Today's Headlines - 29 July 2023
India urges Sri Lanka to implement 13th Amendment
GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe held an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of Tamil reconciliation and welfare. This comes days after his visit to India, during which Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to him the need to “ensure a life of dignity” for the Tamil community in the island nation. The PM also expressed the hope that Wickremesinghe would be committed to implementing the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution — which flows from the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 — and holding provincial council elections.
The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987
The 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution was made after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J R Jayewardene, on 29 July 1987, in Colombo.
Under the 1978 constitution, Sri Lanka had a unitary government, with all powers in the hands of the Centre.
The Tamil minority in Sri Lanka was concentrated in the Northern and Eastern provinces and the struggle for rights and greater autonomy here had flared up into the long and bloody civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government, with some other groups also involved.
The 1987 Accord aimed at amending the constitution to transfer some powers to the governments of the country’s nine provinces, thereby finding a constitutional solution to the civil war.
After the Accord, the constitution underwent the 13th Amendment to allow devolution of power to provinces.
Apart from the devolution of power, the Accord had other clauses, such as Tamil and English being adopted as official languages along with Sinhala, lifting of emergency on the “Eastern and Northern Provinces by 15 August 1987”, surrender of arms by militant groups, and “general amnesty to political and other prisoners now held in custody under The Prevention of Terrorism Act and other emergency laws”.
The Accord also says that “The Government of India will underwrite and guarantee the resolutions, and co-operate in the implementation of these proposals”.
What about the 13th Amendment’s implementation?
The separation of powers was never done fully, and while some are unhappy over too little devolution, the hardline nationalists raise alarms over the “weakening” of the Central government’s authority.
The Sinhala nationalists also oppose the 13th Amendment as they see it as imposed by India. Moreover, the regions that the devolution was primarily meant for never benefitted much from it.
Under the Accord, the North and Eastern provinces were to be merged into one, temporarily, and later, a referendum was to be held to decide if they should stay together or have two separate provincial councils.
Thus, elections to the merged North Eastern Province were held on 19 November 1988. However, little over three months later, Chief Minister Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal moved a motion in the Council to declare an independent ‘Eelam’.
This prompted the President, Ranasinghe Premadasa, to dissolve the council, and impose President’s rule, which lasted till December 2006.
The referendum on the two provinces was never held, and in 2006, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled that the merger had been illegal. Thus, the Northern and Eastern provinces were separated again, on 1 January 2007.
Since 2014, provincial elections are pending across Sri Lanka. This is because Parliament is yet to amend a 2017 Act in Parliament, for reforming the election process by introducing a hybrid system of first past the post and proportional representation from the current system of proportional representation.
#upsc #news #todayheadline #india #srilanka #implement #amendment #ranil #wickremesinghe #tamil #community #islandnation #constitution #civilwar #liberation #government #sinhala #eastern #northern #annamalai #varadaraja #proportional
India urges Sri Lanka to implement 13th Amendment
GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe held an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of Tamil reconciliation and welfare. This comes days after his visit to India, during which Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to him the need to “ensure a life of dignity” for the Tamil community in the island nation. The PM also expressed the hope that Wickremesinghe would be committed to implementing the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution — which flows from the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 — and holding provincial council elections.
The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987
The 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution was made after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J R Jayewardene, on 29 July 1987, in Colombo.
Under the 1978 constitution, Sri Lanka had a unitary government, with all powers in the hands of the Centre.
The Tamil minority in Sri Lanka was concentrated in the Northern and Eastern provinces and the struggle for rights and greater autonomy here had flared up into the long and bloody civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government, with some other groups also involved.
The 1987 Accord aimed at amending the constitution to transfer some powers to the governments of the country’s nine provinces, thereby finding a constitutional solution to the civil war.
After the Accord, the constitution underwent the 13th Amendment to allow devolution of power to provinces.
Apart from the devolution of power, the Accord had other clauses, such as Tamil and English being adopted as official languages along with Sinhala, lifting of emergency on the “Eastern and Northern Provinces by 15 August 1987”, surrender of arms by militant groups, and “general amnesty to political and other prisoners now held in custody under The Prevention of Terrorism Act and other emergency laws”.
The Accord also says that “The Government of India will underwrite and guarantee the resolutions, and co-operate in the implementation of these proposals”.
What about the 13th Amendment’s implementation?
The separation of powers was never done fully, and while some are unhappy over too little devolution, the hardline nationalists raise alarms over the “weakening” of the Central government’s authority.
The Sinhala nationalists also oppose the 13th Amendment as they see it as imposed by India. Moreover, the regions that the devolution was primarily meant for never benefitted much from it.
Under the Accord, the North and Eastern provinces were to be merged into one, temporarily, and later, a referendum was to be held to decide if they should stay together or have two separate provincial councils.
Thus, elections to the merged North Eastern Province were held on 19 November 1988. However, little over three months later, Chief Minister Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal moved a motion in the Council to declare an independent ‘Eelam’.
This prompted the President, Ranasinghe Premadasa, to dissolve the council, and impose President’s rule, which lasted till December 2006.
The referendum on the two provinces was never held, and in 2006, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled that the merger had been illegal. Thus, the Northern and Eastern provinces were separated again, on 1 January 2007.
Since 2014, provincial elections are pending across Sri Lanka. This is because Parliament is yet to amend a 2017 Act in Parliament, for reforming the election process by introducing a hybrid system of first past the post and proportional representation from the current system of proportional representation.
#upsc #news #todayheadline #india #srilanka #implement #amendment #ranil #wickremesinghe #tamil #community #islandnation #constitution #civilwar #liberation #government #sinhala #eastern #northern #annamalai #varadaraja #proportional