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COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, JULY 11, 2003: The Sri Lankan Government has decided to grant citizenship to 168,141 people of Indian origin who had opted, but failed to return to their native country. Officials said the Cabinet approved a plan to grant citizenship to 84,141 people who had obtained Indian passports to return home, but could not travel for various reasons since 1983. Another 84,000 people of Indian origin born in Sri Lanka after 1964, will also qualify for the citizenship. This group of Indians had come to work the tea plantations in the early 1900s, but were never given citizenship, even after several generations.

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