Indian grant to be used for education, health sectors in Sri Lanka’s estate areas, says Minister Jeevan Thondaman

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Jeevan Thondaman spoke to The Hindu outlining the government’s plan for the use of India’s grant of ₹75 crore

The recently announced Indian grant of ₹75 crore, for development projects targeting Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha [hill country] Tamils, will be used primarily for the education and health sectors in the island’s long-neglected tea estate region, according to Jeevan Thondaman, Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development.

“We want to use this grant for transformative change rather than aesthetic change in the lives of the Indian-origin Tamil community here. It is important that we create conditions for long-term impact,” said the 28-year-old Cabinet Minister, who is also the General Secretary of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress, the party of his late great grandfather Savumiamoorthy Thondaman, the iconic plantation Tamil leader and trade unionist.

Also read: Malaiyaha Tamils | Two hundred years of struggle

Speaking to The Hindu at his Colombo office on Tuesday, Minister Thondaman outlined the government’s plan for upgrading old creches in the estates into early childhood development centres, converting virtually defunct medical dispensaries into cluster hospitals to provide better healthcare for workers, and setting up a university.

The grant, amounting to roughly $9 million, was among the announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi on July 21. It adds to India’s relatively recent engagement in Sri Lanka’s hill country. The Indian-origin Tamils or Malaiyaha Tamils, as some in the community prefer to identify, has a population of over a million, out of which about 1.5 lakh continue to work and reside in the tea estates, two centuries after their south Indian ancestors were brought down by the British as labourers.

Highlighting the acute economic deprivation in the estate areas, Mr. Thondaman said: “If you look at malnutrition or stunted growth, it is the highest among the children in the estates.  That is why I say we need to transform their reality, and that means focusing on crucial sectors like education and health.” The Ministry will consult all stakeholders, voices from the opposition and civil society, to decide on the course of developmental initiatives, he said.  

The proposed, Indian grant-backed projects will be in addition to India’s ongoing housing programme in the hill country, aimed at building 14,000 homes — apart from the 50,000 houses built in the war-affected north and east — for families residing on the estates.