The Examiner

From passports and driving licences to drugs and fuel, the civil service struggles to deliver. Even though it’s overstaffed thanks to politicians, the government is “always breakdown”. A key problem is the quality of top civil servants, who are paid a fraction of their Indian counterparts.

Despite knowing that Global Fund won’t be able to continue donating medicines, the Health Ministry’s failed to secure tuberculosis and HIV medicines. Without an alternative supplier in place, the island will run out of tuberculosis drugs in the next three weeks.

Two meteor showers light the night sky this week; for a longer run, Abhisari, at Scope Cinemas, explores the  “raw and complex lives of sex workers.” The fact-y crowd descends into Macfarlane's

Conventional fertilisers aren’t very effective, nor are they environmentally-friendly. The world is shifting towards “improved” varieties. But in Sri Lanka, old-fashioned subsidies are slowing down the transition.

Two independent commissions — police and human rights — will be selected solely via applications rather than nominations. But the Constitutional Council was so dissatisfied with the pool, it called for fresh applications.

Where to go  This evening, Saint Vajra teaches at Lakmahal and art emperor Chandraguptha opens his new exhibit at Saskia’s. Then move from your head into your body at the Tamil-Afro DJ nite.

When a fairly amateur phishing attack targeted the Treasury’s new PDMO, they didn’t notice the glaring red flags. Even after India warned them, they sent another million dollars to a fraudulent bank account.

“We were appointed to do the JVP cadres’ bidding, not to do what the village needs,” says a former Praja Shakthi chair. The opposition argues that the poverty eradication programme is “capturing the state” and leading to “one party rule”. The NPP says Praja Shakthi law is “still under discussion”.