Interim Report - Report No 1, 1952

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Analysis of the Complaint
  103. 103 Mr. K. Rajalingam, President of the Ceylon Workers' Congress and Member of Parliament, requests by letters dated 28 August 1951 and 5 November 1951 that the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission should undertake an enquiry into the situation of workers of Indian origin in Ceylon or that the I.L.O should send a mission to that country in the near future.
  104. 104 In support of his request the writer claims, in the first place, that workers of Indian origin are subject to discriminatory treatment in contrast to the indigenous population. After making a survey of the historical development of the immigration of Indian workers into Ceylon and of the conditions under which they work in Ceylon, he analyses the various measures affecting the rights of these workers and, in particular, the legislation concerning citizenship which, he claims, results in workers of Indian origin being stateless persons although they have been settled in the country for many years. The consequence is, he declares, that the latter are placed at a disadvantage in relation to Singhalese workers as regards both their civic rights and their economic and social position. He alleges that this position is aggravated especially by reason of a policy of reserving the best employment opportunities for national workers.
  105. 105 In the course of his survey the complainant also deals with certain trade union problems.