Sri Lanka to recognize contribution of Indian-origin Tamils in tea plantations

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is to appreciate the massive contribution made by Indian-origin Tamils in the tea plantation sector to the country's economy for 200 years.

The Cabinet approved the proposal by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to conduct a series of events to appreciate the consistent contribution rendered by the upcountry Tamils to the economy of Sri Lanka during the last two centuries, the President Media Division (PMD) stated on Friday.

To commemorate 200 years since the arrival of the first group of upcountry Tamils from India to Sri Lanka and their contribution to more than one-third of the income made by the plantation sector, the series of events are to be held in February 2023.

"Upcountry Tamil estate workers who are more than 150,000 in number residing mainly in Central, Sabaragamuwa and Southern Provinces have been a significant part of the country in respect to their contribution to the economy as well as Sri Lanka's culture," the PMD said.

In October, President Wickremesinghe promised to ensure Indian-origin Tamil community gets the same facilities as other communities in the country.

The Tamil community was brought by British colonial rulers to work in the tea plantations. Citizenship was a major issue for the community and then PMs of India and Ceylon, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, inked the Sirima-Shastri Pact on October 30, 1964 to grant citizenships to nearly 300,000 Indians, repatriate around 525,000 to India and to negotiate the citizenship of the rest 150,000. However, in 2003, citizenship was granted to all Indian origin who had been living in Sri Lanka since the time the Sirima-Shastri Pact was signed. IANS

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