The latest publication in our Sinhalization series, “State-sponsored Sinhalization in the North-East: The Anti-Development Machine” builds on the findings of our 2022 report State-Sponsored Sinhalization in the North-East. This new analysis examines how the Sri Lankan state continues to use its power to facilitate Sinhala-Buddhist control over the North-East—efforts that have long sought to erase the Tamil-speaking character of the region through land appropriation and coercive demographic engineering.
The report traces the history of Sinhalization from the 1930s to the present, demonstrating how state agencies, often supported by the Buddhist clergy and private commercial interests, have systematically dispossessed Tamil communities of their land, resources, and cultural and religious sites. These actions, which are frequently justified under the language of “development”, have instead produced impoverishment, and ethnic antagonism, and in many cases amount to ethnic cleansing.
Our analysis highlights that Sinhalization is not only deeply harmful to Tamil-speaking communities but is also profoundly anti-developmental. State-driven settlement and irrigation schemes have repeatedly failed to yield economic returns and drained public resources. The persistence of Sinhalization as a central state project for nearly a century has thwarted Tamil demands for autonomy and entrenched inequality, as well as impeding equitable development for all communities on the island.
The report concludes with key implications and recommendations for policymakers seeking to address structural discrimination and support genuine development and self-determination in the North-East.