The fast campaign launched by four youth in Colombo Fort demanding a daily wage of Rs. 1000 for all estate workers was called off today conditionally due to their worsening health conditions.
The fast campaign launched by four youth in Colombo Fort demanding a daily wage of Rs. 1000 for all estate workers | Photo via Facebok Vidarshana Kannangara
The youths, who launched the continuous fast campaign earlier this month, have been hospitalized today. The government, however, has come under pressure to intervene expeditiously in offering a solution to their demands.
Protests are taking place on a daily basis, not only in the estate areas, but also in the North and East, showing solidarity with the striking workers demanding a fixed daily wage of Rs. 1000.
Apart from the estate areas in the hill country, protests and public demonstrations were held in Jaffna, Batticaloa and Killinochchi to show solidarity with the protesting workers.
The estate workers unions launched a continuous strike on December 04 demanding a speedy solution to their demands and they still have not elicited a positive response from the authorities.
Representatives from plantation companies, during discussions held with the estate workers unions earlier this month, agreed to increase the current basic daily wage of Rs. 530 to Rs. 600.
Senior Vice President of Ceylon Workers Congress S Arulsami told media that the companies also agreed to increase the pay up to Rs. 1000 with allowances.
However, the trade unions are determined to continue with the strike until the companies give in to the demand of a fixed daily wage of Rs. 1000.
As a result of the protest, however, the tea industry, a key component of Sri Lanka’s economy, has come to a standstill posing a grave threat to the economy.
The umbrella organisation of the regional plantation companies (RPCs), the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA), addressing a press conference last week, cautioned that this year’s tea output would fall below 300 million kilos while the tea export income would fall below US $ 1.5 billion, due to the ongoing estate workers’ strike.S
Sri Lanka, they said, was earlier targeting a tea output of 320 million kilos and over US $ 1.5 billion in export income this year.
JD / December 24, 2018
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/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
Somass, KASmaalam K A Sumanasekera, Lal loo, wannihami, Nimal Tissass Wijethunga,…. and all other descendants of fellow Kallathonies
–
I think I know what you are thinking, had the weeping widow put her foot down and deported all those up country Tamils back to Tamil Nadu this island would not have to deal with this “Tamil Problem” now or forever.
–
Do you know what I am thinking, had we deported you lot back to your motherland Tamil Nadu we would not have to deal with Sinhala/Buddhist fascist problem forever.
/
Amarasiri / December 24, 2018
Re:Fasting Estate Workers for Rs. 1000/day.
There should be a formula based on , productivity, cost of production export price and global competitiveness. Tea is a commodity, and there is little room for price increases. Based on this, is What is the “equilibrium” daily wage? Rs. 560, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000?
Tea is a critical export commodity providing $ 1.5 B in exports and livelihood to millions, and irresponsible action can destroy the industry.
/
R. Varathan / December 24, 2018
Dear Native
That was, in essence, the racist political thinking of RG Senanayake and later Hector Kobbekaduwa and their ilk. The Sinhala political leadership from the 1960s treated these “Indian” workers as sub-human chattel.. It was that wise and humane man the late S. Thondaman who gave them back their dignity while making them an important resource to the country’s economic interest. He changed the image of the community and produced an entirely new community of People of recent Indian Origin (the description he found) – successful businessmen, Planters, industrialists, political leaders, professionals and so on. The Party today is virtually dead. At one time in the late 1980s the old Thonda boasted about 10 MP’s
in Parliament. Today it is 1-2.
R. Varathan
/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
R. Varathan
–
Thanks for your comment..
–
“The Sinhala political leadership from the 1960s treated these “Indian” workers as sub-human chattel..”
–
And the Tamils too.
If you consider the 1948 Citizenship ACTs it is obvious that what racist leadership anti workers that took total control of this island immediately after its independence, disenfranchised the entire population with few exceptions.
–
Then the weeping widow made it her lifetime mission to deport most of them back to Tamil Nadu.
–
The JVP went one step further and identified them as being the 5th Column.
I beg to differ. It was Hindia which bent JR’s hands backwards got citizenship for those who want to remain in this island.
–
Disenfranchisement of hard working people was the first sign of things to come later, first successful step in their so called parochial/racist nation building process, soon to be culminating into a fascist state.
–
The country never thanked them for their hard work, which mainly sustained this island’s economy. Nor did it apologised how its people and rulers treated them. While their right to citizenship, education, freedom of movement, choice of employment, safety, security, dignity, development, ownership of property, decent living standard, ……………. were and still are being denied just because they form the lowest strata of the society, “the others” … the politicians, crooks, criminals, war criminals, Mahasangha, fascist tendency, ….. believe their first responsibility is to protect Sinhala/Buddhism.
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 27, 2018
Dear Varathan,
From the beginning of Tamil history in Lanka, Tamils treated fellow Tamils worse than Chattel.
.
Sebastian Rasalingum is an Indian Tamil. Here are a few abridged quotes from his writings..
.
“.. a “low-caste”, and ..married an Indian Tamil woman in Hatton, I was truly an out-caste paraiah among Tamils. although I was an outcaste among Tamils, I found ..my Sinhalese mates invited me to have tea with them – a strange experience for a man..always spoken to by Tamils … curt “inga va” Tamil. … Ramanathan era was Caste Politics. … wanted the caste system written into the constitution… G. G. Ponnambalam and S. J. V. Chelvanayagam was Race Politics …Caste politics continued within Tamil society
I had to carry a small stool or mat from class to class as only upper-caste could sit on chairs. My sisters were not sent to school, ..They might set fire to our house and destroy the girls if we don’t stay within our station in life”…
…1940s, … estate workers did not dare take the train, …… train enters the “Tamil areas”, they knew that they could be beaten and thrown out of the moving train,….walking ……had to follow designated paths, .. take water only from designated locations. … could be suddenly torched and “cleansed” by upper-caste Tamils … Or, the walkers … do some work for a Periya-dorei, free.., to secure passage. ”
.
This is no different in Tamil Nadu, the Land of the Tamils
/
Don Stanley / December 24, 2018
These labourers, particularly, women tea pluckers have carried the Lankan economy on their backs for years earning foreign exchange but it is the greedy tea plantation owners and traders who take the profits. This economic system is in fact a crime that is legalized by IMF-WB and neoliberal capitalist system that benefits the global and loca 1 percent and beggars the rest must end NOW.
The Sri Lanka tea plantation and estate workers MUST be given 1,200 LKR per day Minimum Wage, for the very hard labour they perform to keep the tea industry in clover. The big profits of their hard work go to the Plantation owners who but pen houses and SUVs, while hardworking folk suffer.
Also, The global economy is a mess because those who work do now get rewarded while land owners, elites and financiers reap the benefits as Thomas Picketty has shown in “Capital In the Twentyfirst Century” growing economic inequality everywhere is the main reason for rise of Racism and anti-immigrant and minority agenda.
/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
Don
–
“This economic system is in fact a crime that is legalized by IMF-WB and neoliberal capitalist system that benefits the global and loca 1 percent and beggars the rest must end NOW.”
