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AS relations remain strained between Colombo and Chennai, a new move has been made to reduce Indian workers in Sri Lanka. Even though the Government insists that the measure is being taken to provide jobs to locals, similar measures have not been taken with regard to Chinese employees.
It was reported over the weekend that the Government is to reduce the number of Indian skilled workers in Sri Lanka and replace them with Sri Lankans. Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge was quoted as saying that the new policy decision by the Government would include a reduction of Indian workers in existing projects and limitations on the number coming for future projects both in the public and private sectors.
He had remarked that the Board of Investment (BOI) would be directed to impose restrictions on the number of Indians recruited for projects approved by it.
Large numbers of Indian workers have been employed in Sri Lanka with ideas being tossed around for even more to be allowed to takeover menial jobs during harvest time as Sri Lanka was having trouble finding labourers. However, such sentiments seem to have made a dramatic U-turn in recent days parallel to worsening relations between emotive Tamil Nadu and the Sri Lankan Government.
Close on the heels of two Buddhist monks being attacked in South India along with 16 tourists, Tamil Nadu politicians have launched offensive after offensive against the Sri Lankan Government. The most startling was the decision by DMK Head M. Karunanidhi to leave the ruling party and demand that a separate resolution on Sri Lanka be brought at the Indian Parliament or even the UNHRC.
Undeterred by the fact that most Indian political parties were uninterested in a strong resolution, Tamil Nadu has launched a fresh frontal attack against almost anything that has a deep association with its neighbour. Not to be outdone, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has called on the Indian Central Government to initiate diplomatic steps to withdraw the 1974 agreement ceding the Katchatheevu islet to Sri Lanka. She has also insisted that if the centre does not comply, her Government will initiate the proceedings. Sri Lankan cricketers were also banned from playing IPL matches in Chennai.
Recent reports have noted that the visa for Sri Lanka’s new envoy has been delayed for over five months, prompting the External Affairs Ministry to consider shifting the Chennai-based embassy to Kerala. As protests and counter protests escalate, it is clear that the Sri Lankan Government is expanding its standoff to the economic sphere.
If the intention is sorely to open up fresh jobs for locals, there are also many projects scattered around the island, such as the Norochcholai Power Plant or Hambantota Harbour, just to name a couple, where Chinese labourers are doing work that can easily be taken over by locals. However, there is no indication that these will be touched.
How the removal of these Indian workers will affect relations between the two countries remains to be seen, but it is clear that as Sri Lanka’s largest trade partner of US$ 5 billion, such steps need to be handled with extreme care. Furthermore, with unemployment as claimed by the Government at all time low and rising per capita income, Sri Lanka going forward will be required to have a more pragmatic policy with regard to foreign labour if we are to remain competitive.