Shastri-Sirimavo Pact
Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Shastri-Sirimavo Pact was a 1964 agreement between Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. It dealt with stateless people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka, meaning people who were citizens of no country. India agreed to take back 5.25 lakh of them, and Sri Lanka agreed to give citizenship to 3 lakh. The remaining 1.5 lakh were settled by a further agreement in 1974.
Example
Many of the people covered were Tamil workers on Sri Lanka's plantations. Under the pact, some came back to India and others became Sri Lankan citizens.
Don't confuse with
- Katchatheevu agreement (1974): this agreement settled who owns an island in the Palk Strait. The Shastri-Sirimavo Pact was about people, not territory.
Related concepts
- India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty
- India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship
- Katchatheevu agreement
- Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
- Indian Peace Keeping Force
- Operation Cactus
- Ganga Waters Treaty
- Indira Doctrine
- Gujral Doctrine