–
It is now the responsibility of IMF-WB to pay the workers a decent wage. Well I am happy the Sri Lankan mindset is still intact among some of them.
–
All these years I was led to believe the workers themselves had brought it upon themselves by staying put in this island when they were offered a chance to go back to their mother country, thanks to Nehru, Sasthri, Indra, …. weeping widow.
–
Do you think they should protest in front of local IMF and WB offices and respective head offices?
/
Edward / December 24, 2018
Dear Native Vedda.
It will be better still if all the descents of Prince Vijaya are deported. Frankly from where did the so-called Ariyan come. Sinhala alphabet letters look similar to Kanada letters and root of most words are in Tamil. Think as a one men of a country. United we stand divided we fall. Look at Singapore.
/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
Edward
–
“Look at Singapore.”
–
Forget it, it’s too far, too sophisticated, a country that knows how to treat its people , how to unleash their potentials, …… too rich to consider, …………..
.
The so called Lankies cannot see beyond their nose, a self destructive people who cannot live without creating problems, new problems before solving the previous ones, …………..
–
I am planning to kick all of them back to their motherland, Tamil Nadu whence their Kallathonie ancestors came here looking for good life.
/
Real Revolutionist / December 24, 2018
SL must stop depending on traditional crops; @ least on tea.
Not easy to cope with high labor cost.
Should reconsider Sirima – Shastree pact & resettle Indian Tamils in their land
This shouldn’t be taken as hate speech.
Sinhalese people treat them as brothers & thankful for their labor but find them a burden
Time has long gone that now Sinhala people are ready to work in tea gardens if required.
What an inhuman act it is if Indians refuse to accept its own people
/
Rajash / December 24, 2018
“Sinhalese people treat them as brothers & thankful for their labor but find them a burden”……”Time has long gone that now Sinhala people are ready to work in tea gardens if required.”
Real Revolutionist…..are you volunteering to go through the burden of picking tea leafs all day carry the burden on your back to the estate get it weighed and get paid a meager wage that will barely buy a square meal for your family….and then sleep in hut on the floor through the cold night and repeat it day after day until your bare bones stick our through your skin
come on put your words in to action ……and get to the tea estates…
…..
/
Real Revolutionist / December 24, 2018
Rajash
You’re right Rajash as far as estate workers’ life isn’t comfortable but contrary to that, industry wise, labor cost is a burden in our country in comparison to India & Kenya(to the best of my knowledge).
To compete with them SL has to make the industry cost effective but an industry that depends on manual labor that’s demanding to double the wage?
So is it wise to depend on such an industry unless we can make Ceylon Tea an exclusive product in the world market to fetch very special price to make workers are well/reasonably paid.
In case we stopped our tea industry what would we do with the redundant labor force?
Don’t they have a right to demand India to intervene & give their legitimate right to live in India?
/
rajash / December 24, 2018
Real Revolutionist …..you and you theories are a living proof of why this country after 70 years of Sinhala rule is in such a bloody mess. The Chinese are walking in to Sri Lanka and colonizing Sri Lanka while Real Revolutionist crying over Indian tea pluckers….Srima Sahstri pact etc
The pact thst Mahinda signed with Chinese is giving the Chinese a sovereign land …..
/
Eagle Eye / December 24, 2018
Rajash,
Chinese colonizing this country is million times better than colonizing by Indian parasites.
/
rajash / December 24, 2018
Eagle-Eye There is a famous saying
” The Sinhalease are the Majority with a Minority complex”
this comes through over and over again in the comments posts from you and Real Revolutionist et el
I really feel sorry for you guys…you guys always sound defeatist
/
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / December 24, 2018
Asking Indian Tamils to be deported is a sign of hatred, similar to the action of driving out of Rohingyas from Myanmar and Gujeratis from Uganda. According to geological evidence Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu was once a contiguous landmass which in Tamil folklore is called Kumarikandam. According to archeological evidence the people who lived in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu were one and the same ethnic group. According to genetic evidence Sinhalese, Ceylon Tamils and Ceylon Muslims have south Indian DNA as their core genetic material. Therefore to ask the rightful owners of the land to be driven out to satisfy whims and fancies of usurpers is outright racism.
/
Real Revolutionist / December 24, 2018
Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam
There’s a wide gap between archeological evidence & political evidence
Nobody is bothered to hear that all the people in Indian sub continent are of the same ethnic group.
As far as we’re human beings we have to co-exist even with people with different DNA structures.
Let us take political evidence to see that Indian workers were taken here by the British to slave in estates @ the refusal of Sinhalese to do so.
We don’t have hatred towards them but sad that even after hundreds of years, their descendants are still slaves working for a meagre wage.
What they want is attention
Isn’t it right to draw attention of India, where they came from (SL & India are 2 political units even though there’s a very close/almost the same ethnic identity)
Doesn’t India have a responsibility for their own citizens’ welfare?
In case SL able to send them back, what a wealth for Sinhala people to regain that thousands of hectares of land for forestry, dairy farming, fruit & vegetable gardens etc.
It’s not racism, it’s the truth, we’re not bit worried for Tamil people living with us.
We want to see justice is given to them & some sort of justice for Sinhala people as well.
/
Steve / December 24, 2018
RR
Sinhalese only want to work in the gardens in the Middle East, not on tea gardens in Sri Lanka. What do you want to do – send all plantation Tamils back to India; remove all tea bushes and plant manioc ?? Time you got your head examined.
/
Real Revolutionist / December 24, 2018
Steve
You shouldn’t insult any people in that way.
It’s good for you to know that Sinhalese are famous for their irrigation work that amazed the whole world.
If lands are available they can decide whether to grow tea or manioc or something else.
To the best of my knowledge my head is OK.
We’d love to see if possible, estate workers volunteer to go back & lead a successful life, may be better than ours in India finishing their slaving in SL.
/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
Real Revolutionist
–
“It’s good for you to know that Sinhalese are famous for their irrigation work that amazed the whole world.”
–
Not anymore, the world has discovered other amazing hydraulic civilisation elsewhere. The world also know the know how, technology, expertise, ….. were brought from South India. Sri Lanka is not the only country which invented irrigation.
–
“We’d love to see if possible, estate workers volunteer to go back & lead a successful life, may be better than ours in India finishing their slaving in SL.”
–
Good idea.
I love to see you the descendants of Kallathonies going back to your motherland.
Will you join them in India where you will be welcome by your Tamil/Malayalee long lost cousins and they are willing to share their prosperity?
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 27, 2018
Native, That’s interesting!
.
“Not anymore, the world has discovered other amazing hydraulic civilisation elsewhere. The world also know the know how, technology, expertise, ….. were brought from South India. Sri Lanka is not the only country which invented irrigation”
.
Where is that Native? How ancient? The Romans built aquaducts but I can vaguely remember reading about earlier ones but cannot remember where.
.
The part about the imported technology is news to me. Where in South India do we see reservoirs more ancient than in Sri Lanka, that parallel those in Lanka?
.
/
Native Vedda / December 27, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
–
Indus valley civilization, Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, ancient Chinese, South America, Tamilaham, …………….
