Sri Lanka, Nov. 25 -- For what the detractors allege is a regimented State, there is a mini turbo boost of criticism post-budget, aimed at the Rajapaksa Administration by some of the usual culprits, and various persons of the nattering punditocracy.

In Parliament, the JVP's failed Vijitha Herath - failed to even remotely come close to secure power; failed to have his party cross the three percent threshold - said that the government's recent budget was a tide-over budget and there were no means of production that were earmarked.

It is a budget and not a five-year plan. It contains the rudiments of fiscal and monetary policy and is a document that envisages how best the deficit could be bridged. If the policies are good, the SME and the ...