Beyond Borders

There emerged so many contributory factors for the rise of LTTE as Tamils were highly discriminated. During 1948 – 1949, “Anti Tamil Legislation” was passed by the newly appointed government. Indian Tamil lost their citizenship in Sri Lanka with the enactment of Ceylon Citizenship Act. In 1956, Tamil was established as the second language while Sinhala was established as the official language. With the enactment of Sinhala Only Act, many Burghers went abroad, because they felt discrimination. There arose a communication issue between Sinhala and Tamils, as they had communicated in English up to then.  In 1957, with the objective of providing more rights to Tamil people, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike signed an agreement with Chelvanayakam, the leader of Tamil Arasu Katchi Party. However, P. G. Ponnambalam, and J. R. Jayawardene, a former UNP member, opposed to this agreement. J. R. Jayawardene also organized a march from Kandy to express his objection. Sinhala community op...

In 1954, a government sponsored Buddha Jayanthi Festival was organized. Local culture which was covered by religion, language as well as arts was neglected continuously. This led to a division of ruled from ruling elite. Traditionalist and revivalist movements were started to upgrade local value. With the emergence of economic crisis during the period of 1960 – 1965, which Sirimavo Bandaranaike governed as the Prime Minister, people had not have money to buy enough clothes. This resulted in Mini dress fashion. People had to stay in cues to buy bread and other important things. There could found a number of changes in cinema, literature as well as sports. In 1956, first artistic stage drama, “Maname” was published. Ranmuthu Duwa film or Island of Treasures in 1962 marked a significant milestone in Sri Lankan cinema by transforming cinema from black and white to color. Rekava (Line of destiny) in 1956, Gamperaliya (The changing village) in 1964, Golu Hadawatha (Cold Heart) in 1968 and Ni...

Earlier in 1948, Tea, Coconut and Rubber, the three main exports products in Sri Lanka, were highly sold in world trade market, providing 90% foreign exchange earnings. Unfortunately, several economic problems emerged. Population increased. Price of Ceylon’s rubber and Tea decreased. Price of imported food increased. As there was an expanded education system which produced a large number of educated people, scarcity of vacancies in job market occurred and unemployment increased. In order to achieve the objectives of Marxist program as well as to stop the disinvestment by the owning companies, plantations were nationalized in 1956. In 1957, the Cultivated Lands Act, a concept of Philip Gunawardena, was passed. Many farmers in Sri Lanka, who were subsistence farmers, started to enjoy their rights in large scale. Continuing the Sinhalese nationalism program similar to his deceased fiancé, Sirimavo Bandaranaike tried to protect the local industry, and also to develop state sector. Unfortun...

Historical background of a country is totally originated from economic, social, cultural, ethnic, educational and criminal background of the country. Political background, in relation to the other fields, is more important, as it can design or influence the nature of those fields. It can be confirmed according to the studies carried out regarding the historical background of Sri Lanka. D. S. Senanayake was appointed as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1947 from United National Party (UNP). This is when many things started to change. Indian Tamil plantation workers lost their franchise rights because of government policies.  After the death of the Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake, his son, Dudley Senanayake was appointed as the Prime Minister in 1952 (1st time). He resigned from the position in 1953 as a result of massive Hartal conducted by Left parties against UNP.  His uncle, Sir John Kotelawala then became the Prime Minister, but was not as successful as previous leaders...