copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: AKD Will Win Presidential Election !! (State Intelligence Service Predicted) (Social Media Users, 2024-05-15)
Evidence (2024-09-22): "People have voted in line with those aspirations to have different political practices and political institutions. AKD (as Dissanayake is popularly known) reflects these aspirations and people have rallied around him."
Claim: AKD Will Win Presidential Election !! (State Intelligence Service Predicted) (Social Media Users, 2024-05-15)
Evidence (2024-09-22): Presidential candidate of National Peoples’ Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake was declared as the winner of the 9th Presidential elections at the Election Commission this evening.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2024-01-23): Contrary to recent claims, there has been no recent decision by the Sri Lankan government to change the language of administration and courts in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The constitutional provisions amended in 1987 and 88, related to the official languages in Sri Lanka, have been in place for decades.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2023-12-28): A series of social media posts implied that the Sri Lankan government had recently decided that Tamil would be the official language used in administration and court procedures in the Northern and Eastern provinces. [...] Sinhala and Tamil are also used as administrative, legislative, and judicial languages in Sri Lanka, and English is used as a link language. The decision to use Tamil language in Northern and Eastern provinces for administrative activities by government institutions and as the language of the courts was made 35 years ago through the amendments to Sri Lanka’s constitution in 1988. [...] We contacted Mr Anuradha Wijekoon, the Secretary of the National Language Division of the Ministry of Public Administration, who explicitly stated that there had been no recent changes to the language provisions in the constitution mentioned above. The administration and judicial activities in the North and East provinces have been conducted in Tamil for decades, aligning with the existing constitutional provisions.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2012-07-23): Despite this recognition, many believe the wording in the constitution is faulty, and elevates Sinhala - with the exception of areas in the north and east - as the official language of Sri Lanka, placing Tamil in a secondary position by default. Under Article 18 of the constitution, as amended by the 13th Amendment in 1987, "the official language of Sri Lanka is Sinhala (Article 18.1), while "Tamil shall also be an official language" (Article 18.2). [...] How Sri Lanka’s education system embraces its language diversity is also problematic. In terms of the constitution, "A person shall be entitled to be educated through the medium of either of the national languages," but Tamil has yet to be promoted for greater integration at the school level, say activists.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2019-01-01): The justice system in Sri Lanka is a complex mix of Roman-Dutch civil law, English common law, Jaffna Tamil customary law, and Muslim personal law. The criminal law is mostly derived from English common law and the judiciary is derived from the British model. The basic system of civil law, which originated with the Dutch, is mostly Roman-Dutch. Kandyans have traditionally had their own legal system. Lowland Sinhalese have traditionally followed Roman-Dutch law. [...] The Thesavalamai is part of some ancient customs of Tamils in Sri Lanka and India. In Sri Lanka the law is applicable to the " Malabar inhabitants of the Jaffna Peninsular" and the persons governed by the law include those who do not reside in Jaffna any longer. The only areas of the Thesavalamai personal laws that are now applicable are matrimonial rights with respect to property and intestate succession. These are governed by the Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance (Jaffna) Ordinance [MR &I (J)O]. In all other areas, the general law applies.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2019-02-12): Devanesan Nesiah explains, in the 16th amendment of 1988 Tamil was included as a language of administration throughout Sri Lanka. Tamil became an official administrative and court language and English is the link language also used in administration . The revised article 22(1, 2, 3) now read as follows ‘Sinhala and Tamil shall be the Language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, and Sinhala shall be the language of administration be used for maintenance of public records and the transaction of all business by public institutions of all provinces other than the north and east where Tamil shall also be used. Provided that the President having regard to the proportion which the Sinhala or Tamil linguistic minority population in any unit comprising a division of an AGA bears to the total of population in that area, direct htat both Sinhala and Tamil be used as the language of administration for such area. In any area where Sinhala is used as the language of administration a person other than an official shall be entitled to received communication and transact business with an official in either Tamil or English or ask for documents translated to Tamil or English. And also get a document executed in Tamil or English. The reverse shall also apply and the same services can be demanded in Sinhala. Revised article 24(1) now reads Sinhala & Tamil shall be the Language of court throughout Sri Lanka and Sinhala shall be used as the language of courts except in any area where Tamil is the Language of administration concluded Nesiah.