–
Tamilaham
Ancient Irrigation Technology: Sluice Technology In Tamil Nadu
by Prof K Rajan,
Irrigation under the Pallavas
By Amol Saghar
Social Scientist Vol. 43, No. 5/6
–
Kallanai Dam/Grand Anicut
across the Cauveri River in Tiruchirapalli District
–
China
Dujiangyan: China’s ancient irrigation system
–
South America
Please refer to
Terracing and Irrigation in the Peruvian Highlands
By y David Guillet
for Peruvian irrigation.
CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 28, Number 4, August-October I987
–
Egypt and Mesopotamia
6000 BC
The flood waters, which occurred July through December, were diverted to fields for 40 to 60 days.
3100 BC
The first major irrigation project was created under King Menes during Egypt’s First Dynasty. He and his successors used dams and canals (one measuring 20 km) to use the diverted flood waters of the Nile into a new lake called lake “Moeris.”
–
Yemen
In the remote desert highlands of southern Yemen, a team of archaeologists have discovered new evidence of ancient transitions from hunting and herding to irrigation agriculture 5,200 years ago.
As part of a larger program of archaeological research, Michael Harrower from the University of Toronto and The Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA) team explored the Wadi Sana watershed documenting 174 ancient irrigation structures, modeled topography and hydrology, and interviewed contemporary camel and goat herders and irrigation farmers.
–
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 28, 2018
Dear Native,
.
That is a very impressive list indeed but avoids answering my question.
Knowing and acknowledging your depth of knowledge, I would attribute it to over site, not a deft side step.
Where in South India do we see reservoirs more ancient than in Sri Lanka, that parallel those in Lanka?
.
To import the technology from South India, it should have existed in India before it ever came into existence in Lanka.
.
The question is specific and so should be your answer.
/
Native Vedda / December 28, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
–
We can only discuss matters if both of us are well informed and mean the same thing. Now you thing although you are considerably older than many of us in this forum still behaving like kids. If you seriously want to discuss broader issues with facts please do some research. Stating and restating what you heard 50 years ago will not help further your knowledge.
–
There are several new research materials available on books, net and researchgate.
–
Here is the one I promised yesterday:
IntersocietalTransfer of Hydraulic Technology
in PrecolonialSouth Asia: Some Reflections
Based on a Preliminary Inyestigation
R.A.L,H.GUNAWARDANA
–
Grow up
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 29, 2018
Dear Native,
.
Firstly, I am grateful for directing me to a great research paper. Thank you.
.
Nevertheless, for the third time you have avoided an answer, Why?
Simply because it does not exist.
.
Where in South India do we see reservoirs more ancient than in Sri Lanka, that parallel those in Lanka?
..
There is nothing in India that predates the massive reservoirs in Lanka simply because although they built reservoirs, they did not possess the technology to build large reservoirs with TALL dams. That technology is what made Sinhalese Irrigation Engineering stand out from the rest of the world.
.
If you have an Engineering background, you should be able to understand the complexity of impounding water behind a tall dam and the problems of using that water for irrigation.
.
“The impressive advances in Hydraulic Technology made in Sri Lanka, as represented by the appearance of large scale, interlinked reservoir systems, Antedated similar developments in South India” ……(R.A.I.H.Gunaeardana)
.
Checkmate!
.
You have educated me and I hope I have returned the favour, at least in small measure.
/
Native Vedda / December 29, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
–
“Checkmate!”
–
The implications of Brohier’s views were that
the irrigation systems of Sri Lanka were of
purely local origin and that cross-cultural
transmission of ideas was not significant in
the process of their development. However,
in the light of archaeological evidence from
South India, it appears that both the theories
on the origin of irrigation in Sri Lanka have
to be re-examined.
R.A.I.H.Gunaeardana
page 116
–
3) The fact that megalithic sites were almost
always found near ancient reservoirs was
first noticed by Hunt [1924:140-156].
Gururaja Rao [1972: 298-299]also believed
that reservoir irrigation was a technology
introduced to South India by the megalithic
folk
R.A.I.H.Gunaeardana
page 116
–
On this basis the time bracket of the megalithic cultures in South India may be placed between 1000 B.C and A.D 100. This view is supported by many scholars like prof K. Rajan.
History of India upto 8th Century
The Megalithic Cultures of the South India
Vikas Kumar Verma
–
/
Native Vedda / December 27, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
–
“The part about the imported technology is news to me. Where in South India do we see reservoirs more ancient than in Sri Lanka, that parallel those in Lanka”
–
Prof R A L H Gunawardana wrote about 8 well researched papers in one of which he state with evidence. I believe I supplied you this information in your previous incarnation a few years ago.
I will give you the exact reference details when I get few minutes.
–
I suggest you venture out of Mahawamsa for your own good. You are stewing in your old stale history. Things have been happening outside your little world for more than 12,000 years. its time you updated it.
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 28, 2018
Dear Native,
.
I have already posted a reply to your previous comment. That will apply to this as well.
.
My question was not a personal attack on you but was meant to extract verifiable information from a person who I know to be knowledgeable..
But if you believe I base my questions on a book that I have hardly read, then you don’t know me at all, despite our meeting in the previous incarnation.
.
I believe you can keep it civil. Lets learn from each other and let others learn from us, while we learn from them.
/
Native Vedda / December 28, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
–
“I believe you can keep it civil. Lets learn from each other and let others learn from us, while we learn from them.”
–
We can only keep it civil if you keep yourself open to new information, research, …………….. If you are going to stick to what you heard 50 years ago being the gospel truth of your parochial history of little islanders then of course I reserve the right to be uncivil.
–
Nothing personal.
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 29, 2018
Dear Native,
.
I have already responded to your previous comment. But I avoided responding to the following statements as that would have devalued my comment.
.
1. We can only discuss matters if both of us are well informed and mean the same thing. Now you thing although you are considerably older than many of us in this forum still behaving like kids.
.
2. I reserve the right to be uncivil
.
The first is that of a “know all” who looks down on everyone else whose views differ from yours. This is how spoiled kids behaves.
The second is that of a class bully.
.
Although you have all these references at your disposal, you need to read and understand them before you use them. Apparently you have not read and understood the reference you gave.
.
You are free to act like a bully but I prefer to stay civil
/
Native Vedda / December 30, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
.-
“You are free to act like a bully but I prefer to stay civil”
–
Well you can do whatever you want to.
If you want to remain in your world ofb the 1950’s well that is your choice. Things have moved on since the advent of your Pancha Maha Balavegaya.
–
Myth cannot be conquered by myth.
–
.By the way those proud Sinhala/Buddhists who virtually invented hydraulic civilisation now have completely forgotten their crafts, technology, ………………….. and hire Iranians, Canadians, Brits to build their dams, canals, ……….etc.
–
For your information as recently as in 2015 Muthu Muthiah Sthapathi from India and his sculptors created the Samadhi Buddha statue at Rambadagalla. (http://www.ft.lk/article/439491/A-lasting-symbol-of-communal-harmony).
–
This is a good example of what is wrong with the Sinhala/Buddhists.
Champika Ranawake believes his ancestors invented Zero.
–
I am not sure what the little islanders are trying to prove.
