02. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE OF INDIGENOUS MEDICINE (Document No - 15)
The establishment of a Postgraduate Institute of Indigenous Medicine (PGIIM) has been identifies as a timely need for improvement of capabilities of Ayurvedic Medical Officers and for modernizing and improving the quality of postgraduate activities in the Ayurvedic Medicine. The proposal made by Hon. Rajitha Senarathne, Minister of Health Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, to establish a PGIIM for offering broad opportunities for Ayurvedic Medical Officers to follow postgraduate courses in Ayurveda, Siddha and Yunani fields, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
03. CROP INSURANCE SCHEME FOR THE FARMERS WHO RECEIVE FERTILIZER UNDER THE “KETHATA ARUNA POHORA DIRIYA PROGRAMME”. (Document No - 17)
A Crop Insurance Scheme was earlier implemented with a compulsory contribution of Rs. 150/- per a 50 kg bag of subsidized fertilizer. However, as a program to grant money for farmers for buying fertilizer has already been implemented according to budget proposals 2016 the proposal made by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Finance, to transfer the required funds which were annually credited to National Insurance Trust Fund through the 1% crop tax from banks, financial and insurance companies, for payment of claims for crop damages when required, instead of collecting insurance premiums from farmers, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
04. CONDUCTING AN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ON RUBBER, COCONUT, AND RELATED INDUSTRIES IN SRI LANKA (Document No - 21)
Currently, India, Malaysia, Philippine, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and European countries are conducting exhibitions in the plantation sector, and various Sri Lankan institutes participate in them. By conducting such an exhibition that is participated by manufacturers, traders, dealers, and investors in Sri Lanka, it would help in reaching the international and it will give the opportunity to identify the requirements of foreign manufacturers and traders and to improve the quality and status of domestic products through binding with new technology and facilities. An exhibition named “Ceylon Tea Expo” is scheduled to be held in August 2017 to mark the 150th anniversary of Sri Lankan Tea Industry and the proposal made by Hon. Navin Dissanayake, Minister of Plantation Industries, to hold an exhibition in rubber and coconut fields using same infrastructure in August 2017 in Colombo, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
05. BILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA AND THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS (Document No - 25)
The Mutual Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters Act No. 39 of 2000 provides for entering into agreements with foreign countries for the service of process abroad and assistance in taking evidence. The proposal made by Hon. Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, Minister of Justice, to enter into an agreement with the Republic of Belarus that provides for parties to grant each other mutual legal assistance in civil and commercial matters in a wide range of areas such as transmission and services of documents, obtaining evidence etc., was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
06. AGREEMENT FOR THE TRANSFER OF SENTENCED PERSONS BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA AND UKRAINE (Document No - 26)
The Transfer of Offenders Act No. 05 of 1995 of Sri Lanka contain ns provisions to enable a citizen of another country convicted and sentenced to imprisonment by a court of Sri Lanka to serve his sentence in the country of which he claims to be a citizen. Likewise the act provides for a Sri Lanka citizen who is imprisoned in a specified country to be transferred back to Sri Lanka to serve his balance period of imprisonment. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, Minister of Justice, to enter into an agreement with the Republic of Belarus on the above purpose, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
07. AMENDMENT OF DATES WHICH THE “NATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT WEEK” (Document No - 30)
The National Early Childhood Care and Development week is implemented from 14th to 20th December each year. As is this period is the time which the financial year of the government, difficulties have occurred in implementing respective programs fruitfully. Hence, the proposal made by Hon. Chandrani Bandara, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, to amend the period of implementing the National Early Childhood Care and Development week as 14th to 20th July in each year, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
08. PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE (Document No - 31)
The Ministerial Committee appointed for making recommendations for the Cabinet of Ministers on Prevention of Child Abuse has obtained the comments of relevant parties for identification of reasons for child abuses, identifying the importance of a collective effort for fighting child abuses and to prepare an action plan in this regard. The proposal made by Hon. Chandrani Bandara, Minister of Women and Child Affairs, to implement the recommendations made by the committee, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
09. JOINT PILOT PROGRAMME FOR THE RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT OF UP TO 50 CAREGIVERS FROM SRI LANKAN TO TREAT ELDERLY DISABLED EMPLOYERS IN ISRAEL (Document No - 33)
The government of Israel has implemented a program to recruit 50 caregivers from each country for the above purpose. The proposal made by Hon. Thalatha Athukorala, Minister of Foreign Employment, to implement a pilot program with the government of Israel to select and deploy 50 Sri Lankans interested in above opportunities, directly without engagement of private agencies in a fare, transparent and low cost method was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
10. CONDUCTING PROGRAMMES AT MINISTERIAL LEVEL FOR THE COMMEMORATION OF STATE MILAD-UN- NABI CEREMONY (Document No - 34)
The birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad who has preached the teachings of lord Allah, falls on 12th December and it has been declared a national holiday. The ceremony is celebrated each year under the patronage of the government. Rs. 15 million has been allocated to celebrate this year’s Milad-Un- Nabi ceremony and the proposal made by Hon. M.H.A. Haleem, Minister of Post, Postal Services and Muslim Religious Affairs, to implement a series of programs to celebrate the above event with the cooperation of other Ministries and to hold the national Milad-Un- Nabi ceremony in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
11. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR MODERNIZATION PROJECT (Document No - 36)
The overall productivity of Sri Lanka is insufficient compared to other South Asian Countries and it has shown a least development in last few decades. It is necessary to implement policies that aim on improving the productivity of agriculture and to create high valued export agriculture for improving the economy of farmers as well as the country. Accordingly, the joint proposal made by Hon. Duminda Dissanayake, Minister of Agriculture, and Hon. Daya Gamage, Minister of Primary Industries, to implement the five year Agriculture Sector Modernization Project from funds of US$ 125 million granted by the International Development Agency of the World Bank with the view of improving the productivity in agriculture, improving trade access and improvement of value addition by small scale farmers and agribusinesses, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
12. JAFFNA AND KILINOCHCHI WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION PROJECT (Document No – 39 & 40)
Above project which is implemented under funds of the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka covers a main portion of the Jaffna peninsula and Punagary and Palai areas. This aims at providing better water supply and sanitation facilities to residents and it expects to resettlement of displaced persons in relevant areas and to improve the water supply in the Jaffna peninsula. The proposal made by Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply, to award the contracts for construction of three (03) ground water reservoirs at Kallundai, Punguditivu, and Punagary, laying of water transmission pipelines from Palai Water Treatment Plant to Nallur, and for construction of two ground water reservoirs at Nallur Meesalai, as recommended by the Cabinet Appointed Standing Procurement Committee, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
13. CONSTRUCTION OF THE SPORTS COMPLEX IN NORTH WESTERN PROVINCE (Document No - 44)
The Cabinet of Ministers has already granted the approval to construct the above sports complex near the Kurunegala Welagedara Stadium for provision of infrastructure for sportsmen in the area. However, the Ministry of Sports has recognized that the said stadium has no sufficient space to develop a sports complex, hence the proposal made by Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Minister of Sports, to construct the above sports complex using the Bingiriya Public Ground and the adjacent land acquired by the government enabling both Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts to utilize the sports complex, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
14. CONSTRUCTION OF A TWO-STORY HOSTEL FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND TRAINING (Document No - 45)
The NILET is conducting residential and non-residential courses for improving the bilingual and trilingual skills of public officers and students for the successful implementation of the Official Language Policy. As hostel facilities are inadequate for conducting of residential courses, the Cabinet of Ministers has already approved the construction of a hostel that can accommodate 90 persons at a cost of Rs. 98.8 million. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Mano Ganeshan, Minister of National Coexistence, Dialogue and Official Languages, to award the above contract to Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau and Central Engineering Services Limited, which are public institutions, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
15. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE ON MISSING PERSONS (Document No - 49)
There have been strong requests for providing true information on disappeared or missing persons to their relatives to know their actual fate. It will enable such families to reunited, closure with regard to such disappearance, or granted with reparations and other relief and support. Therefore, the proposal made by Hon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to establish a independent institution as Office on Missing Persons by a parliament act with the view of search for and trace missing persons and identify appropriate mechanisms for the same, submission of recommendations to authorities to take measures on missing persons, protect the rights of missing persons and their relatives, identify channels that missing persons and their relatives can obtain reliefs and inform them the same, and to collate data related to missing persons obtained by government institutions and other institutions and centralize all available data within its database, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
16. PROJECT FOR THE ENHANCEMENT AND UPGRADING OF INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY KATUNAYAKE (Document No - 50)
Institution of Engineering Technology Katunayake was established in 1985 and it conducts special engineering courses in Construction and Planning, Water Environment, Highways and Railways, Electrical Power, Electronics and Communication, Automotive, Marine and General Engineering courses. Although about 2000 applications are received annually, only around 450 students are selected for intake. The number of students engaged in studies in this institution has significantly increased, facilities such as lecture halls, equipment, and academic staff has not been increased simultaneously. Therefore, it has been proposed to implement a project to introduce new technology and provide infrastructure to this institute. As a result of the H.E. the President's visit to Austria and negotiations thereafter by the Minister of Finance, the Raiffeisen Bank International has agreed to grant 9.5 million Euros for the above purpose. The proposal made by Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training, to implement the above project with the maximum utilization of the 9.5 million Euros, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
