"BASIC ARITHMETIC OF CEYLON’S SOCIAL
1959The NewsletterMichael Banda Read the scan at ETOL (PDF) →Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: headlines and words can be misread, and a caption or advert can run into the text. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Newsletter, who recently returned from a visit to Ceylon)
A RAPIDLY expanding population and a stagnant economy. .These are mainly responsible for the chronic unemployment, general destitution, high rate of crime and spread of communalism in Ceylon.
Like the rate of crime, the rate of population increase in Ceylon is about the highest in the world.
Between the years 1947 and 1957 the annual natural increase in population jumped from 172,647 to 237,500—ce., a jump from 25 to 26.6 per 1,000. As a result the population in 1956 stood at 8,929,000—an increase of over two million in one decade!
Such a rapid growth in population in an advanced and industrialized capitalist country could easily have been assimilated without very great stress on the economy.
But Ceylon’s economic development, particularly during the last half-century, has been distorted to suit the needs of Britain’s financial and commercial interests.
The economy is predominantly agricultural. The island’s major agricultural crops—tea, rubber and coconuts—are all for export. Despite the presence of cheap and easily obtainable hydroelectric power there is very little industry.
Legacy of British imperialism The plight of Ceylon’s economy, which might be termed the legacy of British imperialism, is best illustrated by the following figures:
Tea Rubber