Question

Explain the drawbacks of the Act that was passed in Sri Lanka in the year 1956. What was its consequence​

Answer 1

Explanation:

The Official Language Act No.33 of 1956, commonly referred to as the Sinhala Only Act, was an act passed in the Parliament of Ceylon in 1956.[1] The act replaced English with Sinhala as the sole official language of Ceylon, with the exclusion of Tamil. In 1958 Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act of 1958 was passed giving official status to Tamil for medium of instruction in school and university education and for admission to the public service as well for correspondence and administration in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. In 1987, the Thirteenth amendment to the Constitution was passed, which stated that, “the official language of Sri Lanka is Sinhala” while “Tamil shall also be an official language,” with English as a “link language.”[1][2]

At the time, Sinhala (also known as Sinhalese) was the language of Ceylon's majority Sinhalese people, who accounted for around 70% of the country's population.[3] Tamil was the first language of Ceylon's three largest minority ethnic groups, the Indian Tamils, Sri Lankan Tamils and Moors, who together accounted for around 29% of the country's population.[3]

The act was controversial as supporters of the act saw it as an attempt by a community that had just gained independence to distance themselves from their colonial masters, while its opponents viewed it as an attempt by the linguistic majority to oppress and assert dominance on minorities. The Act symbolizes the post independent Sinhalese majority's determination to assert Ceylon's identity as a nation state, and for Tamils, it became a symbol of minority oppression and a justification for them to demand a separate nation-state, Tamil Eelam, which was a factor in the emergence of the decades-long Sri Lankan Civil War.[4]

Answer 2

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Explanation:

• It give more opportunity to sinhala speaker in job and universities
• Made sinhala the only official language of the country
• Foster buddhism

Consequences-:

• The Tamil speaker feel that we are being discriminated. And they do the civil war in which many people are injured.
• It led to the clash between Tamil speaker and sinhala speaker