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2023-02-27): These rights are incorrectly portrayed as rights already given. A few days ago (17 Feb. 2023) I was rather pleased to see the headline in The Island reading "TNA MP wants Jaffna court to send him summons in Tamil." It was about Mr. S. Shritharan, TNA MP, who was served summons by the police written in the Sinhalese language to appear for an inquiry into demonstrations against President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to Jaffna. Shridharan wanted it in Tamil. The police then gave him their translation which he declined saying it must have the Court Registrar’s imprimatur. The shrewd MP was right. It was a police inquiry and not a judicial inquiry. [...] The Murder of the Tamil Language in Court Usually, when a language is used officially, it grows and flowers. We see that with Sinhalese. With Tamil too I have seen good Tamil from the NE Administrative Service Officers while there is also the unnecessary change in Tamil accepted in ordinary use – for example for "he conducted," changing the word nadathinaar to nadaathinaar and the interjection of Sanskrit words when there are good Tamil words. Grammatical violence like "valuable things is there" (LNW of 9 Feb. 2023) or "from every divisions" is common even in newscasts and from pulpits.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2020-08-26): Sri Lanka, formerly under British colonial rule referred to as Ceylon, is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual island. Sinhala and Tamil are the two official and national languages of Sri Lanka, whilst English is the link language.[1] As provided under Article 9 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (the "Constitution"),Buddhism, which is the faith practiced by approximately seventy percent (70%) of the population of Sri Lanka, is given prominence. However, Article 10 of the Constitution, acknowledges the need for religious pluralism and accordingly allows all citizens the freedom to practice any religion or belief. Apart from Buddhism, Religions such as Islam, Christianity and Hinduism are amongst the three most common faiths practiced. [...] While Sinhalese inhabitants occupy most places in the Island, the Sri Lankan Tamils live predominantly in the Jaffna Peninsula and in the adjacent districts of the northern lowlands. Smaller agglomerations of this group are also found along the eastern littoral where their settlements are juxtaposed with those of the Muslims. The main Muslim population can be seen in in the eastern lowlands. In other areas, such as Colombo, Kandy, Puttalam, and Gampaha, Muslims form a small but important segment of the urban and suburban population. The Indian Tamils, the vast majority of whom are plantation workers, live in large numbers in the higher hill stations of the Central Highlands.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2019-01-01): TAMILS IN SRI LANKA Tamils are the largest minority in Sri Lanka. They make up about 16.4 percent of the population of Sri Lanka compared to Buddhist Sinhalese, who make up three quarters of Sri Lanka’s population. Tamils live primarily in the north and east and the tea-growing areas of central Sri Lanka. Many are Hindus but some are Christians. Tamil-speaking Muslims are called Moors. They make up 9.2 percent of the population of Sri Lanka and are regarded as a separate group. If you add the Tamils and the Moors — both Tamil-speaking groups — together they make up 25.6 percent of Sri Lanka’s population. The Tamils in Sri Lanka are divided into Sri Lankan Tamils (11.2 percent of Sri Lanka’s population), whose descendants arrived in Sri Lanka many centuries ago, and the so-called Indian Tamils (4.2 percent), descendants of Tamils who were brought into Sri Lanka from India by the British during the last 150 years. Tamils in Sri Lanka are linguistically and culturally related to the Tamil- and Malayalam-speaking people of southern India, particularly the 70 million residents of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, just 32 kilometers miles across the Palk Strait, which separates northern Sri Lanka from southern India.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2024-02-22): Language has played a critical role in Sri Lanka, starting long before the civil war began in 1983. Immediately after independence, a reckless policy to make Sinhala the sole official language was implemented, negatively impacting the status of other minority languages, especially Tamil. [...] In Sri Lanka, opening a school to teach Tamil as a second language to adults is virtually unheard of. Yet, in 2019, this is precisely what Amita Arudpragasam did when she established Learning Tamil. Growing up, Amita had to work hard to improve her Tamil outside of the education system and could not find suitable adult language courses in Sri Lanka. This inspired her to start the school, which has attracted more than 250 students and teachers like Sabitha and Manel. [...] Reconciliation and linguistic justice are at the center of the Sinhala students’ motivations to learn Tamil. As one student said, "I felt that I had to learn the language because we just don’t give it the prominence it deserves."
