|
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission (DC) was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931 and 1947 in British Ceylon, Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka). In 1931 there were approximately 12% Sri Lankan Tamils, Ceylonese Tamils, 12% Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka, Indian Tamils (migrant and immigrant workers employed in the Tea plantations established in the late 19th century), 65% Sinhalese people, Sinhalese, and ~3% Ceylon Moors.J. Russell, ''Communal Politics Under the Donoughmore Constitution'', Tisara Prakasakayo, Colombo 1982 The British government had introduced a form of communal representation which a strong Tamil representation, out of proportion to the population of the Tamil community. The Sinhalese had been divided into up-country and low-country Sinhalese. Commissioners The commissioners were four British Member of Parliament, parliamentarians appointed by Sydney Webb, the first Labour Party (UK), Labour Secretary of State for the Colonies on 13 N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donoughmore Constitution
The Donoughmore Constitution (; ), created by the Donoughmore Commission, served Sri Lanka (Ceylon) from 1931 to 1947 when it was replaced by the Soulbury Constitution. It was a significant development. First, it was the only constitution in the British Empire (outside Dominions of Australia, South Africa and Canada) enabling general elections with adult universal suffrage. For the first time, a "dependent", non-caucasian country within the empires of Western Europe was given one-person, one-vote and the power to control domestic affairs. Here was the pilot project whose success would ensure freedom from colonial rule for whole swathes of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Secondly, it created a committee system of government specifically to address the multi-ethnic problems of Sri Lanka. Under this system, no one ethnic community could dominate the political arena. Instead, every government department was overseen by a committee of parliamentarians drawn from all the ethnic communit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leading the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom during the First World War, for social-reform policies, for his role in the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference, and for negotiating the establishment of the Irish Free State. Born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, and raised in Llanystumdwy, Lloyd George gained a reputation as an orator and proponent of a Welsh blend of radical Liberal ideas that included support for Welsh devolution, the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales, disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales, equality for labourers and tenant farmers, and reform of land ownership. He won 1890 Caernarvon Boroughs by-election, an 1890 by-election to become the Member of Parliam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shyam Selvadurai
Shyam Selvadurai (born 12 February 1965) is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist. He is most noted for his 1994 novel '' Funny Boy'', which won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.Paul Chafe"Shyam Selvadurai" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', April 2, 2012. Background Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka to a Sinhalese mother and a Tamil father—members of conflicting ethnic groups whose troubles form a major theme in his work. Ethnic riots in 1983 drove the family to emigrate to Canada when Selvadurai was nineteen. He attained a BFA at York University for Theatre in 1989, then achieved an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in 2010. Selvadurai recounted an account of the discomfort he and his partner experienced during a period spent in Sri Lanka in 1997 in his essay "Coming Out" in ''Time'' Asia's special issue on the Asian diaspora in 2003. Writing career Selvadurai published ''Funny Boy'' in 1994, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission ( ''Solbari Komisyan Sabawa''; ) was a prime instrument of constitutional reform in British Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) that succeeded the Donoughmore Commission. It was announced in 1944 and headed by Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers, headed by D.S. Senanayake. This commission ushered in the Soulbury Constitution and independence to the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. Its constitutional recommendations were largely those of the 1944 Board of Ministers' draft, a document reflecting the influence of Senanayake and his main advisor, Sir Ivor Jennings.Prof. K. M. de Silva, History of Sri Lanka, Penguin 1995 Background to the appointment of the commission The struggle for independence in Ceylon had been fought on "constitutionalist" lines rather than on the strongly confrontational approach that had developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific '' Mahātmā'' (from Sanskrit, meaning great-souled, or venerable), first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world. Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi trained in the law at the Inner Temple in London and was called to the bar at the age of 22. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, Gandhi moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to live in South Africa for 21 years. Here, Gandhi raised a family and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years. Nehru promoted parliamentary democracy, secularism, and science and technology during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A well-regarded author, he wrote books such as ''Letters from a Father to His Daughter'' (1929), '' An Autobiography'' (1936) and '' The Discovery of India'' (1946), that have been read around the world. The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and Indian nationalist, Jawaharlal Nehru was educated in England—at Harrow School and Trini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Franchise
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion of the young and non-citizens (among others). At the same time, some insist that more inclusion is needed before suffrage can be truly universal. Democratic theorists, especially those hoping to achieve more universal suffrage, support presumptive inclusion, where the legal system would protect the voting rights of all subjects unless the government can clearly prove that disenfranchisement is necessary. Universal full suffrage includes both the right to vote, also called active suffrage, and the right to be elected, also called passive suffrage. History In the first modern democracies, governments restricted the vote to those with property and wealth, which almost always meant a minority of the male population. In some jurisdictions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethnic Group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history or social treatment. Ethnicities may also have a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, with some groups having mixed genetic ancestry. ''Ethnicity'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''nation'', particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism. It is also used interchangeably with '' race'' although not all ethnicities identify as racial groups. By way of assimilation, acculturation, amalgamation, language shift, intermarriage, adoption and religious conversion, individuals or groups may over time shift from one ethnic group to another. Ethnic groups may be divided into subgroups or tribes, which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves due to endogamy or physical isolation from the parent gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Female Suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was in effect during the Age of Liberty (1718–1772), as well as in Revolutionary and early-independence New Jersey (1776–1807) in the US.Karlsson Sjögren, Åsa, ''Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten: medborgarskap och representation 1723–1866'' en, women, and suffrage: citizenship and representation 1723–1866 Carlsson, Stockholm, 2006 (in Swedish). Pitcairn Island allowed women to vote for its councils in 1838. The Kingdom of Hawai'i, which originally had universal suffrage in 1840, rescinded this in 1852 and was subsequently annexed by the United States in 1898. In the years after 1869, a number of provinces held by the British and Russian empires conferred women's suffrage, and some of these became sovereign nations at a later point, like New Ze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have an aesthetically pleasing presentation of several contrasting, often quite rich courses. Historically the ingredients used in the meal tended to be rare for the region, which could also be impacted by the local state and religious customs. The term and the related characteristics are typically used to describe people with more discerning palates and enthusiasm. Gourmet food is more frequently provided with small servings and in more upscale and posh fine dining establishments that cater to a more affluent and exclusive client base. When it comes to cooking gourmet dishes, there are also frequent cross-cultural interactions that introduce new, exotic, and expensive ingredients, materials, and traditions with more refined, complex, formal, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women's Rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others, they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.Hosken, Fran P., 'Towards a Definition of Women's Rights' in ''Human Rights Quarterly'', Vol. 3, No. 2. (May 1981), pp. 1–10. Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include the right to bodily integrity and autonomy, to be free from sexual violence, to Women's suffrage, vote, to hold public office, to enter into legal contracts, to have equal rights in family law, Right to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peerage (other)
A peerage is a legal system comprising hereditary titles in various European countries. Peerage may also refer to: Publications * Burke's Peerage, publishes guides to the royal and titled families of the United Kingdom and many other countries * Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, a book and website with a short history of the family of each titleholder * ''The Complete Peerage'', a work on the titled aristocracy of the United Kingdom and, later, the UK and Ireland * '' The Scots Peerage'', a nine-volume series of the Scottish nobility Other uses * Peerage Act 1963, allowing women peers and Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, and newly inherited hereditary peerages to be "disclaimed" See also * Peer (other) Peer or peeress may refer to: Sociology * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group * Peer, a member of the peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
