On 30 October 1964, in New Delhi, by an exchange of letters, the Government of India and the Government of Ceylon concluded the Agreement on the Status and Future of Persons of Indian Origin in Ceylon. The letter of Ceylon’s Prime Minister, Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike (CIT/ICP/62), sets out the heads of agreement from the talks of 24–30 October; India’s Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, confirms by 446/PMO/64 that the letter and the reply constitute the agreement. It is not the Nehru–Kotelawala pact of 18 January 1954, nor the Sirimavo–Indira Gandhi agreement of 1974. It comes into force on the day of signature. The declared objective: all persons of Indian origin in Ceylon not recognised as citizens of Ceylon or of India shall become citizens of one or the other.

The number, as of that date: approximately 975,000. The figure does not include illicit immigrants and Indian passport holders. 300,000 of these persons, together with the natural increase, will be granted Ceylon citizenship; the Government of India will accept repatriation of 525,000, together with the natural increase, and confer Indian citizenship on them. The status and future of the remaining 150,000 will be the subject of a separate agreement. India will accept repatriation within 15 years, on a programme as evenly phased as possible. The grant of Ceylon citizenship and the process of repatriation shall both be phased over those 15 years and shall, as far as possible, keep pace with each other in proportion to the relative numbers. Two registers — one of those to be granted Ceylon citizenship, one of those to be repatriated — are to be prepared as early as possible; their completion is not a condition precedent to starting either process.

Persons to be repatriated shall, during their residence in Ceylon, enjoy the same facilities as citizens of other States except facilities for remittances, and normal facilities for continued residence, including free visas. Those gainfully employed on the date of the Agreement shall continue in their employment until the date of their repatriation under the phased programme or until they attain the age of 55, whichever is earlier. Subject to exchange-control regulations then in force, which will not be discriminatory, they may, at final departure for India, repatriate all their assets including provident-fund and gratuity amounts; the maximum which any family may repatriate shall not be reduced to less than 4,000 rupees. Officials of the two Governments shall meet as soon as possible to establish joint machinery and procedures.

The Agreement is bilateral, not a multilateral refugee treaty: it is not the 1933 Convention relating to the International Status of Refugees and not the 1951 Convention. It does not define “refugee”; it deals with persons of Indian origin without recognised citizenship. The Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 and the Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act of 1949 remain domestic context, not the text of the day. The remaining 150,000 were taken up only in the 1974 agreement; this article does not invent those later quotas.

Hyderabad House, New Delhi. A protocol residence, not the confirmed room of the exchange of letters. Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

For context: Sirima–Shastri Pact. The text: Agreement on Persons of Indian Origin in Ceylon.