Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri Lanka:

An Introductory Overview of Social Issues and Poverty among Residents

Living under the Conventional Plantation System

Kurihara Shunsuke

1Introduction
This paper intends to unfold and illuminate an overall view of the conventional plantation system, a massagriculture system with resident labors, especially tea, as well as its issues to date among the residents in the tea estates,
specically the ones in Nuwara Eliya district of upcountry Sri Lanka.
A group of people, called Estate Tamils, has been mainly populated in the plantation estates since establishment
of the plantations by the British colonial government in the 19th century. The residents of Estate Tamils have been
accommodated under the holistic control both of their whole life and work by the plantation management traditionally,
with inadequate provision of basic social services from the local and central government.
These days, however, some serious issues around Estate Tamils living condition in the estate community are on the
rise, due to disparity between adaptability of the conventional plantation system and the modern society.
In this paper, the areas of gaps between policy and practice in provision of basic social services for the estate
residents will be explored and reviewed, to examine the conventional plantation systems adaptability and capability of
responding to the changing context of the plantation estate community. In addition, it is critical to look into the change
of awareness towards civic rights among the estate residents in order to identify implication of Estate Tamils identity
from the colonial period to date.
2Conventional Plantations with Resident Labors
2 1Conventional Plantations
th
The plantation system was introduced into Sri Lanka by British in the 19 century with coffee. One of the

signicant characteristics of the plantation system is its labors residing in plantation estates. The plantation system has
various denitions and management styles in terms of its products and control of labors.
th
th
Under the British rule in the 18 and 19 centuries, many colonies in the tropical or sub-tropical areas established

the plantation systems with resident labors. Along with geographical characteristics of each area, products were varied
such as sugar cane in the Caribbean, cocoa in Africa and oil palm in Malaysia as well as tea in India and Sri Lanka1).
The common characteristics of the conventional plantation system include mainly mono-cultural, massive growth
and resident labors. Among others, the element comprising of the conventional plantation system can be represented

1) The worlds major traditional plantation products include tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cane sugar and bananas (International
Labour Organization, Plantation Workers, 1966).

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with its resident labors. Most of the plantation estates had their labors in the estates, who lived and worked in the same
estates. The labors children usually take over the labor work in the same estates for generations.
Nowadays, the most of former colonies have become independent, but still maintain the plantation system,
although its management system is varied by country to country. Some countries still run the plantations with the
resident labors in the very traditional way, while some others no longer follow the old system as adjusted to their
political and economical situation as well as, most importantly, consideration of the civic rights for the resident labors.
2 2Sri Lanka s Plantations
Sri Lankas long-lasting civil war ended in May 2009, and the nation is now moving towards reuniting with the
major three parts of the countrythe former conict areas of northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, the southern areas
and the plantation areas.
Sri Lankas plantations are located mainly from the central to southern part of the country. The location and its
size have not much changed since its beginning, meaning that Sri Lankas plantations have been only established by the
British colonial government and have been taken over by Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
th
In the 19 century, plantations were introduced and established under the British colonial period, producing

mainly coffee, replaced with tea later, rubber and coconuts. While these products are still the countrys major export
products, tea serves one of the top three foreign currency earners2) as well. As Sri Lankas tea, known as Ceylon Tea,
has tremendous inuence over the worlds tea market3), it is considered as one of the most important export products for
the nation as well as the worlds tea market.
Its production is, however, still under the conventional plantation system with resident labors who are on a daily
wage basis. The labors pluck tea leaves by hand and manufacturing tea with old fashioned machineries in the tea
production areas of upcountry and southern part of Sri Lanka, which is said to be a forthcoming issue for modernization
of the tea industry as well.
2 3Estate Tamils in the Tea Plantations
Along with the industrial issues, estate residents living conditions are also considered as one of the serious issues
for the country these days. Currently, there are more than 470 estates4) of tea, rubber and coconuts as well as spices with
the resident labors whose ancestors were brought into the plantation estates from Tamil Nadu, the southern part of India,
as a labor force in the 19th century. Even nowadays, they live in the same estates over generations.
5)
They are classied by the Sri Lankan government as Indian Tamils or Estate Tamils, with its population of

