Move to help those of Indian origin

by P. Krishnaswamy

A three-member committee representing the interests of the Indian Origin Tamil Community (IOT) will submit a proposal shortly to create new Divisional Secretariat Divisions and Grama Niladari Divisions in areas where they are concentrated, Chairman of the Committee P. P. Devaraj stated in a media communique.

The proposal is intended to secure proportional representation of the IOT in local government bodies since future elections to the local government bodies are to be held under the proposed electoral reform which is a combination of the first-past-the-post system and the PR system.

In the absence of delimitation of new boundaries in areas of their concentration, the already politically backward IOT, especially the plantation community, will considerably forego their present level of representation in the local government bodies, the communique said.

As such the committee was entrusted with the task of bringing about coordination and consensus among political and social organisations of the IOT in making representations to the Government on issues of constitutional reforms and also on other issues affecting the IOT.

The committee has held discussions with various organisations representing the IOT over the past one month, the communique stated. The committee held consultations with the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), National Union of Workers (NUW), Democratic Workers' Congress (DWC), Ceylon Workers' Alliance (CWA), Sri Lankan Indian Community Council and resource persons and academics. Devaraj said that excellent progress has been made so far with regard to the consensus on common issues affecting the IOT.