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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Provinces of Sri Lanka, Districts of Sri Lanka,


Main articles: Provinces of Sri Lanka, Districts of Sri Lanka, Divisional Secretariats of Sri Lanka, and List of cities in Sri Lanka
Provinces
The Provinces of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: පළාතTamil: மாகாணம்) have existed since the 19th century but they didn't have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils following several decades of increasing demand for a decentralization of the Government of Sri Lanka.[33] Between 1988 and 2006 the Northern and Eastern provinces were temporarily merged to form the North-East Province. Prior to 1987, all administration was handled by a district-based civil service which had been in place since colonial times.
Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces[34] and 25 districts.[35] Each province is administered by a directly elected provincial council:
Administrative Divisions of Sri Lanka
province Capital Area (km²) Population
Central Kandy 5,674 2,423,966
Eastern Trincomalee 9,996 1,460,939
North Central Anuradhapura 10,714 1,104,664
Northern Jaffna 8,884 1,311,776
North Western Kurunegala 7,812 2,169,892
Sabaragamuwa Ratnapura 4,902 1,801,331
Southern Galle 5,559 2,278,271
Uva Badulla 8,488 1,177,358
Western Colombo 3,709 5,361,200
Districts
The provinces of Sri Lanka are divided into 25 districts (Sinhala: දිස්ත්‍රි‌ක්‌ක sing. දිස්ත්‍රික්කයTamil: மாவட்டம்). Each district is administered under a District Secretariat. The districts are further subdivided into divisional secretariats, and these in turn to Grama Sevaka divisions.
The Districts are known in Sinhala as Disa and in Tamil as Maawaddam. Originally a Disa (usually rendered into English as Dissavony) was a duchy, notably Matale and Uva. The Government Agent, who is know as District Secretary administers a district.
These were originally based on the feudal counties, the korales and ratas. They were formerly known as 'D.R.O. Divisions' after the 'Divisional Revenue Officer'. Later the D.R.O.s became 'Assistant Government Agents' and the Divisions were known as 'A.G.A. Divisions'. Currently, the Divisions are administered by a 'Divisional Secretary', and are known as a 'D.S. Divisions'. Rural D.S. Divisions are also administered by a 'Pradeshiya Sabha' and 'Pradesha Sabhai' (Sinhala and Tamil for 'Regional Council'), which is elected.

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