DOCSLIB.ORG

Ranking and Grouping of the Districts of Sri Lanka Based on the Expenses of Households: a Multivariate Analysis

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ranking and Grouping of the Districts of Sri Lanka Based on the Expenses of Households: a Multivariate Analysis RUHUNA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Vol 11 (1): 83-97, June 2020 eISSN: 2536-8400 Faculty of Science DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/rjs.v11i1.89 University of Ruhuna Ranking and grouping of the districts of Sri Lanka based on the expenses of households: A multivariate analysis S. R. Gnanapragasam Department of Mathematics, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Correspondence: [email protected]; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1411-4853 Received: 22nd March 2019, Revised: 09th October 2019, Accepted: 19th April 2020 Abstract. Sri Lanka has twenty-five districts administrated under nine provinces. The cost of living (CoL) diverges among the districts in Sri Lanka like in many parts of the world. Ranking and grouping based on household expenses is useful in decision making by stakeholders. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis are used for ranking and grouping the districts, respectively, based on the expenses of households in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans spend more for non-food items than food items, particularly for housing and transport, and therefore non-food items are the most influencing factor to decide the CoL in the country. It is concluded that Colombo district has the highest CoL, followed by Gampaha and Kalutara, whereas Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts have the least CoL in Sri Lanka. Districts with moderately high CoL were also identified. These classifications will facilitate investors on decision making and also help people to decide which part of the country will be suitable to settle depending on their income and the CoL in districts. Moreover, this grouping will provide some information to policy makers when planning infrastructure development in the country, and it may also provide a direction to use a new index to measure CoL in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Cluster analysis, cost of living, principal component analysis. 1 Introduction Sri Lanka - also known as the pearl of the Indian Ocean is one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Twenty-five second-level administrative divisions called ‘districts’ are administrated under nine first-level administrative divisions or ‘provinces’ in Sri Lanka. As per the World Bank Report (2018), Sri Lanka is a lower middle-income country with 21.4 million of population. Further, it reports that, its economy grew at an average 5.8% from 2010 to 2017 and it has made significant progress in its socio-economic indicator with social indicators ranked among the highest in South Asia. In Sri Lanka, the cost of living (CoL) differs among the districts. The consumer price index (CPI) is the most widely used measure of CoL in many countries. It Faculty of Science, University of Ruhuna 83 Sri Lanka S. R. Gnanapragasam Ranking and grouping of the districts of Sri Lanka expresses the overall cost of the several goods and services bought by a typical consumer into a single index for measuring the general price level. The CPI is an accurate measure of the selected goods that make up the typical basket, but it is not a perfect measure of CoL. When CoL increases, on one hand housing becomes less affordable but, on the other hand, it often reflects positive developments at a higher level. Generally, Colombo consumer price index (CCPI), wholesale price index (WPI) and gross domestic product deflator (GDPD) are the three major indicators used to measure the changes in the prices in Sri Lanka. According to Kulatunge (2017), CCPI is the official CoL index in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, it says that, CCPI covers a large number of items and is heavily weighted to food items which include 41% of the index. Housing, water, electricity and gas weighted 24% while other fuels and transport items weighted 12% of the items in baskets. Although producing an ideal CoL index may be impossible, that concept directed and encouraged the researchers and relevant sectors to improve the CPI as mentioned by Abraham (2003). In addition, the study of Korale (2001) highlighted the need for a new index to serve as a general inflation indicator. It argued that a specially designed household expenditure survey is needed for a new CPI that should be undertaken primarily for designing weights for the CPI. Jacobs et al. (2014) also has pointed out that CPI is not an ideal measure of changes in CoL. Thus, alternative methods must be tried out to measure CoL in Sri Lanka too. An econometric approach to measure CoL was developed by Jorgenson and Slesnick (1990). Gnanapragasam (2016) has classified the districts of Sri Lanka based on CoL by the data obtained in the report of the household income and expenditure survey year 2012/13. In that study, particularly, classifications were done mainly based on the expenditure of essentials non-food items in Sri Lanka. However, districts grew and changed over time and therefore the classifications need to consider the temporal changes as well. This study considers the data, not only, non-food items, but also food items obtained in the report of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2016. The rankings are useful tools for decision making by stakeholders. Principal component analysis (PCA) is widely used in various research or statistical sectors worldwide. Manage and Scariano (2013) demonstrated the use of PCA in ranking batsmen and bowlers who played in 2012 Indian Pemier League Cricket