Mother Teresa and said that your pieces of voluntary works will not solve the burning problem of poor and all we need is a well defined frame work in a holistic way. In reply, Mother Teresa said that of course, the well defined frame work is essential but until you develop it I will do these pieces of voluntary works to keep the people survive to enjoy the benefits of the defined frame work later."
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
This e-conference is an initiative to connect people across the globe to share their view, ideas, suggestions and recommendations. Although at the beginning it was not created interest to the academia to interact but later slowly it developed the momentum and reached to this level of 86 magic number of messages.
Through this e-conference a common platform is provided to all to share their views. But it should be a healthy discussion.
Dr Santhirasegaram has raised a very good point which must be addressed openly and frankly. Jaffna has always been a graduate factory that turned out some of the best in all fields but had to leave the area for jobs. This includes moving south. So am I right to raise these two points, there may be more;
1. Are we a good subservient race that can only thrive under another race?
and/or
2. Are the British deliberately blocking any development in the NE, fearing that there will be a mass exodus from the plantation that will almost certainly cripple the tea industry. Remember they still control the tea market and are making huge profits.
Siva Muthulingasamy
I am Ms P. Loganathan Senior Lecturer in Dept of Bio Science, Faculty of Applied Science of the Vavuniya Campus.puvanalogan. I have been working on organic farming, bio diversity conservation and soil and water problems.
Establishment of Arboretum in Northern Eastern part of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is one of the smallest but biologically most diverse country in Asia. Consequently it is recognized as a bio diversity “hot spot” of global and national importance. The population pressure on limited resource of land has resulted in encroachment on the forest lands converting them to plantations, settled and shifting agriculture, urban land and logging leading to deforestation. The depletion of forests has resulted in loss of bio diversity, possible global climate change and degradation of water sheds. Study showed many forest species are rare /threaten (ebony (Diospyros ebenum), satin wood (Chloroxylon swietenia), beli (Aegle marmelos), and mea (Madhuca longifolia)) and these species will extinct soon if we do not take measures to conserve these species and propagate. Many good characteristic fruit species (Mango with less fiber, Jack fruit with sweet taste, Sweet orange, lemon, lime, etc) are also available in Northern part of Sri Lanka. These species are scatted all over the province without demarcation.
Therefore following are important
1. Identify the rare/ threaten species
2. Identify the good characteristics fruit species
3. Mapping of species
4. Collection of material and establish mother plant.
Establishment of Arboretum ( a place where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes) is important for these species.
P.Loganathan
Senior Lecturer Gr I
Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna
Development and Wonderland academics in Northern Region
e- conference of “Accelerated development of Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka” has been going for last two months (around). It is ending time (09 days more).
Many scholars have contributed their view. Thanks for them to spend their valuable time in this conference. Definitely, their idea is worth. I have read a scholarly article based on William Easterly, famous development economist in World Bank in subject of persistence of poverty in developing countries (see attachment).
Author brings many interesting causes for failure of development in developing countries that he has learnt practically in African and Asian third world countries. These causes are more appropriate to Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
“……As a practicing development economist, Easterly and his colleagues at the world bank looked for the guidance from research of academic scholars. Easterly observes, however, that he could not find the word “ corruption” throughout the 3047 pages text in the four volumes of hand book of development economics published between 1988 and 1995. Omissions raise the questions. Could the development scholars have been unaware of corruption in third world countries they were studying? Was corruption over looked not to offend government officials and political elites? Did adherence to a code of political correctness lead academic development scholars to overlook corruption? Did publication require this political correctness? ….”
Based on this study, I have my opinion for accelerated regional development in Northern Province. Does not political decentralization need to regional development beyond the thirteen amendment?
We have passed more than 83 messages in this e-conference. They are saying many developmental issues which to be adopted or corrected in future in this region. I agree with them. My question is that what is the fundamental barrier to accelerate development in Northern Province?
Is drinking water from Iranamadu? Is organic farm in this region? Is Solar for energy? Is graduate unemployment?...so on. The answer is not them.
Political solution and permanent peace with maintenance law and order is fundamental problem which barrier the economic development in this region. Why none of these academics bring these issues in this e-conference or formal conference (will have to await)?
According to the past, nearly one year experiences of provincial council, they could not do a small work in this pertaining political setup. A small file is sleeping in hand of Governor for long time for approval. For Example, appointment of chief secretary to council, civil governor, Establishment of chief minister trust like other provinces, etc have failed. It clearly shows that provincial council does not have power to develop their region. Approach of central government with provincial council, particularly to chief minister who is representative of Tamil people and former chief judge is very bad and inhumanity. For example, sanitary and security services to chief minister offices had been withdrawn last week. How a large scale forming, industrial parks, Science Park for economic development are possible in this political scenario in Northern Province? Law and order which are under the control of central government in Northern Province is very weak.
Accelerated regional development depends on huge investment by both public and private sector. Public investment mostly by central government does not have trickle down income generation to regional people. For private investment, political stability with permanent peace and maintenance law and orders, good governance are important. Investment for development does enhance the livelihood of local people. Correctness of this development requires power decentralization.
On the other hand, approach of central government on minority in Sri Lanka is very worse than war period even after ending the war. Ethnic homogeneity is in lip. Attack on minority temples, properties in front of security forces and police are events in Sri Lanka like what happened for last three decade in Sri Lanka. How this adverse political environment will bring development in this region?
If academics from this region with carrying accelerated regional development “slogan” in this conference are silent or avoided these political matters of economic development for analyzing and saying this matter is out of our scope, they can be called as “wonderland academics”. The official conference documents will mislead the message to national and international in different meaning that there are no any political problems or barriers for development in Northern Province. I have received a message (CONTINUING SURVEILLANCE OF CIVIL SOCIETY EVENTS) from national peace council that how controls of civil society damage the development of minority dominant region in Sri Lanka. Where we are?
Therefore, I suggest the experts to highlight maters in political economic development meaningfull manners for regional development. Academics from university of Jaffna never betray their people by earning points to promotion. Let we be out of wonderland.
Dr.S.Santhirasegaram
Department of Economics,
Faculty of Arts
University of Jaffna
0779676783
We talk of consuming more & more water for various needs of Jaffna man & look for sources to extract more water - NWS&DB is repeatedly carry out this & Water Resources Board go around & identify potential locations for more extraction. Is there any sensible proposal put forward to develop water resources in Jaffna peninsula except River for Jaffna which has its own pitfalls.
Are we fully aware of happenings under-ground, Geological changes over centuries & recorded events in the past. During colonial era, in a village earth was going down- People ran to the then Governor to convey this abnormal happening & Governor confirmed it by visiting the site.
Recent time record- In 2008 December Nisha cyclone struck the peninsula & heavy flooding in many parts of peninsula caused displacement. Rear side of Nallur Kandasamy temple inundated under 1.0 m depth of water. Previous night, had a sudden effect on buildings & ground water wells. Many parts of peninsula experienced shattered doors & windows, trembling of tiled roofs two or three times in short intervals. People were panic & thought robbers & thieves are on their way. Even security forces were alert running here & there looking for robbers. In some part of peninsula well waters rose up suddenly leaving white dusty particles on the water surface which was observed for months. In some wells water dropped suddenly & flood water was flowing in without filling the well. In certain locations water sprang out of bore wells.
GA, Jaffna confirmed that there was no tremor recorded by Seismology Dept. It was a localized tremor effect caused by sudden collapse of underground caverns which in turn developed water hammer as you all know that limestone formation has many caverns interconnected by tunnels formed over centuries due to dissolving rock due to underground vertical & lateral water flows. We are handicapped due to lack of data of this vital geological information to assess the rate of flow, speed of flow & volume of water percolating through vertical openings & lateral tunnels. We must strike a balance to minimize damaging effect underground. Simply increasing storage, conversion of salt water lagoons to fresh water are not sustainable solutions. Limestone dissolves quickly in fresh water than in salt water.
Water Resources Development - A subject need more attention. Friends! Your input?
Eng.M.Ramathasan
Referring to message 73: Definition of 'Factors of Production'
An economic term to describe the inputs that are used in the production of goods or services in the attempt to make an economic profit. The factors of production include land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship. So the latter is a very important part of the well being of a nation. As the author pointed out I think it can be taught in schools like any other discipline spelling out the pros and cons of going it alone. Not everyone can be a Doctor or a Scientist likewise not everyone can have the stomach to go it alone. I have been running my own business in the UK for the last 25 years and this is my take.
1. It is a 24/7 job
2. No Sale No Income
3. Need a very supportive family
4. Buck stops with you
5. Need a fair bit of luck
6. Look after your employees and your suppliers and they will in turn look after your customers
These are a few tips from my own experience which can be passed on to budding 'go it on your own' candidates
Kind Regards,
Siva Muthulingasamy
Managing Director
Solar4us Ltd, 161 Shirley Road
Shirley, Croydon, Surrey CR0 8SS
Tel: 0208 655 3076
This is e-conference, not a PhD thesis to prove the hypothesis by statistical evidences, analyzed via models and other tools. If needed, I can prove. Self observation also is an evidence to give opinion, not research conclusion.
Point 2: Rich family means what economic and sociological literatures tell us on definition of poor and rich. They are assets, daily and monthly income, empowerment, social freedom, educational qualification of parent, etc. The A/L students who have this richness mostly enter medicine and engineering. Around 75 percent of rich families is my perception which is consistent with others opinions (I can give references).
Point 3: Facts and figures regarding quality of graduates in china and India. I have done some studies in these countries. I have observed these facts. For example, one of my colleague has been awarded one year M.Phil research degree from an Indian University in full time basis. But he has taught in a higher academic institution and received salary more than 6 months within this one year in Sri Lanka. What is meant by full time? What is the quality of research degree? Meanwhile, one of another colleague has done M.Phil more than five years as part time; However, I do not say that all universities in India are poor quality. In China, I asked my PhD colleagues something in economic view regarding Mao Zedong; they do not know more about him as much as I know. In PhD studies, they have done more mathematical models than I have done.
Again, facts and figures, these come from statistics. Are statistics correct? Answer is - BBC interview of Author. If statistics and equations are pioneer to research in social sciences, Karl Marx, Keynes who never uses a single statistics or equations are not economics scholars? However, I can prove my statement by statistics.
From available data source, World Bank online data base, Investment as percent of GDP in Sri Lanka during 1970-2006 is less 25 percent (see attachment). Aid per capita is during 1970 -2005. (see attachment).
Author cannot say directly that “This figure is wrong”. I have mentioned that in Sri Lanka, it is less than 25 percent in average (my claim 99 percent is correct. Note the words “average” and “less than”). He would have been asked clarification. Saying directly wrong shows his quality. Leaving from point 4 for debate, is author ready to debate on this my statement 25 percent further in e conference?
My dears! No man is perfect in this world. Weak and strong are everywhere. Do not blame universities and their products in north and east in this conference. Despite of severe war and discrimination in resources to north and east, some academics from university of Jaffna have achieved world rank reputation. For example, Professor Ravirajan’s works. Please see his Google citation. If we research the persons who give comments on quality of universities in north and east, results will bring many facts. However, off course, these universities in north and east have to correct them in many things them-self. Please understand.
