Land Reform in Sri Lanka - Valparaiso University Research.pdfVIP

Third World Legal Studies Volume 1 Article 7 1-7-1982 Land Reform in Sri Lanka Vijaya Samaraweera Follow this and additional works at : /twls Recommended Citation Samaraweera, Vijaya (1982) Land Reform in Sri Lanka, Third World Leg al Studies : Vol. 1, Article 7. Available at : /twls/vol1/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Valparaiso University Law School at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Third World Le al Studies by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@. -104- LAND REFORM IN SRI LANKA by Vijaya Samaraweera Taken together, the Land Reform Law of 19721 and the Land Reform (Amendment) Law of 19752 enacted by the United Front (UF) government in Sri Lanka (1970-1977) can undoubtedly be seen as one of the most sweeping land reform measures undertaken by a democratically elected government. This paper will focus on the circumstances under which these laws were introduced by the UF and on the key features of UFs policies. Reference will be made to the implementation of these land reform laws, and to the land policies adopted by the United National Party (UNP) government which came into power in 1977 with a manifestly different political and economic orientation. The main thesis is that land reform in Sri Lanka has floundered and whatever potential the UF mea- sures possessed to bring about fundamental transformations in the struc- ture of the agrarian sector have been nullified. The