Tournament. Furthermore, in the studies of Muzamhindo et al. (2017) and Steiner (2006), PCA techniques were used to rank the world universities. Clustering is another common tool widely used in many fields of studies such as socio-economic measures (income, education, profession etc.), psychographic measures (interest, life style, motivation, etc.) and measures linked to the buying behavior (price range, buying intensity, buyer, etc.) to identify subgroups within the larger population who share similar pattern on a set of variables. Cluster analysis (CA) is used as a multivariate technique in statistics. The classification could facilitate investors to make their decisions on where to invest to gain more profit while satisfying the needs of customers. Further, this will help people to which part of the country is suitable to settle based on the CoL. Moreover, such grouping will provide some of the required information to policy makers when planning the infrastructure development in the country. Ruhuna Journal of Science 84 Vol 11 (1): 83-97, June 2020 S. R. Gnanapragasam Ranking and grouping of the districts of Sri Lanka The main aim of this study is to classify the 25 districts based on the expenses on major essential items in the households of Sri Lanka, through two objectives: firstly, to order the districts based on total CoL of a household in Sri Lanka using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and secondly, to group the districts based on the expenses of a household in Sri Lanka on essential items using the Cluster Analysis (CA). 2 Materials and Methods 2.1 Data and variables The data for this study have been extracted from the most recent survey report of Household Income and Expenditure released by the Department of Census and Statistics of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Sri Lanka in January 2018. It contains data for all 25 districts in Sri Lanka considering two major categories as food items and non-food items in the survey. In food items category, 15 items have been considered whereas 13 items are taken into account under non-food category. Altogether data for 28 items, as variables, in the households in all 25 districts of Sri Lanka, as observations, are considered. In this study, the food items are taken as X variables and non-food items are taken as Y variables to handle the statistical software conveniently (Table 1). Table 1. List of variables used in estimating cost of living in districts of Sri Lanka. Food items Non- food items Variable Name Variable Name X1 Cereals Y1 Housing X2 Prepared food Y2 Fuel & Light X3 Pulses Y3 Personal care & Health expenses X4 Vegetables Y4 Transport X5 Meat Y5 Communication X6 Fish Y6 Education X7 Dried fish Y7 Cultural activities and entertainments X8 Eggs Y8 Household non-durable goods & services X9 Coconuts Y9 Clothing textiles & Footwear X10 Condiments Y10 Household durable goods X11 Milk & milk food Y11 Other miscellaneous expenses X12 Fats & oil Y12 Other adhoc (rarely) expenses X13 Sugar, Jaggery & Treacle Y13 Liquor, Drugs & Tobacco X14 Fruits X15 Other food items Ruhuna Journal of Science 85 Vol 11 (1): 83-97, June 2020 S. R. Gnanapragasam Ranking and grouping of the districts of Sri Lanka 2.2 Data analysis Descriptive statistics The descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum and total of all the items are summarized. District-wise average expenditures on food and non-food items are compared and, average expenditures on all 28 items for each district are reported. Correlation analysis The associations among the variables on food and non-food items, and the relationship between these items in both categories in terms of correlations were analysed. The p- value of Pearson’s correlation is obtained to observe the strength of the relationship among those 28 items, 5% level of significant is considered. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) Using the principal component as an index requires the determination of principal component scores. The principal component scores were obtained by substituting the observed values of the standardized variables into the following equation of the ith principal component (PCi). ′ 푃퐶 = 푒 푍 (1) ′ 푡ℎ where, 푒 =Transpose of 푖 eigenvector and Z= Matrix form of vectors of standardized variables. In PCA, the first few components (usually the first and the second or third) explain the greater percentage of the variance of original data. Therefore, in this study, only the first principle component score is used to rank the districts based on the total CoL.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Spatial Dimensions of Conflict-Induced Internally Displaced Population in the Puttalam District of Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2012 Deepthi Lekani Waidyasekera
    University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects 12-1-2012 Spatial Dimensions of Conflict-Induced Internally Displaced Population in the Puttalam District of Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2012 Deepthi Lekani Waidyasekera Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses Recommended Citation Waidyasekera, Deepthi Lekani, "Spatial Dimensions of Conflict-Induced Internally Displaced Population in the Puttalam District of Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2012" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 668. https://commons.und.edu/theses/668 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SPATIAL DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICT-INDUCED INTERNALLY DISPLACED POPULATION IN THE PUTTALAM DISTRICT OF SRI LANKA FROM 1980 TO 2012 by Deepthi Lekani Waidyasekera Bachelor of Arts, University of Sri Jayawardanapura,, Sri Lanka, 1986 Master of Science, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, 2001 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota In partial fulfilment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts Grand Forks, North Dakota December 2012 Copyright 2012 Deepthi Lekani Waidyasekera ii PERMISSION Title Spatial Dimensions of Conflict-Induced Internally Displaced Population in the Puttalam District of Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2012 Department Geography Degree Master of Arts In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of the University shall make it freely available for inspection.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAPTER 4 Perspective of the Colombo Metropolitan Area 4.1 Identification of the Colombo Metropolitan Area