Dr.S.Santhirasegaram
Department of Economics
University of Jaffna
Moderator Note: e-conference welcomes healthy discussion/debate however the messages should not deviate from the objectives of the conference. We respect rights of the participants and their views , but few of the lines in this message were moderated with the concern of the participant - Statistical evidence attached with the message is also attached as pdf file.
Click here to view the attachment.
Engineer Ramathasan has touched upon a key aspect of higher education. In 1962 or 63 I read the book "The Two Cultures by C.P Snow that was available at that time in the Colombo British Council Library. Wikipaedia notes that, "The Two Cultures is the title of the first part of an influential 1959 Rede Lecture by British scientist and novelist C. P. Snow.[1][2] Its thesis was that "the intellectual life of the whole of western society" was split into the titular two cultures — namely the sciences and the humanities — and that this was a major hindrance to solving the world's problems. The book and its sequel are available in amazon.com.For those who have studied in the USA, the problem of two cultures are minimal. In 1964, I read the Robins Report on Higher Education in England and Wales. The report is now available in full in, Robbins Report 1963 - full text . I shall let the readers to read Snow and Robins is getting an idea of what Mr. Ramathasan is referring to. <!--[if !supportMisalignedColumns]--><!--[endif]-->
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Robbins Report 1963 - full text Robbins Report 1963 Higher Education |
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In the early seventies many international donors were promoting the idea that universities in the third world should produce graduates who can fill the vacancies. At that time one school of thought was that if universities do that, by the time the graduate finishes the course of studies to meet the industry standards those jobs will no longer be there. Which as we know, especially in this day and age, is true. The jobs available for graduates in developing countries are limited as such countries inevitable were colonies or former colonies that served the colonial empires. Creative nor high level administrative or technical jobs were not available. Unfortunately former colonies are still in the service and support business. Though they are now called "Out Sourcing."
A way to compromise on reality - getting employed - and graduating creators of innovation is to include 15 or 30 weeks of World of Work or Industrial training during the university years. In a degree program, it is important for the first two years to include 15 week of courses that a University Graduate as a general educated person should possess in addition to the courses in preparation of the main and subsidiary subject, so that our graduates will not be just Arts, Commerce, or science students. And Engineering or Medical or law graduates without fundamental knowledge of other fields of learning. A student also has the privileged of taking certain number of courses that the students like to learn outside their field of specialization.
The current A/L students study one of the four areas - Arts, Science, Commerce and now Technology. They take three subjects for two years. All theoretical - memorise and regurgitate and they do this in most of the subjects for three more years at the University. They are the students C.P Snow as belonging to Two cultures. At the University Faculties students take all courses in their departments and Faculty, except all take English and computer Literacy courses in the first year. In effect each of the Faculties are Universities with a single subject!!! Students may call themselves university of Jaffna students, but in reality they are members of one Faculty and have interaction with academic staff of other Faculties.
A student in a US university is a student in a Department but have to take courses in many departments during the four years for a general degree. For an honours it is five years. A medical or Law students must first get a degree in the Bio sciences for medicine and a general degree for Law. They are both dealing with people and society and are members of a society.
What is important for now is for Higher Education in the North is for a Review is initiated that would look into all aspects of higher education and Tertiary Education. A study similar to Robins Report. What a student should study at the University in a four year course of study, is now passed onto the Secondary Schools' Year 12 and 13th. The schools do not have facilities or teachers to teach Year 13 content in the schools. I think that the Year 13 content should be transferred to the Universities and Tertiary institutions. Details of such a proposal in the NESR Review that was referred to in one my comments (message 11) earlier in this discussion series.
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வடக்கின் கல்வித் தரவு முகாமைத்துவம் வளர்ச்சிப் பாதையின் படியில் … கல்வி அபிவிருத்திக்கு, திட்டமிடலுக்கு, நிர்வாகத்திற்குத் தரவுகள் மிக அவசியமானவையாகின்றன. |
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Ethir
I totally agree with what Dr.Ethirveerasingam mentioned about Entrepreneurship in the message 77. In fact those entrepreneurs developed by their experience. I have been impressed while reading an article of Prof Omar Javid in the newspaper- The express Tribune (published from Lahore, Pakistan on May 8, 2014). As Prof. Omar Javid from Center of Entrepreneurial Development, Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology pointed out that Students mistakenly believe that they need an innovative idea, a fancy business plan and millions of rupees for investment to start their own business. He further claim that how someone start his own business with no experience and limited capital? He strongly suggested that ‘start with baby steps’ and do not worry about whether you have an innovative idea, but think about whether you have an access to anything valuable that someone is willing to buy. Omar further pointed out that most small and medium entrepreneurs tell that you can start a business without capital, but you cannot start without having enough contacts. Connectivity/networking is very essential in business.
As Eng. Ramathasan pointed out in the message 67, the University education has not given necessary direction to the students towards logical thinking and knowledge application skills. These are being taught as skills but not practiced. The designing of the new technology degree programs have to incorporate all these for a better result. As mentioned the necessity of experience for entrepreneurship there are useful programs someone can listen and get those ideas. The following link
[ https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=unnal+mudiyum+vijay+tv ] is a TV program launched from Tamil Nadu, South India deals with interviewing successful personalities and secrets behind their success are highlighted. Since the program is in Tamil Medium and interested people can listen them by accessing from YouTube. The program invites successful personalities and discuss their success stories, how did they start business, how did they perceive the idea, how did they overcome the difficulties and how did they make their product branded. These are good lessons to anyone willing to start a business. Similar experiences can be heard from our local business personalities too.
Referring to the message 71: Is there an actual model of what Dr. Smith and others in a small village over a five or ten year period and the results including the financial balance sheet published? If not is there are Simulation of such a model and financial and other relevant data published for an individual or a village to try out? A subsistence farmer would like to SEE a working model before he plunges his families future in it.
Referring the message 72; I hope Dr. Sivakumar, Faculty of Engineering, can submit a paper to the CCS Monterey IIS. And conduct the empirical studies of the data already existing with respect to the Iranamadu Tank - Jaffna Water and waste disposal Project. I hope the Environmental impact study submitted by the ADB consultant is also referred to and compared by the ADB/Govt version of the Report. ADB and Govt had not applied any Conflict Filters to the project to ensure what conflicts within Kilinochchi and between Kilinochchi, and between govt and the NP.
As Irrigation Engineers employed by the GoSL cannot write a, independent paper on the subject such a responsibility falls on the University which can write such a paper from professional point of view. I am of course assuming and hoping that Professional staff of Univ of Jaffna has that independence.
Referring the message 73; Entrepreneurship is a talent of a person that cannot be imparted by education. Education of a person with such a talent enhances the skills necessary for high achievement in the business/economic world. One of the qualities is risk taking. That is willing to try untried methods. Entrepreneurs learn with experience. How many of Engineers, economists, Chartered Accountants, MBAs, Agriculture graduates are entrepreneurs? They help entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial education has not produced entrepreneurs on any significant scales.
Referring the message 74; All items, including the last sentence, in the message are generalisations based on unrelated events and not extrapolated from any published studies. I would like to have references to support such statements. In item 1 only conclusion I can validly make is that 97 % of arts students attended Tutories and that they think that their achievements was due to attending tutories. There is no evidence for them to conclude that their achievement was due to attending Tutories alone and that the learning at school did not have any contribution to their success. Point two need evidence which the UGC can publish but do not now. They did in the nineties published the Socio-Economic background of University students. High socio economic families - as defined by the Census Dept - did have larger number of students as opposed to lower socio-economic families.
Ethir
Moderator Note: As requested the message received in pdf is attached
Click here to view the report.
I have attached a report I put together for the Northern Development Foundation (NDF) on How to Produce Electricity and Fresh Water using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), hope this is useful to you.
I own a solar installation business in the UK and would very much like to offer my services to promote solar in Jaffna.
Moderator Note: This is the continuation of Message # 77, the document attached in pdf is now appear as a message - Looking for a possibility.
Message # 77a: Siva Muthulingasamy, Managing Director, Solar4us Ltd, UK, siva at solar4us.com, 20 August 2014 13:46
Produce Electrcity And Fresh Water Using Concentrated Solar Power(Csp) In The Northern Province Of Sri Lanka
A brief Outline of Report to Northern Development Foundation, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Goal:
The government of Sri Lanka has committed to providing potable water and electricity to all of its citizens in an efficient, affordable and sustainable manner.
Proposed Solution:
Using solar power to generate electricity and produce fresh water via desalination.
Reasoning:
Solar energy is abundant, clean and sustainable.
Technical Insight:
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Source: The Cooler Energy Project
There are four CSP plant variants, namely: Parabolic Trough (“PT”), Fresnel Reflector, Solar Tower and Solar Dish. The PT system, demonstrated in the diagram, is the most commercially mature technology.
The diagram above demonstrates how a Concentrating Solar Power (“CSP”) plant uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, which collects and transfers the solar energy to a heat transfer fluid that can be used to generate electricity through steam turbines. Large CSP plants can be equipped with storage systems to allow for heat supply or electricity generation at night or on days with less sunlight (e.g. high degree of cloud cover). In fact, the ability to integrate a low cost storage system is one of the most significant advantages CSP has over its most common alternate, Solar Photovoltaic (“PV”) technology. This key feature increases the capacity and ‘dispatchability’ (i.e. ability to provide power on demand) of CSP plant and therefore improves its grid integration and economic competitiveness. There is however, a trade-off between the capacity of storage required and capital cost of the plant.
Another advantage conferred by CSP technology is the ability to easily integrate such plants into existing fossil fuel-based power plants that use conventional steam turbines to produce electricity. Essentially part of the steam produced by the combustion of fossil fuels can be substituted by heat from the CSP plant. Similar to conventional power plants, most CSP installations need water to cool and condense the steam cycle.
Is it suitable for Sri Lanka?
To operate efficiently CSP plants should be built in an area of high direct solar irradiance (i.e. power). The areas considered most suitable are typically between the 40th parallel north and 40th parallel south on the earth’s surface. Sri Lanka lies in this region and initial indications suggest that parts of the country will be extremely well suited for CSP plants. In fact, the technical potential of CSP-based electricity generation is expected to be many multiples greater than times higher than their electricity demand which will mean a CSP solution will remain viable even as the country’s electricity demand increases (a likely consequence of economic development).
Note: As of Feb 2014 India has FIVE 50MW CSP plants in operation and FIVE more under construction.
Fresh water from sea water
CSP plants are primarily designed for electricity generation, but the heat produced can be used for industrial heating, production of synthetic fuels (e.g syngas), enhanced oil recovery, refineries and water desalination. CSP can provide electricity for reverse-osmosis water desalination or heat for thermal distillation.
