Cargills donates grape seedlings to Jaffna farmers
and to learn gender equality results from ADB projects. In accepting the lapses on their part on the issues under discussion, Ms Rahubadda said "I hope this meeting will be an eye-opener for us on how to design womenfriendly cities and gender incorporated projects".
She said that according to the World Bank Global Poverty Monitoring, nearly 40% of the world's poor who earn less than one dollar per day live in South Asia. She said that according to the World Health Organization there should be one public toilet for every 100 people and observed that poverty-stricken women in urban areas have no choice but to share public toilets, sometimes with men.
Ms Rahubadda said that the women who work in market places suffer urinary tract infections and kidney stone ailments, as they limit their daily intake of water to avoid going to the toilet. She said that in every city there should be clean public toilets and most importantly there should be separate toilets for women, because their reproductive cycle demands the need for clean water.
At the tea recess, the Business Times (BT) asked Ms Rahubadda why toilets in the city of Colombo built during colonial times had been destroyed and replaced by shops. The sparingly few toilets that have now been built charge Rs 10 per person and whether it was fair to levy a fee mostly the poor, for a public utility that the government should provide?
She did not answer but referred the BT to Ms Bhadrani Jayawardhane, Municipal Commissioner, Colombo Municipal Council who said the fee was necessary to maintain the toilets.
Cargills last week donated seedless grapes plants to Jaffna farmers under a trial cultivation launched in northern Sri Lanka.
Sonaka and Sharad seedless grapes plants were imported and donated to Jaffna farmers by Cargills on Saturday. The seedlings were distributed at the Department of Agriculture Training Centre in Thirunelvelli, Jaffna with Northern Province Governor Major General GS Chandrasiri gracing the occasion along with Dr. Jagdish Katyal, Director Consultant - Cargills Agribusiness and other Cargills officials. Cargills planned to distribute 5000 plants for the Jaffna grape cultivators, but only 2000 seedlings had arrived with plans for the balance 3000 plants to be distributed in coming weeks. The project is part of the National Horticultural (NHA Project), a joint project of Car-
Social Indicator (SI), the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, is conducting a ‘Feedback on 2012 Census’ survey on the latest population and housing census.
SI said the enumeration stage, which was during 27th February - 21st March 2012, has now been concluded and every single household in Sri Lanka should have shared the gills Agrifoods Limited and USAID which focuses on improving the current state of fruit and vegetable farmers and palmyrah tappers of the Northern Province. The total project investment is Rs. 222 million, shared by USAID (Rs. 92.5 million) and Cargills (Rs. 129.5 million). The project primarily aims to enhance income and employability of the farmers and tappers. Dr. Jagdish Katyal noted relevant information with the census data collectors by now.
The census by the Department of Census & statistics is the first in 30 years to cover all districts in the island. It is also far more detailed than the ones held in previous years and sought to obtain, from each citizen and each household, information beyond the basic demographic details.
This included infor- that this project was of special significance towards uplifting the Northern agriculture sector. "Grapes are an iconic crop for Jaffna farmers but today they find it extremely challenging to compete with imported seedless grape varieties. Cargills took on the challenge of importing two seedless grape varieties and we have succeeded," he said. Cargills has said it will purchase the grape production from the farmers through vegetable collection centres established in Jaffna district. S. Sivakumar Director Agrarian Services, Northern Province said grapes are a marketable crop in Sri Lanka. Farmers spent an average Rs 81 to produce one kg of grapes which they then sell at Rs 200 per kg. Grapes are grown across 110 acres in the north.
Cargills partnered by the USAID would also be setting up a fruit and vegetable processing plant in Kilinochchi which would be a major boost towards agriculture development in the Northern region. mation about internal migration, education and occupation details, information about housing units, literacy and disabilities of individuals, ownership of electronic items, access to Internet etc – making the final report and data set a valuable source of information not only for the Government, but also for academics, researchers and those working in the development sector, an SI media release said.
SI has invited the public to share their opinion about the 2012 census, asking four questions - Feedback on enumeration stage, Feedback on content - Questions that should have been asked (but were not), Communication equipment and Internet usage. The site for this initiative is - https://cen 2012.wordpress.com
The advantage of having efficient functional airports to any country cannot be overestimated. Airports are the gateway to the globalised world. They are absolutely interconnected - means no country can act in isolation in matters related to airport security. This implies any lapses in airport security in country ‘A’ would be a threat to country ‘B’ or some other country elsewhere. Terrorism has no boundaries in this contemporary world. The impact of terrorism is all-pervasive. They proved it with a significant and unprecedented manner by way of attacking World Trade Centre in New York on 11 September 2001 (9/11 attack).
