''Dawasa'' was a

Sinhala language Sinhala ( ; Sinhala: , , ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. It is also the first ...

daily newspaper in

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

published by Independent Newspapers Limited, part of M. D. Gunasena & Company. It was founded on 14 August 1961 and was published from

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. In 1966 it had an average net sales of 55,000. It had an average circulation of 58,600 in 1970 and 83,285 in 1973. By 1973/74 the Independent Newspapers publications had become vocal critics of

Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (; ; ; 17 April 1916 – 10 October 2000), commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government, world's first fe ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. The government sealed Independent Newspapers' presses and closed it down on 19 April 1974 using the Emergency (Defence) Regulations. Independent Newspapers resumed publication on 30 March 1977 but the three-year closure had taken its toll. Faced financial problems Independent Newspapers and its various publications closed down on 26 December 1990.

References

1961 establishments in Ceylon Defunct daily newspapers published in Sri Lanka Defunct Sinhala-language newspapers published in Sri Lanka Independent Newspapers Limited Newspapers established in 1961 1990 disestablishments in Sri Lanka Publications disestablished in 1990 {{SriLanka-newspaper-stub