Dr. P G Punchihewa graduated from University of Ceylon, Peradeniya and joined Ceylon Civil Service in 1960 after a short stint as an Assistant Lecturer in University of Peradeniya. He held many administrative positions among which are, Government Agent for Monaragala, Puttalam, and Kalutara Districts, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Plantation Industries and Secretary of Ministry of Coconut Industries. In 1984 he was elected the Executive Director of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community based in Jakarta, Indonesia and served there 15 years. He then returned to Sri Lanka in 2000 and worked with the UNDP for about two years. Punchihewa obtained his post graduate diploma in Rural Social Development from University of Reading, UK and subsequently the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Sri Jayawardena Pura, Sri Lanka.

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Author wishes to receive reader comments. Please send your comments to us or directly to Dr. P G Punchihewa by email at: pgpunchi 'at' sltnet.lk

Here are some reviews of the book published in newspapers.

1. The Shattered Earth - By P.G. Punchihewa - by Carol Aloysius from the Nation of June 15th 2008.

   Of the many years that P.G. Punchihewa, a former Civil Servant spent in some of the remotest and undeveloped villages in Sri Lanka, his three year period ( 1967-70) of service, as G.A. in the Moneragala district, was perhaps his most enduring memory. This brief period, provided him the inspiration, material and background for 'The Shattered Earth', his latest English publication. The book is a translation of his Sinhala version, Gana Bol Polowa.
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2. Story that has the ring of truth - by Anne Abayasekara from the Island online of June 10th 2008.

   It gripped me from the first chapter, this novel which the author describes in his Foreword as "the story of the poverty-stricken, innocent, landless peasants of Wellassa". a place of which I'd not heard before. The hero, Kirisanda, who might perhaps more appropriately be called the victim, is the lone villager who resisted, vainly as it turned out, the might of "external forces that came in the guise of development" (to quote the author again). From time to time, the media carry news-stories about some villagers somewhere making a stand against a Government-sponsored or approved project that will alter their way of life. Like most of us who are city-based, I have seldom paid much attention to such news items. After reading Mr. Punchihewa's book, I can never be indifferent again.
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3. The 'Jungle' in the Village - by Barry Tebb from the Sunday Times of June 08th 2008.

   P. G. Punchihewa's 'The Shattered Earth' deserves to be placed alongside Leonard Woolf's classic Ceylon novel, 'The Village in the Jungle', as a novel worthy of becoming a school text and eventually the subject for a feature film. Both Woolf and Punchihewa were Government Agents (GAs), Woolf during the time of the Raj, and Punchihewa after the Raj had gone. The many differences and similarities between the two books make a fascinating study.
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4. Kala Korner - by Dee Cee from the Sunday Times of April 27th 2008.

   Punchi introduced his work 'The Shattered Earth' as "the story of the poverty stricken, landless, innocent peasants of Wellassa who fell victims to the development-oriented policies of the Government, implemented through Colombo based entrepreneurs backed by the bureaucracy." We are taken back to the days in the late 1960s when the then Government launched a massive food drive and gave state land to big companies on long lease. Some did a good job introducing new crops like soya bean, getting the villagers to cooperate and providing them with new agricultural techniques. There were others who felled the rich timber and made a quick buck. The villagers naturally had their own fears and that's what Punchi, who was serving in Moneragala at the time as the Government Agent, reveals.
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