859,0526). They are categorized apart from Sri Lankan Tamils living in the northern and eastern part of the island,
because Estate Tamils have their own historical, cultural background and life style.
Estate Tamils mostly live in the plantation estates under the holistic control of their life by the plantation
management. Thus, Estate Tamils have been isolated geographically, socially, economically and politically from the

2) Sri Lankas major foreign exchange earners include remittance from overseas labors, garment and teaAnnual Report,
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2009
.
3) Current Market Situation, Workshop report on Committee on Commodity Problems, Fourteenth Session of the
Intergovernmental Group on Tea, Food and Agriculture Organization, New Delhi, October 2001.
4) The number of plantation estates is varied by the plantation companies integration of the estates and is decreasing lately.
5) The term Indian Tamil is not referred these days since Estate Tamils are now Sri Lankans.
6) Some of the estate population do not have birth certicates, and are not included in the censusStatistical Pocket Book,
Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka, 2009
.

Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri LankaKurihara Shunsuke 833 125

HCI

Source: Poverty
and Statistics,
Statistics, Ministry
Ministry of
Source:
Poverty in
in Sri
Sri Lanka,
Lanka, Department
Department of
of Census
Census and
of
Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka, 2009

Figure 1Head Count Index by Districts

rest of part of Sri Lanka over a hundred and fty years.

Especially in Nuwara Eliya district, located in the mountainous area where no natural villages existed before
plantations were introduced, Estate Tamils have been more isolated than any other plantation areas. Currently, more
than 100 tea estates are located in Nuwara Eliya district.
The residents in the estates live under the same conditions as their ancestors were accommodated, called Line
Rooms without major changes in its facility and infrastructure. One estate is usually divided into three to five
divisions, each of which has a residential area, elementary school (junior high schools also on some estates) and a daycare facility for labors children called Creche, with the estate ofce and a dispensary in the central place of the estate.
The estate dispensary provides basic medical services and medicines for free to the estate residents.
7)
Most of Estate Tamils were stateless until 1988 , and, therefore, those services by the estate management were the

sole provision of the social welfare services to the estate residents until 1980s or even nowadays in many estates.
3Nuwara Eliya District: Center of Tea Industry and Home of Estate Tamils
Nuwara Eliya district, attached to the Central Province, is located in the mountainous area, elevated more than
2,000 meters, the highest in the country. Nuwara Eliya is famous for tea even internationally. Its product of high-grown
Ceylon Tea and the view of tea plantations all over the district attract both of domestic and foreign tourists. The districts
population is accounted for 700,360 with the majority of Tamils for 401,8968), including both of Sri Lanka Tamils and
Estate Tamils, which shares 57.1% of the total population of the district. Signicantly, out of the Tamil population,
Estate Tamils population letting alone is 355,830, which is 50.6% of the total district population.

7) The Grant of Citizenship to the Stateless Act of 1988. The legislation that aimed at granting the citizenship of Sri Lanka to
the stateless Estate Tamil population.
8) Census of Population and Housing 2001, Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka.

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126 834

Table 1Percentage Distribution of Households Using Drinking Water (Safe or Unsafe)

District

Safe (%)

Unsafe (%)

Colombo

97.8

2.2

Gampaha

95.0

5.0

Kalutara

86.2

13.8

Kandy

78.2

21.8

Matale

79.6

20.4

Nuwara Eliya

51.4

48.6

Galle

87.5

12.5

Matara

76.3

23.7

Hambantota

89.9

10.1

Batticaloa

96.5

3.5

Ampara

89.5

10.5

Kurunegala

89.4

10.6

Puttalam

92.8

7.2

Anuradapura

85.3

14.7

Polonnaruwa

88.6

11.4

Badulla

79.3

20.7

Monaragala

85.4

14.6

Ratnapura

61.9

38.1

Kegalle

74.2

25.8

Sri Lanka

84.8

15.2

Source: P
 overty in Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and
Planning, Sri Lanka, 2009