    Urban Transport System Development Project for Colombo Metropolitan Region and Suburbs CoMTrans UrbanTransport Master Plan Final Report CHAPTER 4 Perspective of the Colombo Metropolitan Area 4.1 Identification of the Colombo Metropolitan Area 4.1.1 Definition The Western Province is the most developed province in Sri Lanka and is where the administrative functions and economic activities are concentrated. At the same time, forestry and agricultural lands still remain, mainly in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the province. And also, there are some local urban centres which are less dependent on Colombo. These areas have less relation with the centre of Colombo. The Colombo Metropolitan Area is defined in order to analyse and assess future transport demands and formulate a master plan. For this purpose, Colombo Metropolitan Area is defined by: A) areas that are already urbanised and those to be urbanised by 2035, and B) areas that are dependent on Colombo. In an urbanised area, urban activities, which are mainly commercial and business activities, are active and it is assumed that demand for transport is high. People living in areas dependent on Colombo area assumed to travel to Colombo by some transport measures. 4.1.2 Factors to Consider for Future Urban Structures In order to identify the CMA, the following factors are considered. These factors will also define the urban structure, which is described in Section 4.3. An effective transport network will be proposed based on the urban structure as well as the traffic demand. At the same time, the new transport network proposed will affect the urban structure and lead to urban development.
    [Show full text]
  • Sri Lanka – Tamils – Eastern Province – Batticaloa – Colombo
    Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: LKA34481 Country: Sri Lanka Date: 11 March 2009 Keywords: Sri Lanka – Tamils – Eastern Province – Batticaloa – Colombo – International Business Systems Institute – Education system – Sri Lankan Army-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam conflict – Risk of arrest This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Please provide information on the International Business Systems Institute in Kaluvanchikkudy. 2. Is it likely that someone would attain a high school or higher education qualification in Sri Lanka without learning a language other than Tamil? 3. Please provide an overview/timeline of relevant events in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka from 1986 to 2004, with particular reference to the Sri Lankan Army (SLA)-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) conflict. 4. What is the current situation and risk of arrest for male Tamils in Batticaloa and Colombo? RESPONSE 1. Please provide information on the International Business Systems Institute in Kaluvanchikkudy. Note: Kaluvanchikkudy is also transliterated as Kaluwanchikudy is some sources. No references could be located to the International Business Systems Institute in Kaluvanchikkudy. The Education Guide Sri Lanka website maintains a list of the “Training Institutes Registered under the Ministry of Skills Development, Vocational and Tertiary Education”, and among these is ‘International Business System Overseas (Pvt) Ltd’ (IBS).
    [Show full text]
  • Multi-Decadal Forest-Cover Dynamics in the Tropical Realm: Past Trends and Policy Insights for Forest Conservation in Dry Zone of Sri Lanka
    Article Multi-Decadal Forest-Cover Dynamics in the Tropical Realm: Past Trends and Policy Insights for Forest Conservation in Dry Zone of Sri Lanka Manjula Ranagalage 1,2,* , M. H. J. P. Gunarathna 3 , Thilina D. Surasinghe 4 , Dmslb Dissanayake 2 , Matamyo Simwanda 5 , Yuji Murayama 1 , Takehiro Morimoto 1 , Darius Phiri 5 , Vincent R. Nyirenda 6 , K. T. Premakantha 7 and Anura Sathurusinghe 7 1 Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan; [email protected] (Y.M.); [email protected] (T.M.) 2 Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale 50300, Sri Lanka; [email protected] 3 Department of Agricultural Engineering and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura 50000, Sri Lanka; [email protected] 4 Department of Biological Sciences, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA 02325, USA; [email protected] 5 Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Resources, Copperbelt University, P.O. Box 21692, Kitwe 10101, Zambia; [email protected] (M.S.); [email protected] (D.P.) 6 Department of Zoology and Aquatic Sciences, School of Natural Resources, Copperbelt University, Kitwe 10101, Zambia; [email protected] 7 Forest Department, Ministry of Environment and Wildlife Resources, 82, Rajamalwatta Road, Battaramulla 10120, Sri Lanka; [email protected] (K.T.P.); [email protected] (A.S.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 30 June 2020; Accepted: 28 July 2020; Published: 1 August 2020 Abstract: Forest-cover change has become an important topic in global biodiversity conservation in recent decades because of the high rates of forest loss in different parts of the world, especially in the tropical region.
