Topic started by aravind (@ ft145014.dep.no) on Tue Apr 2 04:39:01 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

can any one give me details of indian tamil community in Sri Lanka, I have heard they were deprived their citizenship rights with the support of Jaffna tamil leaders in fourties.. Is that true.... and further i need some details of Late S. Thondaman

Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Raveen (@ aca44a44.ipt.aol.com) on: Sun Jun 9 03:45:59
  
  I forwarded it to Tamilcircle and some friends
  
  
• From: Nambi (@ cache-har.cableinet.co.uk) on: Sun Jun 9 11:57:00
  
  Is there any land for Indian Tamils like me
  who are bored of life in UK?
  
  
• From: dilan (@ garibaldi.ti.telenor.net) on: Sun Jun 9 12:54:30
  
  Mr. Nambi you may be get intrested if u visit Nuwara eliya or kandy,
  
  wat u mean by indian tamil, r u from india or Sri Lanka
  
  
• From: dilan (@ garibaldi.ti.telenor.net) on: Sun Jun 9 12:57:26
  
  
  In memory of Sivasithamabaram
  
  Indian tamils in the up country remember with gratitude that Mr.Sivasithambaram appeared in many cases free of charge in the up country between 70 / 77 to represent many indian tamils who are members of CWC. These people were mainly arrested and charged on grounds like illegal strike, preventing estates being divided among sinhalese villagers of SLFP supporters, etc etc. In those days CWC was not a rich trade union, and since Mr Thondamans estaes were nationalised by the Srimas regime in 1972 he too was in difficult position to contibute to CWC s coffers economically as he was doing since the inception of CWC, so Mr Sivas and Amirs helping hand with the blessing of late Chelvanayagam will be rememberd by the indian tamil community in Lanka.
  
  
  
  
  
• From: Raveen (@ h66-59-174-253.gtconnect.net) on: Wed Jun 12 11:34:37
  
  Dilan this is for you
  
  Will the amity last long?
  
  KOTAGIRI: "Take the thought off your mind, that you are `Thayagam Thirumpiya Thamizhan'. You are one among us, the sons of the soil," said a Badaga leader to a group of `Sri Lankan repatriates', who had come to attend the annual general body meeting of Malayaka Makkal Maru Vazhvu Manram (MMM), a forum for rehabilitating Sri Lankan repatriates in the region.
  
  A statement like this from the Badagas would have turned heads had it come a decade ago. But now, thanks to the manifold problems caused mainly by the depreciation of tea prices, the caste divide between the Badagas and Sri Lankan repatriates have narrowed down, representatives from both the sides claimed.
  
  "If the Badagas came to know that I had attended a meeting like this, they would have looked at me with contempt. But now, they come and ask me to call the Sri Lankan repatriates' groups to join hands in the struggle against the present situation," says J Bellie, a CPM leader and a Badaga says.
  
  The whole issue of group differences could be attributed to the lack of communication between the two communities, according to a few, from both the sides. "We had our cultural set ups, in our settlements, especially with regard to the vast lands that formed a part of our temples and were sacred to us. The other community groups were familiar to our culture. But when the repatriates came in, they did not know of our culture and began encroaching upon such lands for settlement. This was basically due to lack of communication, that was further taken advantage of by the `power crazy' politicians. Now, with the passage of time, both communities are opening up to each other," a Badaga leader says. Citing an example of the growing tolerance between the two groups, he says, "Tamils now take part in our `Hethe' festival and we too participate in many of their festivals."
  
  Some of the repatriates with whom this website's newspaper spoke to also hinted at better relations between the two communities now. "The way we were treated when we landed in the hills from Sri Lanka is known to all. We had to live in adverse conditions. The rivalry actually started when groups among us started rebelling against the menial conditions that were provided to us, when they reaped profits out of our labour."
  
  Members of MMM feel, more than communal rivalry, the problem was of the `haves and have nots'. "There was the helplessness of the orphaned that made us all vulnerable. Now, although we still have problems, they are not as teething as it was before," they add.
  
  Leaders from the repatriate and the Badaga community claim that there have been many an agitation against the tea price depreciation that the Badagas and repatriates have together fought. "In future too, we are planning on more protests, and would welcome the participation of Badagas, as they are as affected as we are," a repatriate and a Manram general secretary M Chandrasekharan says.
  
  Whether the amity has been reached due to the existing market conditions, or due to the `bridging of communication gap', the two communities are now less at war with each other, although there are `petty' accusations by the Badagas that repatriation has caused environmental concerns in the region. This, the repatriates say could be due to their growing presence in the governing bodies of the region and their emergence as a socially strong community. Now what is to be seen is how well founded are the roots of the amity-will it only last till the tea crisis is over or have the two communities really matured to give each other space?
  
