Up Country Tamils: Charting a New Future in Sri Lanka also for domestic workers. While Colombo work has relatively high status in the Up-country, especially in comparison to estate work, these new forms of labour are neither organised nor protected by existing labour legislation. While many Up-country Tamils live and work in Colombo and other urban areas on the island, most still consider the Up-country their home, especially since part of the family remains anchored in the plantations. This continued connection with the Up-country became apparent during the protests for a Rs1,000 daily wage in Colombo between October 2018 and February 2019. Virtually none of the protesters was a current estate worker. Rather, former workers or family members of current workers took to the streets to display their solidarity with their relations who remain working on the estates. During the war years, the continued violence was clearly a major impediment to political and economic development in the Up-country as well as elsewhere in Sri Lanka. Over the past several years, some deeper structural problems have emerged. The Up-country has not witnessed the economic boom seen in Colombo, and this book addresses some of the various reasons for this situation and possible ways to overcome the resulting regional and social imbalances. In addition, as plantation trade unions have entered parliamentary politics their role as political parties has meant that they relate to their constituents more as voters than as workers. Up-country Tamils increasingly view their unions as more invested in power dynamics at the centre and preserving their own power and vested interests than in serving their constituencies, yet no other viable alternatives are currently present in the Up-country. xviii