page_title: Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
section_title: Community development
hierarchical_section_title: Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka / History / Initial recruitment / Community development
caption_attribution_description: English: A boy from Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka in Walapane, Nuwara Eliya District. (Image as per rule of thirds)
context_page_description: Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and rubber plantations. Some also migrated on their own as merchants and as other service providers. These Tamil speakers mostly live in the central highlands, also known as the Malayakam or Hill Country yet others are also found in major urban areas and in the Northern Province. Although they are all termed as Tamils today, some have Telugu and Malayalee origins as well as diverse South Indian caste origins. They are instrumental in the plantation sector economy of Sri Lanka. In general, socio-economically their standard of living is below that of the national average and they are described as one of the poorest and most neglected groups in Sri Lanka. In 1964 a large percentage were repatriated to India, but left a considerable number as stateless people. By the 1990s most of these had been given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Hindus with a minority of Christians and Muslims amongst them.
context_section_description: The community was a closed community confining themselves to the plantations, while actively contributed and contributes to the economic well-being of Sri Lanka but the socio-economic indicators of the community was among the worst in the country. The community in general was isolated, living in ghettos within the central region as well as linguistically isolated from the majority Sinhalese villagers who live in the valleys. They were captive labour whose life in its entirety was decided by their employers. Any social relationships or cultural ties were only among themselves or with South India. In the 1940s the trade union movement had galvanized the plantation workers into a militant working class. They joined hands with the Lanka Sama Samaja (or Trotskyist) Party, which carried the message of a working-class struggle for liberation from the exploitation by the mainly-British plantation companies.
  Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 and the community believes that it became the first community marked out for discrimination by the new state of Ceylon in 1948. In the elections to the first parliament of Ceylon, seven Indian Tamil representatives were returned to Parliament. The plantation workers voted either for Indian Tamil candidates or for Lanka Sama Samaja Party candidates. Dr. N.M. Perera was the leader of the opposition in the first parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was the second largest party after the United National Party (UNP).
caption: A boy goes out from home through a newly made concrete road near a tea plantation in Walapane.
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