Sri
Lanka / History / Modern Times
Since
independence Sri Lanka's destiny and indeed of
its premiers has been a turbulent one. Senanayake
was killed in an accident and SWRD Bandaranaike,
who replaced his son Dudley Senanayake was assasinated
by a Buddhist monk. Bandaranaike brought about
sweeping nationalisation and to this day is looked
up to as the leader responsible for bringing power
back to the masses.
Succeeding him in 1960, his daughter Srimavo Bandaranaike,
became the worlds first woman prime minister.
In 1972 the name Ceylon was changed to Sri Lanka
and in 1978 the country got a new constitution
incorporating proportional representation with
an Executive President at the head, personified
by Junius Jayawardene the first premier under
the new system. Under him the economy changed
direction.
Efforts were made at wooing foreign investment
and boosting exports and agricultural production,
though inflation also rose substantially. It was
during this time that the doors were thrown open
to large scale tourism.
In the background of Sri Lanka's post independence
era has been the simmering discontent between
the Tamils and the Sinhalese which escalated into
a major armed conflict in 1983 and has continued
ever since. After the assasination of Ranasinghe
Premadasa in 1993, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Srimavo
Bandaranajke's daughter became Sri Lanka's first
woman president. Today, Sri Lanka looks ahead
with hope for peace and the chance to devote its
energies to furthering development and strengthening
its place in the global world.
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