The Committee for Rational Development (CRD) was born in the shadow of the racist violence of July 1983 in Sri Lanka. There was a special need at the time, to help create a climate of accommodation to allow for a political solution within the framework of a secular and democratic state committed to the goals of equity and social justice; a task too large to be attempted by a single individual. The CRD was formed therefore, with people of different communities and political persuasions, but who shared the desire to find viable and effective solutions to the ethnic issues, by promoting discussions in a rational and objective manner. This volume reprints the most important documents produced by the CRD since its inception. Besides the CRD’s own writings, the volume contains a selection of essays and articles written by individual Sri Lankan writers and scholars on similar problems since July 1983.