It is remarkable and noteworthy that Nuwara Eliya district is consisted of a very unique mix of the ethnic groups,
as opposed to the most of surrounding districts with majority Sinhalese. This fact indicates that the area of Nuwara
Eliya was not much populated before the British colonial government established the plantations or until the British
brought the Tamil labors from India into the area.
Today, the poverty situation of Nuwara Eliya district is quite serious even nationally. The district is struggling with
poverty the most seriously9) among all districts10) in Sri Lanka. Although Sri Lankas national statistics do not include the
war affected areas due to unavailability of accurate information and data for the areas, Nuwara Eliya district is worst for
the most of social indicators as well as basic infrastructure. Some indicators are more than double of the other districts.
The number of households using safe drinking water, for instance, is rated for the worst among all districts11).

9) Poverty in Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning, 2009.
10) All districts of 5 in Northern Province and Trincomalee district in Eastern Province are not included in the data due to the
civil war.
11) Poverty in Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka, 2009.

Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri LankaKurihara Shunsuke 835 127

Source: P
 overty in Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of
Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka, 2009

Figure 2Head Count Index by Sector

4Inadaptability of the Conventional Plantation System to the Modern Society

4 1Issues on Plantations Today
These days, the conventional plantation system, established by the British colonial government, is becoming unt
into the modern society, resulting in incapable of responding to productivity of the tea industry as well as demands for
the better living conditions for Estate Tamil population who is becoming more aware of their cultural and social identity
as well as civic rights. This is due to the original intention of the plantation system that looked only for efciency and
prots without paying attention to the civic rights for resident labors, which brought in todays contradiction to the
plantation system.
Poverty situation of the estate sector is quite critical, compared to the other two sectors of urban and even rural
sectors of Sri Lanka. It is critical to pay extra attention to the gure that the estate sectors Head Count Index (HCI)
is much higher than that of rural sector (see the Figure 2) where there are various assistances have been intervened
nationally and internationally.
It is important to dig into the causes for this huge leap of the estate sector on the reason why the poverty situation
is much worse than the rural sector, although the basic social services to the estate residents are ensured by the estate
management. This situation of poverty among the estate population surely strikes the estate management, even for their
protability. The dilemma, however, is that the estate management is not so proactively willing to contribute themselves
nancially to improving the social indicators for the estate population, since the estate management is now under the
private sector.
After World War II, independence of Sri Lanka and privatization of the plantations are the major key factors that
have inuenced Sri Lankas plantation system over its management. After independence, all plantation estates of tea,
rubber, coconuts and spices were once nationalized, through handing-over to Sri Lankan companies, from the British
owned, but its productivity went worse. Decit remained larger, and the Sri Lankan government decided to privatize

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some 470 plantation estates during 1992 and 1993. This process was assisted by international donor agencies12) as well,
such as Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The assistance included
replanting tea trees, introducing new machinery for tea factories, and social welfare improvement of estate labors as part
of productivity improvement.
Social welfare components of the project included improving poor living conditions of estate residents and their
undisciplined behavior as one of the root causes for lowering productivity of the plantations. The estate residents were
used to the estate managements holistic control and became dependent for anything on the estate management, which
resulted in hindering improvement of productivity.
In addition, the dependent community led a tremendous amount of undisciplined behaviors such as alcoholism
and absenteeism from work and life. Unemployment among the estate youth population in Nuwara Eliya district is
also a serious issue. On the other hand, privatization of Sri Lankas plantations has enabled the estate community to
learn about the off-estate community in their surroundings as well as the country through mass media such as TV and
radio, which ends up with indirectly enlightening the estate population on the opportunities they have missed out and
the civic rights. In addition, the estate management is currently facing another difculty that they have to challenge the
indiscipline among the estate community. Absenteeism is on top of their concern list. The estate youth is not willing to
work and chooses to be unemployed or working outside of the estate. The labors have more strikes than the past three
years13). The number of strikes was decreased in the past ten years from 44 in total in 2004 to 8 in 2007, but the number
increased as high as 34 in 2008.
4 2New Group on the Estates: Non-worker Residents
Over the changes in the estate community as well as the society of Sri Lanka, there is now a group of population
called non-workers, who lives in the estates, but does not work for the plantation system or work only for a few days
a month. This population is informally counted for around 60%14) of the total population of the estates in Nuwara
Eliya district. This is because the labor work outside of the plantation estates pay higher wage than the conventional
plantation system.
It is also noteworthy that some of the non-workers, especially the youth population, choose to be non-workers,
because of dignity they would perceive for the conventional plantation work. The plantation work does not earn an
adequate level of dignity to the workers traditionally, because of the historical background of Estate Tamils. The youth
population would seek the dignity or respect more than the one traditionally given to the estate population, since they
know outside of the estates in the modern society. This trend among the estate community, thus, seems increasing in
number. The estate management, however, covers the cost of social welfare or basic social services for even those
not working but living as well under the current plantation management system. The management takes care of those
inactive residents for the estate, because the plantation system is in function based on their traditional assumption that
all on an estate are resident workers, which really gives a big burden on the estate management such as cost for medical
care, housing and education. This dysfunction leads to poor productivity of the industry as well.