Typical Costing for a CSP PT system
Ernst & Young and Fraunhofer (2011) estimate that a 50 MW CSP PT plant similar to the Andasol plant in Spain, with a storage capacity of 7.5 hours has an estimated cost of USD 364 million
The table shows the cost comparison for Spain and Sri Lanka for a 50MW and 25MW systems
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Cost in spain in |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated Cost |
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Million US $ 50MW |
in SL 50MW |
in SL 25MW |
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Solar Field |
$140.00 |
$ 70.00 |
$ 35.00 |
|
Thermal storage |
$ 36.40 |
$ 36.40 |
$ 18.00 |
|
Grid connection |
$ 51.00 |
$ 25.00 |
$ 12.00 |
|
Labour |
$ 62.00 |
$ 30.00 |
$ 15.00 |
|
Finance cost |
$ 71.00 |
$ 71.00 |
$ 35.00 |
|
Total in Millions |
$ 360.40 |
$ 232.40 |
$ 115.00 |
We estimate that a single 50MW CSP PT system could power about 100,000 homes in Jaffna (without air conditioning).
Operation and Maintenance Costs: – The O&M costs of CSP plants are low compared to those of fossil fuel-fired power plants. A typical 50 MW PT plant requires about 30-40 employees.
Life span: Estimated 25 years
Conclusion : Sri Lanka’s prevailing conditions give the country a chance to ‘start from scratch’ with the right infrastructure for the 21stcentury. We firmly believe that CSP PT technology is the right solution at the right time for the country.
Useful website, company based in California:
Kind Regards
Siva Muthulingasamy
Managing Director
Solar4us Ltd,161 Shirley Road
Shirley, Croydon, Surrey CR0 8SS
Tel: 0208 655 3076
I would like to reply to the Message No.74.
Point 2 - The author claims that "Around 75 percent of medical and engineering students in Sri Lanka come from rich family."
I would like to know what is the definition of "rich family" applied by the author in making the foregoing claim. While I am doubtful of this claim, I have no concrete evidence to dispute this claim. The author should specify the income threshold applied for the classification of "rich people".
Point 3 - The author claims that the "Quality of graduates in Sri Lanka in comparing china and India, Sri Lanka is better than these countries."
This claim is absolutely false. Could the author give some facts and figures to substantiate his claim? The author claims that the graduate unemployment is due to "DEMAND SIDE". Could he again substantiate his claim with facts and figures? The author further claims that the investment as a percentage of GDP in Sri Lanka is less than 25% on average. This figure is wrong. Could the author give the source of his data and the years to which it pertains. The author claims that Sri Lanka has been the largest recipient of foreign aid in South Asia on per capita basis. Could he provide the source of this data and the corresponding years?
Point 4 - The author says "Poor quality of university teachers in Sri Lanka is debatable. I came to know that there are some private companies in UK and USA to write M.Phil and PhD thesis. I do not know that there are such companies in Sri Lanka."
An independent research on the qualifications and competence of the University teachers in Sri Lanka commissioned by the Ministry of Higher Education is in my possession. In the past fifteen years of post-doctoral research work in Sri Lanka (especially in the North and East) several Sri Lankan undergraduates have worked under me. Some of these students have told me about the poor quality of their University teachers. Of course, it does not mean that all University teachers are of poor quality. I have been an external examiner of a Ph.D. Thesis submitted by a Sri Lankan University teacher to a foreign university, which was plagiarised. I do not mean to say that all or most Ph.D. Theses are plagiarised in Sri Lanka. Several University teachers in Sri Lanka publish their work in Open Access journals by paying a fee which are of very poor quality. However, many academics publish in conventional journals as well.
Will the author organise a public debate at the Jaffna University to debate his foregoing statement (Point 4)?
MUTTUKRISHNA SARVANANTHAN
Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi)
Development Economist, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development
Thambasetty, Puloly West, Point Pedro, 40000
There is considerable opposition from the university students as well as university teachers to the establishment of national or international private universities in Sri Lanka. The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) and the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) are at the forefront of this opposition. This opposition is based on the false pretence that such private universities would erode the so-called “free education” in Sri Lanka. The hearts and minds battle against and for private universities, in my view, is a battle for and against monopoly in education.
As we have argued in the previous think piece titled The Myth of Free Education, the so-called “free education” (free health as well) in Sri Lanka remains only metaphorically and not literally. Behind the contrived threat to free education remains chilling insecurity of university students and teachers who detest competition to their future or current professions and jobs resulting from potentially better quality student output from the private universities. We could discern this fear psychosis from the fact that students passing-out of private (English-medium) international schools in Sri Lanka are legally barred admission to public-funded universities or higher education colleges (such as the Sri Lanka Law College) or to public sector employment (such as the Sri Lanka Administrative, Foreign, or Planning Services, for example), which has not elicited protest from university students or university teachers.
The paranoia against students of international schools (beginning with the agitation against the erstwhile North Colombo Medical College during the 1980s) is part of the much larger POLITICS OF ENVY towards citizens who are entrepreneurial, independent (of public ‘free’ hand-outs), and upwardly mobile. According to this politics of envy, only the students passing-out of public schools and graduating from public universities are bhumiputras (daughters and sons of the soil) and “patriots” who deserve the patronage and privileges of the state. This is also part of the political narrative of anti-West and anti-UN (occasionally anti-India as well) hysteria whipped-up regularly for parochial political gains. Ironically, while the University Grants Commission (UGC) has been eager to recruit a handful of students from overseas to some of the universities in Sri Lanka in the past couple of years, hitherto it has not even considered permitting students from international schools to the local universities. Why is this duplicity?
Nonetheless, many academics, senior bureaucrats, politicians (of all political persuasions including the new left and old left), and trade unionists send their children to private English medium international schools and/or foreign universities or misappropriate some of the foreign scholarships available to the country for their own children or next-of-kin thereby overriding fairness and merit. The foregoing examples are indications of lack of confidence in the public schools and universities among the pseudo champions of free education.
It is true that education in Sri Lanka, at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, is chronically under-funded. However, additional public (state) funding is not the appropriate way to enhance the quality of education at all levels because such public funding will only perpetuate the insular, lethargic, and deliberate dumping-down of quality at schools in order to increase the school and university teachers’ earnings in the private tutories market. Since university teachers are the ones who set the question papers for the G.C.E. A/L examinations and do the marking of answer scripts they have a captive market in the private tutories throughout the country. If the FUTA and IUSF are altruistic about protecting free education by increasing public funding to schools and tertiary educational institutions they should also campaign for the abolishment of private turories because most of the tutories are fleecing innocent students and their parents. Therefore, desperately needed additional investments in the education sector should come from the private sector and NOT the public sector in order to improve the quality of education.
Many people argue that the government should clamp down on corruption (which drains public finances) and wasteful public expenditures and investments (such as the huge and rising defence budget, Hambantota air and sea ports, Mihin Air, etc) and commit that money for public education and public heath, inter alia. I do agree that there is rampant corruption and astronomical wasteful expenditures by the successive governments of Sri Lanka and those have to be tamed. However, the call for stamping-out corruption and wasteful public expenditures in order to commit more public money for public education and public health is a negative argument; one wrong cannot justify another. Instead, the champions of free education should convince the general public by positively arguing how and why enhanced public expenditures on education will improve the quality of primary, secondary, and tertiary education in Sri Lanka.
In my view, the policy debate on the admission of private universities in the country should not be framed in terms of preservation/protection versus dilution of free education; instead it should be framed in terms of competition versus monopoly for increasing the accessibility to prospective students and at the same time improving the quality of university education.
Competition was the bedrock of human civilization according to the Darwinian Theory of human evolution. Of course, not everyone on earth may agree with Charles Darwin’s theory of human evolution. Monopoly, either private or state, is detrimental to human welfare according to the fundamentals of economic science. According to a Tamil dictum keerai kadaikum aethir kadai vendum (even a shop selling green leaves need an opposite shop - competitor). In political principle and practice state monopoly is inherently anti-democratic that would lead to autocracy.
The state monopoly in education in Sri Lanka has dumped-down the quality of primary, secondary, and tertiary education in the post-independence period. In fact, the admission of private hospitals in Sri Lanka since the late-1970s has improved the quality of free public health service throughout the country because of greater choice that has diminished the pressure on free public health service. In the same way, I believe that the admission of private universities could improve the quality of public universities as a result of competition for student admissions that would diminish the pressure on non-fee-levying public universities.
MUTTUKRISHNA SARVANANTHAN
Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi)
Development Economist, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development
Thambasetty, Puloly West, Point Pedro, 40000
I agree with message # 69 and have some supports and clarifications on these issues.
1. I have done a research on what is the private cost of AL study among the university students in arts faculty. 97 percent students fully agreed their admission have been achieved by private tuitions. It may be 99 percent in mathematics and science. Why public school to advanced level?.
2. One of the objectives for free education in Sri Lanka is income redistribution from rich to poor. Around 75 percent of medical and engineering students in Sri Lanka come from rich family. Private cost in AL education from rich family captured the university admission from poor family and getting free education in university. Free education in medicine and engineering in university increases the income disparity opposite to their policy.
3. Is graduate unemployment problem in Sri Lanka whether supply side or demand side? My opinion is that IT IS DEMAND SIDE. Quality of graduates in Sri Lanka in comparing china and India, Sri Lanka is better than these countries. But unemployment is severe in Sri Lanka than these countries. Problems are demand side in Sri Lanka. Large scale industrial and agricultural development projects to generate large scale employment opportunities in Sri Lanka are very less. In some extent it is no. We have not achieved either agriculture revolution or industrial revolution yet. Therefore, employment generation activities are very low level. For large scale employment generation, large scale investment is needed. Are there socio-political and economical environment for large scale investment from both local and foreign in Sri Lanka even after ending the war? Investment as percent of GDP in China, Singapore during last 20 years, even India after 2004 more than 40 percent in average. In Sri Lanka, it is less than 25 percent in average. Is there shortage of foreign aid to bridge saving and investment gap. Sri Lanka has been first position in receiving foreign aid in South Asia. (average per capita aid is US$ 26. second Bangladesh is US$ 13).
4. Poor quality of university teachers in Sri Lanka is debatable. I came to know that there are some private companies in UK and USA to write M.Phil and PhD thesis. I do not know that there are such companies in Sri Lanka.
At last, one fact is obvious, economic development problem in Sri Lanka is politics and political side. Each Sri Lankan pays more than 39 rupees each day as cost for defense service even after ending the war. This value is equal to average breakfast of Sri Lankan. Despite of this high cost security service, according to prime minister in parliament, a school girl has been abused by LTTE's dressed person in Karanagar, Jaffna.
Dr.S.Santhirasegaram
Department of Economics
University of Jaffna
I take this opportunity to discuss the Entrepreneurial education in Sri Lanka
Entrepreneurial Education
In developing countries like Sri Lanka it has been widely recognized that the entrepreneurship development is essential not only to solve the problem of unemployment but also to achieve higher level of economic development and growth. Entrepreneurship development through education is very important because entrepreneurship is a kind of self employment. The entrepreneurship courses should aim at preparing the educated unemployed to face the hard realities of taking calculated risks. It will also train them to become self-employed entrepreneurs by using the opportunities available for small investors in the province as well as country.
