To ensure every vote carries equal weight’ Shruti Rajagopalan, economist and professor at George Mason University, argues that any future effort to enlarge the Lok Sabha and apportion seats by population requires fundamental changes to the Indian polity by: Shruti Rajagopalan, Indian Express, Mumbai, April 20, 2026 Delimitation is the act of drawing political lines…. Read more »
Posts Categorized: Government
Decentralise or Decline: The South’s Warning
by Nilakantan RS, Off Beat Concerns, India, April 19, 2026 Though the move for delimitation has for now, failed in Parliament, the concerns it raised about federal balance, representation, and transparency remain unresolved—especially for the southern states. In this conversation with Shahina KK, author and commentator Nilakantan RS, known for his work South vs North, examines… Read more »
Devolution Without Power is Meaningless
by Raj Sivanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, March 26, 2026 A version of this article is also on Jaffna Post at The NPP Must Deliver Devolution and Economic Justice Now – Sri Lanka News Sri Lanka stands today at a decisive and defining moment in its post-war political and economic journey. For more than three decades, the… Read more »
PEARL: State-Sponsored Sinhalization of the North-East
The Anti-Development Machine by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, January 2026 Examining Sri Lanka’s State-Led Land Dispossession and Anti-Development Policies Targeting Eelam Tamils Full report: PEARL_Sinhalization-as-an-anti-development-machine_report Case Study: Tamil Dairy Farmers’ Protest in Mayilaththamadu-Madhavanai, Batticaloa PEARL_Sinhalization-as-an-anti-development-machine_CASE-STUDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is part of the Sinhalization series and builds on the themes of PEARL’s… Read more »
PEARL Releases New Report on Alleged ‘Sinhalisation’ in Sri Lanka
by Daily FT, Colombo, January 20, 2026 Flags off State-led land dispossession and anti-development policies targeting Eelam TamilsPeople for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) has released a new report and accompanying case study examining the Sri Lankan state’s ongoing project of Sinhalisation in the North-East, with a detailed focus on land dispossession and violence against… Read more »
What is Local Governance?
[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 »
SSA: July 1983
by Civil Society Movement in Social Scientists Association’s ‘Polity,’ Colombo, July/August 2003 polity-vol-1.3-july-1983 Also: polity-vol-1.3-july-1983.pdf
From Chemmani to Geneva
Will Sri Lanka Face Its Truth? by Wimal Navaratnam, Canada, June 30, 2025 From Chemmani to Geneva Next Steps and Future Outlook With Volker Türk’s mission now completed, attention shifts to what comes next. All parties – the UN, the Sri Lankan government, Tamil representatives, and international actors – are looking ahead to ensure that… Read more »
Justice for Sri Lanka’s Genocide Against Tamils
by [unclear, although some analysis is provided by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and the document is supported by the Ottawa Tamil Association. the Tamil Genocide Memorial, Tamil American United PAC, the Federation of Global Tamil Organizations, the Ilankai Tamil Sangam, and the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA)], 2024 Justice… 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 »
Adayaalam: A Phantom that is Real
Persisting culture of surveillance and intimidation in the North-East by Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, Jaffna, February 2025 Adayaalam A-Phantom-that-is-Real_-Persisting-Culture-or-Surveilance-and-Intimidation-in-the-NorthEast This report sheds light on the prevailing patterns of surveillance, intimidation, and arrests that activists, civil society members, and journalists face in the North-East of Sri Lanka, and is one of the recent studies exploring… Read more »
Letter re Repeal of PTA from Civil Society
Letter re PTA May 2025 English Letter re PTA May 2025 Tamil Letter re PTA May 2025 Sinhalese 29th May, 2025 Secretary, Ministry of Justice and National Integration, Colombo 10 Re: The Repeal of the PTA – Do not replace with a new terror law We, as concerned peoples of Sri Lanka, respond to the… Read more »
The Hindu: A Sri Lankan Anti-Terror Law That Needs Repeal
The Sri Lankan government must translate its pre-election rhetoric into reality, and end the Prevention of Terrorism Act by The Hindu, Chennai, April 30, 2025 In the many cycles of violence in Sri Lanka’s troubled history, “terror” has been a running theme. While the state — that has repeatedly demonstrated a majoritarian tendency — has… 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
MK Stalin Interview in Deccan Herald
The Tuesday Interview | BJP and its ideology should be opposed beyond elections: Stalin In an interview with DH’s E.T.B. Sivapriyan, Stalin criticized the AIADMK-BJP alliance as detrimental to Tamil Nadu, accused Governor R N Ravi of acting as a puppet of the Union Government, undermining democracy, and disregarding judicial verdicts. by ETB Sivapriyan, Deccan… Read more »
15 Years of Politically Informed Subnational Governance Reform in Sri Lanka (2005-2020)
Ride the Wind but Know the Tide by Gopa Thampi and Nicola Nixon, TWP Community of Practice, University of Birmingham & Asia Foundation, April 2025 TWP-CoP-TAF-Story-of-change.pdf 1. Introduction This case study provides an example of Thinking and Working Politically (TWP) in practice, by unpacking The Asia Foundation’s efforts to support reform of Sri Lanka’s subnational… Read more »
Open Letter to Sri Lankan President Anura K. Dissanayake
Since 1948 SL Heads of State have ‘relayed’ on the Ethnic conflict! by S. V. Kirubaharan, General Secretary, TCHR – Tamil Centre for Human Rights, France, May 7, 2025 William Shakespeare: “Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends”. Dear Mr President: First of all, our congratulations to you and the NPP – National People’s Power… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Who is to Blame for Sri Lanka’s Crises?
by Head to Head, Al Jazeera, London, March 6, 2025 When Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country in 2022 – amidst mass protests and an economic crisis– parliament elected veteran politician and six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. As President, Wickremesinghe negotiated the country’s biggest bail-out, but his critics say he is part of… Read more »
TG: Sri Lanka’s Budget: Funding Occupation
Tamil Guardian editorial, February 22, 2025 Sri Lanka’s new president unveiled a much awaited budget this week, his first since taking up office. The self-proclaimed Marxist leader pledged spending that largely aligned with conditions set out in a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. But, as commentators have pointed out, the budget demonstrates several… Read more »
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 »