12) Plantation Reform Project (PRP; 19992001), co-financing by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank for
International Cooperation (JBIC; currently Japan International Cooperation Agency).
13) Number of Strikes, Department of Labor (2008), Sri Lanka.
14) Exact data are not available since the non-workers are not under the estate management unless they work at least a few
days a month, but CARE Internationals TEA Project (20032006) surveyed and identied that approximately 60% of working
population is not exactly working for the estate but gains their main income from outside.

Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri LankaKurihara Shunsuke 837 129

5Basic Social Services for Estate Tamils

5 1Basic Social Services and Duty Bearers
In general, basic social services include basic documents, basic facilities, such as electricity and water, and
welfare programs. In the estate community, it is yet to be claried who the duty bearers are. Since the establishment,
the plantations have had a few management bodies and each has different perspectives towards services to the estate
residents in reection of the degree of sense of civic rights.
Until very recently, the sense of civic rights had been overlooked. The turning point was privatization of the
plantations. In the early 1990s, Sri Lankan government had a series of discussions with the major Sri Lankan
private companies over legal responsibilities for the plantation workers social welfare. This negotiation between the
government and the prospective companies for the plantations did not come to a mutual agreement, because the private
sector insisted that the social welfare for the plantation workers should be under the governments responsibility, so that
a semi-governmental organization was established in 1992 by the government and the Regional Plantation Companies
(RPCs), serving the social welfare for the estate workers, called Plantation Human Development Trust15(PHDT).
Non-workers, then, came to a problem due to their in-between occupational status since PHDT was to serve only
workers social welfare. Approximately 60% of the estate population is no longer regular labors for the plantations,
while they are still residents. Majority of the non-worker residents are working for off-estate such as farm labors
and shopkeepers in town. They are ofcially ineligible for the services under PHDT such as housing scheme, micronance program and day-care facility (Crche). Additionally, non-workers are overlooked by the most of the estate
managements for their basic documents such as birth certicate, although the estate management has authority to issue
the certicates to all the estate residents, granted by the central government.
This type of ignored practices makes the non-workers in the estates disadvantaged and creates a gap in providing
social welfare or basic social services bigger between workers and non-workers. This is, in short, all because the
government and the plantation management took up on their negotiation for the ownership of the plantations in the early
90s, based upon the unrealistic assumption that all in the estates were workers.
5 2Local Government Services in the Estates
On the other hand, Sri Lankan government is facing some serious issues as well around their service provision
to the estate population in Nuwara Eliya district. At the eld level, the local government ofcers are struggling with
practical, operational problems of serving the estate residents. The local government ofcers are assigned to cover wide
areas in the district and nd it unrealistic to serve all the population on his/ her own, which leads the local government
ofcers to working only for off-estate population.
These days, there is a quite few amount of the estate communities that receive the local government services such
as Grama Niladhari, grass-root community development ofcers, and Samurdhi Program, a national welfare program,
through the local government officers. However, the most of the estates still face the reality of the gap in service
provision that the local government serves only off-estate communities, due to their too wide coverage in the district
than the other local governmental ofcers in the rest of Sri Lanka.
There is a traditionally and commonly shared assumption among both of the estate management and the local
government sides that the plantation estates are private property and the basic social services are provided by the

15) Renamed from Plantation Housing and Social Welfare Trust (PH&SWT) in 2002.

