The recent landslide in 2023 at the Punagala Kabaragala Estate in Bandarawela is a reminder of the precarious situation of the Malaiyaha Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The landslide, caused by monsoon rains, has displaced many families, compelling them to leave behind their precarious living situation in the estate for good. Today, a new chapter is beginning for 50 families, as they begin a new chapter in a government-backed housing project, but it is a reminder of a much larger struggle: the struggle for land rights.

Each family has been offered a brand new home, built on a 10-perch plot of land. Although this ensures their physical security, the Malaiyaha people, as descendants of the indentured laborers brought from India in the 19th century, have never been granted any rights to land ownership in the past. Living in colonial “line rooms,” the people have been a landless community, attached to the estate management rather than the soil they work on. This recent resettlement has been a move in the direction of providing these citizens a sense of permanent belonging and security.

However, in order to ensure this transition leads to prosperity, the Movement for Land and Agricuture Reform (MONLAR) recently visited the housing project accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Development, Sundaralingam Pradeep. The aim of the visit, led by MONLAR’s Moderator, Chinthaka Rajapaksha, and K. Ganeshalingam, was to go beyond the concept of housing and develop sustainable livelihoods.

At the core of these discussions is the idea of creating an agro-ecological community farm in relation to the housing project. This is a project aimed at empowering the community towards food sovereignty and economic independence. For a people whose history is marked by working on lands not their own, the idea of working on their own farms on their own lands is a big leap towards social justice and dignity.