Compare the different ways in which belgians and sri lankans have dealt with the problem of social diversity. what were the results? 1½+1½
Answers
Belgian model: The Belgians wisely handled their the regional diversities.They amended their constitution four times so as to allow everyone to live in peace. There was sharing of power between the dutch and the french at central level, state level and community level. This helped to accommodate the Dutch and French peacefully. This helped to avoid civil war.
Sri Lankan model: Unlike Belgium, the Sinhalese who were in majority as compared to the Tamils followed a policy of majoritarianism and adopted a series of majors to establish Sinhala supremacy in the act of 1956. These majors increased the feeling if alienation among the Tamils. These measures lead to a civil war which caused destruction as well as material and economic loss.
In Belgium, the minority French-speakingcommunity was more rich and powerful than Dutch-speaking community. The Belgian leaders realised this problem and took some significant measures to solve this as follows
(i) Number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the Central Government.
(ii) Many powers of the Central Government are given to State Governments.
(iii) Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation.
(iv) Community Government is elected by people belonging to one language community which deals with cultural, educational and language related issues. .
In Sri Lanka, major social groups are the Sinhala speakers (74 per cent) and the Tamil speakers (18 per cent). In Sri Lanka, the democratically elected government adopted a series of Majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala supremacy. ’