News in brief
Jayantha Perera Rear Admiral
Commodore Jayantha Perera has been promoted to the rank of Rear
Admiral, and appointed as the Commander of the Southern Province.
Earlier he served as the Naval Media spokesman, Director Operations
and Deputy Commander of Trincomalee.
Smart card driving licence
The Department of Motor Traffic plans to introduce a smart card
driving licence from next year to replace the current driving licence.
The IT enabling the development of the digital driving licence is to be
carried out by Metropolitan Advanced Technologies (Pvt) Limited on a
Built Operate Transfer basis over seven years.
Maize cultivation programme
A South Korean company joined the maize cultivation programme of the
North Central Province by agreeing to set up a bio diesel factory. The
Korean firm has agreed to set up the factory in Medawachchiya and
farmers will be encouraged to cultivate 2,000 acres of maize to supply
the factory, according to the North Central Provincial Council.
Probe on pharmaceuticals fraud
The Ministry of Health is investigating a massive fraud on
pharmaceuticals received as tsunami aid. Ministry sources said that the
stocks of pharmaceuticals sent to the Ampara hospital in the Eastern
province have not been properly entered in inventories and a pharmacist
is suspected of selling them to private pharmacies.
100% literacy by 2011
The Ministry of Education plans to achieve a 100 percent literacy
rate by 2011, according to Education Minister Susil Premajayantha. He
said the Ministry of Education will launch two main initiatives to
achieve this target. Under the first step, the parents of all children
who are over three years will be motivated to send their children to
pre-schools.
After the pre-school education the Ministry will direct the children
to the school system.
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