Archive for July, 2008

THE ROLE OF A NEWSSPAPER

July 26, 2008 · Filed under community · Tagged , ,

Wretten By :-Lasantha Jayanath

Newspapers play an important role in the society. They bring us news from all parts of the world. Newspapers have become an indispensable feature in modern life.

Some newspapers are published daily while the others are published weekly. There are four Sinhala daily newspapers and three English daily newspapers in Sri Lanka today. There are two Tamil daily Newspapers too.

A newspaper is considered the cheapest means to get all information and local and foreign news. There are several sources of getting information today. Among them newspapers play an important role? A newspaper provides us news on every field. Pages of a newspaper are allocated for each field. We read local news, foreign news, obituaries, sports news, political news, news on crimes, advertisements on various products, editorial and articles written by distinguished writers. The editorial of a newspaper voices the public opinion. The articles are written on political, social, educational and cultural topics.

A democratic country like Sri Lanka has a free press. They have the right of expressing their ideas independently.

Newspaper educate the people. They keep us well informed. They bring us news on natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, severe droughts, earth slips, cyclones and major accidents like plane crashes with pictures. Newspaper publishing companies get news through various ways. They get foreign news through news agencies and through reporters. They get local news through provincial correspondents. The provincial correspondents send their urgent news through Fax Machines and over the Telephones.

A news paper helps to form public opinion on many burning issues.

The service rendered by a newspaper is enormous. Newspapers help rulers to fulfill the shortcomings in the society. They also reveal various corruptions committed by government officials and also about the waste of public funds.

A national newspaper can be considered the water – dog of the nation. It renders a sacred duty. A newspaper should always be truthful and impartial. Then only it will be popular among its readers.

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Komarica – Aloe Barbandensis Mill

July 26, 2008 · Filed under Heritage · Tagged ,

Written By:- Lasantha Jayanath

This is a herbal medicine. Green in colour the leaves have thorny edges. The most valuable part is the centre of the leaf, while it is very cool when touched. A very special feature of this herb is that it can be grown in pots as well as on the grand. It is used to treat burn injuries. Because of its cooling and slimy effect it can be applied to reduce burn and to cause a soothing effect. In the past almost any home in the village would not fail to have a komerika plant in the garden.
Another special feature of this plant is that a leaf once cut through the middle will grow again. It docs not require any fertilizer. It grows almost any where. It even grows between rocks and on sandy soil. A leaf is about eighteen inches in length. A bush will have around 8 to 10 leaves. It can be stated that komarika is an essential plant in the lives of people.

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BEGGARS PROBLEM IN SRI LANKA.

July 20, 2008 · Filed under community · Tagged , ,

Reported by: Lasantha Jayanath
Hundreds of beggars, both young and old, can be seen in our populour cities like Colombo, kandy and kurunegala. Thousands of  other beggars go from house to house in rural areas.

 They have taken to begging as they do not have homes any means of living and also as they do not have homes of their own. This situation has been arisen due to various factors prevailing in our society. Poverty, parental death and illness, loss of parental love and affection and loss of love and affection of their children are some of them. The number of beggars is increasing day by day.

 Most of the beggars are not disabled. Most of them are able bodied. They can earn money by doing some sort of work. But they beg because they are lazy. They think that begging is the easiest way of living.

 Sometimes, beggars become a nuisance to tourists. They drag after the tourists grumbling until they are given something.

 Beggars wear ragged clothes. Even children in the age group of
5 – 10 years can be seen begging. This is a very sad state of affairs. Most of these children have lost their parental love and affection. According to the Police, most of these children become criminals at the end.

 During the past few years several camps were established by the government for beggars. But they do nit like to live in these camps. So most of them have escaped from these camps.

 They walk under the scorching sun. they get wet in the rain. But these things do not affect their health.

 It is the bounden duty of the government to look into this burning problem and take steps to wipe out beggary. This can be done by setting up special homes for beggars. The government alone cannot solve this problem. All the social service associations and other voluntary organizations should extend their co – operation towards the government in this connection. Children who are engaged in begging should be schooled and taught a trade or vocation. The able bodied must be provided with some sort of employment. Laws should be passed to ban begging.

