sumane

Kafka’s Dream June 5, 2011, 12:00 pm I was at the trial of Josef K, who was arrested by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. Everybody in the country began to think that Josef K would finally receive justice as he was arrested unlawfully and arbitrarily. Trial began and I was eagerly watching everything that was happening around me. Court was beautiful with its wooden panels over the rusty walls. The judge who looked smart and old was sitting on the bench and began the proceedings. Lawyers were looking at their notes and files often asking questions from their assistants for clarifications. While the proceedings were in progress, I looked at the judge and was surprised to see that he was, like Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman in The Metamorphosis, transformed into a monstrous insect-like creature. I closed my eyes and opened them once again to see if I am in a kind of hallucination. No I was not. He was transformed into a monstrous insect-like creature. Verdict was ...

Opening the Path of Development June 12, 2011, 12:00 pm (Text of a talk delivered at the N M Perera Memorial discussion on the Political Economy of Sri Lanka.) Dr. Saman Kelegama was absolutely right when he argued with reference to Argentina and Thailand that some economies might be trapped eventually in for a prolonged period in the state of middle income countries. Sri Lanka has reached according to the data released the status of a middle income country and expects to double its per capita income by the end of 2016. As Dr. Kelegama has pointed out, this also in itself is a herculean task as it needs a rate of capital formation in the vicinity of 32-35 per cent of the GDP—a kind of 6 to 9 per cent rise of investment from its present level. While accepting the argument that the rate of capital formation should be increased significantly to achieve required rate of growth, as a student of the late Dr N M Perera and the Samasamaja school of thought, I would like to see the issue fr...