Sri Lanka: Land, Class And Ethnicity
By Sunil Bastian -August 8, 2012
Sunil Bastian
Land and land policy has received much attention in recent times. There are numerous discussions and activism around land policy. For example, theLLRC has recommendations about land disputes in the North; land disputes were mentioned in the resolution passed against Sri Lanka during the 18th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council; there are studies largely based on the notion of land rights; some civil society groups have organised themselves to work against on land grabbing, and environmental groups are concerned about the impact of land use on the environment.
On one hand, land is a physical resource that can be mapped, quantified and studied within various fields of knowledge collectively known as earth sciences. But this physical aspect gets a totally different meaning through political and economic processes. This happens over time, and what we face today is a result of politico-economic history.
Some of the key steps in this politico-economic history of land took place during the colonial period. The establishment of the institutional framework for the modern Sri Lankan state in the 1830s, and the passage of the Crown Land Encroachment Ordinance of 1840, changed the nature of property relations on state land. The most important shift was establishing the need for documentary proof of ownership of land. The land where this could not be established came under the state. Along with these developments, the idea of ‘encroachment on state land’ came into being. In feudal Sri Lanka this notion did not exist. As we shall see below, this notion of ‘encroachment on state land’, created during the colonial period, has become very useful for the ruling class in recent times.
The flip side of the enactment of the Crown Land Encroachment Ordinance was the sale of land to establish the plantation industry. This was the first major step undertaken to establish a capitalist mode of production in Sri Lanka. Capital came from Britain and labour from South India.
