The Sri Lanka plantation or ‘hill country’ Tamils, have been living in the island nation for more than one and a half centuries, particularly in the plantations as workers. These are among the most deprived sections in the country in terms of economic, social and political rights. The ‘hill...
The Tamil Nadu Rules on Ward Committees and Area Sabha, to be set up to empower citizens under the Municipal Corporation Acts for Chennai and other cities, fall severely short on transparency and democratisation norms, reinforcing the criticism that State governments are unwilling to give real...
For a long time now, no steps were taken to find a long-term solution for the problem of freebies. It was not the top priority of policymakers, constitutional authorities, or statutory and autonomous bodies — neither the executive nor the judiciary has taken an interest to find an antidote to...
While there have been continuous protests against former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for more than three months, the initial demand from the Sinhala crowd was for him to step down from the presidency. But what really happened is he is out of the country. He is currently in Singapore...
In what looks like a game of one-upmanship, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) has successfully leveraged the AIADMK General Council to strip rival party coordinator O. Panneerselvam (OPS) of the top party post and effectively cut him down to size In the on-going political chess game, EPS is...
Madurai Rajan was a journalist’s delight. A Dalit rights activist, he knew what reporters wanted and had the knowledge, sources, access and guts to take them to the story when Tamil Nadu was rocked by caste conflict in the mid-1990s. Rajan’s house was in a Pariar colony in Madurai. It had a...
The Sri Lankan situation has puzzled many and made others apprehensive regarding the future. Advocate Yasodharan who represented Vavuniya had a role in government when Varadaraja Perumal was the first and only Chief Minister of the North-Eastern Province (1988-1990). He shared his analysis of...
The seat of power in Sri Lanka and historically famous Lankan President Palace has now come to be occupied by its people. It is fully under the control of protesters as a pawn on the negotiating table. People have barged into that palace which was once touted to be under maximum security cover...
With full fledged regime change now a reality in Sri Lanka, inmathi.com spoke to Rajan Hoole and Kopalasingham Sritharan about what is currently happening and what it means for Lankan Tamils. Hoole and Sritharan, two academics who have been among the fearless and consistent truth tellers in a...
In 1975-76, as the DMK raised the heat against the central government and opposed the Emergency, TN secession from the rest of the country was among the topics that dominated the discourse. Tamil Nadu’s secession cropped up in the despatches and reports sent by US diplomats in then Madras to...
