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| Noel S Nadesan |
| After Sri Lanka got its independence in 1948, it saw two southern-based insurgencies in 1971 and 1989/90. Both were crushed ruthlessly by Sri Lankan security forces. But the armed struggler of Tamil youths that began in the early-1980 has been going on with no end in sight. The struggle has not given any appreciable benefits to Tamils. Instead a sizeable number of Tamils, estimated at about 30%, have gone aboard. Standards of health and education have been pushed back by many years. Levels of economic prosperity have gone down to pre-independent time. One common feature among all three uprising is the non-participation of hill-country estate Tamil workers. Socially and economically, the lot of Sinhela and Tamil workers is miles better than that of estate workers. In this article, I propose to trace their background and the factors that led to their disadvantaged position. There were three Kingdoms in Sri Lanka before the colonial rule. With the capture of the Kandyan kingdom in the central part of Ceylon, the last of the native ruled parts came under colonial administration. The British decided that the lands in the central hill areas were suitable for coffee cultivation. They purchased only a small part of this land from its owners. Ninety percent of the land was crown land and was just taken over at no cost. This was done very effectively by Governor Edward Barns who himself was a coffee planter. The government introduced many laws to suit them in acquiring these lands. All the British government servants were encouraged to start coffee cultivation. The sons of British gentry who did not inherit ancestral estates were sent to Ceylon to make their fortunes from the plantations.. In order to get cheap labour for the plantations the government tried to create wage labourers among the Sinhalese peasantry. 1. They recommended Raja Karya (working part of their time for the King for no wage) 2. Chena cultivation was stopped 3. Tax was levied on paddy, road usage and even on dogs By enforcing all these the British rulers forced the peasants to conditions of starvation and death. The foremost journalist J. R. Ferguson who was the spokesman of the coffee planting community said the following which sums up the feeling of those he represented. � The pinching of the stomach is morally good because it will induce the peasant to work on plantations�. But whatever they tried it failed to force the peasantry into wage labourers due to the following reasons: 1. Low population of the area � only 3000 in Kandy in 1815 2. Complexities in enforcing the laws. But the British found an alternative source, in Tamil Nadu in the Southern part of India, for wage labourers. During this period Tamil Nadu was experiencing severe drought and famine. Between 1830 and 1850 many thousand died due to starvation. Most of the affected were the low cast Hindus who were wage labourers. The British colonial government efficiently exploited these conditions. They recruited brokers from casts that were between the low and high Hindu casts. Especially people of Maravar and Akampadiyar casts formed the Kankanis (or brokers) in the plantations. The grand father of the trade union leader and cabinet minister Mr. Thondaman belonged to the group. The kankanis were given incentives to promote the migration of labourers from Tamil Nadu to Ceylon. They were capable of infiltrating the Hindu feudal societies, which existed in the villages of Tamil Nadu and promised heavenly life in Ceylon. First male labourers were targeted because they were needed to clear the jungles and make roads. Once the plantations were established female workers were also encouraged to migrate. This stopped the males from going back to Tamil Nadu. Many thousands died on the way to the hill country from Mannar the North Western part of the island, primarily due to Malaria, SnakeBites or starvation. Between 1871 and 1881 about 24,000 people migrated each year and coffee prices were booming in those days. After 1881 this rate dropped because the coffee plantations were destroyed by fungus blight. But the migration lasted until 1930 because Tea was introduced in the hill country in late 19th century, to replace coffee in the plantation economy. The economy based on the coffee plantation was the first development of capitalism in Ceylon. In pre-British period, other than the Sinhalese peasantry a labour class was never existed. With the establishment of the plantation economy, planters and plantation labourers became the ruling and working class people respectively. Capital development took place in Colombo due to its usage as a port to export the products of the plantations. Even the Sinhalese and Tamil middle class evolved as a result of this economy. In the process an embryonic national capitalist class formed in the country. Ruling elites of the post-independence Ceylon were a direct product of the same. After 1948 the ruling power was transferred to the Sinhalese capitalists from the colonial government. But the process of administration and mode of production in the economy were no different to the colonial period. The British employed strategies and tactics to suit their political aims. They divided the Indian labourers from the local Sinhalese peasants. Rice was imported from India and Burma, which made Ceylon a subsistence economy. Once Sri Lanka was known as the �rice bowl of Asia�. Until this day Sri Lanka is importing rice. Kankanis were made middle level administrators in the plantations. Money was deducted from the labourers wages and taken as royalties by these Kankanis. This practice continued until the plantations were nationalised in the late seventies. In fact �Planter Raj� was systematically built and supported by the successive British governments. After the Second World War the backbone of the British Empire was broken. British were not financially strong enough to support their troops in South Asia, especially in India. Feelings of Nationalism were at its peak. So when the British left India, they had to leave Sri Lanka as well. The ruling power was transferred to the hands of the Sinhalese elites. Before this, in 1927 DONOUGHMORE Commission recommended adult franchise to all Sri Lankans including the plantation workers. The Sinhlese elites, in fear of losing their hegemony to the progressive forces resented the right given to the plantation Tamils. But in 1929 they accepted half-heartedly. As a result of this among the 47 members elected to the Ceylon State Council 7 were from the plantation Tamils and 9 Sinhalese leftists were elected with the support of the plantation workers. This confirmed the Sinhalese elites fears and after independence the government of D. S. Senanayke, the polo playing first prime minister of Ceylon brought India-Pakistan citizenship act and striped the voting rights of more than 1.5 million plantation workers overnight. The ex president of Sri Lanka J R Jayawardena was the finance minister of that government. After independence the income from the plantation products constituted more than 70% of Sri Lanka�s export earnings. All the other capital development took place as satellite growth. The local people, the Brown Sahibs, replaced White planters as their media affectionately called them. But the mode of administration did not change. Only thing that happened was that the Kankanis became trade union leaders. Estates were maintained as �Social islets� from the rest of the society. 1. They had a wage system, which were different from that of other Sri Lankan workers. 2. Unequal male / female wages of high level. 3. Poor educational and health facilities among plantation Tamils. The child morality was 4. times that of the national average. 4. The basic amenities such as Toilet facilities and cemeteries never existed. 5. World�s most peculiar housing pattern called �lines� was established by the British and very appreciably maintained by the Sri Lankan governments. Successive Indian and Sri Lankan governments used the plantation labourers as hostages whenever there was a crisis in their diplomatic relations. Jawaharlal Nehru condemned the disenfranchisement of plantation Tamils and exerted pressure on the Sri Lankan government. Then Mrs. Bandaranayake signed the well-known Srima-Sastri pact according to which part of the plantation workers were to be granted citizenship and the rest repatriated to India. The pact made nearly 150,000 people stateless. The two major trade unions of the plantation workers namely, Ceylon workers congress headed by Thondaman and Democratic workers congress lead by Azees, in turn supported the successive governments to get concessions for themselves. They did not show any interest in the economic and social improvements of the plantation workers. During 1971 Sinhalese middle class youths revolted against the government and the plantation workers did not have and role in that. They are neglected, in the present Sri Lankan Tamil struggle too. The failure of both these uprisings is a lesson for both the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils that they must not forget that the plantation Tamils are the backbones of the Sri Lankan economic structure. So, any changes to the ruling system cannot be undertaken without their active participation. Any comment please email to nadesan@ihug.com.au |