[This article is interesting because it is by a Sinhalese author. Tamils have been advocating for more decentralized government since independence, to no avail. Note that in the early 1980s the Sri Lankan government proposed District Development Councils to counteract calls for more autonomy for the North and Eastern Provinces. The Tamils were not in… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Economy
Who Gets Warned? Language, Discrimination, and Disaster Communication in Sri Lanka
by Sanjana H., LinkedIn, Colombo, Nov.29, 2025 In a recent article related to the devastating impact of Cyclone Ditwah on Sri Lanka, the Tamil Guardian noted that, Officials describe the impact of Cyclone Ditwah as one of the deadliest weather-related disasters in recent years. Yet even as Tamils in the North-East grapple with the impact of of the… Read more »
Rivers of Sri Lanka
by Nuwan I. Senaratna, Dec, 6, 2025 From his X account: We cannot hope to understand floods without first understanding the #rivers that shape them. This repository offers GeoJSON maps of Sri Lanka’s rivers, extracted from from https://hydrosheds.org. (Each color in the map represent a river basin. The colors have been picked at random) @Github… Read more »
The Great Flood
by B. Skanthakumar, Polity, Colombo, December 5, 2025 Cyclone Ditwah ripped through Sri Lanka between 27 and 29 November. The toll is devastating. Seven days later, the official count is 486 deaths and 341 missing. To which should be added five navy and one air-force officer killed in rescue operations; and an electricity board technician… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s President Surprises with Pro-Market Pivot
by Uditha Jayasinghe and Krishna N. Das, Reuters, London, September 23, 2025 Summary President Dissanayake’s government plans fresh steps to boost investment after 2022 economic collapse Power tariffs raised, state-run electricity board being broken up despite union protests $100 mln in cannabis-based medical oil projects expected for export to US and Europe Analysts say strong… Read more »
Government Announcing Release of Lands in Jaffna Largely Political Rhetoric
by LankaFiles, July 28, 2025 It has been revealed that the repeated claims made by successive presidents, including the current head of state, regarding the release of ancestral lands in the Valikamam region of Jaffna district, are largely political rhetoric. At a press conference held in Jaffna, civil society activists and local residents asserted that… Read more »
Data from Presidential Truth Commission Report on Black July 1983
by Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1981-1984, September 2002 Evidence provided to the 2002 Commission by victims who requested compensation for primarily property damage during the violence of the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983’s Black July. truth-commission-list_from presidential_commission_report on ethnic violence 1981-1984 [Excel file] Data is from the report of the Presidential Commission and is… Read more »
Letter to Pres. Dissanayake re Land Settlement Ordinance Notice of March 28, 2025
by MP M.A. Sumanthiran, May 3, 2025 See page 6 for the Notice: 2025-03-28(III-0)E.pdf
Impediments to Agricultural Livelihoods among Ethnic Minority Farmers in Post-War Sri Lanka
Displacement and degradation Sinhalese (Buddhist) farming households have more viable agricultural livelihoods than Tamil (Hindu) or Moor (Muslim) households. While all of the Tamil and Moor household in our sample reside in communities that were directly affected by the war, only a small subset of Sinhalese communities are within the former conflict zone. Notably, Sinhalese… Read more »
Peasants, Paddy and Ethnic Space in Sri Lanka’s Post-War Frontier
Marginal placeholders by Bart Klem & Thiruni Kelegama, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol.47, Issue 2, 2020 ABSTRACT This study explores the political significance of peasant identities, rice cultivation and land struggles in the context of civil war. It comprises two agrarian settlements in Sri Lanka’s former war zone: a state-sponsored Sinhala settlement colony (Weli… Read more »
Peasant Politics, Frontier Colonization and the Cunning State in Sri Lanka
The lure of land by Thiruni Kelegama & Benedikt Korf, Modern Asian Studies, Vol.57, Issue 6, UK, November, 2023 Abstract This paper studies the contradictions of peasant politics in Sri Lanka’s dry zone frontier in a highly militarized colonization scheme (‘System L’ of the Mahaweli Development Programme in Weli Oya in northern Sri Lanka). Through… Read more »
TCHR: Sinhala Colonisation 2000
by K Sachithanandan, Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Paris, 2ooo Presented to the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, March/April 2000 The original text was produced in Tamil by the Author in 1980s TCHR Sinhala Colonisation 2000 K Sachithanandan SINHALA COLONISATION IN THE HEREDITARY TAMIL REGIONS OF THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA An appeal to… Read more »
TG: This Land Belongs to Us
This week, Tamils took to streets to send the Sri Lankan state a message – just as they did in the 1950’s. Tamil Guardian editorial, London, February 16, 2025 The issue of Sinhala colonisation of the North-East is not new. It is one that has plagued the island for decades, as successive Sri Lankan governments… Read more »
The Quandary of the National Policy on Land
Reinventing The Wheel? by Austin Fernando, Colombo Telegraph, January 12, 2025 Last week, news appeared titled ‘Inter-linked mechanism mooted for lands.’ The Deputy Minister of Lands and Irrigation Dr. Susil Ranasinghe was quoted in it. Ranasinghe rightly lamented the absence of a proper land policy that creates disorganization of institutions involved in land use, i.e.,… Read more »
All Roads Run through Tamil Eelam
New Delhi must remember that any form of connectivity with Sri Lanka inherently involves the Tamil North-East. Tamil Guardian editorial, December 21, 2024 Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to India saw him receive the grandest of receptions, in a sign that New Delhi is firmly pressing ahead with its plans to increase its footprint… Read more »
The Tamil Nadu Model of Doing Business
From EVs to gorilla glass, the southern state bags marquee investments by Menaka Doshi, Bloomberg News India Edition Newsletter, October 3, 2024 This week: The Gujarat model may soon be replaced by Tamil Nadu, an excellent monsoon and Bengaluru’s new neighbor. Tamil Nadu vs. Vietnam It’s raining investments in Tamil Nadu, as the state nets… Read more »
Stupidity, Not Corruption, Crashed Our Economy
by Daniel Alphonsus on his Substack, October 6, 2024 Jail the corrupt and bring our money back! This is the cry of our times. It rings from the four corners of the island and echoes across the usual divisions of race, religion, language and class. For our woes were caused by corruption, and redemption will… Read more »
What Bangladesh Can Do to Get Back Laundered Wealth
by Tasneem Raihan, The Daily Star, Bangladesh, October 1, 2024 Over the past 15 years, people from various sectors—including politicians, businesspeople, bureaucrats, and police officials—have reportedly laundered over $100 billion abroad. This figure is likely underestimated, but even if it’s close to the actual amount, the implications are staggering. To put this into context, $100 billion is… Read more »
Dissanayake’s Push for Sri Lanka Economic Change
Leaves IMF deal, debt rework in limbo by Uditha Jayasinghe, Sudipto Ganguly and Libby George, Reuters, London, September 24, 2024 Summary Balancing pro-poor policies with IMF deal is new president’s biggest challenge IMF says to work with him, discuss timing of third review Leader has expressed willingness to renegotiate IMF terms COLOMBO/LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters)… Read more »
Escalating Land Grabs Threaten Tamils & Muslims in Sri Lanka
by Oakland Institute, California, September 12, 2024 —FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— September 12, 2024; 6:00 AM PDT Media Contact: amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org, +1 510-469-5228 As the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) addresses the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, a new report details how 15 years after the brutal end of the… Read more »