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 30, 2018
Dear Native,
.
You are still Checkmated and gasping to prove otherwise
Four times in succession, you have AVOIDED my question. I am certain that you will avoid it for the 5th time in your next reply
.
Where in South India do we see reservoirs more ancient than in Sri Lanka, that parallel those in Lanka?
.
You have no answer because non exists.
.
R.A.L.H. Gunawardhena’s findings are summarized in pages 139 and 140 not midway in page 116.
.
Your own reference unequivocally states that Lanka’s impressive advances in Hydraulic Technology, as represented by the appearance of large scale, interlinked reservoir systems, are OLDER than similar systems found in South India.
The Present learns from the Past.
Its impossible to go in the reverse direction.
You have been struggling to overcome this and has failed, yet again.
.
The Kallanai Dam was your first example.
It is a simple check dam (Agoramoorthy and Hsu, 2008).
Height 4.5 meters Length 300 meters, Width 20 meters (Bijker, 2007).
Check dams are “small barriers built …….to harvest rainwater in remote villages” and “are usually smaller than 15 m” (Agoramoorthy and Hsu, 2008).
.
According to Parker (1981), the formation of all reservoirs of a class with embankments much higher than those of simple village tanks was originally due to the constructive genius of the Sinhalese themselves.
.
For some reason the Reply button is missing under your Dec 29 comment.
/
Natiev Vedda / December 30, 2018
MNIN Perera (OTC)
–
“The Present learns from the Past.
Its impossible to go in the reverse direction.
You have been struggling to overcome this and has failed, yet again.”
–
Precisely this is what R.A.L.H. Gunawardhena meant in his thesis.
Sundar Pitchai is the CEO of Google.
He did not invent computer programing, electronic communication, websites, ……………..any of the advanced computer hardware nor did the Indians. However he and his fellow computers Indian geeks mastered it and contributing to not just India, but companies world over in every sectors.
–
The technology is being transferred from where it originated to another location, then improved for some historical or economic reasons and transferred back and forth. This is not new.
–
The point is zero was invented in India, however it is being used in every aspect of human and animal life and after without which computers cannot run, at least for the moment. Does it mean Indians invented computers and mass communication as we know it?
–
Don’t be silly and petty.
–
According to R A L H Gunawardana the technology came from South India, improved in this island and taken back to India. In one incident former Kashmir King had send for Irrigation Technology to be replicated in his kingdom. And the island rulers obliged the king. Ref: Rajataranggini, Three Parts available on net. Sorry I cannot give you the details OFF THE CUFF, you will have to do your own search in those books.
–
Are you going to deny Muthu Muthiah Sthapathi and his men from South India carved out Samadhi Buddha statue at Rambadagalla? I am sure people like you are desperate to rewrite history, before the end of our time we will see “scholars like” you churning out materials attributing the construction of the statue to Sinhala/Buddhist.
–
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 30, 2018
Dear Native,
.
As predicted you have avoided answering the question for the 5th time.
.
Where in South India do we see reservoirs more ancient than in Sri Lanka, that parallel those in Lanka?
.
You will not answer that question even in your next reply. Instead, you will again attempt a diversionary tactic as you have done now.
.
Your argument is puerile.
.
Evidence indicates the wheel was created to serve as potter’s wheels around 3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia—300 years before they were used for chariots. (Jim Vecchi / Corbis).
.
Even transporting water in a container to water a plant can be claimed as the origin of irrigation!
.
You presented Kallanai Dam as an example and that failed because you did not understand why the Sinhala Irrigation Engineering stands as the foremost irrigation technology in the ancient world.
.
You are still Checkmated my friend
/
Steve / December 24, 2018
Real Revolutionist
I am not insulting anyone but stating facts. Tea plucking is a back breaking job. I was employed at one of the biggest Agency Houses before the industry was nationalized. Planters often complained about the low productivity of Sinhalese workers against the Tamil workers. So you can decide who should be sent back to India.
/
Real Revolutionist / December 25, 2018
Steve
That’s not the real story. Sinhalese had been reluctant to work under the British in their own land so naturally they’d been low productive even as forced labor.
Contrary to that imported Tamil workers found a heaven here & did their maximum to make the British happy.
Sinhalese may be low productive in their own land, you can’t help it, they enjoy the consequences of it. nobody should bother about it.
Fortunately Tamils had been less productive than Africans unless they could have ended up in auction rooms & put into slavery in America.
Are Tamils sad about it, for losing that opportunity. ah, there’s a clever idea, is that the reason for thousands of Tamils to migrated to Canada & the US, looking for slavery?
That might be the reason for westerners to favor Tamils & even the LTTE.
As we’re humane we don’t want our Tamil brothers to be slaves here or anywhere in the world.
As Sinhalese are the owners of the country nobody can ask them to go anywhere even if they’re low productive.
Why don’t Tamil workers go back to India & contribute that labor there?
/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
Steve
–
“Sinhalese only want to work in the gardens in the Middle East, not on tea gardens in Sri Lanka.”
–
That is the only opportunity for them to get away from their lazy husbands who live off on handouts, entitlement, ….
/
N. Ethirveerasingam / December 24, 2018
Raise the wages to Rs. 1,000. Let the tea estates find other areas in production to be efficient and reduce cost of production. At Rs 1,000 per day many Sinhalese will also want to pluck tea leaves.
/
shankar / December 26, 2018
N. Ethirveerasingam
sinhalese don’t have the patience to pluck tea leaves.We need bangladeshi’s
/
MNIN Perera (OTC) / December 27, 2018
They already do.
Reality is distorted when looking through coloured glasses.
/
Natieve Vedda / December 27, 2018
shankar
–
Why Bangladeshis, why not Chinese?
/
shankar / December 27, 2018
native
they are cheap and good workers.
/
Dr Dolittle / December 29, 2018
Natieve Vedda,
Is it feasible to move from any faraway country to Sri Lanka to work for less than 6 USD per day assuming that the salary is increased?
/
shankar / December 29, 2018
bangla desh is not far away.It is south asia.They get 2 dollars per day.Do you think the next generation here of indian tamils are going to do what their mums and dads did.They should not be even classified as indian tamils anymore and amalgamated with the sri lankan tamils.They are as sri lankan as anyone else being born and bred here and will have high expectations.
If we are to continue with tea we have to start looking elsewhere for labour Otherwise as it is already happening now convert to tourism and holiday recreation industry with some of the words best scenery and climate there.
ps.How old are these trees.How many more years are left.Do we have the capital to replant.These are the questions to ask.
/
Native Vedda / December 30, 2018
Dr Dolittle
–
“Is it feasible to move from any faraway country to Sri Lanka to work for less than 6 USD per day assuming that the salary is increased?”
–
The Sinhala/Buddhist noisy fascist minority thinks so, believing in their own recent myth the entire world is conspiring to get at them, plunder their land and resources, their standard of living, …………….. You will have to ask them. somass, Eagle Blind Eye, ….. Shenali Waduge, Dayan, Sarath Weerasekera, .. will be ready to give you their stupid reasons.
