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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 11, 2019

Tamil language for official activities in Jaffna (HC. Deb, 05.03.1974, vol. 10). In
1974 the parliamentary member for Kayts named Irakthinam irascibly addressed the

parliament complaining that he had received a letter on 05.11.1973 written in

Sinhala language (without a translation in Tamil language) from the Department of
Telecommunications in Colombo. On this occasion, the Minister of

Telecommunications named C. Kumarasuriyar tendered his apology regarding the
mistake made by officers at the Department of Telecommunications in Colombo

(HC. Deb, 05.03.1974, vol. 10). Therefore, it is clear that Tamil political leaders felt

strongly about even tiny omissions in implementing the language policy of the
country, by claiming that they had been relatively deprived.

The deprivation-based feelings were further heightened among Tamils after the

implementation of the Standardization policy in the 1970s. The representation of
high caste Tamils in the government professions gradually declined during the post-

independence period. But they were able to maintain their high position in the
Science discipline-based faculties of the Universities even at the beginning of the

1970s, as a result of their English language ability, which they had acquired because

of the high-class educational facilities available in Jaffna. When compared to their
population ratio it was significantly high even in the 1970s. When considering the

university education of the time it was noticed that towards the beginning of the

1970s, the Sinhalese representation in the Arts faculties of the universities had
significantly increased but their representation in the Science faculties was not

significant. The government failed though to follow up by providing suitable
employment opportunities for the vast number of Arts graduates, who then went on

and formed the main group that participated in the 1971 insurrection. But the
Science graduates were able to secure good positions even in the 1970s. Eventually,

after the uprising was brought under control, the government moved to address this

problem. Contemporary Sinhala nationalists also strongly urged the government to
implement necessary measures to admit students to the Science faculties according

to the ethnic ratio (Panchaseeha, 1970). The government’s solution was to introduce

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