Sri Lanka is a separate country than India where Ravi is in, so that may be the difference; although there are many Tamils living in southern India also. I believe Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is not an extremely poor country, and is better off than most. They have a big tourist industry from Europe which probably helps a lot and it has good exports. So it could be they are not "owned" by the international banks to the extent Philippines, Bangladesh, and India are. And if Arthur C. Clarke did have a large influence on them (i remember reading he worked on projects for the government there), they are all-up on new energy theories

I contacted the newspaper staff writer there and asked him to pass on our wish for more info /interview from the inventor, we will see if that gets anywhere. It would be great to break a story like this to the blogisphere and eventually into the mainstream!

One way we can win this is to nickel-and dime 'em to death, hehehe Enough mosquito bites will bring down an elephant.