/
Uthungan / December 24, 2018
Real Revolutionist
Better still, why not get MaRa and Sillysena to re-negotiate on the Srima-Shasti pact with India to resettle the entire lot of Indian estate Tamils including the Thondamans and have your Sinhalese to grow ganja in the up country estates.
Ganja will fetch a better price abroad than tea .There will also be a great deman for it in SL too.
That will solve all the financial and the other problems of SL.
/
Real Revolutionist / December 24, 2018
Uthungan
What you utter amounts to hate speech.
Why should we/anybody develop Ganja plantations when there’re many better things for human consumption.
/
cholan / December 24, 2018
@ Real Revolutionist
Bravo
What a beautiful thinking Srimavo and Rubber Department clerk D.S.Senanayake thought same.
Sinhala people are capable of cultivating ganja…and brew kassipu ..without the Indian Origin Tamils there wouldnt have been Tea industry here .
Best to deport Sinahlese to Kerala where they came from and Kandyan Sinhalease to Andhra Pradesh .
Still if not happy follow comic book Mahavamsa and deport Sinhalese everymonth in 700 kalla thonies to Bihar reverese trip of deported criminal Vijaya .
Problem solved
/
Real Revolutionist / December 24, 2018
Cholan
Never expected to see you as such a low person.
SL has never been part of India so Indians don’t have a legitimate right to settle down in SL without the consent of Sri Lankans even though they’re very close facial groups.
We love Tamil workers though we think they belong more to India.
/
Amarasiri / December 24, 2018
Real Revolutionaist,
How many kegs of tea need to be exported at The prevailing market price, to pay for the foreign exchange to buy one luxury vehicle for a standard Sinhala politician?
At the prevailing wage, how many man hours, rather women hours are needed?
Don’t ask Wimal Buruwamsa. He thinks that 2/2=0.
/
Thiagarajah Venugopal / December 24, 2018
Dear RR,
Point to Note 1 – The issue of the tea planation workers were solved long time ago be it had the drama at that time. I do not agree with SJV position then but now none of has any right to discuss this in this context as generations has passed by already and they=we a long time ago Bro.
Point to Note 2 – If you have placed them in Jaffna then am sure they would not have survived this far too is a fact. I really know my people………..No 1. National question lot No 2. Lower caste (even this has its own pecking order within itself) and No 3. would have been the Indians in the pecking order at a higher level look please.
I know my people up north very well as I am one of them. If you ever had a plan of sending anyone anywhere please do not send them to Jaffna is all what I will say. I know the quality of life / abuse that took place as the Indian children were brought (little children) to work in our house holds up north as servants/workers for decades. If you think caste is bad then think again/talk to me I will share more with you will shock the world.
Point to Note 3 – for all our sins/duplicity/ignorance the Indians have used our own children to do all their dirty work is the fact has now reshaped the Indian ocean beyond our control. Remember LTTE separated themselves from ours neighbours agenda long ago. The TNA who opened the doors to the TN politics/prostituted our children were protected by the GOSL when the LTTE stood ground against this agenda consistently. Now the TNA left to continue their whatever today by the geo political masters up North as a ‘sacrificial cathode’ and East is the next in line as a replacement. The rest awaits in the PC’s pecking order for use.
/
Thiagarajah Venugopal / December 24, 2018
Point to Note 4. We have one last opportunity to unit and deliver a dignified space for the next generations. Let us focus on a mindful journey to celebrate all Mother Lankan children and their beautiful future. We are the masters of our own future/destiny and let that be just that……….we need to loose identity politics is the only sacrifice Mother Nature ask from us in return…….nothing more and nothing less…..
We are big enough to take care of everyone and EACH OTHER. Let us discuss positively how we can improve and bring the upcountry Tamils to be Sri Lankans and one of us for good…….I already know the amount of wonderful work has been done by the GOSL however this is least discussed nor have we/others complement this with our own actions too?? Just an empty rhetoric without getting our hands dirty.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts sincerely with us all most apprecaited.
/
Uthungan / December 31, 2018
Real R
‘What an inhuman act if the Indians refuse to accept it’s own people’.
When the Mahavamsa Constitution of the Mahasangha is able to get it’s Sinhala Buddhists people to stop drinking Tea and exporting it for profits, India may accept it’s people.
/
Mallaiyuran / December 24, 2018
Up Country youths are very strong minded champions. They stood against the biggest nightmares during the Don Stephen and Sirimavo’s times. They stood strong in all anti-Tamil pogroms. They stood strong with Leader Pirapaharan in Mullaitivu. Now they are facing the nature’s wrath, the flood too.
But it is not they should have been staying hungry. It should have been Arumugam Thondaman to to lose fat he built from their blood. .
/
rajash / December 24, 2018
Real Revolutionist : SL must stop depending on traditional crops; @ least on tea.
yeah ..they should consider nontraditional crops ..like … mass producing Sinhala chicks for export as maids …to Middle East to work as prostitutes for the smelly Arabs
The Arabs need to replace the older maids who have reached their shelf life …or should I say “useful sex life”….so churning them out is critical….
so lets convert all the tea estates to clinical labs for mass producing Sinhala chicks….
one the critical raw material is of course male sperm….there are men like Real Revolutionist and Namal who would supply them willingly
/
JD / December 24, 2018
The answer is SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY and not Glyphosate or Round up and continuing Manual Labour. Mechanize the Tea plucking.
/
Steve / December 24, 2018
JD
Tea plucking can only be mechanized when grown on flat ground like in some countries. A machine cannot pluck “two leaves and a bud”.
/
JD / December 24, 2018
Are Al.l these people MCdonald Hamburger eating people when the night comes. OR they eat ROTI sent by the mother.
/
JD / December 24, 2018
With respect to Tea cultivation. Major Producing countries of China, India and Kenya are low paying countries. Even some time ago, there was scream for more wages. then the Estate owners talked about MEchanization. Then their talk was Do not do that, it is the politicians who need it. These yourht are I think Social Assistance Receiving unemployed working for politicians. Careful mechainization solves the problem. Otherwise, Tea estates have to be sold to foreign companies. these people go home again without jobs.
/
K.Pillai / December 24, 2018
Estate worker is standby – meaning finds work only if called upon to. The average yearly earnings is a third to half the earnings of an unskilled worker outside the estate sector. Their direct contribution to the foreign exchange earning is high.
For quite a while their protests were listened to through WhiteVans. The present GoSL does not use WhiteVan governance.
The trade unions have gone corrupt. This is a different topic on its own.
.
Unfortunately the Lankan working class struggle has got sucked into the language/religion divide. No wonder the estate worker gets support from N&E only – where by the way the earnings are low.
/
JD / December 24, 2018
It is True that the Tea Estate workers are suffering. Salary increases as politicians need will not work. MEchanize those estates and increase the salary of Those machine operators. Get the others down to other jobs Universities can develop machinaery that people can operate pluckign tea.
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shankar / December 24, 2018
These guys are getting hospitalized for 1000 rupees while Aloysious has ‘earned’ 10000000000 rs.
