2022-12-14
News Categories : Committee News
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment recently discussed at length whether the Sinhala name of the national flower of Sri Lanka is ‘Mahanel’ or ‘Nil Mahanel’.
This was discussed at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment, chaired by the Minister of Environment Hon. Nasir Ahmed recently in Parliament.
Mrs. Deepthi Yakandawala, Senior Professor of the Department of Botany, University of Peradeniya and Mr. Kapila Yakandawala, Senior Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management, University of Wayamba, delivered a lengthy presentation on the unresolved and controversial issue of what is the national flower of Sri Lanka for many years.
As presented by Professor Yakandawala, the national flower of Sri Lanka was announced on February 26, 1986. The national flower has been officially declared as the ‘Blue Water Lily’ by a cabinet paper. But the professor said that a photo of a ‘Purple Water Lily’ is used to depict the ‘Blue water Lily’.
Accordingly, in 2010, the professor and others informed the President, the Minister of Environment, the Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, and the Director of the Biodiversity Secretariat of this mistake that made in 1986. Accordingly, in 2015, an accurate photo of the national flower has been included. But in 2015, the Ministry of Environment published a photo of the correct flower, while declaring the Sinhala name of Sri Lanka's national flower is ‘Manel’, the English name is ‘Blue Water Lily’ and the Tamil name is ‘Nilothpalam’.
The Ministry of Environment pointed out that the reason for the change of the name ‘Nil Manel’ to ‘Manel’ was based on the opinion expressed by the veteran Sinhala language expert, Prof. Wimal G. Balagalle on the national flower. According to his opinion, it has been suggested that the Sinhala name of the national flower should be used as ‘Manel’, since the meaning of ‘Manel’ is the noblest blue flower.
Prof. Yakandawala emphasized that according to the globally accepted standards of plant classification, the scientific name may be subject to change, but the common names used in the general public, which have a very long history, should not be changed.
Both Professors pointed out that ‘Manel’ is a common name and since there are many types of ‘Manel’ (Water Lilies) in Sri Lanka, such as Purple Water Lilies, White Water Lilies, Blue Water Lilies, etc., the Sinhala name of national flower of Sri Lanka should be chosen as ‘Nil Manel’ (Blue Water Lily).
The professor pointed out that the Blue Water Lily has met all the criteria considered by the National Flower Selection Committee in 1986, such as endemicity, utility, historical and cultural significance, etc.
Prof. Deepti Yakandawala mentioned that the ‘Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau’ has issued a stamp with a picture of the Blue Water Lily and it is not the real flower but a picture of a wrong flower. She also pointed out that the text books contain an image of a wrong flower and not only in schools but also in some higher education institutes, they are teaching by showing the picture of a wrong flower.
Also, these two researchers are of the opinion that not only in books but also those sold as Blue Water Lilies near religious places are not real Blue Water Lilies.
Addressing the committee the Minister emphasized that an expert committee has been appointed by the Prime Minister to consider this matter and to present recommendations. The Members of Parliament who spoke about the matter pointed out that it is a matter of national importance that a definite decision should be taken soon.
Apart from this, the activities of the institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Environment were also discussed at length in the Consultative Committee.
Several Parliamentarians also participated in this meeting and a group of officials including Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment were also present.
An image of a Blue Water Lilly which was included in the Cabinet Paper in 2015, sent by Prof. Yakandawala is attached for your reference.
2024-09-20
The Committee on High Posts which met recently (Sep. 18) in Parliament has given its approval for the nomination of the Ambassador of Sri Lanka designated to the State of Kuwait.Accordingly, the Committee on High Posts considered the nomination of Mr. L.P. Ratnayake as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the State of Kuwait and has approved same.Hon. Vidura Wickramanayaka, Hon. (Dr.) (Mrs.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Hon. Udaya Gammanpila were present at this meeting of the Committee on High Posts Chaired by Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Speaker.