The course of the training should emphasize initiating new ventures relating to small rural industries. Incorporating entrepreneurship courses into higher education is relatively a new idea to Sri Lanka. The students will indeed be interested to know what the opportunities available are for an entrepreneur, his or her basic needs and the problems to be faced if he wants to become an entrepreneur. The problem of unemployment among the working population is assuming serious turn day-by-day. Entrepreneurship courses may also be introduced at all levels of education to motivate students with entrepreneurial qualities towards self-employment. It prepares students in a broad and integrated field or subject. An effective Higher education system develops the creative and critical capabilities of the students and prepares them sufficiently and suitably for jobs, professions and entrepreneurship.
Dr.B.Nimalathasan
Senior Lecturer,
Department of Accounting,
Faculty of Management Studies & Commerce,
University of Jaffna,
Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
T : +94-777-238-282(Mobile)/ +94-21222-7519 (office)
e : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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W : www.nimalathasan.com
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=68a4pmIAAAAJ&hl=en
Center for Conflict Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies
Conflicts Over Water and Building Bridges with Water
November 6-8, 2014, Monterey Marriott and Monterey Institute
Conflicts over Water
Water, a basic human need, a human right, is a limited resource. The eternal conflict over access to and control of water has been made more complex in recent times with climate change, privatization, damming and water exploitation for industrial and other commercial use. Poor water management, increased water pollution and unconstrained use of power for control over this resource makes conflicts over water a huge impediment to building an egalitarian, just, sustainable and peaceful society.
Water conflicts are also asymmetrical in that they impact the vulnerable sections of society – women, children and other marginalized groups – more negatively. The unpredictability of water as a resource adds to the problem, making negotiations and resolutions of water conflicts extremely challenging. After all, water gives life but it can destroy too. The paradox of water in the real world demands that conflict resolvers remain innovative, flexible and most importantly, comfortable working in grey zones.
Building Bridges with Water
So, how do water conflicts really get resolved? What innovative efforts have been made to bring warring parties in a water conflict to meet at least halfway on the bridge, if not cross the bridge entirely? Most importantly, how can we use water, often a source of conflict, as a means to resolve the conflict, that is, to build those bridges with water?
This conference aims to highlight the complexities of water conflicts and share approaches made by conflict resolvers, communities, institutions and governments in resolving these conflicts.
Submit Your Proposal
We invite proposals from graduate students, academics and practitioners in conflict studies and other related disciplines (such as law, human rights, gender, culture and environment) who can offer perspectives from their empirical research (we insist on first-hand, ground-up research) particularly on but not limited to the following conference sub-themes:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->Water Supply
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->Water Scarcity
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Water Pollution
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[endif]-->Water Access
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[endif]-->Water and Climate Change
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6. <!--[endif]-->Water and Dams
<!--[if !supportLists]-->7. <!--[endif]-->Water and Culture
<!--[if !supportLists]-->8. <!--[endif]-->Water and Gender
<!--[if !supportLists]-->9. <!--[endif]-->Water and Politics
<!--[if !supportLists]-->10. <!--[endif]-->Water Use & Impact (Agriculture, Industry - Fracking, Mining, Commercial & Household)
<!--[if !supportLists]-->11. <!--[endif]-->Trans boundary Water Conflicts
<!--[if !supportLists]-->12. <!--[endif]-->Water Privatization, Pricing and Trading
<!--[if !supportLists]-->13. <!--[endif]-->Water Conservation/Management/Diplomacy/Agreements
Guidelines & Deadlines
All proposals, of 400-500 words, together with a bio of 100-150 words, should be submitted in Word format to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Please also include your contact details (email and telephone). Proposals must include the specific dates of when empirical research was or will be conducted. All proposals must be received by midnight (PST) on September 15, 2014. Selection of participation will be based on scholarly merit, depth of empirical research and relevance to conference topics.
Learn more about our conference and how to submit your proposal >>
Agriculture, Health, Environment and Energy: is an integrated approach possible?
As I am a British national I will possibly be the odd one out in all these interesting contributions. Formerly a professor at the University of Leeds in UK, I have been involved for the last 20 years in raising awareness of organic and biodynamic agriculture, and of its many potential benefits for the Island. My workshops and interventions (which earlier led to a Sri Lankan publication on organic farming) have been widely spread and confined to January and February each year because of my UK work in organic certification, but for obvious reasons I have been unable to make serious contact with the north until recently. Those who have facilitated my activities will, I hope, forgive me if I omit mention of them in this short contribution.
My activities began as an attempt to alleviate Third World poverty through advising on a form of agriculture which does not require conventional and costly inputs. In this respect I had on two occasions also worked briefly in Ghana. While some of my contacts in Sri Lanka have succeeded in developing profitable export businesses (organic marketing companies and a few notably ambitious individuals) the vast majority to benefit have done so by way of reducing costs of production and through improvements to the quality of their land and especially their health. It is this latter concern about the nation’s health which now acts as my prime motivation for continuing to visit the Island. The scale of chemical pollution to food and water is now so serious that, short of a radical and widespread change in land management, attempts at regional development of the island are, in my opinion, likely to fail. What is needed is integrated development in the interests of the people rather than corporates and multinationals.
Despite its usual detractors, organic farming could have multiple benefits for environment and society. Its products are sought by many people and even those who produce un-certified produce (sold as non-chemical) can find ready outlets locally via a population which is increasingly aware of their daily exposure to poisonous substances. More recently it has emerged that organic farming and bioenergy could work very well together, thus strengthening the viability of an organic farming sector. Bi-products from fuel wood (mainly Glyricidia) collection can be composted as well as giving a cash return to the farmer. As energy and regional development go hand in hand, such a synergy should be actively pursued.
I observe that others have offered thoughts and research which link with what is written here. But what is to happen with all these ideas? Among academics and others sincerely concerned to see progress, a vision for the future can emerge. But then there is the sphere of public / regional administration tied by hierarchy and tradition who can all too easily feel threatened by those with technical knowledge. Central government is ultimately responsible but there should also then be an effective level of regional autonomy. Within this overarching context, unless administrations can be salvaged from sclerosis, progress will continue to be stifled. I would like to see a greater degree of trust and common ground developing between groups hitherto associated with ‘ideas’ on the one hand and ‘policy’ on the other – all of whom have families equally at risk from nitrate-overloaded water supplies and uncontrolled use of pesticides. If it does not already exist, the way this could happen is by way of a regional forum which brings together the different parties and which might hopefully agree an action plan.
With very best wishes <!--[if !vml]-->
<!--[endif]-->
Richard
I am Suvanthini Shanmugaratnam, Lecturer (Prob.) from Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna and reading Masters on Molecular and Applied Microbiology at Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.
I’m taking this opportunity to discuss about establishment of pathological laboratory in Northern Province.
Management of agriculturally important plant diseases is becoming a great challenge to plant pathologists who are involving in this program. Identification of the cause of plant diseases is vital in the case of certain economically important crops; cereals, vegetables and fruits. In general, insect pest damage can be easily identifiable than diseases caused by microorganisms because laboratory assessment is necessary to confirm the particular microbiological diseases. After the identification, possible recommendations to the farmers will help to protect their crops from economic loss. Results should be reliable. Then only farmers will exploit these services effectively. As an agriculture graduate, I feel this is the ultimate outcome of our degree program.
Apart from Faculty of Agriculture, these services are initiated by CABI affiliated with Department of Agriculture. A fully-fledged laboratory has not been established yet, to analyze the plant diseases in North. Experts can join hands to establish the laboratory and carry out these services. The laboratory should involve comprehensive studies of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, virus, nematode and mycoplasma. It will pave the way to develop new diagnostic approaches and safer disease management mechanisms. Once the laboratory is established, we can employ traditional diagnostic techniques as well as modern technologies to diagnose diseases of crops being grown in the North. Moreover, the following aspects are also will be assisted from that.
1. Development of plant clinic services
2. Building public awareness about plant disease outbreaks
3. Disease forecasting
4. Training of students towards plant diagnosis
5. Career opportunity for agriculture graduates
6. Cross linkage with other parts of Sri Lanka
I hope this is the right time to load the dice in favor of developing good strategies by focusing on the core.
I would like to thank JUICE committee for providing us this platform.
Suvanthini
Lecturer (Prob.)
Dept. of Agric. Biology
Faculty of Agriculture
University of Jaffna
Sri Lanka
"Follow excellence, success will chase you"
The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) and the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) in Sri Lanka have been on a long campaign to “protect free education”. I will be dealing with both the semantics and substance of “free education” in Sri Lanka in this think piece.
The fundamental truth is that NOTHING IS FREE IN THE WORLD of human beings. Every single citizen of Sri Lanka pays several taxes to the government for the provision of public goods (for e.g. infrastructure) and services (for e.g. education, health). Since between 70-75% of the total revenue of the government accrues from indirect (consumption) taxes every single citizen pays various taxes to the government daily during their entire lifetime. Therefore, every household pays for the education of their children albeit indirectly through the payment of direct (income) and indirect taxes to the government.
Besides, there is rampant corruption in admissions to popular schools throughout Sri Lanka which makes a mockery of the free education system because of payment of bribe to secure admission. In addition, almost all the parents pay to send their children to private tutories from grade one onwards because most schools in the country hardly teach anything worthwhile despite being nominally free-of-cost.
According to the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2009/10, out of the total non-food expenditure of the households, the average monthly household expenditure on education amounts to 5.6% of the total (following housing 19.1%, transport 12.8%, personal care & health expenses 7.9%, and fuel & light 7.1%). The average monthly household expenditure on education is higher than on clothing, textiles & footwear (5.0%) and Communication (4.2%), for example. With expenditures on education and health consuming 13.5% of the total household expenditures, how legitimate is the claim of “free” education and health in Sri Lanka?
Due to the foregoing reasons, semantically it is a misnomer to call the education system in Sri Lanka free-of-cost. Therefore, I would argue that Sri Lanka has a nominally free education (and health) system, but not in a real sense. Now we shall look at the substance, i.e. results and outcomes, of the claim of free education.
The public-funded universities and other public-funded tertiary educational institutions produce mostly UNEMPLOYABLE graduates. Barring Engineering and Medical degrees, most degrees awarded by the fifteen universities in Sri Lanka are not worthy of recognition. Public universities in Sri Lanka are infested with under-qualified and abysmal quality teachers; especially in the arts, humanities, and social sciences disciplines which together accommodate more than two-third of the total university student population in the country. The fact that many university teachers in Sri Lanka send their children abroad for higher education is a testimony to the abysmal quality of university education in Sri Lanka.
According to the HIES 2009/10, only 14.7% of the population has passed the G.C.E. O/L examination and another 11.2% has passed the G.C.E. A/L examination or beyond, out of which little over 1% have an undergraduate degree or above. Hence, in total only 26% of the population has passed the G.C.E. O/L or beyond in the country. In other words, the eulogised free education in Sri Lanka has failed three-quarters of the population. The fact that many members of parliament (from all political parties) send their children to the fee-levying private ‘international schools’ is a testimony to the abysmal quality of school education (private and public) in the country.
