Sri Lankan Tamils
Topic: Power-sharing: Majoritarianism versus Accommodation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 1 "Power-sharing"
Meaning
Sri Lankan Tamils are Tamil speakers native to Sri Lanka. They make up about 13% of the population and live mainly in the north and east. After majoritarian policies such as the Sinhala Only Act 1956, they made three demands:
- recognition of Tamil as an official language;
- regional autonomy, meaning self-rule for their own areas;
- equal chances in education and jobs.
These demands were refused again and again. From the 1980s, several Tamil groups demanded a separate state, Tamil Eelam.
Example
In 1976, the TULF's Vaddukoddai Resolution called for a separate Tamil state. The "Black July" riots of 1983 then set off a civil war that lasted until 2009. Many Sri Lankan Tamils fled as refugees, including to Tamil Nadu.
Don't confuse with
- Indian Tamils: their forefathers were brought from India as plantation workers in colonial times. They are not the native Tamils of the north and east.