News

Death penalty for 10 grams of heroin instead of two!

Published

1 year ago

November 10, 2022

editor

Under the Poisons, Opium And Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board has proposed to change the law that warrants death penalty for keeping two grams of heroin in possession.

Accordingly, it has proposed to increase the amount of drugs in possession to 10 grams in order to receive the death penalty.

The draft bill is to be presented to Parliament today (10).

Previously, keeping two grams of heroin in possession was punishable by death, 20 years of imprisonment and life imprisonment.

Accordingly, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the Parliament Standing Committee agreed to the proposal that cases with less than 10 grams should be submitted to the Magistrate’s Courts, those above 10 grams should be submitted to the High Court and the relevant bail request should be referred to the Court of Appeal.

The Advisory Committee in this regard was held in Parliament recently under the chairmanship of Justice Minister Rajapakshe and it was attended by Minister Ali Sabry and MPs Talatha Athukorala, Anupa Pasqual and Rauff Hakeem.

News

China to back digital education transformation project

Published

1 hour ago

May 7, 2024

nipuni

The Chinese Government has pledged support for Sri Lanka’s digital education transformation project.

This project is expected to enhance general education by providing classrooms, data centres, and necessary equipment like tables, studio rooms, and conference rooms.

These resources will facilitate blended learning methods, and resource sharing, and enable teachers with special skills to engage students effectively.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Education.

News

MoP fertilizer subsidies to farmer accounts from today

Published

1 hour ago

May 7, 2024

nipuni

The Department of Agriculture emphasizes that the application of Muriate of Potash (MoP) to paddy cultivation has been quantitatively reduced in the last few seasons.

According to the Department of Agriculture, it is mandatory to use MoP fertilizer to strengthen paddy pods as well as to improve the quality of paddy seeds.

But the use of MoP has decreased in the last ‘Maha’ season. Only 11,000 MT of MoP was used despite around 800,000 hectares being cultivated during the season.

Although the MoP requirement for the ‘Maha’ season is 30,000 MT, it appears that only one third was purchased by farmers.Therefore, in a bid to promote the use of MoP, it has been decided to credit the fertilizer subsidy money to the farmers’ accounts in this ‘Yala’ season.

The Department of Agricultural Development states that depositing subsidies will commence from today (May 07) with financial allocations scheduled to be given to the farmers who have finished planting paddy fields.

Authorities have assured that sufficient stocks of MoP are available in the country.