According to a Ministry of Education source, even the foregoing pass rates are achieved by lowering the pass mark at the G.C.E. O/L examination to 30 in the past five-years or so from the historic pass mark of 40 in order to fulfill a commitment made in the “Mahinda Chinthana”. Such fudging of numbers as a way of attaining policy goals and targets has become a hallmark of the current policy instrument to make Sri Lanka a “knowledge hub” in Asia. Besides, a significant part of the 1% of the population with degrees is unemployed or under-employed because of the poor quality of their degree. Is this the result envisioned by the champion of free education Mr. C.W.W. Kannangara when he introduced free education in 1945?
The FUTA and IUSF may contend that the foregoing pathetic results of our free education system are due to under-funding. However, I would contend that with similar or lesser amount of public funding many other developing countries have achieved much better results than Sri Lanka has. Money is a necessary but insufficient ingredient for attaining quality education both at the school and higher education levels. Pouring additional public funds into higher education could increase the quantity of student and teacher intakes into universities but would not necessarily improve the quality of students or teachers.
It is high time for educationists to do soul-searching regarding the outcome of the sixty seven years (1945-2012) of free education. The entire education sector in Sri Lanka, from cradle to crematorium (lifelong learning), has been in crisis for a very long time. The low salaries of the school and university teachers and the declining share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) devoted to the education sector are minor problems in my view. The major problems afflicting the education sector in my view are (a) dated and irrelevant curriculum (b) predominance of culture of teaching (spoon feeding) as opposed to culture of learning (c) lack of performance-based remuneration for teachers which has resulted in low-level of motivation (d) nepotism and favouritism in awarding scholarships for postgraduate study abroad to academics, and (e) ragging of students by students and sexual exploitation of female students by male teachers which are endemic in further and higher education institutions. The Universities’ Grants Commission (UGC) and individual universities have the legal right and responsibility to rectify the foregoing core problems (except the common salary scale) without government interference. What has FUTA done to address these problems?
In this ground reality, what is the logical, moral, or rational economic imperative for the demand to allocate 6% of the GDP for the education sector when only 1% of the population has earned a degree (that too of unemployable quality)? In my view, even if the government allocates 10% of the GDP for education, the quality of our university graduates and teachers will not improve unless and until the aforementioned core issues afflicting the education sector are corrected. Thus, any resolution of the salary issue should be tied to resolving severe qualitative problems highlighted above. Is the holy grail of “free education” in Sri Lanka worthy of protection?
MUTTUKRISHNA SARVANANTHAN
Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi)
Development Economist, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development
Thambasetty, Puloly West, Point Pedro, 40000
The Indian Community College System: Inspiration from Community Colleges in the United States
U.S. community colleges have historically been identified as prospective models by countries addressing gaps in their education systems. Much of the interest in community colleges internationally has centered on their role in workforce training and, more recently, on the concept of transfer missions, open access and flexible educational pathways. While there is a perception that U.S. community colleges are newcomers to the area of international engagement, the reality is that community colleges have been engaged in creating training programs or developing new college systems abroad since the mid- 1970s. Community Colleges for International Development (CCID) and its member colleges have been engaged in such capacity-building efforts since 1976.
Over the years, the community college movement in India has become a national phenomenon. Although the concept of the community college has not really been accepted by the Indian educational community as such, it has created its own history over the past two decades. At present, there are more than 500 community colleges in about 22 states and union territories that provide education to empower the disadvantaged and the underprivileged, including the urban, rural and tribal poor and women. In India, community colleges have a major role to play because – in collaboration with local industries and the community—they help students attain skills that lead to gainful employment.
Many people ask how the Indian community college system differs from the two existing vocational systems—Industrial Technical Institutes and the Polytechnics. The difference lies in the fact that collegiate level vocational education offers only apprenticeship training and vocationalization of the first-degree level, whereas community colleges offer a range of multi-focused programs in occupational, technical and continuing education designed to meet the workforce needs of the regions where the colleges are located. Community colleges also offer “bridge” courses to complete higher certifications, ensure employability and competency of the individual trained, teach life skills and communication in English, and provide training in personal, social, language, communication and creative skills. Indian community colleges focus on three main components: information (30 percent), attitude (40 percent) and skills (30 percent).
Historically, community colleges in the U.S. emerged in response to a demand for a skilled labor force to support America’s industrial and economic development. India finds itself in a similar situation today, more than a century later. The establishment of a system similar to the U.S. community college model would remove the burden from “traditional” universities, which are incapable of addressing the needs of an entire population.
Furthermore, the U.S. tradition of credit transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges is also well suited for India. Those of modest means can first generate an income stream from the skills acquired at a community college and then plough back their subsequent savings to earn a more advanced degree. A tiered education system, similar to that in California, with a robust community college network that feeds into the California State University and University of California systems, might resonate well in India.
Community colleges of some kind could provide a balance between an expensive but not particularly useful college education and no higher education at all. Community colleges could play a key role in formalizing the skills and knowledge of trades practiced in the country, including those from the Industrial Era, as well as, creating training programs for new trades and skills that have emerged over the past few decades.
The curriculum at India’s community colleges includes the following components:
· Life Coping Skills: to develop personality, sharpen personal skills and teach coping mechanisms to make a student fit for life and future employment.
· Interpersonal Relations: to empower students to articulate ideas and opinions and prepare them to speak confidently during an interview, group discussion or public presentation.
· Computing Skills: to develop basic knowledge of computer operations.
· Developmental English: part of the Life Skills curriculum. Courses begin at the basic level.
· Work Skills: subject-related and based on the needs of the local community. The curriculum includes both practical (60 percent) and theoretical (40 percent) components.
· Internship: on-the-job training tests both life and work skills in a practical setting.
· Preparation for Employment: helps students develop their resume, prepare for interviews, and understand how to keep a job.
The community college cannot succeed without the active participation and collaboration of the industrial, rural, agricultural, commercial and service organizations of the locality. These sectors assist the community college in the following five ways:
· Designing the curriculum for various job-oriented courses.
· Serving as members of the advisory board.
· Being part-time instructors for teaching and assessment in the college.
· Providing on-the-job training for the students in the workplace.
· Providing job placement for students who have been trained at the college.
The community college movement has empowered disadvantaged groups in India, achieving a higher gradation of educational standards and resulting in alleviation of poverty. A profile of 85,759 students attending 230 community colleges from different parts of India reveals the following groups students benefited from community colleges:
· 70 percent women
· 88 percent from socially disadvantaged groups
· 88 percent economically poor (monthly family income is below 3,000 rupees/$54)
· 95 percent from educationally weaker sections, dropouts etc.
The University Grants Commission of India (UGC) has launched a scheme on skills development based higher education as part of college/university education, leading to Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc.) Degree with multiple exits such as Diploma/Advanced Diploma under the NSQF. The B.Voc. programme is focused on universities and colleges providing undergraduate studies, which would also incorporate specific job roles and their NOSs along with broad based general education. This would enable the graduates completing B.Voc. to make a meaningful participation in accelerating India’s economy by gaining appropriate employment, becoming entrepreneurs and creating appropriate knowledge.
Award - Duration - Corresponding NSQF level
Diploma 1 Year 5
Advanced Diploma 2 Years 6
B.Voc. Degree 3 Years 7
Each of the awards shall specify within parenthesis, the Skill specialization:
· B. Voc. (Prawn/Shrimp Culture)
· Advanced Diploma (Prawn/Shrimp Culture)
· Diploma (Prawn/Shrimp Culture)
· B. Voc. (Poultry)
· Advanced Diploma (Poultry)
· Diploma (Poultry)
· B. Voc. (Dairy Farm Management)
· Advanced Diploma (Dairy Farm Management)
· Diploma (Dairy Farm Management)
· B. Voc. (Agriculture Equipment Maintenance)
· Advanced Diploma (Agriculture Equipment Maintenance)
· Diploma (Agriculture Equipment Maintenance)
· B. Voc. (Veterinary Technician)
· Advanced Diploma (Veterinary Technician)
· Diploma (Veterinary Technician)
Well! Universities are not meant for manufacturing machines. Enough industries are there all over the world for this purpose. Logical thinking & knowledge application skills differentiate a graduate from the rest.
This is essential specially in technical & professional courses. Are our universities looking for issues and problems in the society so as to make it a study & research subject resulting both the student ( Staff ?) and the public to benefit.
Design your teaching & learning program to explore new things rather than repeating the same old issues.
(Notes) Entrepreneurial skills in every student are suppressed by teaching institutions and the society (craze for Govt. job) than nurturing it.
Mingle with society keeping your antenna tuned to receive the cry of common man.
Eng.M.Ramathasan
Managing Director
Euroville Engineers and Constructors (Pvt) Ltd
No: 45, Forest Office Lane,
Jaffna 40000
Sri Lanka
Tel: (+94) 0212226239, Fax: (+94+ 0212228547
Mobile: (+94) 0773151500
E mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Modern Technology and Agriculture in North
Vanni region of North livelihood activities are agriculture, livestock and fishing. The Agriculture is major livelihood activity of the vanni region (Killinochi, Mullitivu, Mannar, and Vavuniya). Most of the farmers of the region still use conventional or traditional technology in Agriculture because they do not have knowledge, skills and abilities of the technology, lack of awareness of the modern technology and lack of capital to invest modern equipment. It is major challenge to them to cultivate the agri-product at low cost. The consequence of it they could not market their product at the competitive environment. Further, Agri -product market prices are lower than their prices. Therefore most of the farmers loss their capital and given up their efforts involving agriculture. Based on the survey, I recommend that intervening organization in Agriculture- introduce modern technology, its knowledge, skills and abilities, awareness and concessionary interest rates loans to purchase modern equipment etc.Dr.T.Mangaleswaran
Senior Lecturer
Department of Eco. and Management
Faculty of Business Studies
Vavuniya Campus
University of Jaffna
Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Tel:(Off.)+94243248188(Res.)+942225665
(Mobile)+94714347689,+94774536564
Industrial linkages are essential to the University to mould the undergraduates to be best fit to the Industrial sector. This proposal comes to reality when industrial training is incorporated into the curriculum of some of the degree programs. This has been further strengthened by having collaborative programs with the Industries especially doing collaborative research, intensive industrial training and exposing the graduates to the requirements of the private sector. Graduates have to be trained in essential skills which are needed by the private sector for their best performance. In this connection, GIZ-SME Development is a program of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) implemented in collaboration with Ministry of Finance and Planning in Sri Lanka. The overall objective of the program is to improve and strengthen Sri Lanka’s growing SME sector through a range of technical assistance activities. Initially this program was launched at UvaWellasa University under the concept of “Emission free zone”. This is a successful program launched under this development program in Sri Lanka. Now GIZ-SME development program expands to other universities. This offer has to be utilized well by other Universities as well.