    [Show full text]
  • Polonnaruwa Development Plan 2018-2030
    POLONNARUWA URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2018-2030 VOLUME I Urban Development Authority District Office Polonnaruwa 2018-2030 i Polonnaruwa 2018-2030, UDA Polonnaruwa Development Plan 2018-2030 POLONNARUWA URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLAN VOLUME I BACKGROUND INFORMATION/ PLANNING PROCESS/ DETAIL ANALYSIS /PLANNING FRAMEWORK/ THE PLAN Urban Development Authority District Office Polonnaruwa 2018-2030 ii Polonnaruwa 2018-2030, UDA Polonnaruwa Development Plan 2018-2030 DOCUMENT INFORMATION Report title : Polonnaruwa Development Plan Locational Boundary (Declared area) : Polonnaruwa MC (18 GN) and Part of Polonnaruwa PS(15 GN) Gazette No : Client/ Stakeholder (shortly) : Local Residents, Relevent Institutions and Commuters Commuters : Submission date :15.12.2018 Document status (Final) & Date of issued: Author UDA Polonnaruwa District Office Document Submission Details Version No Details Date of Submission Approved for Issue 1 Draft 2 Draft This document is issued for the party which commissioned it and for specific purposes connected with the above-captioned project only. It should not be relied upon by any other party or used for any other purpose. We accept no responsibility for the consequences of this document being relied upon by any other party, or being used for any other purpose, or containing any error or omission which is due to an error or omission in data supplied to us by other parties. This document contains confidential information and proprietary intellectual property. It should not be shown to other parties without consent from the party
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Performance Report of the District Secretariat
    ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2019, TRINCOMALEE 뷒ස්ත්‍රි槊 ලේක කායාලය,ක臊ල臊ය,ි槔ණාමලය khtl;lr; nrayfk;, jpUNfhzkiy District Secretariat, Kachcheri, Trincomalee වාික කායස්ත්‍ාධන වාතාව tUlhe;j nraw;jpwd; mwpf;if ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2019 0 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2019, TRINCOMALEE Annual Performance Report for the year 2019 District Secretariat, Trincomalee Expenditure Head No 271 Contents Page Chapter 01 - Institutional Profile ………………………………………………………… 2-10 Chapter 02 – Progress and the Future Outlook …………………………………... 11 Chapter 03 - Overall Financial Performance for the Year ……………….……. 12-41 Chapter 04- Performance of the achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ………………………………………………. 42-45 Chapter 05 - Human Resource Profile ………………………………………………… 46-48 Chapter 06– Compliance Report ………………………………………………………… 49-54 1 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2019, TRINCOMALEE Chapter 01 - Institutional Profile 1.1. Introduction Trincomalee District - A Glimpse The Boundary Trincomalee, a picturesque city with a natural 2arbor, scenic beauty, and military, commercial and historical importance, is situated in the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Trincomalee District is boarded with Mulathivu District in North, Anuradhapura District in West and Polonnaruwa and Batticaloa Districts in the South. The History The history of Trincomalee goes back to a time of immemorial. The Mahavamsa & Chulavamsa, the two great chronicles, mention present Trincomalee as “Gokanna” , Gokarna, and “Gonagamaka” During the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods of island’s history. The Administration The Trincomalee District located in the center of Eastern Province covering an area of 2,727 square kilometers. The district is divided into 11 Divisional Secretary’s Divisions for administrative purpose. The DS Divisions are further sub-divided into 230 Grama Niladhari Divisions.