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2024-09-24): The Judiciary of Sri Lanka are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Sri Lanka. The Constitution of Sri Lanka defines courts as independent institutions within the traditional framework of checks and balances. They apply Sri Lankan Law which is an amalgam of English common law, Roman-Dutch civil law and Customary Law; and are established under the Judicature Act No 02 of 1978 of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.[1] [...] - ^ "COURTS AND CASES SRI LANKA". lexadin. Retrieved 17 November 2013. [...] - ^ Sri Lanka will not join ICC: PM - ^ Language Of The Courts Act (No. 3 of 1961) - Sect 3 - ^ "DRAFT ORDINANCES" (PDF). diglib.natlib.lk. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2011-10-24): Let me take a moment to briefly reflect upon the policy formworks that have impacted the language situation in the country. In 1966, ten years after the passage of the Sinhala Only Bill, the use of Tamil as the language of administration in Northern and Eastern provinces was begun after the implementation of the provisions of Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act No. 28 (1958) mostly due to pressure from Tamil political parties. In 1987, through the 13th amendment to the Constitution Tamil was also decreed an Official Language of the state and the legal basis for parity between Sinhala and Tamil was clearly established by law. In addition, both languages were also defined as ‘national languages’ while recognizing English as the ‘link language.’ Section 21 of the Constitution under the 16th Amendment offers extensive provisions and rights for the language of administration to be available in both Sinhala and Tamil. In addition, Section 23 of the same amendment provides that the language of legislation will be Sinhala and Tamil while a translation of these legislative enactments and laws must be available in English. Further, Section 24 of the same amendment provides that the languages of the courts in the country will be Sinhala and Tamil.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2024-09-20): Sri Lankan Tamils (Tamil: இலங்கை தமிழர், ilankai tamiḻar or ஈழத் தமிழர், īḻat tamiḻar),[21] also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils,[22][23] are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.[1] [...] The Sri Lankan Tamils are mostly Hindus with a significant Christian population. Sri Lankan Tamil literature on topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the medieval period in the court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Since the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War in the 1980s, it is distinguished by an emphasis on themes relating to the conflict. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are noted for their archaism and retention of words not in everyday use in Southern India. The cultures of the Sri Lankan Tamils are also very distinctive and unique, even though the cultural influence of modern South India has grown and become prevalent since the 19th century.[24] [...] The Tamil presence in Sri Lankan politics and society is facing a revival. In 2015 elections the Tamil national alliance got the third largest number of seats in the Parliament and as the largest parties UNP and SLFP created a unity government TNA leader R. Sampanthan was appointed as the opposition leader.[216][217] K. Sripavan became the 44th Chief justice and the second Tamil to hold the position.[218]
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2016-10-01): Language of the Courts (Special Provisions) A LAW TO PROVIDE FOR THE USE OF TAMIL IN THE CASE OF CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS EXERCISING ORIGINAL JURISDICTION IN THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PROVINCES. WHEREAS subsection (1) of section 11 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka provides that the language of the courts and tribunals empowered by law to administer justice and of courts, tribunals and other institutions established under the Industrial Disputes Act and of Conciliation Boards established under the Conciliation Boards Act, No. 10 of 1958, shall be Sinhala throughout Sri Lanka and accordingly their records, including pleadings, proceedings, judgments, orders and records of all judicial and ministerial acts, shall be in Sinhala: And Whereas the proviso to that subsection enables the National State Assembly by or under its law to provide for the use of Tamil in the case of institutions exercising original jurisdiction in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and also of courts, tribunals and other institutions established under the Industrial Disputes Act and of Conciliation Boards established under the Conciliation Boards Act, No. 10 of 1958, in the Northern and Eastern Provinces: Now therefore be it enacted by the National State Assembly of the Republic of Sri Lanka as follows: – Short title. 1. This Law may be cited as the Language of the Courts (Special Provisions) Law, No. 14 of 1973.