Further Career Fair or Job Fair needs to be organized in universities and most of the Universities in Southern Sri Lanka have this event annually and undergraduates benefited enormously from this powerful event. Though similar programs were organized at a low phase in some faculties, today (16.08.2014) Physical Science study program of Faculty of Science, UoJ first time organized a grand celebration of CAREER FAIR inviting more than 10 companies/industries targeting the undergraduates of Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics. This event is organized through the World Bank funded Quality Innovation Grant (QIG) of Higher Education for Twenty-first Century (HETC) of Physical Science study program, Faculty of Science, UoJ. Best appreciation to the organizers and fellow academics for having such a grand organization of CAREER FAIR at the University and it will set an example to other faculties to follow. Further this has to be expanded and should be a Career festival of the University in future years.
While designing the proposal of University Development Grant (UDG) two years before, JOB FAIR was identified as one of the activity annually under the activity of improving Soft skills among undergraduate students and that thought comes to reality through this today. In future, the University has to organize such a grand event inviting all the Industries for this fair for the benefit of the undergraduates of all the faculties.
This is in response to Massage # 62..
Rain water harvest in large way has been done by provincial irrigation department through Irrigation Engineer Jaffna by constructing Salt Water Exclusion Bunds (WSE-Bunds). in many places in Islands and Pooneran area, even ENReP also funded for this projects during my time. These bunds function as (1)prevent salt water coming from sea and (2) harvest rain water for recharging ground water and pushing the sweet-salt water inter face towards sea. I have written several research articles on this and uploaded in the link below
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saravanamuttu_Sivakumar/contributions?ev=prf_act
Apart from this, in small way rain water harvest can be done in houses, schools, community centers, offices ..etc
The institution called "Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum" is doing continuous research in implementing new and economical construction techniques in rain water harvest in rural areas. You can get these in the following link.
http://www.lankarainwater.org/
While implementing rain water harvesting in small scale the environmental concerns also to be taken care off, otherwise rain water harvesting tanks will be the most susceptible mosquito breading places.
With regards
Sivakumar
Dr. (Eng.) S.S.Sivakumar PhD, MSc.(WRD), BSc.(Eng)
C.Eng, MIE(SL), FIE(SL) , BMI&PSI, LMSLAAS, LMIWRS, LMICOLD
Head - Civil Engineering,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna, Jaffna.
TP: Rec: (94) 024 222 063 2 ; Mobile: (94) 077 250 873 0
Mail: sssivakumar at jfn.ac.lk, sssiva100 at gmail.com
Development with Forethought Leads Sustainable Recovery of the Nation
Mr. Nagarathnam Thiruchchelvan again, [Postgraduate student of Faculty of Graduate studies and Research Assistant at Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna]
Whatever the development in wherever the place. Major reflect mechanism is food production. If the production is clean and healthy, there after various development will be occupied automatically in that particular places.
For the healthy and clean production in terms of agriculture, we can suggest organic farming or nature farming or integrated farming or bio intensive farming is superior.
But, it is not an easy task to do our region. Because of the green revolution conventional farming is most popular among our farmers; they are the masters in conventional farming for a long period of time and it is typically depend on the massive amount of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Nobody couldn’t able to stop this chemically intensive farming; since they are very familiarize those kinds farming practices for better yield. These types of problems already found as a big issue on people’s health in northern region. At this moment it is a great challenge to public, farmers as well as professionals.
So, implementation of nature farming or organic farming to the farmer’s community is a very big challenge for us. Before the implementation of organic farming to the farmers’ community, Faculty of Agriculture and Department of Agriculture should take this leadership as pioneer and they want to initiate the MODEL ORGANIC FARM throughout the northern Sri Lanka. Through this farm want to create the awareness, educate the farmers and prepare the farmers’ community for organic agriculture.
Then slowly buildup farmers’ companies or Co-operations in each AI ranges or villages or D.S divisions vise. Here to give the knowledge and techniques about the organic farming to farmers with a help of faculty members and undergraduate students as well as members of department of agriculture. Likewise encourage some selected farmers from that society in terms of finance and knowledge to do the organic farming. Beyond that, our responsibility is that, should create the channel of marketing for the organic products, with the judicious price. In addition that, faculty of agriculture and department of agriculture cooperatively can formulate a Center for production of bio agents for the pests control, bio fertilizer as well as organic fertilizers as commercial level for farmer’s usage. This Center can be run as a business unit. It will give the better profits with healthy people.
I hope this kind of initiative will change the entire farming community as organic agriculture.
1. Thank you, Dr Sivakumar for the report. The website has stopped working.
2.http://www.iesl.lk/event-1736938
PUBLIC LECTURE : "Rain Water Harvesting for Future Buildings in Sri Lanka'' at
18 Aug 2014 5:15 PM, Wimalasurendra Auditorium, IESL Head Office / Live Streaming
3. Is there any roof in private or public property in the North with functioning rainwater-harvesting? Are required materials available in the North if a few families or schools want to install a system on their roof in the next 4/5/6 weeks before it the rainy season?
In the 70s a bund was built just outside the landmass at Karainagar close to the Ponnalai causeway to catch rainwater. It was intact for several years and benefitted Karainagar wells in reducing salinity and rice fields in increasing paddy yield within 2/3 yrs. This may be of interest to some University researchers as well as to those who are interested in doing projects to collect rainwater.
There is a lot of concern about the lopsided economic growth and wealth concentration in Sri Lanka whereby the Western Province (Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts) accounts for almost half of the national GDP. There could be several causes for this concentration of economic output and wealth in just one out of the nine provinces in the country. The tax incidence or the sources of tax revenue are one of the principal factors affecting income inequality among the population and the regional dispersion of economic growth and wealth. When a tax system overwhelmingly depends on consumption taxes, income will be concentrated in the hands of the wealthy individuals, institutions and regions of the country. After 1977, indirect or consumption tax as a proportion of the total tax revenue has increased at the same time that direct or income tax has decreased. This is one of the primary causes of the skewed production and wealth among the people and places in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the consumption tax revenue and savings of people from the provinces are transferred to the centre (part of Western Province) which promotes regional inequality. Therefore, giving freedom to the provinces to retain their respective consumption tax revenue and savings of the respective populations and increasing the proportion of the direct or income taxes in the total tax revenue would significantly disperse production, income and wealth to the regions away from the Western Province. Therefore, fiscal devolution is proposed for inclusive equitable growth among the different provinces as well as a means of conflict resolution in Sri Lanka.
Not only spatial economics but institutional economics is also necessary to understand the dichotomy between the ‘leading’ and ‘lagging’ regions within nation states. Whilst physical infrastructure (roads, transportation services, etc.) and information and communication infrastructure (telecommunications, internet, etc.) connect places, it is the institutions such as rule of law, property rights for land, political, administrative and fiscal devolution, financial integration, education and skills development and development of inter-regional markets that connect people across the national boundary (Nallari et al. 2012: 8; The Cities Alliance 2007: 19). Thus, connectivity in terms of physical distance and connectivity in terms of human distance are
sine qua non for spreading economic growth and competitiveness to the regions and integrating the national economy.
There is empirical evidence to show that democratisation and fiscal decentralisation dilute primary cities and promote secondary cities. Davis and Henderson (2003), using panel data from 1960 to 1995 with instrumental variable estimation, find that moving from most centralised to least centralised government reduces primacy by 5 per cent. Similarly, moving from least democratic to most democratic form of government reduces primacy by 8 per cent (cited in Nallari et al. 2012: 3).
Although the Thirteenth Amendment to the current constitution has vested some powers of revenue mobilisation to the provinces, it falls short of an effective and efficient mechanism to make the provinces financially viable and minimise their dependence on the national government. The tendency in the past 22 years of the operation of the provincial councils (1988–2010) has been the monopolisation of taxation by the national government.
The political establishment of Sri Lanka and the psyche of the masses at present appear to be incapable of undertaking radical changes to the political and administrative architecture. Therefore, incremental devolution appears to be the pragmatic way forward for durable conflict resolution in Sri Lanka. Fiscal devolution, one such step in the incremental devolution process, could presumably attract stronger government and public support (than the devolution of political and administrative powers) under the present Unitarian government.
MUTTUKRISHNA SARVANANTHAN
Ph.D. (Wales) M.Sc. (Bristol) M.Sc. (Salford) B.A. (Hons) (Delhi)
Development Economist, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development
Thambasetty, Puloly West, Point Pedro, Northern Province, Sri Lanka
Responding to the messages 10 and 57, I would like to attach a file for reference related to Emergency Northern Recovery Project pl. I was the Project Director of this 75 million US $ project for the first two years (17th November 2009 to 10th January 2013). The web address during my time was enrep.lk
Please click here to view the report.
With regards,
Sivakumar
Dr. (Eng.) S.S.Sivakumar , PhD, MSc.(WRD), BSc.(Eng)
C.Eng, MIE(SL), FIE(SL) , BMI&PSI, LMSLAAS, LMIWRS, LMICOL
Head - Civil Engineering,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering
I wish to discuss on “Importance of modifying existing cold soaking concept of paddy parboiling for better production in future”. I wish to share this information with Prof.D.A.N.Dharmasena and Dr.J.D.Mannapperuma. Sri Lanka is the one of the developing countries, which is particularly dependant on agriculture and agricultural industries as one third of the labour force is involved in agriculture and 11.9% contributed the GDP. There have been various crops grown in Sri Lanka traditionally. Paddy cultivation plays a key role in Sri Lanka economy. Total extent of cultivation is around 850 000 ha which is 41% of the total cultivable area. Paddy milling industries play a key role in providing processed rice to consumers throughout the year. Annual per capita rice consumption in Sri Lanka is 114kg, out of which 55-70 % of the rice is consumed as parboiled rice. Parboiled rice consumption is common among Sri Lankans. There are 7000 mills are available and processing 1.05 million tonnes of paddy in Sri Lanka each year. Parboiling is one of the most common processes practiced in Sri Lanka to process paddy, for which various methods have been practiced by local millers. However, unfortunately, their knowledge on cleaner production aspects of parboiling has not been satisfactorily applied for its sustainability. Soaking, steaming and drying are the three main steps of parboiling. Soaking process consumes huge amount of water out of which major fraction is left as effluent into environment, which is said to be a pollutant as far as the health of the environment is concerned. It is therefore said to have around 1.575million cubic meters of effluent is discharged into the environment.
Further, treatment of this effluent is costly and local millers cannot afford this as their profit margin is very low. All resources utilized in parboiling process, have to be optimized based on cleaner production concepts to minimize pollution and cost of production. There are few researches reported in the area of soaking of paddy in order to optimize water usage and to reduce the strength of the effluent although it is one of the main issues in Sri Lanka. It is basically because of the dependency on ground water resources. Ground water contamination and quantity reduction are the major concerns nowadays. Further, it is reasonable to note, that the water footprint of paddy is within the range of 2500-3000kg/kg paddy. Therefore, it is so important for the processors to optimize the parboiling process by taking innovative approaches that could be adopted to make the process productive and effective. Cold water soaking has traditionally practiced by both small and large-scale millers for thousands of years regardless of the environmental issues and resource utilization. Few researches (primary studies) have been done on continuous aerated soaking to minimize water use and effluent strength. Continuous modification of the research work is therefore essential to optimize the commercial process. An attempt has been made to check aerated cold water soaking to minimize water usage and effluent strength.
