A government minister has pronounced that the vaccine alone may not resolve the Covid perhaps to comfort those who are not able to access the vaccine. For a similar reason another government minister has said that a second dose of vaccine may not be necessary to give effective protection from the coronavirus. Yet another minister has stated it may be possible to give a second vaccine that is different from the first and that research is underway in the country to ascertain this. There were high expectations when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected that the country would de-politicise its decision making and a new era of expert decision making would end the role of politicians in it. This would have reversed the downside of the constitutional change made in 1972 that elevated the power of elected politicians over the state bureaucracy to make decision making more accountable to the people.

Guidelines for Full Papers

• The International Conference on “Plural Sri Lanka: Exploration of paths to Reconciliation” accepts full papers from the authors.
• Full papers must contain the title of the paper, name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), abstract and keywords (3-5 keywords organized alphabetically).
• The main text of the paper must include the introduction, statement of the research problem, objectives of the study, scope and significance of the study, review of the relevant literature, research methodology, results and discussion, and conclusions.
• Full paper must be consisted of a minimum of 4000 - 6000 words (excluding references and appendices) with a brief abstract of less than 300 words.
• The paper must be typed using as follows
  English - Microsoft Word: Times New Roman; font size 12; double-spaced.
  Sinhala – Microsoft Word: FM Abaya; font size 12; double-spaced.
  Tamil – Microsoft Word: Bamini / Baamini; font size 12; double-spaced.
• Use letters for numbers from one to ten and numerals from 11 onwards; but use numerals or letters consistently in range or series of numbers, e.g. 5 to 10. Use British (labour) spelling consistently.
• The titles of figures or tables should make bold, and should be placed on the top. The notes and sources should be mentioned below each figure or table. The figures and tables should be numbered consecutively and separately.
• Column headings should clearly define the data presented.
• Table borders should be 3⁄4 point and simple.
• Figures or photos should be incorporated into the text in jpg files with concise information about titles, notes and sources.
• Use either footnotes or endnotes; these should be in a standard MS Word format.
• All quoted and paraphrased intellectual property of other authors as well as other work of the contributing author(s) must be properly referenced.
• The work cited in the text should be indicated as follows: (Ratnayake, 2005:12) or (Richards & Carol, 1990: 10-15) i.e. author(s), year of publication: page number(s).
• Use ‘et al’ when citing a work by more than two authors, but include all the authors under References. To distinguish citations of different work published in the same year by a same author, use letters, i.e. (Muller, 2005a; 2005b).
• All work cited in the text, including sources for tables and figures must be listed alphabetically under References.
  Use the APA (6th Edition) style for references and citations.
• Titles and headings should be brief and clear, and made bold.
• Longer quotations should be indented and single-spaced without quotation marks.
• Non-English terms should be in italics, e.g. kurakkan or sine qua non.
• Date format used in text should be as 6 April 2021.
• In text, use either ‘percent’ or % consistently.
• Use letters for numbers from one to ten and numerals from 11 onwards; but use numerals or letters consistently in range or series of numbers, e.g. 5 to 10. Use British (labour) spelling consistently.
• The titles of figures or tables should make bold, and should be placed on the top. The notes and sources should be mentioned below each figure or table. The figures and tables should be numbered consecutively and separately.
• Column headings should clearly define the data presented.
• Table borders should be 3⁄4 point and simple.
• Figures or photos should be incorporated into the text in jpg files with concise information about titles, notes and sources.
• Use either footnotes or endnotes; these should be in a standard MS Word format.
• All quoted and paraphrased intellectual property of other authors as well as other work of the contributing author(s) must be properly referenced.
• The work cited in the text should be indicated as follows: (Ratnayake, 2005:12) or (Richards & Carol, 1990: 10-15) i.e. author(s), year of publication: page number(s).
• Use ‘et al’ when citing a work by more than two authors, but include all the authors under References. To distinguish citations of different work published in the same year by a same author, use letters, i.e. (Muller, 2005a; 2005b).
• All work cited in the text, including sources for tables and figures must be listed alphabetically under References.
• Use the APA (6th Edition) style for references and citations.

• The hasty process adopted failed to uphold the right to information of the people.
• Parliamentarians were not given adequate time to review the revised version of the Bill.
• Establishment and inadequate oversight of offshore banks and companies could lead to Port City attracting money laundering and illicit financial flows.
• Lack of public access to beneficial ownership information could lead to Port City becoming a secrecy jurisdiction that provides a safe haven for proceeds of crime.
• Sri Lanka faces the risk of being downgraded by the FATF due to the Port City.

The debate over Colombo Port City will not end with the passage of the law in parliament that will govern the new territory claimed from the sea through Chinese investment, technology and negotiations skills. The dream holds out billions of dollars of foreign investment that will be pumped into the national economy and a fast track to development. The bill was passed last week into law even as the country prepared for emergency lockdown in the face of rampaging Covid that has now even infected the Leader of the Opposition and his wife and compelled several parliamentarians to go into quarantine. The vote was 149 in favour with just 58 against, a large majority, but still less than the 2/3 majority needed to permit the enactment of laws that are inconsistent with the constitution.