Stateless Tamils stare at another displacement

Many repatriates from Sri Lanka face threats of displacement from their promised homes in India’s plantations

The Indian Tamil repatriates from Sri Lanka continue to face prolonged challenges of systematic displacement and inadequate rehabilitation in India. After enduring 200 years of plantation slavery in Sri Lanka, these repatriates remain subjected to social, economic, and political exclusion in their rehabilitated regions. Their basic rights are under threat due to the precarious living conditions in India’s plantation sectors. Moreover, the lack of transparency in the repatriation agreements and the imposition of new rules in plantation settlements are forcing Tamil repatriate labourers to vacate their line rooms without any concrete alternative resettlement plans in place.

Since July 2024, the Rehabilitation Plantation Limited (RPL) in Punalur and Kulathupuzha, Kollam district, Kerala, and the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd. (BBTCL) at the Manjolai Tea Estate within the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district have issued notices ordering residents to vacate their plantation houses. The affected Indian Tamil repatriates from Sri Lanka, for whom these plantations were originally established to provide employment and housing, now face uncertainty about where to go and how to survive outside the plantations.

The repatriates residing in India’s plantation sectors now face the looming threat of mass displacement post-rehabilitation. Their resettlement was originally facilitated under the Sirima-Shastri Pact of October 30, 1964, and the Sirimavo-Gandhi Pact of June 28, 1974. These bilateral agreements were signed between India and Sri Lanka to address the statelessness of Indian Tamils, a crisis triggered by the Citizenship Amendment Act No. 18 of 1948, which rendered 975,000 Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka stateless. Under these pacts, India agreed to grant citizenship or repatriate 600,000 individuals, while Sri Lanka committed to settling 375,000 people permanently.

The repatriation process, however, was disrupted by the outbreak of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 1983, leaving it incomplete. Estimates indicate that approximately 450,000 Malayaga Tamils successfully repatriated to India, while the remaining individuals either became internally displaced in Sri Lanka or sought refuge in India. This historical backdrop underscores the precarious position of the Tamil repatriates, who are now being asked to vacate their plantation homes without viable alternative resettlement options, exacerbating their vulnerability.

The Commissionerate of Rehabilitation of Tamil Nadu, the nodal agency tasked with maintaining records of repatriates, documented a total repatriate population of 461,442 as of 1983. This figure, officially recorded by the Rehabilitation Board in 1985, marked the end of the repatriation process, which ceased in 1983. Notably, the total includes a natural increase of 126,007 individuals, accounting for births and deaths within the repatriate population. By 1995, this natural increase was integrated into the recorded population, reflecting the evolving demographic profile of the community. A recent study conducted by LISSTAR (Loyola Institute of Social Science Training and Research) estimates that approximately 11 to 12 lakh Sri Lankan Tamil repatriates are currently residing in India.

The repatriates who are settled in Kerala and Tamil Nadu continue to raise pressing concerns about post-repatriation displacement and exploitation. In particular, residents of the Kulathupuzha rubber plantations in Kerala and the Manjolai tea plantations in Tamil Nadu have expressed deep anguish over their worsening living and working conditions, highlighting the urgent need for intervention and support. They lament the lack of transparency in the repatriation agreements, which were supposed to ensure stable lives and livelihoods. “Day by day, new rules are imposed on us,” they say. Initially managed by the central government, the Kulathupuzha estate later came under state control and is now operated as a private limited company. This transition has stripped plantation workers of government holidays, unlike the administrative officers in the plantations.

Falling wages, failing health

Employment issues exacerbate their struggles. For the past 15 years, those born in India have only been offered temporary work, with no pathway to permanent employment, unlike their predecessors who repatriated from Sri Lanka. Workers earn a meagre Rs 562 per day, from which provident fund contributions are deducted. With temporary workers limited to 20 workdays a month, their wages are insufficient to cover even basic expenses. Health concerns loom large in these plantations. Many workers have been diagnosed with cancer, while others suffer from unidentified illnesses. The alarming rise in cancer cases among plantation residents has created widespread fear and uncertainty. “We do not know how this is spreading so rapidly among us,” they say.

In Manjolai, 700 families live under the constant threat of displacement. Although eviction notices have been temporarily frozen, the residents remain anxious about their future. The Madras High Court, in December 2024, refused to allow the continuation of commercial plantations in the Manjolai estates, even though the private lessee, BBTCL, is ending operations ahead of its lease expiry in February 2028. The court also directed the State government to restore the area into a pristine forest.

Following the order, the plantation authority issued door-to-door eviction notices to Malayaga Tamil repatriates living in plantation line rooms. The judiciary and the State have overlooked the identity and history of these plantation workers. They are not merely interstate migrants who moved in search of employment; these are people who endured plantation slavery in Sri Lanka, were rendered stateless, and repatriated to India. Ignoring this historical trajectory has deeply unsettled the community.

Many of these repatriates from Sri Lanka are spread across states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and even the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They claim to be victims of systematic rehabilitation displacement, which has not only uprooted them multiple times but also fragmented their communities, preventing them from uniting. This fragmentation, they argue, has led to their exclusion from mainstream political discussions, silencing their voices and perpetuating their marginalisation. Their pleas reflect a deep sense of abandonment and an urgent need for intervention to address these escalating issues.

(The writers are senior fellows at the Loyola Institute of Social Science Training and Research Centre, Chennai)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.