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estate management. Traditionally, the estate management takes a role of holding the overall responsibility for the
resident labors social welfare and basic social services, which has not much changed up to date. Even while Sri
Lankas local government services were allocated to the estate areas even under the state owned period, the estate
management took the lead over the basic social services for estate population. In practice, these days after privatization,
the estate management assumes their role as the sole provider of the basic social services to the estate population,
due to misinterpretation of the law among the grass-root level local government officers, such as Grama Niladhari
and Samurdhi, as well as regional ofces of local government such as the Divisional Secretariat Ofces and District
Secretariat Ofces.
The estate communitys less knowledge about the basic social services is also another factor to fewer addressing
of the estate populations needs to the local government. The estate community is unaware about their duty bearers for
the basic social services and does not address their needs to the local government ofcers. The local government, thus,
perceives less need in the estate community.
Workload for the government officers in Nuwara Eliya is also an issue. The allocated number of the target
residents per local government ofcer in Nuwara Eliya district is ten times larger than the average in Sri Lanka. The
number of Grama Niladhari in Nuwara Eliya was 491 for its population in 2001 of 700,360, accounted for 1426 people
per Grama Niladhari, while that of Colombo was 694 Grama Niladhari for its population of 709,677, accounted for
1022 people16). The most grass-root level government ofcers play a critical role to serve and uplift the community, but
the most needed area has an inadequate amount of the ofcers.
5 3Basic Social Services for Estate Tamils as Sri Lankan Citizen
Social issues continuously occurs among the estate community in upcountry Sri Lanka for generations, attributed
from instable provision of basic social services. To overcome and reach out to more stable community of the estates,
the plantation companies (RPCs) have tried to make their efforts on nding the way for solution17), but no fundamental
solution has been achieved as yet, and Nuwara Eliya district still remains as the poorest in the island18). This is
because the plantations unique setting is still struggling with sorting out the critical issues both of the tea industry and
the community. The plantation system is comprised of social structure and industrial structure in one place, and the
government does not yet see the root causes separately between the industry and community (society).
6Three Changes in the Plantation Context
Sri Lankas plantation was, similar to any other former British plantations in the world, established as mono-class
society, functioning with resident labors and holistic control over the residents by the plantation estate management
for efcient production and productivity. However, today the conventional system no longer works well for both of the
plantation management and the estate community either. It is now at the very critical stage that both of the industry and
the community are to nd win-win situation or rene a common ground where both of the industry and the community
can cope together.
To identify the base for further exploration of nding the common ground, it is important to walk through the

16) Census of Population and Housing 2001, Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka.
17) RPCs are prompting Plantation Workers Housing Corporative Society (PWHCS) to the plantation workers, in cooperation
with PHDT.
18) Head Count Index of Nuwara Eliya district is the highest in the country, counted for 33.8Poverty in Sri Lanka,
Department of Census and Statistics, 2008
, the data for Northern province is not included due to the civil war.

Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri LankaKurihara Shunsuke 839 131

