Business
‘Happy Mind for a Happy Life’
Happy Mind is an online forum consisting of Facebook and Instagram pages that was created during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in April with the objective of driving the charge in raising awareness surrounding mental health complications. Happy Mind aims to develop a culture of compassion towards people that suffer from mental health illnesses in the country. Since its launch they have managed to reach over half a million people and have educated thousands of people in various mental health complications. They have identified clinical cases via many messages received from page visitors and have connected them directly to trained and qualified health professionals.
The World Mental Health Day was last week (10th. Oct) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports, every 1 in 4 people suffer from invisible yet torturous mental health illnesses around the world. 450 million people are global victims of ill-health and disability due to this, which could push individuals to even commit suicide. Raising awareness and creating discussion is vital as there has been a significant rise in younger people dealing with poor mental health, all of which have worsened over the pandemic.
Research conducted by Harvard Medical School outlines the following factors as indications of poor mental well-being; episodes of depression, psychosis, anxiety and stress along with loss of social support are a few to mention. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine highlights; in 2017, 30.44% patients were diagnosed with depressive disorders, 13.39% with mental disorders related to anxiety. Simultaneously, the WHO recognises Sri Lanka to have one of the highest suicide rates in the world. This proves that awareness, conversation and creating an environment to mitigate these illnesses is vital.
Speaking on the launch of the online forum Kushan Randeni, founder of the Happy Mind initiative, said “We want to educate the general public on the importance of mental health and its complications. By doing this we hope to have a direct impact on reducing the stigma related to mental health in the country. In 2020, the scare of the pandemic looming over us, I observed a rise in mental health illnesses, with people getting anxious and fearful of contracting the virus, economic uncertainty, strain on marital relationships and stress upon children due to disruption in play and limited social interactions.”
“We want to advocate the importance of ‘Happy Mind, Happy Life’. In order to combat the rising mental strain during this time, we first shared the WHO material on ‘Coping with Stress during Covid-19 outbreak’ and ‘Helping Children cope with stress during Covid-19’. This gained significant traction and positive feedback from the community, endorsing the impact Happy Mind was having for mental well-being.” Added Kushan.
“Mental Health Illnesses are not a personal failure; however, failure does arise if the response to it is poor. We want to build a system which eradicates stigmatisation, discrimination or any form of non-acceptance of mental health illnesses. We want to build a system which encourages positivity, a culture of compassion for a community and a future of physically and mentally healthy people.” further added Kushan, describing the plan for the future.
Focus groups for different groups of mental health complications, workshops, and various therapeutic art events to awaken the creative senses are few steps they wish to take further. The sole purpose of these events will be to drive awareness surrounding the seriousness of mental health in our country, support people to keep their mind calm and learn more about themselves; to fill in for the lack of urgency and misinformation making this topic ‘taboo’.
Happy Mind wishes to be the forefront of spreading positivity among the general public and help those facing mental health illnesses to reach out and get help, so they can live a healthy life.
For more information, WhatsApp Happy Mind – 777336970
Find their informative content on www.facebook.com/happymindsl and www.instagram.com/happymindsl/
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SLT-Mobitel, the nation’s ICT and Telecommunications Service Provider recently partnered with Spotify, to mark their launch in Sri Lanka. Spotify is a paid premium music streaming app which allows subscribers to listen to music to their hearts content. Both, SLT-Mobitel Post-Paid and Pre-Paid customers will now be able to enjoy Spotify by activating a monthly recurring subscription or one-time subscription plan and access unlimited music streaming and downloading facilities.
The subscription charges will get added to the user’s customary billing, where payment will be deducted in real time. Starting from the payment date, the user will be able to access Spotify and download their favourite songs, for the next 30 days. Users who sign up for their first monthly subscription will receive an additional one month, courtesy of Spotify. The one-month subscription plan is not applicable with one-time subscription plans. SLT-Mobitel data rates, depending on the user’s respective broadband charges, will apply.
Spotify also has some exciting features that will provide SLT-Mobitel customers with the opportunity to listen to ad-free music, access millions of uninterrupted music under one platform, play any song they like, anywhere they go, and also be able to enjoy their music offline.
SLT-Mobitel customers can select their preferred premium package under four categories; Individual, Duo, Family, Student. Each category has recurring and non-recurring plans. After one month of free streaming, the package will activate once the offer period terminates. While both, the Individual and Student premiums are limited to one account user, the Duo package offers two accounts and the Family premium is accessible through six accounts. To view Spotify plans, users can log on to https://spoti.fi/3aLWvce
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by Sanath Nanayakkare
Anyone conversant with the elements of a political economy would know that Sri Lanka is using its ‘sovereign power’ to manage the different dynamics of the economy in a sustainable manner, Professor W. D Lakshman Governor of the Central Bank said on Wednesday.