    [Show full text]
  • Trincomalee District – 2007
    BASIC POPULATION INFORMATION ON TRINCOMALEE DISTRICT – 2007 Preliminary Report Based on Special Enumeration – 2007 Department of Census and Statistics October 2007 ISBN 978-955-577-616-5 Foreword The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), carried out a special enumeration in Eastern province and in Jaffna district in Northern province. The objective of this enumeration is to provide the necessary basic information needed to formulate development programmes and relief activities for the people. This preliminary publication for Trincomalee district has been compiled from the reports obtained from the District based on summaries prepared by enumerators and supervisors. A final detailed information will be disseminated after the computer processing of questionnaires. This preliminary release gives some basic information for Trincomalee district, such as population by divisional secretary’s division, urban/rural population, sex, age (under 18 years and 18 years and over) and ethnicity. Data on displaced persons due to conflict or tsunami are also included. Some important information which is useful for regional level planning purposes are given by Grama Niladhari Divisions. This enumeration is based on the usual residents of households in the district. These figures should be regarded as provisional. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the staff of the department and all other government officials and others who worked with dedication and diligence for the successful completion of the enumeration. I am also grateful to the general public for extending their fullest co‐operation in this important undertaking. This publication has been prepared by Population Census Division of this Department. D.B.P. Suranjana Vidyaratne Director General of Census and Statistics 10th October 2007 Department of Census and Statistics, 15/12, Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7.
    [Show full text]
  • Sri Lanka –Eastern Province – Trincomalee – Security Situation – Human Rights – Military and Paramilitary Groups – TMVP – Tamils with LTTE Links – Kiliveddy - Muthur
    Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: LKA35265 Country: Sri Lanka Date: 5 August 2009 Keywords: – Sri Lanka –Eastern Province – Trincomalee – Security situation – Human Rights – Military and paramilitary groups – TMVP – Tamils with LTTE Links – Kiliveddy - Muthur This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Please provide an update of the security situation in the East of Sri Lanka, particularly Trincomalee. 2. Is there a large military presence in Trincomalee? Are there reports of human rights abuses by the military in the east? 3. Do paramilitary groups/pro-government militias (such as those previously headed by Karuna and/or Pilliyan) still operate in Trincomalee? Are they still a threat to Tamils who are suspected of having LTTE links? 4. Is there any evidence of a town called Kiliveddy Muthur Trincomalee? Prior to the Sri Lankan government claiming victory over the LTTE, was Kiliveddy controlled by the LTTE or the government? RESPONSE 1. Please provide an update of the security situation in the East of Sri Lanka, particularly Trincomalee. The response to this question has been divided into two sections, the first dealing specifically with security in Trincomalee and the second relating more generally to the security situation in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.
    [Show full text]
  • CONTENTS Chapter Preface Introduction 1
    CONTENTS Chapter Preface Introduction 1. Sri Lanka 2. Prehistoric Lanka; Ravana abducts Princess Sita from India.(15) 3 The Mahawamsa; The discovery of the Mahawamsa; Turnour's contribution................................ ( 17) 4 Indo-Aryan Migrations; The coming of Vijaya...........(22) 5. The First Two Sinhala Kings: Consecration of Vijaya; Panduvasudeva, Second king of Lanka; Princess Citta..........................(27) 6 Prince Pandukabhaya; His birth; His escape from soldiers sent to kill him; His training from Guru Pandula; Battle of Kalahanagara; Pandukabhaya at war with his uncles; Battle of Labu Gamaka; Anuradhapura - Ancient capital of Lanka.........................(30) 7 King Pandukabhaya; Introduction of Municipal administration and Public Works; Pandukabhaya’s contribution to irrigation; Basawakulama Tank; King Mutasiva................................(36) 8 King Devanampiyatissa; gifts to Emporer Asoka: Asoka’s great gift of the Buddhist Doctrine...................................................(39) 9 Buddhism established in Lanka; First Buddhist Ordination in Lanka around 247 BC; Mahinda visits the Palace; The first Religious presentation to the clergy and the Ordination of the first Sinhala Bhikkhus; The Thuparama Dagoba............................ ......(42) 10 Theri Sanghamitta arrives with Bo sapling; Sri Maha Bodhi; Issurumuniya; Tissa Weva in Anuradhapura.....................(46) 11 A Kingdom in Ruhuna: Mahanaga leaves the City; Tissaweva in Ruhuna. ...............................................................................(52)
    [Show full text]
  • GEOGRAPHY Grade 11 (For Grade 11, Commencing from 2008)
