Abstract
Sri Lanka is a mosaic of ethnic, religious and social groups in which the Sinhalese Buddhists (Low Country and Kandyan) form the sizeable majority.* This majority had been neglected during the long years of western rule. Nor were their grievances looked into with sympathy by post-independence governments of the 1948–56 phase.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Central Bank of Ceylon, Survey of Ceylon’s Finances 1953 (Colombo 1954),
and Central Bank of Ceylon, Survey of Ceylon’s Consumer Finances 1963 (Colombo, 1964). See also Dr M. A. Fernando’s ‘Employment in the Rural Sector’, Ceylon Daily News, 30 May 1971, and ‘The Educated Unemployed’, Ceylon Daily News, 2 June 1971. Both articles are extracts from a Central Bank Survey published in the Central Bank Bulletin (April 1971).
For detailed information, see D. L. Jayasuriya, ‘Developments in University Education: The Growth of the University of Ceylon (1942–1965)’, University of Ceylon Review, Vol. XXIII (April–October 1965) Nos 1 & 2, pp. 83–153.
Also Sir Ivor Jennings, ‘Race, Religion and Economic Opportunity in the University of Ceylon’, University of Ceylon Review, Vol. II (November 1944), pp. 1–13,
S. J. Tambiah, ‘Ethnic Representation in Ceylon’s Higher Administrative Service 1870–1946’, University of Ceylon Review, Vol. XIII (April–July 1955), pp. 113–34,
M. A. Strauss, ‘Family Characteristics and Occupational Choices of University Entrants as Clues to the Social Structure of Ceylon’, University of Ceylon Review, Vol. IX (April–July 1951), pp. 125–35
and Bryce Ryan, ‘Status Achievement, and Education in Ceylon: An Historical Perspective’, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XX, No. 4 (August 1961), pp. 463–76.
See also Department of Census and Statistics, Survey of Rural Indebtedness in Ceylon 1957 (Colombo, 1959). This survey estimated the total indebtedness in the rural areas at Rs 516 million or about Rs 424 per rural family, a figure which at that time constituted about 34 per cent of annual income or 9 per cent of the value of property owned by the family. Even in 1957 the greater percentage of loans was taken for consumption purposes. 44.1 per cent of the Rs 516 million borrowed was from friends and relatives. 39.03 per cent of loans in the 1963 Survey (p. 127) was from friends.
See S. U. Kodikara, Indo-Ceylon Relations since Independence (Colombo, 1965), p. 111. Note, at its ninth annual sessions in April 1949, the C.I.C. condemned the provisions of the Ceylon Citizenship Act as ‘humiliating, discriminatory and anti-social’ and the qualifications required under the Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act as being ‘complex and involved, and beyond the capacity of workers with little or no education’ (ibid.). The latter assertion was, considering the educational and literacy standards of the Indian population, factually correct.
See press communique issued by Ministry of Defence and External Affairs, Ceylon Daily News, 23 July 1970. From May 1970 (after the U.F. government took office to February 1973, 86,687 Indians were granted Indian citizenship (till December 1972) of whom 58,276 were repatriated to India (till January 1973) while 36,740 were granted Sri Lanka citizenship (till January 1973). See text of press conference by the deputy minister of defence and foreign affairs in Ceylon Daily News, 22 February 1973. Note, the U.F. government and the Ceylon Daily News in its editorial of 19 February 1973 alleged that the Dudley Senanayake ‘national government’ had been lax in implementing the Indo-Ceylon Agreement of October 1964 in view of the U.N.P.’s alliances with the C.W.C. and the F.P. For a refutation of this charge see ‘U.N.P. and Indo-Ceylon Pact’ by Dudley Senanayake and the editor’s reply to Senanayake in Ceylon Daily News, 23 February 1973.
For a detailed account on Sinhalese caste structure, see Bryce Ryan, Caste in Modern Ceylon: The Sinhalese System in Transition (New Brunswick, N.J., 1953).
See, for instance, the speeches of Sir P. Arunachalam, one of the foremost of the Ceylon Tamil leaders in the first quarter of the twentieth century, in S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (ed.), The Hand Book of the Ceylon National Congress 1919–1928 (Colombo, 1928), pp. 70–97 and 118–43.
For a detailed account see Michael Banks, ‘Caste in Jaffna’, pp. 61–77 in E. R. Leach (ed.), Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North-West Pakistan, Vol. 2 (Cambridge, 1960).
For further information see The Bauddha Jatika Balavegaya (the National Organisation for the Protection of Buddhism), Catholic Action: A Reply to the Catholic Union of Ceylon (Colombo, 1963). See also statement by L. H. Mettananda, President of the Balvegaya, denouncing Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike for appointing Roman Catholics to a number of important positions in the public services, in Ceylon Daily News, 30 July 1956.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1974 A. Jeyaratnam Wilson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wilson, A.J. (1974). Problems in a Plural Society. In: Politics in Sri Lanka 1947–1973. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01544-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01544-3_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-01546-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-01544-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)