/
PARAGON / December 24, 2018
THIS PROBLEM SHOULD BE LOOKED IN HUMAN ANGLE NOT FROM POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS OR RACE ANGLE.BRITISH GOVERNMENT BROUGHT THESE POOR PEOPLE FROM SOUTH INDIA AND left this peoples future in the hands of so called singala budist who never follow the principles of GOWTHAMA BUDDA.IN SRI LANKA THEY DO NOT BREAK EGGS ON FULL MOON DAY.BUT ALWAYS WILLING TO BREAK THE HEADS OF TAMILS EVEN ON FULL MOON DAY.how on earth you expect a reasonable wage increase for this most neglected group of people in sri lanaka. SOME PEOPLE COMMENT WANTS TO DEPORT THESE PEOPLE BACK TO INDIA.ARE YOU ALL WILLING TO DEPORT MUTHIA MURLITHARAN WITH THE WORLD CUP WON TO SOUTH INDIA.
/
Steve / December 24, 2018
Current basic daily wage Rs 530; Demanded basic daily wage Rs 1000 !!. They should be paid a reasonable daily wage taking into account living costs on a plantation. Or else they should be paid a fixed basic daily wage + an incentive wage based on output/productivity so that the plantations will be viable.
/
Mallaiyuran / December 24, 2018
Their current pay is $4 per day. This is not a salary or pay anywhere in the world suitable for work. There is nothing special thing in the hill country making living cheaper than the other area. Estate was not viable industry from the time of Bracegirdle. Tamil Nadu condition was so bad that time so their life ended up in the in hills of Ceylon. They are people never lived on hills. Their counterparts now in TN are doing better than them. TN kept growing and it is importing labor from faraway states like Bihar. That was the reason SJV said any disenfranchised must be accepted and settled properly by India as Ceylon Government is an out of control entity.
All exports failed in Lankawe. When the Sinhalese girls refused to accept low wages Garments Industry closed factory after factory even though GSP+ featherbeds the competition. But Lankawe tea is battered a product in world auction by arrogant behaviors of Lankawe leaders. But the Estate Industry is still there because the squeezing more beyond human imagination is possible from the marginalized Tamils of the upcountry. This is the reason Pirapaharan took them and settled them in Mullaithivu to farming. Estate should be closed and the workers should be resettled in other Tamil areas with of the $18B deposits. 1956 Banda -Chelva pact said North East lands, if North East people not settling, Tamils living out North East should be settled. But after lot of protest to Tamils they colonized East and now colonizing North. They imported with “rice for rubber cheap pact” and distributed free rice for others, but estate workers suffered to pay for that free rice.
They should start to close the estates from the least performing first and should transfer the workers to Mullaitivu to replace Rapist Army farming. Without bringing a solution for their suffering they can’t just say wage increase is not possible.
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Tungsan YU / December 24, 2018
The management companies suck up huge amounts of money and then claim that the estates run at a loss. They have never looked compassionately at the workers. The greedy bastards run around in super luxury vehicles claiming losses. Reinvestment in the estates by way of replanting is negligible. They are bleeding this country dry.
Kick the management companies out. Take it back to government control.
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Ajith / December 24, 2018
Don’t look at the estate workers as Indian Tamils. Consider them as a citizen as a citizen of this country similar to other citizens like Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils. This sector was the main income producer since the indepenence. Almost 75% of the foregin income came to this country in the past. This sector had a competitive and comparative advantage because of its high quality but the industry was neglected by incompetent governments which focused only on Buddhist Fundamentalism and racism.
/
shankar / December 24, 2018
wages are determined by demand and supply of labour. Demands like these are unsustainable.
However if i was running a business i would be giving some of my profits to the workers as an incentive and also to make them feel that they are also like co owners.In bad times they won’t get it.
/
Sandy / December 24, 2018
Fasting. To be heard.
For just a little bit more,
So they can put a little extra food on the table..
Truly saddens me to see their struggle.
These are human beings just like us..
May a just solution be given to these our needy
Brothers and sisters.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 24, 2018
30,000 rupees a month! That’s more than half of what a minister is paid. That is more than what a menial worker in the Middle East is paid. And the middle eastern worker brings in 4-billion a year compared to the tea-pluckers 2-billion a year.
Workers in the Middle East have a far more arduous task than the tea workers. And they suffer much more hardship and exhaustion in the ME.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 25, 2018
Even 22,000 rupees a month is a big amount.
/
Mallaiyuran / December 25, 2018
Grandma,
How much you suffered to advocate for the fatty UNP Yahapalanaya Ministers? Could you give me a list of all ministers’ pay, fringe, expense reimbursement and bonus total for each Minister by name for one last year (Dec 17 to Nov 18). . Please list the price of the cars they imported and the duty saved on them. I am not asking you to give me the commissions they earned on the government contracts as it is not possible to calculate that black money for you. They get their part payments and voters’ gifts too. Further know one thing; basic pay Rs 1,000 is not their daily pay. It is a number to calculate how much to pay when one plug one kilo of leaves.
Whatever that is, it is industry specific matter. We don’t know the exact numbers on that. But we talks about the living condition of the Tamil Laborers. Were you really alive when you compared an estate worker with Lankawe ministers, who deposit their monies only in foreign banks-Seychelles or Dubai or Belarus or Swiss or Panama or US….? Why can’t the Rapist Army plug the tea leaves and Tamil workers do the Farming in Mullaitivu? Why are they settling the Sinhalese their but not in the estates? Don’t you think, then you will get the Foreign Exchange the way you want?
Your SLFP/Slap Party supporter Thondaman, as soon as he became the minister, said he will get Rs 1000 . Now what happened to him to get it? Do you know yesterday CWC secretary told that planters still agreeing to pay 1,000 so the workers should return to work? This is how CWC and SLFP work. CWC probably taking tuition from you; is that right?
/
shankar / December 25, 2018
your figures are all wrong ramona.You are living 25 years behind in sri lanka.Inflation and mismanagement of the economy has eaten up everything and 1000 rupees is not worth much anymore like 25 years ago.That is why now are politicians asking price to cross over is 500 million whereas 25 years ago it would have been 50 million.
You have to come to sri lanka like me and live here and see what is happening and speak to the common people.Don’t make grandiose statements from far away and make an ass of yourself.I asked you earlier when did you last visit sri lanka and for how long and i never get a reply.When are you going to move your arse and get here?
/
ramona therese fernando / December 25, 2018
shankar,
–
The ME menial workers get about that amount and less. I will come back when my children and I won’t need to work in the ME with the ever increasing costs of goods and services in a country attempting to be capitalist on the backs of the struggling masses.
–
As per the ministers, 50,000 rupees is their base pay. The extra money they get is the amount that is allocated to them to serve the country. There might be abuse of the monies by some.
/
shankar / December 26, 2018
ramona
i don’t mean come back for good.Visit every year.that is what i do because i love my country.Do you love your country or not?Like gota can you wait for 20 years in US and not visit the country even once during that time,if you really love the country.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 26, 2018
shankar,
Huh? You are presumptive, and use sweeping generalizations using the “love for country” factor. Your conveniently overlook the fact that some of us are not as rich as you. Either you are the Lankan 1% with plenty of wealth that makes visiting Sri Lanka a breeze. Or you might possess money from things like Ranil’s bond scam, and are continually stalking Sri Lanka to meddle and dabble so as to eventually pull down the country.
