Sri Lankan state-sponsored colonization schemes refers to the government program of settling mostly farmers from the densely populated wet zone in the sparsely populated areas of the dry zone in the North Central Province and the Eastern Province regions near tanks and reservoirs being built in major irrigation and hydro-power programs such as the Mahaweli project to create farming and fishing communities. Since irrigation settlements in the North Central and Eastern Provinces occurred under direct state sponsorship, as most of these farmers are ethnic Sinhalese it appeared to many Tamils as a deliberate attempt of the Sinhalese-dominated state to marginalize them further by decreasing their numbers in the area. It has been perhaps the most immediate cause of inter-communal violence.
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Introduction
Shortly after independence, the government of Ceylon started a program to settle farmers in the jungles of Trincomalee District. The forests were cleared and water tanks restored. As a consequence of these schemes the Sinhalese population of Trincomalee District rose from 11,606 (15%) in 1946 to 85,503 (33%) in 1981. In the 1980s the government extended the colonization schemes into the Dry Zone area of the Northern Province, drawing up plans to settle up to 30,000 Sinhalese in . colonization schemes also took place in the areas of Amparai and Batticaloa districts where Sinhalese population rose from 61,996 in 1963 when the district was formed to 229,000 by 2007 according to Government census claims.
The notion of the "traditional Tamil homeland" became a potent component of popular Tamil political imagination while the Sinhalese nationalist groups viewed the resettlement schemes in these areas as "reclamation and recreation in the present of the glorious Sinhalese Buddhist past". The Muslim community tended to reject the countervailing notion of a traditional Tamil homeland in the North East region which resulted in animosity between the Muslim and Tamil communities in the region to rise
1950s
The first colonisation scheme was at Kanthalai Kulam (Kantale) tank where peasants from outside Trincomalee District were settled in the traditional Tamil village of Kanthalai, 39 km south-west of Trincomalee town. 77% of settlers were Sinhalese and the rest were Tamils/Muslims.
A colonisation scheme was at Alai Kulam tank, 25 km south of Trincomalee town. 65% of settlers were Sinhalese and the rest were Muslims.
The colonisation scheme was extended to Tamil speaking areas of Anuradhapura District. A scheme was started at Pathavik Kulam (Padaviya) tank, 65 km north-east of Anuradhapura town. Parts of the scheme lay in Trincomalee District and as such were annexed to the Sinhalese dominated Anuradhapura District. Land Development Department employees from this scheme took part in the 1958 anti-Tamil riots.
1960s
In the 1961 a colonisation scheme was started at Muthali Kulam (Morawewa) tank, 24 km west of Trincomalee town.
1980s
In the 1980s, funded by aid received from the European Community, a colonisation scheme was started at Periya Vilankulam (Mahadiulwewa) tank, 30 km north-west of Trincomalee town.
The colonisation scheme was extended into the Northern province with the introduction of the Manal Aru (Weli Oya) scheme, which covered the districts of Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Anuradhapura. As ethnic Sinhalese farmers were settled in lands that were traditionally populated by ethnic tamils, given land, money to build homes and security provided by the Special Task Force. Although the scheme covered four districts, administration was handled from the Sinhalese dominated Anuradhapura district. The scheme aroused much anger amongst the Tamils. This anger boiled over into violence when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked the Kent and Dollar Farm settlement at Weli Oya, killing 62.
1990s
When the Indian Peace Keeping Forces were withdrawn in 1990, Tamils homes in the suburbs of Trincomalee were occupied by Sinhalese settlers according to pro-rebel Tamilnet.Tens of thousands of landless Sinhala peasants were reported to have been brought in by the advancing SLF and made to occupy local villages and lands, denying resettlement to its original inhabitants who had earlier fled to the jungles due to the murder of Tamil civilians at the hands of the Army.
2000s
Since the fall of the LTTE and the liberation of LTTE held areas several settlement programs were initiated by the government that extends towards the Northern Province.In the Vavuniya district 3000 acres in Madukulam is being cleared for a village while work of a settlement is underway in the former LTTE stronghold of Othiyamalai Kaadu a settlement is being created in Rampaveddi bordering the minor tank area of Eropothana and new settlement of approximately 2500 ethnic Sinhala families (about 6000 people) from the South were settled in the village of Kokkachaankulam and the Hindu temple in the village was demolished and replaced with a Buddhist Stupa. Tamils in Barathypuram were evicted and a Muslim settlement is being created in the area due to the large economic opportunities provided by an apparels factory being built there. Several new settlements are also being built in Mullaitivu District while the Weli Oya settlement is being expanded as well. Several fishing colonies are being built in the Mannar district and Muslim settlements have been built in lands previously owned by Tamils that fled to India during the war. ‘Navatkuli Housing Project’ is being built in Navatkuli, Jaffna District to house 135 Sinhalese families, including 54 families who had, in 2010, attempted to set up temporary residences at the Jaffna Railway Station with funding from Buddhist Organizations and Political parties.
Tamil nationalist website TamilNet reported that Tamils were being ethnically cleansed in the Jaffna peninsula and Mullativu districts supplemented by construction of Buddhist stupas and Sinhalisation of names of streets and places. According to TamilNet the Tamil populace has reportedly been reduced to a fourth between 2007 and 2011 according to the Government enumeration.According to the website locals of both North and East complain of the state of waging an accelerated campaign of Sinhala Buddhist colonisation by destroying historic Hindu shrines in the East. Over 400 families were reported to have been settled in Nelukkulam in Mullativu district by the website. Another incident of state colonization before the Final Eelam War was reported by Muslim residents of Pulmoddai village who claimed that several acres of their traditional land had been annexed by the Government for settlements from South on the pretext of industrial development.