Up Country Tamils: Charting a New Future in Sri Lanka Interestingly, the tendency has been changing among the younger generation, particularly those who are better educated. They claim equal citizenship in every aspect of governance structures. This becomes evident when we look at their tendency to seek public sector employment, their relationship with public institutions and Sinhala language competency, migration to urban areas and the Middle East, and so forth. The provision of citizenship largely sparked migration in this community, as they were able to get Sri Lankan identity documents such as the national identity card and birth certificate. Moreover, continuous deprivation, social and institutional ill-treatment, vulnerability, weak social capital, incapability and marginalisation from all forms of governance appear to have generated “relative poverty” among the Plantation Community. This pattern persists as a significant barrier to improving the human capability of the community, though it is changing among the younger generation due to increasing level of education, outside exposure, and engagements with various social and communitybased organisations. Based on empirical evidence, the chapter makes a strong claim that unfair policies, practices, ill-treatment and exclusion from governance structures have significantly decreased and destroyed the social capital of the Plantation Community and have dismantled social and institutional trust. This claim could possibly be generalised to other contexts, especially South Asia, where marginalised people have limited access to governance structures and social capital (see Narayan 2000). In fact, public services still remain important for disadvantaged people, giving them the opportunity to reach their 34