Ans)

1. The leaders of the Sinhala community sought to secure dominance over the government by virtue of their majority. As a result, the democratically elected government adopted a series of majoritarian measures to establish Sinhala supremacy.
2. In 1956, an Act was passed to recognise Sinhala as the only official language, thus disregarding Tamil.
3. Preferential policies were favoured for Sinhala applicants for university positions and government jobs.
4. A new constitution stipulated that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism.
5. All these government measures, coming one after the other, increased the feeling of alienation among the Sri Lankan Tamils. They felt that none of the major political parties led by the Buddhist Sinhala leaders was sensitive to their language and culture.
6. By the 1980’s the Sri Lankan Tamils formed several political organisations demanding an independent Tamil Eelam (state). The distrust between the two communities turned into widespread conflict in Sri Lanka, which turned into a Civil war.

Ans) Belgium solved its ethnic problems as follows:-

1. Belgium leaders recognised the regional differences and cultural diversities.
2. Between 1970 and 1993, they amended their constitution four times so as to work out an arrangement that would enable everyone to live together within the same country.
3. The Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government. Some special laws require the support of the majority of members from each linguistic group. Thus, no single community can make decisions unilaterally.
4. Many powers of the central government have been given to the state governments of the two regions of the country. The state governments are not subordinate to the central government.
5. Brussels has a separate government in which both communities have equal representation. The French-speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community had accepted equal representation in the central government.
6. A third kind of government, i.e., ‘Community government’, which is elected by the people belonging to one language community-Dutch, French, and German speaking, no matter where they live. This government has the power regarding cultural, educational, and language-related issues.