–
As per me, No, I do not have your money. Coming to Sri Lanka is always a huge expense because my own belong to the struggling masses due to Gosl trying to implement capitalism on their broken backs. I usually supplement them when I visit. Hotels too are a huge expense, which we don’t mind spending on, only till we see that it makes no avail to her struggling masses. It is in fact cheaper to visit Europe. Also, as I get my livelihood from the US it is more correct that I take any vacations here and contribute to this economy. But yes, we do visit Sri Lanka every 2-3 years.
btw….Your statement: //You have to come to sri lanka like me and live here and see what is happening and speak to the common people.\\ But now you say you visit once a year. Which is it, shankar?
/
shankar / December 27, 2018
ramona
when i say i visit i mean i stay a long time sometimes 6 months sometimes 4.
If hotels are expensive buy an apartment in galle.It is about 2 degrees less than colombo,less congested and less pollution and wonderful beaches.
i agree with you that spending our money on luxuries does not help the struggling masses.I never visit supermarkets or posh places but always buy from small grocers and use trishaws whose drivers are trying to pay off 500000 rs loans,and give at least rs 500 to all the disabled people who are plentiful.Unlike our western countries these people are not looked after by the govt.I spend all the money i bring and go off without a dime,doing my bit for the country i love.What else can i do?I see pajero folks who don’t see or want to see the poverty and misery of ordinary folk,living in their own little world.
ps.It is not good for my blood pressure to wait for too long in sri lanka cos i am a violent man and would like to strangle the politicians with my bare hands.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 27, 2018
Er….well,….congratulations on the set of good deeds done by you. You must either be a retiree, or a bond-scam Ranil person with plenty of money to dole to the natives to ensure Ranil’s executive PM-ship (which is directly related to Western capital over the dire needs of the struggling Lankan masses).
–
If a retiree, good job! But it is a non-capitalistic government that will do best for the struggling masses without saints coming down from the West to achieve sainthood in the motherland. The retiree scenario is also directly related to Western interests where they will part with a little bit of their retiree money to secure economic alliance with our motherland and keep it under control.
/
shankar / December 28, 2018
nope ,ramona.i am not a retiree,but you forget now with the internet, location does not matter.You can work from anywhere in the world .My type of work is with the markets and only the time differences when the market opens or closes has to be taken into consideration,not the location.
i agree with you that the last thing we need is a capitalist government when there is such inequality of distribution in wealth.Adios senora ramona.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 28, 2018
Wow!
/
ramona therese fernando / December 29, 2018
Hope though, that you are not dabbling within that TN-S’pore-Lanka FTA. For. greater socialism, BRIC is better.
/
shankar / December 29, 2018
adios is adios ramona. Bow Wow.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 29, 2018
Good Lord shankar! You’re with the Ranil JVP agreement, aren’t you! Just imagine: Singapore does all the capitalizing of our money ;Sri Lanka implements communism to work the capital. It’s the newest world order thing- build up capitalism via the communist third world.
–
Found on the internet:
–
***ALERT: Your history is being erased. Your culture and traditions are under attack.
–
Your grandchildren will have no gender, no ethnicity, no nationality. They will be subjugated worker drones for the overlords.***
/
shankar / December 30, 2018
Adios is adios ramona.BTW i don’t have any interest in FTA with singapore.As for children and grandchildren their identity is human race.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 30, 2018
OMGosh! You’re with the Tamil Nadu FTA aren’t you! Human race need roofs over their heads, and cannot jump into the sea when The MerGE with the 200-million untouchables occur. , ……………….can’t just scoot away with the Adios, shankar!
/
Native Vedda / December 31, 2018
ramona grandma therese fernando
–
So you believe in castes, segregation, hierarchy, pecking order, ………….. what had happened to your Buddhist egalitarianism?
/
shankar / December 31, 2018
there are no untouchables in this world ramona.It is all in your mind only.It is your type of minds that created untouchables in the first place.God never created untouchables.I will gladly eat from the same plate with them.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 31, 2018
Native Vedda,
–
Untouchables are a Hindu creation. India should deal with it and not pass it to egalitarian Sri Lanka.
/
ramona therese fernando / December 31, 2018
shankar,
–
Of course there are no untouchables in the world. But you of all people should know that India deems 160,000,000 human beings as untouchable (being into Tamil Nadu FTA and all of that- you didn’t deny it). “More than 160 million people in India are considered “Untouchable”—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human.” https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/indias-untouchables-face-violence-discrimination/
/
shankar / December 31, 2018
ramona
Wow. senora got out of that one quickly.Ramona scrambles out of the pit she dug and fell into.Came out with her mantilla pointing towards india.
/
Native Vedda / December 31, 2018
ramona grandma therese fernando
–
Untouchability was/is not Hindu creation. Even the word Hindu and Hinduism is recent invention mostly developed by your Colonial Masters. Persians identified those who lived beyond Sindh river as Hindus:
Read and learn from:
Mithil Jadhav
Quora.com
In the words of Dr Frank Morales, the term “Hindu” is not a term that is inherent to the religion itself. Rather, the term is known to have been first coined by the ancient Persians, who were culturally, religiously, and perspectively extrinsic to the culture. The term was first used by these ancient Persians in order to conveniently designate the ancient Vedic spiritual culture, and was mistakenly used to refer to the Vedic religion as primarily a geographic and ethnic phenomenon, more than as a religio-philosophical world-view.
–
Was/is Untouchability not an Aryan creation and practice of which you are part of, … you proudly claimed many times in the past?
–
Caste Discrimination and Social Justice
in Sri Lanka: An Overview
By
Kalinga Tudor Silva
P.P. Sivapragasam
Paramsothy Thanges
–
Read the section that deals with ” Caste Discrimination in Sinhala Society” page 3 and beyond.
–
I hope you will never acquaint yourself with this island’s history, Buddhism, people, …………………….. so as to make fun of you.
/
ramona therese fernando / January 1, 2019
Native Vedda,
–
Hindu Scripts do certainly place humans into Varnas. It was even there in Buddha’s time, and that is the reason Buddha became Buddhist. He couldn’t bear to see the sufferings of the low-castes. No, it never came in with the British…..it was highlighted by them and those in lower castes started to see the reality of their situation.
–
And No, I never claimed any caste, but have constantly spoken about being a mixture of castes. I wanted to show that most of S. Asia is of mixed castes.
–
Caste in Sri Lanka amongst the Sinhalese: Thousand leagues away from the Real Caste System of India. Brought over by Hindus who came to our shores; contemplated on by the Buddhists, implemented, and then head-scratched in confusion, before saying “ok, ok”…and going back to egalitarianism. Btw, Iranians must be laughing their heads off at us. Luckily Islam has made them egalitarian.
/
Steve / December 25, 2018
Ramona
“30,000 rupees a month! That’s more than half of what a minister is paid.”
Are you hallucinating ??