history of the plantation itself as well as the Estate Tamil community in the estates form beginning to date. There are
critical incidents and events such as independence of the nation and change of ownership of the plantation in Sri Lanka.
The following three changes have critical factors that have interconnectedly affected each other and the plantation
system no longer ts into the modern society of Sri Lanka:
1) Change of plantation ownership and its management
2) Change in local governance in Sri Lanka
3) Change among the estate residents identity and awareness towards civic rights
Duty bearers for basic social service provision to the estate residents have been changed over each ownership
of the plantations under the British colonial government period, Sri Lankas state owned and the privatized Regional
Plantation Companies (RPCs).
It is crucial to identify why the basic social services for the estate residents got dropped as well as when social
issues became serious among the estate residents by looking into each period of the plantation ownership. In addition,
the shortfall in service provision to the estate residents can be surfaced and veried with the degree of capability of the
conventional plantation system in the modern society. To dig into insights of the degree of capacity of the system, the
three changes have a strong connection with factors that explains about implications of the plantation system and the
dysfunctional issues today. Former British colonies plantations were established with mono-class society, and without
a sense of so called civic rights as all residents were to be daily wage workers.
6 1Changes in Plantation Management
6 1 1British Colonial Period
British came into the rule of the island of Sri Lanka, called Ceylon those days, in 1796, followed by expansion
of its occupation to the whole island. Plantation sector was brought in and developed under the British colonial
government in 182419). The sector was rst established with coffee by the British planters that created a demand for
labor (Hollup: 1994). For export, the coffee plantations were expanded into the central area of the island. In this trend,
the islands land traditionally held or owned by local communities was conscated to the Crown Land Encroachment
Ordinance in 1840 and parceled out to the British planters by the colonial government. In 1886, a leaf fungus brought
the coffee industry a nal end, reducing the yields and death of coffee bushes made the plantations unprotable. This
resulted in replacement of coffee with tea. In 1867, experimental tea bushes were grown by a British planter, and the
tea became eventually but substantially the replacement of coffee into the islands coffee plantation estates. Since then,
the tea plantations have been the top crop for the islands export. While the plantation crop was replaced with tea from
coffee and extent of the plantation became larger, a labor need became a large demand as the plantation extent got
expanded.
The plantation history under the British rule shows that the sector moved forward along only with protability and
labor market was set for it. All the basic facility was arranged for the labors, in terms of housing, day-care center and
water. However, education sector did not have adequate quality and quantity. It is safe to say that the British planters
did not consider much of estate labors education as labors.

19) Hollup, Oddvar. Bonded Labour, Caste and Cultural Identity among Tamil Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka, 1994.

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6 1 2State Owned Period

After years of silence in the plantation sector under the British colonial government, Sri Lankas plantation sector
came into a big change when independence of the nation. In 1948, at the time of independence of Ceylon, 2/3 of tea
estates were owned by Sterling Company based in London, which was managed through British controlled agency
house in Colombo, Ceylon. Since 1950s, a number of estates were sold, on a piece meal basis, to primarily either the
Ceylonese companies or individuals. This move made a solid direction towards Ceylonization of the plantations.
Gradually, the British owners were decreasing as opposed to the Ceylonese owners until 1975, when the plantations
were nationalized.
6 1 3Privatized Plantations
In 1992 to 1993, the government of Sri Lanka privatized the most of plantations in the island. This is simply
because the state corporation of plantations held serious decit. This privatization initiative was planned to take place
for two years, due to the extent of Sri Lankas plantation of tea, rubber and coconuts. One of the key issues around
the privatization was social welfare and basic social services for the estate residents. Under the state corporation,
the services were provided by the corporation. Both of the government and the plantation management do not
have any policy to compel the non-worker residents outside either, but the non-workers are disadvantaged over
basic social services such as ineligibility for housing scheme and other programs implemented by the PHDT or the
plantation management. The most of the estate workers are Estate Tamil, whose ancestors were brought from India at
establishment of the plantations in Sri Lanka. They have, thus, no other place to move out to, so that the government
and the plantation management cannot force the non-workers to work for the estate either, which is a political solution
as well as some critical issues remained.
6 2Changes in Local Governance
It is inevitable to mention of the citizenship issue for Estate Tamils, which was solved in 1988, to look into the
current local governance situation. This issue complicatedly caused confusion into duty bearers of basic social services
for the estate community. After independence of the country, Estate Tamils once became stateless. In 1948, when
Ceylon became independent, the Ceylon Citizenship Act no. 18 came into being, laying out the basis for acceptance of
general citizenship in Ceylon20). In the following year of 1949, the Indian and Pakistani Residents Act of 1949 came in.
Under these two laws, Indian Tamils (Estate Tamils) failed to receive citizenship.
The stateless issue continued until Sri Lanka and India came to mutual agreement with the Grant of Citizenship
to the Stateless Act of 1988. However, this is also when another layer of issue occurred. Sri Lanka has grass-root
level local government ofcers called Grama Niladhari, serving community members for basic documents such as
birth certicate and marriage certicate at the village level as well as promoting community development initiatives.
However, the estate community was not the case. The service is still neglected in a quite inevitable number of estates,
although the ofcers are allocated to the estate areas as well. Until 1988, all the administrative matters were under the
plantation estate managements responsibility and duty. There was no room for the local government ofcers into the
estates in tradition. Estate Tamils were not considered as Sri Lankan citizen under the law and no obligation under the
government for basic social services and welfare. Instead, the state plantation corporation took all care of the estate
residents basic social services and welfare until 1988 and even after the citizenship act came into being till privatization
of the plantations when PHDT was established.