    GEOGRAPHY Grade 11 (for Grade 11, commencing from 2008) Teachers' Instructional Manual Department of Social Sciences Faculty of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences National Institute of Education Maharagama. 2008 i Geography Grade 11 Teachers’ Instructional Manual © National Institute of Education First Print in 2007 Faculty of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Social Science National Institute of Education Printing: The Press, National Institute of Education, Maharagama. ii Forward Being the first revision of the Curriculum for the new millenium, this could be regarded as an approach to overcome a few problems in the school system existing at present. This curriculum is planned with the aim of avoiding individual and social weaknesses as well as in the way of thinking that the present day youth are confronted. When considering the system of education in Asia, Sri Lanka was in the forefront in the field of education a few years back. But at present the countries in Asia have advanced over Sri Lanka. Taking decisions based on the existing system and presenting the same repeatedly without a new vision is one reason for this backwardness. The officers of the National Institute of Education have taken courage to revise the curriculum with a new vision to overcome this situation. The objectives of the New Curriculum have been designed to enable the pupil population to develop their competencies by way of new knowledge through exploration based on their existing knowledge. A perfectly new vision in the teachers’ role is essential for this task. In place of the existing teacher-centred method, a pupil-centred method based on activities and competencies is expected from this new educa- tional process in which teachers should be prepared to face challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Spatial Variability of Rainfall Trends in Sri Lanka from 1989 to 2019 As an Indication of Climate Change
    International Journal of Geo-Information Article Spatial Variability of Rainfall Trends in Sri Lanka from 1989 to 2019 as an Indication of Climate Change Niranga Alahacoon 1,2,* and Mahesh Edirisinghe 1 1 Department of Physics, University of Colombo, Colombo 00300, Sri Lanka; [email protected] 2 International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 127, Sunil Mawatha, Pelawatte, Colombo 10120, Sri Lanka * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Analysis of long-term rainfall trends provides a wealth of information on effective crop planning and water resource management, and a better understanding of climate variability over time. This study reveals the spatial variability of rainfall trends in Sri Lanka from 1989 to 2019 as an indication of climate change. The exclusivity of the study is the use of rainfall data that provide spatial variability instead of the traditional location-based approach. Henceforth, daily rainfall data available at Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation corrected with stations (CHIRPS) data were used for this study. The geographic information system (GIS) is used to perform spatial data analysis on both vector and raster data. Sen’s slope estimator and the Mann–Kendall (M–K) test are used to investigate the trends in annual and seasonal rainfall throughout all districts and climatic zones of Sri Lanka. The most important thing reflected in this study is that there has been a significant increase in annual rainfall from 1989 to 2019 in all climatic zones (wet, dry, intermediate, and Semi-arid) of Sri Lanka. The maximum increase is recorded in the wet zone and the minimum increase is in the semi-arid zone.
    [Show full text]
  • Shantha K. Hennayake Department of Geography Syracuse U Niversity Syracuse, NY 13244
    PROCEEDINGS - AAG MIDDLE STATES DIVISION - VOL. 21, 1988 THE TAMIL HOMElAND: ITS POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS Shantha K. Hennayake Department of Geography Syracuse U niversity Syracuse, NY 13244 A homeland is an indispensable attribute of ethnic nationalism. l It is not a natural or fIxed phenomenon but it is created, demarcated, perpetuated and may be contested. The explanation of the genesis of homelands has been an important area of research in the studies of nationalism. Continuing along this tradition, I will examine the origination of the Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. The creation, articulation, and perpetuation of a homeland is a result of both intended and unintended consequences of actions by members of an ethnic group. By necessity an ethnic group's conceptual articulation of a homeland and its demarcation are political acts performed with political intentions. I identify three sUb-groups who engage themselves in these tasks: political leaders, intellectuals, and the mass population. Although these SUb-groups are not mutually exclusive, each engages in a slightly different activity. The cooperation among them is usually achieved through organized political institutions such as political parties. As has been the case in Sri Lanka, a single, well-developed nationalist party may facilitate the establishment of a homeland by taking the lead in its demarcation. EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF TAMIL HOMElAND Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic state. The two largest ethnic groups are the Sinhalese, which constitutes 78% of the population and by its shear numbers is the dominant group, and the Tamils, which constitutes 8% of the population. Despite its smaller size this latter group is the most politically active minority.
    [Show full text]