/
Eagle Eye / December 24, 2018
RAW Agents who want to destroy tea industry in this country could be behind this strike. The Government should definitely improve the living conditions of these people who make a significant contribution to the economy unlike the so called ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ who exploit Sinhalayo. But by increasing the wages, Sri Lankan tea will not be able to compete with tea from India that use cheap labor. If the demand goes down, eventually it will be these laborers who will have to face the consequences.
/
Native Vedda / December 28, 2018
Eagle Blind Eye
–
“RAW Agents who want to destroy tea industry in this country could be behind this strike.”
–
Brilliant.
I have no idea when became conspiracy theorist.
Never mind are you a fan of Rohana Wijeweera whose paranoia led him to believe up country hard working people are supposed to be the fifth column. What do you think?
–
“If the demand goes down, eventually it will be these laborers who will have to face the consequences.”
–
Your paranoid mind/self cannot see the changes taking place in tea consumption throughout the world. Why don’t you check outside your domain?
/
Eagle Eye / December 24, 2018
Before the arrival of Parangi in 1505, Demalu who were in Sinhale were the remnants of invaders from Hindusthan. During his rule, King Elara has settled lot of Hindusthanis in Northern part of the country. After defeating King Elara, honoring the request he made before his death, King Gamini Abhaya (aka Dutu Gemunu), allowed these settlers to live in Sinhale. However, a large majority of Demalu in this country are descendants of slaves brought from Hindusthan by Portuguese, Dutch and British who colonized Sinhale. When they left, instead of returning them to their homeland, colonial parasites dumped them in Sinhale and left. After independence, these Demalu in plantations were given the choice to stay in this country or return to their Home Land. Some opted to return and some decided to stay in this country. So if these Demalu feel uncomfortable in living with Sinhalayo in this country, make an appeal to Prime Ministers of Portugal, Holland and UK to take you to their countries. These people who are pretending to be ‘Champions of Human Rights’ have an obligation to do so. If you want to live in this country, do not grumble. Sinhalayo did not invite you to this country.
/
Native Vedda / December 24, 2018
Eagle Blind Eye and Completely void of wit
–
“Before the arrival of Parangi in 1505, Demalu who were in Sinhale were the remnants of invaders from Hindusthan. “
–
You could be right. The rest had already converted to Sinhala and Buddhism who later decider to convert further into Sinhala/Buddhism. They are now in the process of converting Sinhala/Buddhism into fascism.
–
Wish you a happy secular holidays
/
Siri / December 24, 2018
One should really pity the poor workers for their sad plight. To get a better deal for the tea trade, the government should sign a free trade agreement with Turkey. Not only it’s one of the biggest markets for our tea, all the tea ending up there are being reship to Iran, Iraq, Russia, Eastern European, Central Asian and Mediterranean countries. It’s a huge market. The duty, Turkey going to loose nothing compared to the ripple effects of it to both countries. Also still they are plucking from the same old bushes which were planted at the time of Charles Taylor and Thomas Lipton. They should replant them with high yielding and better quality plants. Also the productivity is extremely poor when compared to other major competitors. They should do more to automate all the process to keep the cost down. The plantations are too big for the companies to do a laser focused operation and management, and the government should break them down into smaller units and distribute to other small companies to get better results. Else the demise of the trade not far as more and more countries are aggressively getting in this industry, now South Africa, Vietnam, Malawi and Rwanda are doing at a higher pace, and eating into our markets. So if we want be to in the game, we have to push the marketing and productivity at a higher pace, and further, our plantation companies should tie up with the our Universities and all the other research institutions to make many other alternative products out of tea to maximise it’s potential.
/
wannihami / December 24, 2018
I have not read the comments above, because the answer is simple, pay the tea pluckers 1000 rupees per day at least. If we are ready to pay that amount when they work in Colombo houses why not pay them the same when they do much harder work in the estates and earn foreign exchange. Give the estates a tax break so that the industry can survive while paying the pluckers, the women a livable wage.
/
Amila / December 25, 2018
Well if the tea plantation owners are making a huge profit, it would be a good thing to pay around 1000 but if they are struggling as a business Rs 1000 per day for workers will ruin the industry. Governments should always try to keep subsidies variety of local rice, rice flour, small fish. So that it will help to keep expenses of working community low. Otherwise we will be struggling and it will destroy the whole economy.
/
shankar / December 25, 2018
amila
if they are not making profits,how do you know whether it is because they are dishing it to themselves.You know with fat fees and various expenses for themselves they can always make out that they are making small profits.You have to check the expenses.
with regard to inflation i agree with you.It has eaten into the value of the rupee.
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Anthony Lambert / December 25, 2018
I am neither Sinhalese or Buddhist. South Indian indentured plantation labourers were brought in by the British for their economic gain; should have returned to India at the end of their term. Numbering a million or more, had they been granted citizenship and a vote, would have skewed the democratic rights of legitimate citizens of the country. Case in point Fiji.
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Native Vedda / January 2, 2019
Anthony Lambert
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“had they been granted citizenship and a vote, would have skewed the democratic rights of legitimate citizens of the country. Case in point Fiji.”
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How dare you say they should have been returned while descendants of Kallathonies converts like you have been ruining this island since its independence from your colonial masters?
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Will you compensate the descendants of those hard working people who were returned to India and who are still working here for their lifelong provision of labour to this island which not only build these estates, Railway, Roads, ………….. provided the means of exports, foreign exchange earnings, a western lifestyle, ……….
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What are you complaining about?
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JD / December 25, 2018
Look At the Problem as Business and not as human. when it is political lay off the workers.
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Buddhist / December 25, 2018
Not only a !,00 wage should be given, they have worked hard for generations and they deserve a “LIVING WAGE”/
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k.kulesh / December 25, 2018
Wage increase to Rs.1000/-would have been easy if all the Unions come to an understanding as all the politicians ask for the same wage hike. Historically, it had been shown that Union and the people ask for higher wage and settle for lesser amount. This time around the same thing will happen and the signs are there that they have already agreed for lower amount. In between, there are strikes and some protests and then the life goes on as usual and on the whole tea industry suffers.
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JD / December 26, 2018
America was paying higher wages because they wanted to sell cars. Now, they are bankrupt. China was paying poor wages and they are better than America. More Estate workers are coming ad management of them is politics. So, the increase in Salary will nevr work. but, they need higher living standards and lee population there.
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Mallaiyuran / December 26, 2018
Average Neelagiri pluck-er gets 300 INR, It is more than 750 SLR. In India food is much cheaper than Lankawe. TN has 1 Rs Idly restaurants. That is unimaginable in Lankawe. Even Northern Amma restaurants don’t sell that cheap. Anyway that is not the point there. Neelagiri is closing many Estates because they can’ find pluck-ers. Biharis, Bengalis are the main pluck-ers there. That kind of language barrier is not very conducive to the trade. These people are not government servants to study Official Language (Tamil) and easily naturalize there. TN would be ready to evolve to the situation as many trades and industries have picked up there by the TN government’s economic interests. Neelagiri is only 6th largest in India. If it is goes away, TN may not be shaken. Migrated workers’ preference would be to return to their states, rather than struggling to get employed in other industries in TN. If that happen it could make TN’s GDP fall down for few years.
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