Finally, intermittent aerated soaking process can be optimized scientifically by considering dissolved oxygen concentration in the water used for aeration. Fermentation is taking place in the conventional soaking process and causing the effluent to be strong with foul odor and large microbial colonies. Anaerobic situation is mainly due to the efficiency of dissolved oxygen in the water used for soaking. Therefore, this concept is to be analyzed scientifically by keeping positive oxygen levels in the water used for circulation. This innovative trail will reduce the strength of the effluent and amount of the water used. Rice grains produced by this technique would have good texture, taste and general acceptance.
Mr. N. Kannan,
Lecturer,
Dept of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna,
The presentation document is attached in pdf formatDr. (Eng.) S.S.Sivakumar ,Senior lecturer and Head,Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->When was the project funded by World Bank mentioned in #Message10 done? What was the title of the project?Is there a website with brief details about it?
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->In a few months it'll be rainy season in the North and the East (hopefully it will rain). Even if there are no substantial projects planned soon enough are there suggestions to the public small ways of retaining rainwater by individuals or groups of people?
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->Will Agriculture Dept be able to make useful leaflets in Tamil?
I went up to a few websites and found:
The Forestry Dept comes under the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy and has publications(under Forestry Education) only in Sinhala and English and none in
The link below has an article that has much relevant information on Tertiary Education.<href=talkingeconomics - Expanding Tertiary Education Critical to Sri Lanka’s ‘Knowledge Hub’ Aspirations
Referring to the Message No 48, Prof. Sivakumaran's message about Panjab Agricultural University is the fact the University administrators and Academic staff should taken into consideration when plan for long term development and Faculties outreached activities how faculty could contribute to agricultural development. I could suggest to develop a strong link with the northern Regional Agriculture Research Division particularly and with central Agricultural research division of Department of Agriculture in general to coordinate ,plan and carryout research in priority areas in collaboration with these divisions.
Prof (Rtd) Rajadurai
Former Dean, Agriculture
University of Jaffna
Moderator note: The following messages were received in different times and therefore pooled here
10 August 2014 21:23
A realistic great approach that holds the Farmer and farm family as the Centre of Agriculture. In educational term it is also referred to as Experiential Learning and Teaching. The facilitator need to be an experienced, respected person in the farm community.
Ethir
10 August 2014 21:39
Investors, be it farmers or financiers, go where their rupee can earn more than what they will get from Fixed Deposit or other investment opportunities. Getting loans from banks or other Lenders is a great risk if the net returns are not higher than the interest rates. It is important to "Show Farmers" that any given piece of Land can make high enough profit for the farm family. Many schemes that were introduced in the North have failed. Not all of them are due to the War. The post war situation needs to be studied in depth by a mulch-disciplinary team.
10 August 2014 21:54
Theoretically the Farmer owned or in other sectors, fisheries, business enterprises are the way to efficient and profitable production. In the North, especially in the farm community, so far, such an approach is a non-starter. Sociologist will be able to identify the causes. Casual observers will note, even within a family the problems of land ownership, land inheritance etc ends up in courts. Many have referred to Tamils in the North as "Thaniars." If we form an association the office bearers hold on to the office years after their term expired. It is true in NGOs, sports association, etc.
You only have to sit in a govt department or other formal groups meetings to know that the meeting is like a market place. Sit in a faculty board meeting, or District Agriculture Meetings. Somehow we plough through to let only weeds grow. Parliamentary procedure in meetings is not followed like it used to be even in schools in the fourties and fifties.
We have to fundamentally change for the suggestions that are being made by Prof Sivakumaran. It has to start the change soon or we will not survive as a community. As Harry Belafonte sang, "The bucket has a hole in it ....." Our bucket has a hole in it and no one wants to admit it let alone fix it.
Ethir
Dairy Industry – Indian Case Study
Towards a Sustained Growth Path
During 1997, India became the largest milk producing country in the world.
Milk is the single largest agricultural commodity in value in the country, valued at approximately `400,000 crore (US$ 66.42 billion). The achievement in milk production is particularly significant because unlike developed milk producing countries which are in the temperate zone with a mild cli- mate, India is a tropical country with a hot and humid climate, not particularly conducive to milk production. Also, unlike these countries where milk is produced by a few thousand farmers with large herds, in India, it continues to be produced by millions of small farmers. Of the 150 odd million rural households in India, nearly half keep milch animals, which indicate the significance of dairying as a source of livelihood. Milk contributes to about one-third of gross income of rural households; in the case of landless households it is nearly half.
NDDB implemented Operation Flood in three phases between 1970 and 1996 with a total investment of over `1,700 crore (US$ 282.3 million). Operation Flood was launched to support an ambitious nationwide programme for development of milk production through an extensive network of village milk producers’ cooperatives which were federated to district unions which process and market the milk. It was financed through a combination of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP)/European Commission (EC) and loans from The World Bank.
It was the first programme in the world to use food aid for development. Gifted dairy commodities, i.e., milk powder and butter oil received as food aid played a twofold role. Firstly, the reconstituted milk from milk powder and butter oil enabled cooperatives to capture a dominant share of the market for milk and secondly, the funds generated from the sale of commodities were used to fund the establishment of the vast infrastructure required by cooperatives to link millions of farmer producers with the market. More importantly, the food aid was monetized at prices at par with the domestic market, which ensured that there was no adverse effect on the incentive for domestic milk production. Operation Flood, in fact, laid the foundation for self-reliance in milk with commercial imports of milk products ceasing by 1976.
By the end of Operation Flood, NDDB had provided technical and financial assistance to set up 15 state cooperative dairy federations, 170 district milk unions covering about 73,000 village dairy cooperative societies and about 93 lakh milk producers. Dairy cooperatives were procuring about 110 lakh kilograms per day and marketing close to 100 lakh litres of liquid milk per day. Operation Flood had supported the setting up of an aggregate processing capacity across the country of about 190 lakh litres of milk per day, milk powder manufacturing capacity of close to 1,000 MT per day and cattle feed manufacturing capacity of 5,200 MT per day. The stimulus provided between 1970 and 1996 resulted in milk production in the country in- creasing from 22 to 66.2 million metric tonnes. It also introduced modernisation in processes and product innovations in many traditional and western milk products. Notably, Operation Flood made dairying a remunerative occupation for millions of India’s rural people by linking them to a market. By 1997, India became the largest milk producing country in the world. Post Operation Flood, NDDB has continued to provide technical assistance and finance to cooperatives to enable them to expand and grow their operations. Today more than 149 lakh dairy farmers are members of about 1.5 lakh village dairy cooperatives and receive about `21,500 crore (US$ 3.57 billion) annually for their milk. NDDB has been encouraging participation of women in dairy cooperatives and nearly a third of the members in village dairy cooperatives are women.
NDDB is a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament (NDDB Act of 1987). Its support to the dairy farmers’ community is largely through the dairy cooperative net- work. The body assists cooperatives to pre- pare investment plans and provides financial assistance to dairy cooperatives for various activities. Developing human resource has been a major activity of NDDB. It also assists milk unions in promoting hygienic milk production processes through capacity building and infrastructure upgrades.
“Mission Milk–the next revolution” is the symbol for the National Dairy Plan (NDP) Phase I, to indicate the significance of the efforts required to sustain India not only as the largest milk producer in the world, but also in meeting the country’s requirements through domestic production. The NDP will put in place a scientific approach and systematic processes to take the country on a path to improving the genetics of milk producing animals in a consistent and continuous manner. With incomes rising, the demand for milk is also growing much faster and has been projected to reach 200–210 million tonnes by 2021-2022. NDP, financed by The World Bank and Government of India, is a multi-state initiative. It will work to increase the coverage of more milk producers by the organised sector comprising both the cooperative and private. India, as the largest milk producer in the world, has demonstrated that it is possible to be self-sufficient to meet the country’s growing requirements. It is now working towards sustainable and stable growth.
Dairy Industry – Indian Case Study
Towards a Sustained Growth Path
During 1997, India became the largest milk producing country in the world.
Milk is the single largest agricultural commodity in value in the country, valued at approximately `400,000 crore (US$ 66.42 billion). The achievement in milk production is particularly significant because unlike developed milk producing countries which are in the temperate zone with a mild cli- mate, India is a tropical country with a hot and humid climate, not particularly conducive to milk production. Also, unlike these countries where milk is produced by a few thousand farmers with large herds, in India, it continues to be produced by millions of small farmers. Of the 150 odd million rural households in India, nearly half keep milch animals, which indicate the significance of dairying as a source of livelihood. Milk contributes to about one-third of gross income of rural households; in the case of landless households it is nearly half.
NDDB implemented Operation Flood in three phases between 1970 and 1996 with a total investment of over `1,700 crore (US$ 282.3 million). Operation Flood was launched to support an ambitious nationwide programme for development of milk production through an extensive network of village milk producers’ cooperatives which were federated to district unions which process and market the milk. It was financed through a combination of food aid from the World Food Programme (WFP)/European Commission (EC) and loans from The World Bank.
It was the first programme in the world to use food aid for development. Gifted dairy commodities, i.e., milk powder and butter oil received as food aid played a twofold role. Firstly, the reconstituted milk from milk powder and butter oil enabled cooperatives to capture a dominant share of the market for milk and secondly, the funds generated from the sale of commodities were used to fund the establishment of the vast infrastructure required by cooperatives to link millions of farmer producers with the market. More importantly, the food aid was monetized at prices at par with the domestic market, which ensured that there was no adverse effect on the incentive for domestic milk production. Operation Flood, in fact, laid the foundation for self-reliance in milk with commercial imports of milk products ceasing by 1976.
By the end of Operation Flood, NDDB had provided technical and financial assistance to set up 15 state cooperative dairy federations, 170 district milk unions covering about 73,000 village dairy cooperative societies and about 93 lakh milk producers. Dairy cooperatives were procuring about 110 lakh kilograms per day and marketing close to 100 lakh litres of liquid milk per day. Operation Flood had supported the setting up of an aggregate processing capacity across the country of about 190 lakh litres of milk per day, milk powder manufacturing capacity of close to 1,000 MT per day and cattle feed manufacturing capacity of 5,200 MT per day. The stimulus provided between 1970 and 1996 resulted in milk production in the country in- creasing from 22 to 66.2 million metric tonnes. It also introduced modernisation in processes and product innovations in many traditional and western milk products. Notably, Operation Flood made dairying a remunerative occupation for millions of India’s rural people by linking them to a market. By 1997, India became the largest milk producing country in the world. Post Operation Flood, NDDB has continued to provide technical assistance and finance to cooperatives to enable them to expand and grow their operations. Today more than 149 lakh dairy farmers are members of about 1.5 lakh village dairy cooperatives and receive about `21,500 crore (US$ 3.57 billion) annually for their milk. NDDB has been encouraging participation of women in dairy cooperatives and nearly a third of the members in village dairy cooperatives are women.