Prof. Paul Wilkinson, British terrorism expert, once made an excellent remark – “fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you”. Security professionals know the value of this maxim more than anyone else. Soon after the 9/11 attack launched by Al-qaeda, almost all airports in the world (and in the US) strengthened its security. This is due to the fear of a domino effect. Since then much has been done, and much money has been spent.
However one needs to pose the question: Does these security measures make us safe now than we were before 9/11?
I do not intend to discuss the modus operandi of the well-orchestrated terrorist attacks or the mechanisms used by terrorists. But I need you to be placed in their shoes for a while. Any terrorist organisation needs recognition. One of the best tools in achieving this is by way of effective propaganda. Propaganda is essential to achieve the long-term strategy or cause of any terrorist group. The nature and the glamour of a terrorist attack, James-bond type, will automatically be given a blaze of publicity. This is absolutely true in the light of suicide terrorism. Nearly impossible to thwart once launched, a suicide terrorist attack is one of the most difficult forms of terrorism to counter. Thus it needs to be identified beforehand and must be nipped in the bud. Given the consideration to much wider readership, journalists are eager to write on terror-stricken attacks, rather suicide terrorism which is unequivocally the most brutal in nature. By and large, that’s the job of a journalist.
There is a psychological factor which goes beyond the material damage caused by a terrorist attack. When terrorist acts occur, people generally look for ways to cope with the acute stress and trauma. These are the long-term repercussions. Needless to say, the hijacking of a commercial flight with hundreds of passengers, or use it for a suicide mission equivalent of 9/11 attack, will certainly create a big hue and cry globally. The tsunami killed more than 230,000 people in 14 countries whereas the 9/11 attack killed just over 3000 people which is a very low figure in comparison with the former. Nevertheless, the publicity given to the 9/11 attack has been enormous. A plethora of books and articles have been written on the 9/11 attack. Avalanche of counter-terrorism strategies have been formulated by security experts and think-tanks. This is the power and secret behind the art and glamour of attack. The tact and means, articulation of the attack, used to achieve the target matters. Let that be a lesson to us.
In this context, the best strategy is to apprehend the terrorists prior to executing the attack. This will affect negatively the morale of other terrorist members in the network, sometimes any other terrorist member elsewhere. Most probably this paves the way to cause a change in the mindset of a well-motivated suicide terrorist. He may abandon the plan due to the fear of being caught in advance. Suicide terrorists, driven by fanaticism, would rather prefer being killed than being caught. Hence, it’s the ability of security experts to apprehend the terrorists in advance. But this is similar to the hide-and-seek game in some degree. It’s a never-ending process. It is easy to criticise security systems in place with the benefit of hindsight but there is no one-size-fits-all criterion in security. Security authorities should not treat this as an evasion of their responsibility.
Airport security is the last line of defence, and it is not a very good one. It is as clear as day, but if other lines fail this last line of defence would be decisive. The fact that it is the last line of defence does not mean that we undervalue it. A large number of safe arrivals of airline passengers around the world since the 9/11 attack mean that whatever the annoying and seemingly obtuse airport-security measures may have been, they have been ultimately successful. These are the responses to real threats many of which the public will never know about. But they require passengers to suffer minor hassles for the good of all. Reluctantly, passengers have to do some degree of sacrifice. Surveys show that passengers will accept more inconvenience if it makes them feel safer, and airport security does this.
It’s a fact that airport security measures after 9/11 have been strengthened almost in every airport globally. Even domestic airports followed suit. It has caused lot of difficulties to passengers, I agree. Because of these extra efforts on security we are not exactly aware of the number of attacks given up by terrorists since 9/11. Scores of attacks must have never been attempted due to the stringent security measures in place at airports. Practically speaking, such numbers are not recorded in any statics. You can expect tangible profits in business but not in the business of security. Apparently, most of the results are unseen or unaccounted for. Such is the nature of security management. Human life is priceless so it cannot be compared with billions of rupees or dollars spend on security. It is undeniable that the cost has been great, but the question is, "Did the changes in airport security after 9/11 do more harm than good?" Every one of us who has flown since then did so safely in the face of dozens of attempted attacks against us. Since the 9/11 attack there has been no recorded suicidal attack by air. Passengers have respected the stringent security measures at the airports. Old-fashioned and ill-adapted security measures at airports were replaced by state-of the-art apparatus and tehniques. Anyway, 9/11 occurred more than a decade ago. Gradually a majority started to believe that changes made to airport security since 9/11 attack have done more harm than good. This is the nature of human beings. Obviously, relaxed security measures enable you as a passenger to enjoy speedy service and convenience atmosphere at airports – a seemingly stupid idea. I have one question for passengers who demand ease of security measures at airports; do you want to be lulled into a false sense of security?