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Venivel

July 19, 2008 · Filed under Heritage · Tagged , ,

Venivel is a medicinal creeper. This has nodes on the stem. Venivel creepers grow in dry forests in Sri Lanka. If we cut the yellow stem, liquid that gets quite sticky comes out of it. Venivel is very useful as a medicine. Our ancient people also used this as a medicine. When we are suffering from like these diseases fever, body pain, influenza.   We boil this stem and use it as a herbal drink. It is a very good treatment for body pains, bleeding and influenza. We can buy this from “Sinhala Aryurvedic groceries” we can find venivel creepers in our countryside homes. They cut them in to pieces and store them in bottles or some where to be used when needed. This boiled Liquid is bitter but it is very useful and important as a medicinal drug. We must protect this medicinal creeper for the future use.
     Venivel is grown in some forests of Sri Lanka. Specially this herbal plant can be seen mostly in the forests in Balangoda area.   

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Sports and our lives

July 12, 2008 · Filed under Heritage · Tagged ,

Every child likes to play. Not only the able bodied but also disabled are fond of sports.

Sports play an important role in child’s life. It is said that a healthy mind can be found only in a healthy body. Sports develop not only the child’s physical faculty but also his mental faculty.

There are various kinds of sports in our country. Some of them are cricket, volley ball, foot boll, net boll, rugger, elle, tennis, badminton, swimming, squash and hockey. Among them, cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka.

In the past sports were not given a priority in our schools. Sports were directly introduced as extra curricular activities. But today the education authorities have realized that sport is an integral part of education.

Exercises have to be done regularly for the proper functioning and development of our body. If a person is engaged in sports continuously, he or she can lead a healthy life. In schools we find some students who look weak and pale. They are the students who never take part in sports.

Sports also teach us good moral values. We can learn good qualities and good attitudes of persons. A good sportsman can take both victory and defeat alike. He is very patient. He accepts any decision without grumbling. He is well disciplined and well mannered. Also he is ready to accept any challenge at any time. Sports teach us leadership qualities and the feeling of work as a team.

Volley ball is the National sport in Sri Lanka. But it is not so popular as cricket today. The government has taken several steps to improve sports. There is a separate Ministry and there is a Minister in charge of sports. Sport clubs have been established throughout the island. Sport equipment is issued by the Ministry to these clubs free of charge.

In the present day society our children have no time to engage in sports. Most of them go for tuition classes or for films. This is a very sad state of affairs. In my opinion sports must be made compulsory in our schools. Parents should realize that a sport too is a part of education. The children should be encouraged to engage in sports too. Otherwise our future generation will be weak and lethargic.
In a recent survey conducted by the World Tourism organization it has been revealed that promotion of sports activities will lead to the promotion of tourist destinations. Several countries in Europe are now using the field of sports for promoting bilateral tourism.

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A DAY IN LIFE OF A PRIVATE BUS DRIVER

July 5, 2008 · Filed under community

Reported By :- Gayanthi Dilrukshi

He awakes before 4.00 a.m..He does a cats wash and enjoys a cup of tea given by his wife.
Then he gets ready and runs to the bus owner’s home.He meets the bus conductor there and gets the bus cleaned.After checking up the brakes,
wheels and the engine he takes the bus out of the garage.He takes the bus to the private bus stand in town.
On the way he gets the conductor to drop a coin into the charity box of the temple and kovil to get blessings of the Triple Gem and Gods
.After that he start his day’s work.He does to servaral trips up and down from Balangoda to Ratnapura.
He has his breakfast and lunch at hotels on the way.He enjoys cracking jokes with his short break in between the trip
.He has to obey the conductors command to take in and drop passengers on the way
.After he has made the last trip,he parks the bus at the owner’s garage or owner’s home.
After that he leaves for home fully tired and relaxes for a while.Mostly he takes his bath at night
.He has his dinner,watch the t.v.programme’s has a chat with family members and goes to bed.

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