20) Kanapathipillai, Valli. Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri Lanka, The Case of the Tamil Estate Workers, 2009.

Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri LankaKurihara Shunsuke 841 133

There is, however, still no commonly recognized sense that the local government ofcers are to come and serve the
estate community, among estate management and residents due to long accustomed practices. Recently, on the other
hand, there are some estate managers coming to understand and recognize the local government service as essential for
the estate residents. New initiatives21) have been taken on some estates for this instance in Nuwara Eliya, in cooperation
with International and Local NGOs to bring in the local government services into the estate community. This shows
that the estate management side has also come to realize their limit and inefciency of their holistic control over the
estate residents on the tea estates in the modern society of the 21st century.
6 3Changes in the Estate Residents
th
Estate Tamils were originally brought into the plantations in Sri Lanka in the 19 century with intention for

securing simple labors for the plantation work. Their cultural, social identity has been changing especially after
independence of Sri Lanka. There are several critical incidents and events that have inuenced Estate Tamils identity
shift such as citizenship issue of Estate Tamils and privatization of the plantations. Over these incidents and events,
Estate Tamils have become more of Estate Tamils as Sri Lankan citizen. The estate residents participation in the Sri
Lankan society was barely seen until they got granted for citizenship. Having been granted for the citizenship, Estate
Tamils have become more proactive in politics, and voices as the citizens are now raised on to the society of Sri Lanka.
It is safe enough to say that this type of movement by Estate Tamils will continuously be on the move for participating
in the civil society of Sri Lanka.
Civil society formed within the estate community is another remarkable aspect that has been seen recent 10 years,
especially after privatization of the plantations. Until the state owned, the estate residents were on a routine-consuming
life without any of self-identied initiatives. The estate management controlled over the estate residents from protoriented point of view. As the plantation was getting open due to privatization, regardless if the estate management
wished or not, the residents received more opportunities to learn about the outside of their estate community and to
interact with the outside society. In addition, privatization eventually opened its door to NGOs, and the estate residents
started to receive assistance from the NGOs working in Sri Lanka, local and international.
Contrary, the issue that should be emphasized in this trend is capacity of the estate management for dealing with
civil society movement within the estate community. Originally, the estate management was set up only for producing
tea including labor control such as the estate residents labor work and very basic day-to-day life, so called social
welfare activities. There are various and unprecedented voices from the estate residents as Sri Lankan citizen, such as
opportunities to participate in the society including choice of work and higher education.
It is noteworthy that this kind of voice would encounter the estate management in the way that more estate
residents would go for outside of estate world. In fact, these days, quite a considerable number of the estate residents
in Nuwara Eliya district work outside of their estates. However, rights for choice of occupation for the estate residents
are not recognized or practiced in the estates. Under the law, the estate management cannot even prevent the estate
residents from going for outside estate work. It is a dilemma that the estate management is now facing. Trade Unions
(TUs) are also another key actor for Estate Tamils, especially in the upcountry Sri Lanka. There are some TUs in the
area, addressing issues for the estate residents. Some of them represent the countrys politics as well.

21) TEA and After-TEA Project (2003 2008) and Plantation Community Empowerment Project (2008 2011), CARE
International, and Plantation Community Project (PCP; 20012011), WUSC (World University Service of Canada).

