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Lankan crisis: Gotabaya resigns - A historic palace occupation unwinds

Now that the Operation Lanka Part I is almost over with the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Gotabaya on Tuesday signed a resignation letter dated July 13) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and a new Government under Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa as the new Prez is set to take over on July 20, let us take stock of what happened in the past few days in the Capital of a Lanka brought to its knees by an acute economic crisis, having run out of food and medicines for several months now.

COLOMBO, July 12: The centuries old palace that has always been the symbol power in Lanka was invaded by an agitated people in a popular uprising that posterity will record as an unparalleled historic event - an occupation so peaceful and orderly that never happened even in the cradle of revolutions! It's inexplicable that a massive stream of protesters from far and wide, tens of thousands of them, did not go on the rampage nor ransack the mansion although they emptied out the foods and drinks in the chests of drawers they could lay their hands on. They cooked in the kitchen, had playful workouts in the gym, frolicked in the garden pool, pretended to be taking a nap on the royal bed, lounged on the four-poster, or simply loafed around on the manicured loans. Most unlikely of crowd behaviour, they displayed bountiful honesty and incredible discipline when stumbled upon tons of banknotes stacked away in secret nooks of the glitzy palace! The protesters had a feel of what is opulence. In the next days the public joined in queues to go in, in order to explore how life inside a palace is, and saw what they couldn't believe!

The protesters who seized the Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace in Colombo on Saturday and were determined to stay put till the fleeing President resigns, on Sunday stumbled upon the stacks of currencies valued at 17.85 million rupees stowed away in hidden chests. The wads of banknotes left behind by Gotabaya was promptly handed over to the security men who presented them before a court on Monday.

The 73-year old leader had escaped from the palace before the protesters stormed his residence on Saturday. Later, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (73), who himself said he is resigning to help bring peace to the island, said Rajapaksa will resign on July 13. (Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday signed a resignation letter dated July 13.) But that did not placate the protesters who are camping in the premises in tens of thousands in strength, experiencing a bit of palace life Gota had been enjoying even as the countrymen were starving. They plan to stay in till the time both of them officially resign.

Under the Constitution, Wickremesinghe, the Prime Minister, or in his absence the Speaker, will take over as the Prez for a maximum period of 30 days to facilitate an MP to be elected as President for the remainder of Gotabaya's term, that is until November 2024. It takes a minimum of three days for the parliament to convene and take a vote.

However, Wickremesinghe has announced he is resigning in order to facilitate installation of a national unity Government which could deal with the economic crisis of widespread shortages of food, fuel and medicines, which are imported for which foreign exchange is required. The crisis was caused by a depletion of foreign exchange due to a rising foreign debt burden amounting to $51 billion. The Prez has been accused of mismanaging the economy leading to the crisis the country is facing. Wickremesinghe's private residence in the city was set on fire on Saturday night.

Wickremesinghe, an Opposition legislator, was appointed PM after Mahinda Rajapaksa (76), the President's elder brother, resigned in May as a compromise solution to try to defuse the economic crisis.

The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) party is likely to join the splinter group of the ruling SLPP and the smaller parties to install SJB's 55-year old leader Sajith Premadasa as the new President. It is reported Dullas Alahapperuma, 63, an ex-Minister, is tipped to be the new Prime Minister. But he is a Gotabaya loyalist.

Tens of thousands of protesters will continue to occupy the Presidential Palace, the sea-front Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister's "Temple Trees" official residence till they officially resign, which is finally underway.

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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.

The irony lies in her illustration of her experiences in the country she has been living in for the last four years. What it really is!

ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

  • The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
  • The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
  • The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

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