Pri's blog

Was at the first half of a talk by Godfrey Gunatilleke on A Vision for Sri Lanka – 2025& 2035 – pre-requisites of  Very High Human Development, organized by the Marga Institute and the Gamani Corea Foundation a couple of weeks ago.  These events are amazing for bringing together all the old guard who played such a strong role in Sri Lanka’s development: Chandi Chanmugam, Lloyd Fernando, Nimal Sanderatne and many others.  Unfortunately, representation of  the future generations of Sri Lankans, and of  women of all age groups (there were not more than 10 women in the audience, and of course none on the panel) was woefully inadequate.  Which really is a pity. There should be a space where the young can learn at the feet of the gurus  and maybe even challenge them! The agenda began with Godfrey Gunatilleke presenting his paper, followed by Saman Kelegama, Indrajit Coomaraswamy and Nishan de Mel responding.  I was only there for the presenta...

I knew two women who died in the Park Palace Guest House in Kabul last week , gunned down by the Taliban.  Paula Kantor had been working with AREU, one of the organizations in the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium , and even after she left, we had an exchange of emails regarding Gayathri’s work on women and fisheries.  Martha Farell was the wife of Rajesh Tandon, and a leading figure in PRIA.  I had never met her, but Rajesh facilitated CEPA’s Strategic Planning last year and helped put us (and definitely me) on the right track.  Both were brave, committed women.  Let us celebrate their contribution to making the world a better place and grieve for their loved ones and colleagues.  Rest in Peace,Paula. Rest in Peace Martha.    Paula and Martha’s deaths are a stark reminder, as someone on the SLRC email list observed, that fragility is more than just a concept. it  is a matter of life and death.  There has been the devastati...