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2023-03-07): Usually when a language is used officially, it grows and flowers. We see that with Sinhalese. With Tamil too I have seen good Tamil from the NE Administrative Service Officers while there is also the unnecessary change in Tamil accepted in ordinary use – for example for "he conducted," changing the word nadathinaar to nadaathinaar, and the interjection of Sanskrit words when there are good Tamil words. Grammatical violence like "valuable things is there" (LNW of 9 Feb. 2023) or "from every divisions" (John Keells’ Binnovate) is common even in newscasts and from pulpits. That aside, I find the Tamil used by some judges to be horrid. In one short enjoining order by one of the most senior Tamil District Judges, I see the wrong spelling of simple words with the wrong -nu and the wrong -la which alter the pronunciation of the preceding letter, thereby rendering the meaning of the word unclear. A Tamil judge who should protect our language rights, is murdering the Tamil language even as he strips us of our rights that we are told have been given to us. Almost three months after complaining to the Judicial Service Commission and the Law Society, I have not even received an acknowledgement. That is the abysmal rule of law in Sri Lanka.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2013-02-21): After my schooling in Jaffna and Colombo and my under graduate studies in Colombo, I was recruited to the Ceylon Civil Service in April 1959, not long after Sinhala was made the only Official Language. I retired in April 1995, a few years after the passage of the 13th and 16th Ammendments to the Constitution, which introduced Tamil also as an Official Language. In the intervening 36 years, I served a total of 11 years in Badulla, Mannar, Batticaloa and Jaffna Districts. Badulla was bilingual but the other three Districts were predominently Tamil Speaking.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2015-10-29): Tamil in the north-eastern region. The major objective of this study is to examine the nature and extent of Tamil language admission in the district administration of Amparai. The findings of this study revealed that the violation of constitutional provisions and administrative circulars on admitting the Tamil language in district administration has not only led to the domination of the Sinhala language and the Sinhalese in this district’s administration, but also has induced the Tamil-speakers of this district to demand and advocate for a new administrative district within the district for their administrative easiness. This research suggests that proper implementation of Tamil language provisions and institutional restructuring at the district secretariat level would help to reconcile the linguistic issues facing by Tamil-speakers in the district. This case study incorporates both primary and secondary data collected from different sources, and is presented through descriptive and interpretative analysis. [...] Tamil is also raised to become the language of the courts — the records and proceedings being in the language of the court — throughout Sri Lanka in addition to Sinhala. However, Sinhala is asserted to be the language of the court in areas where Sinhala is the language of administration (minorityrights.org, 2011).
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2022-10-28): The Official Language of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala. According to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of 1978, Tamil shall also be an Official Language and English shall be the Link Language. [...] Sinhala and Tamil shall be the languages of administration throughout Sri Lanka. Sinhala shall be the language of administration in all other provinces of Sri Lanka other than Northern and Eastern Provinces. A citizen should be entitled to exercise the rights and to obtain the services in the Official Language of his/her choice or in English from the public institutions. [...] Sinhala and Tamil shall be the languages of courts throughout Sri Lanka. Sinhala shall be used as the language of the courts situated in all other areas of Sri Lanka except those in any area where Tamil is the language of administration. English shall be the language of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Claim: Tamil Recently Introduced As The Language Of Courts And Administration In North & East in Sri Lanka !! (Social Media Users, 2024-01-23)
Evidence (2007-01-01): Communal Crisis Historical divisions continue to have an impact on Sri Lankan society and politics. From independence, the Tamil minority has been uneasy with the country's unitary form of government and apprehensive that the Sinhalese majority would abuse Tamil rights. Those fears were reinforced when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike triumphed in the 1956 elections after appealing to Sinhalese nationalism. His declaration that Sinhala was the country's official language--an act felt by Tamils to be a denigration of their own tongue--was the first in a series of steps over the following decades that appeared discriminatory to Tamils. Tamils also protested government educational policies and agriculture programs that encouraged Sinhalese farmers from the south to move to newly irrigated lands in the east. The decades following 1956 saw intermittent outbreaks of communal violence and growing radicalization among Tamil groups. By the mid-1970s Tamil politicians were moving from support for federalism to a demand for a separate Tamil state--"Tamil Eelam"--in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, areas of traditional Tamil settlement. In the 1977 elections, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) won all the seats in Tamil areas on a platform of separatism.