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Yokohama Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 15 No. 6

7A Case from the Plantations in the South

Southern part of Sri Lanka, such as Matara and Galle districts, was originally populated with Sinhalese ethnic.
The British colonial government established tea plantations on the hillside of this region, known as Low-grown Tea
area. This region has a signicant difference from the upcountry estates in its setting of the plantation estates as there
were Sinhalese villages around the tea plantation estates even before the plantations were established, as opposed to the
upcountry where there was no village at establishment. It is said that there is no big difference between the Sinhalese
villages and the estate community in the south in terms of the local government service provision. It is because worker
population in an estate shares considerably with the villagers from surrounding villages, while the original population
of Estate Tamils is currently decreasing. For instance, the Estate Tamil population in Galle district was 11,056 in 1981,
whereas 9,275 in 200122). It needs further analysis, but it is for sure that Sinhalese villagers living in the surrounding
villages are coming to work for estates to cover the workforce. This trend eventually makes the estate a workplace,
which needs less intervention from the local government since those Sinhalese villagers enjoy their basic social services
in their villages. This movement in the south would give the limelight to illuminate and illustrate the complexity of the
conventional plantation system for future modication or arrangement.
8Conclusion and Further Exploration
As reviewed, the critical issues around the Estate Tamils on plantations in Nuwara Eliya can be claried along with
the following areas:
1) The plantation system: Gaps in management system
It is apparent that the conventional plantation management system is not equipped for serving the estate residents
for basic social services, which was not required at its establishment in the 19th century. The plantation systems holistic
control over the estate residents life does not respond to the residents needs that have become more various than ever.
These needs were not pre-set in the system.
2) Local governance: Gaps in policy practice
As opposed to the plantation management system, the local governance is now legally with room for intervention
into the estate community after Estate Tamils got granted for citizenship in 1988. However, its practice does not much
respond along with the national policy for the estate residents. The practice is still pursued, in the most of cases in
Nuwara Eliya, with a long-lasted traditional waythe estate management does the whole. It is crucial that the root
causes for maintaining the traditional way of practice rather than the policy should be identied.
3) Identity politics of Estate Tamils: Gaps in civic rights
Estate Tamils have been affected by the political inuence over generations since establishment of the plantations
in Sri Lanka in the 19th century. Their identity has been also changed and re-formed along with the political movement
of the country. It is now surely clear to the estate residents about whom they should address their issues in their
community. However, a serious issue for the residents to overcome is those gaps that the plantation management and
the local government hold to solve.

It is relevant that examining the above three areas can surface the on-going issues and the root causes for the

22) Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, Population by ethnic group and district Census 1981, 2001, 2009.

Tea Estate Plantation Community in Nuwara Eliya District of Sri LankaKurihara Shunsuke 843 135

shortfall in the plantation management system as well as putting the policy in practice for the local government. To
identify on what account and when the plantation management system with resident labors became dysfunctional as
well as gaps in policy and practice became larger. It is crucial to nd the new path for the plantations to cope with the
estate community as Sri Lanka citizen.

References
CARE International Sri Lanka, After-TEA Project Report, 2006
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report, 2009
Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, Poverty in Sri Lanka, 2008
Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, Population by Ethnic Group and District Census 1981, 2001, 2009
Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, Statistical Pocket Book, 2009
Department of Labor of Sri Lanka, Number of Strikes, 2008
Food and Agriculture Organization, Current Market Situation Workshop Report on Committee on Commodity Problems,
Fourteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Group on Tea, New Delhi, October 2001
Hollup, Oddvar. Bonded Labour, Caste and Cultural Identity among Tamil Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka, Charles Subasinghe
& Sons, 1994
Institute of Social Development, Brochure of Plantation Workers Museum, 2009
International Labour Organization, Plantation Workers, 1966
Kanapathipillai, Valli. Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri Lanka, The Case of the Tamil Estate Workers, Anthem Press, 2009
Peebles, Patrick. The Plantation Tamils of Ceylon, Leicester University Press, 2001