Eschew commercial use of children on TV

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

Sisira Tennakoon was one among 44 war heroes that felt the warm touch of the leader of the country who gave them the strong political backing to defeat the world’s most ruthless terrorists - the LTTE.

On July 26, he heard the President saying “ Well done”. He smiled but couldn’t utter a word or see the President as the 26-year-old was blind and lost his speech three years back.

Sisira, a Private attached to the Gajaba Regiment lost the right eye and injured the left eye, lost speech and has been suffering from recurrent fits since June 5, 2008 after he was caught in a mortar blast by the LTTE while he was fighting in Mankulam.

He received treatment at the Ranaviru Hospital Ragama and later lived in his home in Ippologama, Kakirawe in the Anuradhapura district. He became a resident in the Abimansala, a wellness resort which would provide lifetime care for the totally dependent disabled war heroes.

Abimansala

As he cannot express his happiness, he only smiles when asked about the moment that he felt the caring touch of the leader - President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who knows the heartbeat of the brave soldiers and also committed to look after them, who sacrificed their lives and limbs to bring peace to the country.

At the opening ceremony, the President registered the first disabled war hero to be admitted to the resort. Visiting all sections of the resort, he spoke with all the disabled war heroes at the Abimansala, where there are 157 staffers, including doctors and specialists in various fields on duty to provide specialised post injury care that is essential for the survival of the disabled soldiers.

President Rajapaksa addressing the parents and students at the annual prize-giving at Thurstan College, Colombo, stressed that it was the responsibility of parents, adults and teachers to provide protection not only to the child but also to his growing mind.

He said that it was the school that plants the seeds of success, patience and wisdom that is required for anyone to become a great personality in the future. “Even though one can learn by oneself by means of today’s advanced information technology, the technology cannot deliver what students obtain for their lives through interaction at school. The art of building up interpersonal relationships, and opportunities for understanding humanity are primarily provided by school”.

Some are of the view that success in examinations via self-study leads to success in life but such endeavours often produce egocentric individuals who do not feel for their country or care about their parents and siblings. Our social system that segregates children into Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim schools, and later advises them not to have boundaries, is flawed. Having planted seeds of hatred from the onset, subsequent attempts at harmonising are of little or no avail”.

Children

“The electronic media freely use children in commercial programs according to their agenda, which is encouraged by parents. Although the media renders a significant service to promote skills and abilities of the children of our country, priority must be placed not on popularity or profit, but the child’s childness”, he said.

President Rajapaksa called upon all political leaders in the Asian region to get together to overcome the challenges now faced by the fisheries and aquaculture sectors at present.

Delivering the keynote address at the Asian Regional Ministerial Meeting on Aquaculture for Food Security, Nutrition and Economic Development, held in Colombo he stressed the need of having policy initiatives such as strong trading standards, removing non-tariff barriers and eliminating unfair trading practices for the welfare of the fish farmers.

“We often read today of how fish is our last wild food and that our oceans are being picked clean. We learn of factory trawlers that scrape the ocean floor threatening the livelihoods of fishing communities in countries and regions. These trawlers are commercial operations while the small time fisherman goes out fishing as a means of day to day living.

This meeting is most timely because the natural habitat of fish is being gravely threatened and Aquaculture development is of special importance”, he said.

Fishries

“It is remarkable that the Asian region with its vast fisheries resources produces more than 90% of the world’s farmed fish. This reflects the importance of Aquaculture for food security, nutrition, and economic development. But, as in many other sectors of food production essential to humankind, fisheries is also greatly threatened today.

If there is a lesson I can draw from our few successes, it is that political commitment is the key to sustaining the goal of any initiative. Place this in the larger context of our region and political commitment becomes an even more crucial element. This raises the important question as to how, we in the Asian Region can direct and sustain political leadership and commitment to fisheries and Aquaculture development.

We see from experience today that individual States can work together more effectively to achieve common goals, especially, if they provide the means and resources for regional associations to become stronger. Therefore, political leadership and commitment must also be backed with enough resources.

An expanded regional initiative can only be sustained by having both political leadership and adequate resources. That we are not lacking in political commitment will be seen when we adopt the “Colombo Declaration” tomorrow. It is a political commitment to “Regional Cooperation in Aquaculture Development for Food Security, Nutrition and Economic Development in Asia”.

But there is another challenge. We have to provide the resources as well. For this purpose, I think the way forward would be to establish a Common Regional Fund that will in the future become a Common Global Fund for responsible Aquaculture.

If you think this is an idea worth looking at, I believe that in this gathering there is plenty of experience to develop the mechanism for such a fund. Let us not miss such a golden opportunity.

The fisheries resources are over-exploited and the physical resources to produce more fish are fast reaching their limits to yield more under available technology. You meet today facing the challenge of the world having to produce thirty million more tons of fish per year by 2030 to feed an ever growing population.

Sri Lanka is now catching up with what we lost during three decades when terrorism deprived us of so much of development. It prevented fishing and fish farming in the North and East from getting the same attention as in other provinces. For many years, fishing in the northern and eastern waters had to be prohibited or greatly restricted.

Today, with peace prevailing, we are moving to massive national development in every sector including fisheries. We have given a special place for Aquaculture and fisheries for a major role in food production, job creation and income generation.

These programs are spread throughout the country today with an added emphasis in the North and East to give the people there, a better life free of the fear and threats of terror.

It is important today to look at where we stand in regional cooperation on Aquaculture. When the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) was established in 1990 dedicated to Aquaculture development, Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to ratify the agreement.

It was a gesture of our commitment to practical regional cooperation in an important area of development. Since then, NACA has become a strong organisation that serves our region and beyond too in Aquaculture development. I am happy that NACA is now headed by a fellow Sri Lankan Professor Sena de Silva.

These hopes and challenges make it urgent to commit the Asian political leadership in fisheries and Aquaculture to collectively face the problems that will diminish the welfare of our people. This is the challenge we all face today.

There are many issues of international politics and governance that affect Aquaculture and fisheries. Product marketing in compliance with various international trading standards is a serious problem to developing countries and to the small scale fish farmers who produce the most of Asia’s Aquaculture output. Just as in any other agricultural commodity, we must address this situation politically”, he said.

“The teaching profession is a noble profession and teachers have a responsibility to steer the students on the correct path. It is their duty and obligation to prepare students to serve the motherland”, the President said at a ceremony held at Temple Trees to hand over appointment letters to 3,174 aesthetic graduates, recruited as government teachers.

He said that it was the first time such a large number of aesthetic teachers were recruited to the government service in Sri Lanka and the teachers have a great capability to mould the future generation and they should render an honourable service to the society and be committed to fulfil their duties to the fullest.

Report

Meanwhile, the report compiled by the Defence Ministry titled ‘Humanitarian Operations, Factual Analysis’ was handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa at Temple Trees.