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India helps set up bio-resource institute in Sri Lanka

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has inaugurated a bio-resource institute in central Sri Lanka, started with Indian expertise.

The institute includes a model farm in which rural youth, mainly drawn from the plantation sector are trained. The farm will "train rural youth in modern, eco-friendly and low-cost solutions that help supplement their incomes," the Indian High Commission said.

Mr. Rajapakse inaugurated the institute at Kotagala, near Nuwara Eliya, in the presence of the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Nirupama Rao, senior officials and the leader of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, Arumugan Thondaman.

The model farm, being established under the guidance of Indian agricultural and rural development expert Rajbir Singh, has sections on floriculture, vegetable growing, bee-keeping and herbal-aromatic plants cultivation. An agricultural implements workshop and a people's tissue culture laboratory are also part of the institute. Mr. Singh expressed confidence that the model farm based on the model of creating Self-Help Groups would further empower the rural youth and provide a vital laboratory-farm link.

Local polls postponed

Local body elections, scheduled for March 30, have been postponed in Tamil majority districts in the north and east. According to sources, the polls have been postponed until September 30. Tamil parties, including the LTTE-backed Tamil National Alliance, have been demanding that the polls be postponed due to "unfavourable circumstances".

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