I read a comprehensive article by Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe on the above question in the  Colombo Telegraph. It clearly describes the real situation behind this whole episode and defined ETCA as the metamorphosed version of CEPA.

I quote “Firstly, the Indian IT industry is in a completely different ball game. They are primarily in the IT services space and have little investment in the open source eco-system for precisely that reason. Indian IT graduates are also not a uniform breed: at the top level, they are produced in relatively small numbers by the elite IIT’s, but at the (large) bottom end, they are unemployed, and arguably unemployable. The best IT graduates, not unlike ours, seek greener pastures in the developed world, and would hardly consider Sri Lanka as a destination to realize their ambitions. Sri Lanka’s unregulated private tertiary education system would allow even the lowest quality Indian degrees (some as short as 2 years) to be offered in Sri Lanka and compromise the quality of university education available in Sri Lanka. This could potentially wipe out the relatively high quality degrees franchised from UK and Australia currently in Sri Lanka.” End of quote.

The above deliberation is valid for engineering and medical professions too. Engineers know this fact, and have gathered. IESL now being a signatory of the Washington Accord, can’t just allow incorrect things to happen. Because of this reason, IESL is also part of the protest. Another important discussion is published in Sinhala in the web, by one of our IESL council members, Eng. Arjuna Manamperi. (http://www.wedabima.lk/) More information on the public rally organized by the United Professional Movement is also available in the web. (UPM Hyde Park Rally against ETCA- 24/3/2016).

With all these information, what I would like to request the engineers is, be vigilant, there certainly is a threat. Somebody may argue that the ETCA has not been signed yet, so without knowing the real fact, what we do is kind of unnecessary preparation and motivation of public. However, predicting the future scenario is not that challenging, because “which country on earth that is stronger in terms of its political and economic status than us, would sign an agreement that is more advantageous to us than to them?” I request the engineers to think this seriously.

Udeni P. Nawagamuwa
nawagamuwa@gmail.com