2024-09-09
The report of the Select Committee of Parliament to look into whether the child malnutrition issue in Sri Lanka is aggravating and to identify short term, medium term, and long-term measures to be taken in that regard, as well as to oversee the speedy implementation of the identified measures was presented to Parliament by Member of Parliament, Hon. Rohini Kumari Wijerathna on behalf of the Select Committee Chair Hon. Vadivel Suresh recently (04). The Report presents that child undernutrition can be presented in four forms such as stunting (low length/height for age), wasting (low weight for length/ height or low BMI for age), underweight (low weight for age) and, micro nutrient deficiencies/ insufficiencies - a lack/ inadequacy of important vitamins and minerals. The Report further states that babies born with a birth weight of 2500 grams or less are considered to be low birth weight and according to the National Nutrition and Micronutrient Survey conducted in 2022, the prevalence of low birth weight in a nationally representative sample was 15.9%. The June 2023 Nutrition Month report identified an increase in underweight and stunting among infants and children up to two years of age compared to 2022. The most alarmingly high underweight rate of 24.6% was recorded in Nuwara Eliya district, where one in every four children was identified as moderately or severely underweight, the report said. In June 2023, the proportion of children affected by poverty in Sri Lanka is 10%, according to this report. 1.2% of all children under the age of 5 are affected by severe acute malnutrition and numerically nearly 16,000 children suffer from such acute malnutrition. The Nutrition Month 2023 report revealed a 10.3% increase in stunting among children under the age of five, an increase of 9.2% from the previous year. The report has revealed that the causes of chronic malnutrition, which are short or short in height compared to children of the same age, occur over time. Meanwhile, according to the survey conducted in 2022, a nationally representative sample of children aged 5-18 years found that shortness, overweight and obesity increase with age. The report has shown that lack of food security at the household level has also contributed to malnutrition. Due to the economic crisis in the year 2022, 98% of the entire population has been affected by the increase in food prices, and as a result, 74% of the households could not afford to buy food or daily essentials in the last six months of that year, according to the report. The number of food insecure households increased to 24% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 17% in March 2023. A third of all families have reduced the frequency of cooking or limited their consumption and a quarter live on food from neighbors. The report provides conclusions and recommendations for improving child nutrition. It emphasized the importance of immediate attention to children before they become chronically malnourished. The report also emphasized the need for adequately skilled field health staff to provide quality Maternal and Child Nutrition (MCN) services for Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programs. The report also emphasized that vitamin A supplementation should be considered again before this becomes a problem again, as vitamin A supplementation has been discontinued for school children. The need for urgent action to improve the food security status of families with children under the age of five has also been highlighted. The report also recommends using existing health management information systems to identify focal areas of malnutrition in children and to map risk to address malnutrition in order to identify the most vulnerable families and causal factors. A number of short, medium and long-term recommendations have been presented in this report, including uninterrupted supply of nutritional supplements to pregnant mothers and malnourished children, control of prices of those ingredients to ensure affordable availability of ingredients for a healthy and low-cost diet, the implementation and monitoring of pre-school feeding program, school feeding program and school canteen guidelines to provide quality food.
2024-09-06
The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Food Security & Agriculture went on an observation visit in Gampaha (Minuwangoda) area on August 28 for the survey of paddy harvest obtained through the use of environmentally friendly fertilizer. The main objective of the Committee was to successfully introduce environmentally friendly fertilizer to the Sri Lankan agriculture and it was decided in this Committee that the fertilizer products should be tested in the main paddy growing area. Under the guidance of the Committee Chair Hon. D. Weerasingha, the eco-friendly fertilizer usage program was implemented in 7 provinces and Mahaweli Zones B, C and H in the 2024 yala season, post observing the successful results of paddy demonstrations in Welikanda and Dehiattakandiya areas using environmentally friendly fertilizers in the 2023/2024 Maha season. This observation tour took place in accordance to the said. Officials of the Sectoral Oversight Committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Development, Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute, Agricultural Research Policy Council, National Fertilizer Secretariat, Department of Census and Statistics and Western Provincial Department of Agriculture were present during this program. Under the above program, the program related to the Western Province was conducted under the supervision of the Western Province Agriculture Department and the harvest survey was conducted by the Census and Statistics Department. The overall coordination of the program was done by the National Institute of Fundamental Studies.
2024-08-22
The research report on the gender pay gap was presented to Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Speaker of Parliament and Hon. Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition recently (Aug. 08) by Hon. (Dr.) (Mrs.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Chair of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus. This report was prepared by a group of researchers including the Women and Media Collective under the leadership of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus. Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Member of Parliament, Co-Deputy Chair of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus, Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna, Hon. Eran Wickramaratne Member of Parliament were also present at this event. Addressing the gathering, Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Speaker stated that it is important to formulate legislation and new policies to change these wage inequalities. Furthermore, the Hon. Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition stated that provisions should be included in the constitution so that these rights can be upheld. The Caucus Chair pointed out that in order to eliminate this gender wage disparity, there should also be a change in the attitudes among the people in the society. Mrs. Kushani Rohanadeera, Secretary General of the Parliament and the Secretary of the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus, thanked everyone who contributed towards the success of this work. Commenting on this research report, the research team led by Dr Sepali Kottegoda, Executive Director of the Women and Media Collective stated that the gender pay gap in the Sri Lankan labor market is primarily and closely linked to unpaid care services. The researchers highlighted that women are under-represented in high-wage industries, concentrated in low-paid service roles, and a significant proportion of women are engaged in part-time work and unpaid domestic care services. Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, Women and Media Collective, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), National Democratic Institute (NDI) other invitees were present at this event.
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