“Some critics are saying that we adopt a so-called modern monetary theory. That’s not the case. In fact, Sri Lanka is using its sovereign power in a number of economic aspects to honour its external debt repayment commitments as well as to reduce its debt burden in the medium term as well as achieve resilient growth in the medium to long term, he said.
“We make policy decisions to boost our gross foreign reserves, meet our external debt servicing, to facilitate monetary expansion, to boost our GDP growth, to strengthen our current account balance and manage our domestic and external economic variables in a sustainable manner. This is not a modern monetary theory. This is an age-old tool used by central banks around the world when the circumstances demand it, he said.
“Certain trade-offs will be necessary when dealing with an economy which has a big fiscal gap to bridge. There are efforts to push Sri Lanka towards the IMF again which would in turn have influence on our policymaking. We have taken policy measures to stabilize the economy and we have adequate reserve levels to meet our debt repayments. Meanwhile, we are in negotiations with overseas central banks and multilateral agencies to further boost our reserve level and it would materialise within a matter of weeks,” he noted.
“One of the tools the Central Bank has introduced is in respect of repatriation of export proceeds into Sri Lanka and conversion of such proceeds into Sri Lankan rupees in order to strengthen the foreign exchange situation of the country,” he said.
The Governor made these remarks while delivering the keynote speech at a webinar organised by the Veemansa Initiative led by its Managing Director Luxman Siriwardene – the former Executive Director of Pathfinder Foundation.
The webinar revolved round the topic ‘External debt situation in Sri Lanka: Are we heading for a resolution or crisis?’
Professor Sirimal Abeyratne, Prof. Sumanasiri Liyanage, Dr. Nishan de Mel and Dr. Ravi Liyanage were the other speakers on the panel.
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By Hiran H.Senewiratne
CSE produced signs of a rebound yesterday with both indices closing positive, though turnover remained low. Central Bank Governor W.D Lakshman’s recent statement on managing foreign reserves gave some boost to the market yesterday, stock market analysts said.
The index experienced a zigzag movement within the early hours of trading; thereafter, it recorded a slight up-trend as it reached its intraday high of 7,439. Later, the market witnessed a down-trend at mid-day, followed by a sideways movement and closed at 7,372, gaining 43 points during the month of February, market sources said.
It is said the banking sector dominated turnover with a contribution of considerable parcel trades in Sampath Bank, Commercial Bank and HNB.
Further, the Commercial Bank’s impressive quarterly results during the recent turbulent period also built investor confidence. Commercial Bank was able to register a18 percent net interest income when other banks were reporting a decline. Its share price increased by Rs. 3 or 3.5 percent. On the previous day, its shares started trading at Rs. 85 and at the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 88. Due to the positive growth results, the bank announced a Rs. 4.40 dividend per share, plus a Rs. 2 script divergent for every share.
Further, Sampath Bank shares also appreciated in both crossing and retail. In crossings its shares appreciated by Rs. 1.At the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 154.50. In the retail market, its shares moved up by Rs. 2 or 1.3 percent. Previously, its shares fetched Rs. 154 and at the end of yesterday they moved up to Rs. 156.
Amid those developments, both indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 104.48 points and S and P SL20 rose by 67.78 points. Turnover stood at Rs. 3 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Sampath Bank, where 3.9 million shares crossed for Rs. 602.2 million, its share price being Rs. 154.50, HNB 375,000 shares crossed for Rs. 39.4 million, its shares traded at Rs. 105, Pan Asia Power 9.5 million shares crossed for Rs. 33.2 million, its shares traded at Rs. 3.50 and Access Engineering 1.2 million shares crossed for Rs. 28.2 million; its shares traded at Rs. 24.
In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Rs. 450 million (10 million shares traded), JKH Rs. 205 million (1.3 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs. 199 million (34.9 million shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs. 191 million (1.2 million shares traded) and Dipped Products Rs. 137.7 million (2.8 million shares traded). During the day 101 million share volumes changed hands in 18046 transactions.
During the day, Expolanka, the biggest contributor to the turnover, saw its share price appreciating by Rs. 6.20 or 15 percent. Its share price quoted on the previous day was Rs. 41 and at the end of trading yesterday it moved up to Rs. 47.
Sri Lanka’s rupee quoted wider at 193.50/195.50 levels to the US dollar in the spot next market on Thursday while bond yields remained unchanged, dealers said. The rupee last closed in the spot market at 194.50/195.00 to the dollar on Wednesday.