NDDB is a statutory body set up by an Act of Parliament (NDDB Act of 1987). Its support to the dairy farmers’ community is largely through the dairy cooperative net- work. The body assists cooperatives to pre- pare investment plans and provides financial assistance to dairy cooperatives for various activities. Developing human resource has been a major activity of NDDB. It also assists milk unions in promoting hygienic milk production processes through capacity building and infrastructure upgrades.
“Mission Milk–the next revolution” is the symbol for the National Dairy Plan (NDP) Phase I, to indicate the significance of the efforts required to sustain India not only as the largest milk producer in the world, but also in meeting the country’s requirements through domestic production. The NDP will put in place a scientific approach and systematic processes to take the country on a path to improving the genetics of milk producing animals in a consistent and continuous manner. With incomes rising, the demand for milk is also growing much faster and has been projected to reach 200–210 million tonnes by 2021-2022. NDP, financed by The World Bank and Government of India, is a multi-state initiative. It will work to increase the coverage of more milk producers by the organised sector comprising both the cooperative and private. India, as the largest milk producer in the world, has demonstrated that it is possible to be self-sufficient to meet the country’s growing requirements. It is now working towards sustainable and stable growth.
Invest In Agriculture- Five Reasons To Start Today
In some ways, farmland is even better than gold or silver. At least farmland is an intrinsically useful thing. It provides a tangible yield in the form of good things from the earth. We all have to eat. As consumers trim their sails, they ‘ll give up a lot before they give up their calorie intake. In fact, worldwide, the per capita calorie intake is likely to rise, while quality soil will become a scarce commodity. Altogether, I see five big reasons why agriculture investments are as good as green gold.
Invest In Agriculture: Reason #1
Grain inventories are falling to their lowest levels in more than 40 years
Obviously, we can’t continue to dip into inventories. The natural response you would expect to see is raising prices for grains and for the farmland that produces them. Global grain inventories, drought pending, are expected to rise this year, but will still remain well below historical level.
The big thing to keep your eye on here is stocks-to-use ratio. That compares the amount we have on hand to the amount we’re using. The higher the number, the closer we are to having fully stocked granaries. In the case of big commodities like corn, wheat and soybeans, the cupboard’s pretty bare. Based on USDA numbers, the stocks-to-use ratio for 2013-2014 looks to be the second lowest in history.
U.S. ending stocks are projected to nearly double, going from 7 million metric tons to nearly 14 million metric tons. Many countries, even grain powerhouse Argentina, are still holding onto local supply by restricting exports.
Invest In Agriculture: Reason #2
Grain consumption is on the rise
The world consumes, on average, 2,600 bushels of grain crop per second. That’s almost twice what we ate back in 1974. And that amount could easily double to 5,200 bushels per second over the next 20 years. The amount of pressure on the global food supply network is enormous. You can see the steep downward trend in wheat supply in the chart below.
Why are we eating so much more grain? The big factor here is meat. Hundreds of millions of people in China and India are joining the middle class. As people get wealthier they eat more meat. And more meat requires more grains to feed cattle and hogs. It takes 10 pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. Because of that, most of the demand growth for coarse grain and oilseed meal will come from livestock in developing economies or the countries feeding them. So long as the middle class expands, you can be sure meat and grain consumption will follow. The Boom Has Only Just Begun.
Invest In Agriculture: Reason #3
Biofuels are driving agriculture demand up to new levels
Most every oil-consuming country has biofuel targets in place that will kick in over the next five years. These places include the U.S., the EU, Canada, Japan, Brazil, India and China. To meet their targets, according to work by Agcapita, we‘ll have to commit some 240 million acres to biofuel production. That represents about 50% of the arable land in North America and about 6% of all the arable land in the world.
Let’s consider ethanol alone for a moment, courtesy of some World Bank stats. From 2012-2013, U.S. biofuel use increased by 50 million tons, while world production increased only 51 million tons. That leaves only 1 million tons left over to cover a 33 million ton increase in the rest of corn demand the world over. Meaning we didn’t cover usage and caused the price to rise. By 2012, U.S. farmers were already planting every available acre with corn, the second biggest planting in 60 years, and producing one of the largest corn crops in history.
This helped push U.S. farmland values up to new record highs. Massachusetts farmland fetched the highest price at $18,200 per acre. As you can see, the biofuel craze puts more pressure on farmland demand. And, there are other pressures as well.
Invest In Agriculture: Reason #4
Arable land per person is falling
We are losing quality topsoil faster than we are replacing it. Quality soil is loose, clumpy, filled with air pockets and teeming with life. It’s a complex micro- ecosystem all its own. On average, the planet has little more than three feet of topsoil spread over its surface. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls it the shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food. Replacing it isn’t easy. It grows back an inch or two over hundreds of years.
This is not lost on certain farseeing investors. Jeremy Grantham, the curmudgeonly head of the money manager GMO, recently told his clients: Our farmers are in the mining business! Yes, the soil is incredibly deep, but it is still finite. For every bushel of wheat produced, we lose two bushels of topsoil.
We lose topsoil to development, erosion and desertification. Globally, it’s clear we are eroding soils at a rate much faster than they can form, notes John Reganold, a soils scientist at Washington State University. Estimates vary, but in the U.S., the National Academy of Sciences says we’re losing soil 10 times faster than it’s being replaced. The U.N. says that on a global basis, the rate of loss is 10-100 times faster than that of replacement.
In any case, it seems safe to say that good dirt is in short supply. This ensures a growing scarcity of good farmland, and plenty of countries including Saudi Arabia, China, and South Korea, that will pay for it at any price.
This little graphic below summarizes where we are in terms of arable land per person. For the first time ever we’re in danger of slipping below one acre per person. Of course we don‘t need 2.8 acres per person anymore, because of advances in agriculture over time. But gains in yield per acre are slowing. Over the last 40 years, we’ve increased the yield per acre by 2.1% per year. But the pace of those gains is slowing. Since 2000, the increase in yields per acre has averaged less than 1% per year.
We may see new innovations in seeds or other technology that we can scarcely imagine now. But any solution will take time and money to implement. Meanwhile, the world’s agriculture markets just get tighter and tighter.
Invest In Agriculture: Reason #5
Low water supplies cut down farm productivity
China is a biggie to watch when it comes to food supply dynamics. It feeds 20% of the world’s population on only 10% of the world’s arable land and with only 6% of its water. China’s water tables are falling too. In parts of its traditional breadbasket in the north production of wheat and corn is in jeopardy. Chinese officials are well aware of this urgent need.
As the Financial Times reports: The country is investing heavily in agriculture. Its agriculture budget increased 27% in 2007, 38% in 2008, and about 20% in 2009. No other big country, barring India, has increased spending on farming so much, says the FT. Still, increasing output will be a challenge.
One British study suggests that if China imports to meet just 5% more of its grain demand, it could swallow all the world’s exported grain. In 2007 and 2008, China imported practically zero wheat. However, today imports are on the rise, sometimes increasing over 100% from month to month. Part of that’s due to drought, which we can expect a lot more of in China as the years roll on and the water table decreases even more.
It also means that any way to secure better water supplies will be worth its weight in gold. Growing crops and keeping livestock hydrated uses three-quarters of the world’s water. That’s a lot of water, and China already doesn’t have enough.
A United Nations report puts it in stark terms: The population of China, India, Pakistan, and other big Asian countries will grow 1.5 billion by 2050, doubling the continent’s food demand. Some of the best returns this decade will come from agriculture investing, and the kinds of companies that keep us supplied with water, food, and energy. Position your portfolio accordingly.
Proposed FARMER COMPANIES in Northern Province
The economic liberalization and the booming stock markets touched upon the progressive growth and urban life. The rural population is yet to catch up with the progress as part of overall inclusive growth. Natural resource management, agriculture production, value addition, storage and marketing at several levels of local, national and international are yet to take place in advantage of rural population for inclusive growth. The rural farming communities should have a fair stake in the progress and that will strengthen the economy and rural prosperity.
One of the best instruments under the "inclusive growth" in promoting rural vibrancy is agriculture production by farmer collectives, which will sustain the economic strength. This can be achieved by farmer induced quality production, value addition, storage and marketing. The farmer collectives can be "Farmer Owned Companies" and is more relevant under the economic liberalization and market economy. Farmers should have the first economic benefit rather than investors, middleman, non-agriculture enterprises and urban elites. The finance, technology, infrastructure, marketing and management have to be bridged together and work for the rural revitalization, which will contribute towards a marching economy reflecting the removal of rural poverty. The farmer owned companies can come up in the rural areas and at least one in every Pradeshya Saba area (Divisional Secretariat Division) and potential agriculture production areas. Farmers are to be motivated, empowered, educated and capacitated to set up "Farmer Owned Companies" under the legal provisions and law of the land.
Civil society organizations, NGOs, corporates, farmers bodies, financial institutions, and development agencies working for the cause of small and marginal farmers can help in setting up the farmer companies. Farmers require support due to the fact that they are primarily producers and not professionals in the field of organizational set up and company matters.
Farmer Producer Company
· Minimum 5 Directors are required
· Minimum 10 primary producer members or two producer institutional members and maximum any number
· Only primary producer can be member or producer institutions.
· Only One type of Share Equity
· Only one vote irrespective of number of shares held.
· Shares can be transferred only to primary producer on price consideration
· Shares are not open to investors and FIs
· No conversion is possible, but registered multi state cooperatives and cooperatives can be converted to FPCs and vice versa.
· Internal audit is compulsory
· Donations can be made only up to 3% of the net profit.
· Not investor friendly and more procedural than private limited and limited.
Major constraints in agriculture sector in rural areas is lack of infrastructural facilities such as intermediate collection centers, Godowns, transport, farm implements, affordable quality inputs, technology, quality extension, investment on natural resources, credit facilities, secondary agriculture activities and marketing. Politically inspired bad habit of non-repayment of loans and non-fulfillment of promise of subsidies by the Government has created severe damage to the actual production of agriculture in quality and quantity thus contributing to rural poverty.
The other problems are farmer literacy, small land holdings, and insufficient quantity of production to set up secondary agricultural activities in a given location of singular villages. The solution is farmer collective endeavors.
While looking ahead, the current possibility is to start with the set up of private limited owned by the farmers' collectives and moving towards limited company if the need is there. The farmer collectives can be a registered body under Society Act or mutually benefit public trust.
The farmer limited should be set up as an independent entity from a group of local farmer organizations either severally or jointly in a convenient geographical area.
Lead promoter can be a Civil Society Organization or NGO, farmer’s organisations and village bodies. The promoting organization can put in one promoter director in the management set up of the farmer limited. The Investor Bank can be included in the board of directors. Two or three farmers can be the board of directors representing farmer share holders (LCAs).Care has to be taken to see that the Farmer Limited will not go forward the way the cooperatives moved ahead and got stagnated and disengaged from the goal of keeping farmers economic benefit. The Farmer Owned Companies will be run by professional staff team. The Farmer Owned Company Board will function professionally and not politically.