Centre for Policy Alternatives on 13 August, 2021

Is the Cure Worse than the Disease? Reflections on COVID Governance in Sri Lanka

13th August, 2021 – Is the Cure Worse than the Disease? Reflections on Pandemic Governance in Sri Lanka is the result of an initiative of Social Indicator (SI), the survey research arm of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The ‘Socio-Economic Index In the Face of COVID-19’, an island wide opinion poll conducted from February-March 2021 by SI, aimed to capture the experiences and perceptions of Sri Lankans through the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings derived from this survey compelled a more in-depth consideration of many of the themes therein, leading to the idea of a research volume germinating in the minds of the project team.

Stemming from this context, this volume examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political, economic, and social life of Sri Lankan society, and its’ transformative effect on the political culture of the country: How have the strategies and policies adopted by the government to fight the pandemic impacted society? More particularly, how have such strategies and policies impacted on delivering governance, health, and education fairly across all communities? Chapters of the volume are a quest for answers to these questions focusing on different sectors of society, their experience of the pandemic, and the implications of such experience on their future trajectory.

Individual chapters and contributions can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.
To download the complete book in English, click here.
To download the complete book in Sinhala, click here.
To download the complete book in Tamil, click here.

Cover Photo by Nazly Ahmed

Contents | පටුන | உள்ளடக்கம்

List of Contributors | දායක වූ ලේඛකයන් | பங்குபற்றாளர்கள்

Foreword | පෙරවදන | அணிந்துரை

by Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu | ආචාර්ය පාක්‍යසෝති සරවනමුත්තු | கலாநிதி பாக்கியசோதி சரவணமுத்து

Preface and Acknowledgements | පූර්විකාව සහ ස්තූතිය | முன்னுரையும் நன்றி நவிலலும்

Editor’s Introduction (Chapter 1) | හැඳින්වීම | அத்தியாயம் 1

Introduction Reflections on COVID governance in Sri Lanka by Pradeep Peiris
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොවිඩ් ආණ්ඩුකරණය පිළිබඳ ආවර්ජනා ප්‍රදීප් පීරිස්
அறிமுகம்: இலங்கையில் கொவிட் ஆளுகையின் பிரதிபலிப்புகள் பிரதீப் பீரிஸ்

Chapter 2 | 2 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 2

Sri Lanka’s accelerated democratic decay amidst a pandemic by Bhavani Fonseka and Kushmila Ranasinghe
වසංගතයක් තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ සීඝ්‍ර පරිහානිය භවානි ෆොන්සේකා සහ කුෂ්මිලා රණසිංහ
பெருந்தொற்றுக்கு மத்தியில் இலங்கையில் துரிதமாக்கப்பட்ட சனநாயகச் சிதைவு பவானி பொன்சேகா மற்றும் குஷ்மிலா ரணசிங்க

Chapter 3 | 3 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 3

Healing the population by constructing subjects: Pandemic governmentality of Sri Lanka by Pradeep Peiris
යටත්වැසියන් නිර්මාණය කිරීමෙන් ජනගහණය සුව කිරීම: ලංකාවේ වසංගත ආණ්ඩුකරණ මාදිලිය ප්‍රදීප් පීරිස්
கீழ்ப்படிவுள்ள பிரசைகளைக் கட்டியெழுப்புவதனூடாக மக்களை மாற்றுதல்: இலங்கையில் பெருந்தொற்று ஆளுகை பிரதீப் பீரிஸ்

Chapter 4 | 4 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 4

Lives or livelihoods?The erosion of welfare in Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 response by
Nipunika O. Lecamwasam
ජීවිතද ජීවනෝපායන්ද? ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොවිඩ්-19 ප්‍රතිචාරය තුළ සුබසාධනයේ පරිහානිය නිපුනිකා ඕ. ලේකම්වසම්
வாழ்வா அல்லது வாழ்வாதாரமா? இலங்கையின் கொவிட்-19 பதில் நடவடிக்கையில் தேய்ந்து போகும் சேமநலன் நிபுணிகா ஓ. லேக்கம்வசம்

Chapter 5 | 5 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 5

Ethno-centric pandemic governance: The Muslim community in Sri Lanka’s COVID response by
Sakina Moinudeen
වර්ගවාදී වසංගත ආණ්ඩුකරණය: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොවිඩ් ප්‍රතිචාරය තුළ මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාව සකිනා මොයිනුඩීන්
இனத்துவ-மையவாத பெருந்தொற்று ஆளுகை: இலங்கையின் கொவிட் பதில் நடவடிக்கைகளில் முஸ்லிம் சமூகம் சகினா மொய்னுதீன்

Chapter 6 | 6 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 6

Not-so-free education: State-citizen relations in Sri Lanka’s educational policy response to the pandemic by Hasini Lecamwasam
නිදහස්-නොවන-අධ්‍යාපනය: වසංගත සන්දර්භයෙහි ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිපත්තිය තුළ රාජ්‍ය-පුරවැසි සම්බන්ධතා හසිනි ලේකම්වසම්
இலவசமில்லாத கல்வி: பெருந்தொற்றுக் காலத்தில் இலங்கையின் கல்விசார் கொள்கைப் பதில் நடவடிக்கையில் அரசு-பிரசை உறவுகள் ஹசினி லேக்கம்வசம்

Chapter 7 | 7 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 7

Out of the frying pan into the fire: Life of migrant garment workers in the COVID-19 response by
Kaushini Dammalage
කබලෙන් ලිපට වැටීම: කොවිඩ්-19 ප්‍රතිචාරය තුළ සංක්‍රමණික ඇඟළුම් කම්හල් සේවකයින්ගේ ජීවිතය කෞෂිණී දම්මලගේ
எண்ணெய்ச் சட்டியிலிருந்து நெருப்புக்குள்: கொவிட் பதில் நடவடிக்கைகளும் உள்நாட்டுக்குள் குடிபெயர்ந்த ஆடைத் தொழிற்சாலைத் தொழிலாளர்களும் கௌஷினி தம்மாலகே

Chapter 8 | 8 වන පරිච්ඡේදය | அத்தியாயம் 8

Contacts during difficult times: A study on the function of social networks in accessing state services during the COVID-19 pandemic by Shashik Silva
දුෂ්කර සමයක සමාජ සම්බන්ධතා: කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත තත්වය තුළ රාජ්‍ය සේවා ලබාගැනීමේදී සමාජ සම්බන්ධතා ජාල වල භූමිකාව පිළිබඳ අධ්‍යයනයක් ශෂික් සිල්වා
கடினமான காலங்களில் தொடர்புகள்: கொவிட்-19 பெருந்தொற்றுக் காலத்தில் அரசசேவைகளைப் பெற்றுக்கொள்வதில் சமூக வலையமைப்புகளின் செயற்பாடு பற்றிய ஒரு ஆய்வு ஷஷிக் சில்வா