  
• From: dilan (@ www-proxy.dep.no) on: Thu Jun 13 03:50:10
  
  Mr Raveen i hear that Badagas r a community which belong to Kanadas, is that right.. in any event i dont understand the problem of tea prices depriciation for Sri Lanka has had this problem several times but that does not seriously effected work opptnty in estates in lanka.
  
  As far as the repatriates are concerned most them had better ecnomic conditions when they were in lanka, tamil nadu was poorly equiped to help these people, that may be the resaon some opted to go to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and there is a sizable nr of tamils of indian origin who were repartriated from Ceylon
  
  
  
• From: Raveen (@ h66-59-174-253.gtconnect.net) on: Thu Jun 13 16:32:25
  
  Badagas is derived from Vaduga - Northerner is a recent immigrant community into Nilgiris about 300 yrs ago. They moved into Nilgiris after some Tipu Sultan or somebody kicked them out of Karnataka but these people transformed them into a Tribe. The original settlers of Nilgiris were Toda and other Tribes.
  
  Badagas are unique in becoming a tribe (from different Kananda castes) in order to survive in that area
  (usually Indian Tribes become castes from bottom Shudra and then end up being Kashtriya with luck, effort, lies and time).
  
  Today Todas number just 2,000 where as Badgas are over 1,00,000. But they were less than 3,000 about 150 yrs ago. Today their language is is considered to be an independant langauge not Kannada anymore.
  
  
• From: Raveen (@ h66-59-174-253.gtconnect.net) on: Thu Jun 13 16:33:58
  
  Tea estates in Nilgiris is both large and small holdinmgs by Badaga farmers that is the difference, small holders are affected by changing tea prices very rapidly. Badgas are a rich farming community who took the land at the expence of other non farming tribals in Nilgiris during the british time.
  
  
• From: Raveen (@ h66-59-174-253.gtconnect.net) on: Mon Jun 17 15:47:53
  
  Dilan,
  
  Some links on Badagas
  
  http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/3841/
  
  http://lab2.cc.wmich.edu/~zagarell/nilcomm.htm
  
  This is Prof. Paul Hockings website the foremost athropologist who has doneextensice reserch on them
  
  http://www.newswise.com/articles/1999/4/BADAGA.UIC.html
  
  if you can find this book in any Norwegian University Library you will be 100% informed on Badagas :)
  
  Ancient Hindu Refugees: Badaga Social History by Paul Hockings
  
  
• From: R (@ h66-59-174-253.gtconnect.net) on: Fri Sep 6 08:58:14
  
  Current Plight of Indian Origin Tamils in Sri Lanka. People like Dilan aka Aravind should spaek about it ? Why silent ?
  -------------------------------
  
  230,000 estate children employed as domestic aides
  
  by A.H.M. Farook
  
  A staggering of 230,000 children from plantations are employed as domestic servants throughout Sri Lanka, except in the North/East, a non-governmental organisation claims.
  
  This was revealed at a seminar for members of children's club at Campian Tamil Vidyalaya, Bogawantalawa.
  
  According to Michael Joachim, Head of PREDO, an organisation committed to the welfare of estate children, based in Kandy, this alarming trend has been brought to light after an extensive survey carried out in plantation areas.
  
  This state of affair has not only affected the educational and mental development of children, but has also posed social problem in the plantation areas, Joachim said.
  
  In an effort to overcome this problems, PREDO has embarked a series of programmes aimed at enlightening the estate populace and children under 16 years, in particular in plantation areas. As an initial step, it has been decided to declare the first week of October 2002 as Plantation Children's Week to coincide with the International Children's Day which falls on October 1.
  
  Several activities are to be launched in plantation areas during this one week.
  
  
• From: Karikalen (@ webcachem05b.cache.pol.co.uk) on: Fri Sep 6 19:46:36
  
  Hi there,
  
  I used to be a student in Colombo in 1982-1984.Had pleasant experiences in Kandy,Nuwara Eliya and Hatton with upcountry Indians.But it was very unfortunate to see them being repatriated to India under the Srimao-Sastri pact.I had the bitter experience of travelling with them in the ferry from Talaimannar to Rameshwaram.The scene looked more like an American movie on slaves.They were put in pathetic conditions with children and women in inhumane conditions.Being a Tamil of Indian origin myself,it was very painful to see these conditions.
  A Malaysian socialogist once described the the Indian plantation workers in Malaysia as the "sucked oranges of Malaysia".In Sri Lanka a local newspaper once described them as "the wrenched of the earth".
  Just thought Id share this with you folks.
  
  
• From: Hariharan (@ ) on: Thu Jul 31 08:06:26
  
  I dunno what the f*** these people are discussing about Badagas. For a complete understanding of how we operate try www.badaga.com.
  
  

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