“Do not ask what Jaffna can offer you, ask what you can offer Jaffna”

Among a number of Diaspora Tamils who are returning to their homeland to re-build the war-affected area are Jekhan Aruliah and Raj Janarthanan. Jekhan and Raj talk to Kulasegaram Sanchayan about their background, their projects and the challenges they had to overcome. Jekhan Aruliah was born in Sri Lanka and moved with his family to the UK when he was two years of age. Brought up in London, he graduated from Cambridge University in 1986 with a degree in Natural Sciences. Jekhan then spent over two decades in the IT industry managing offshore software development for British companies in Colombo and in Gurgaon (India). In 2015 Jekhan decided to move to Jaffna where he is now involved in social and economic development projects. Raj Janarthanan has a degree in Agriculture, and has studied the traditional organic agricultural methods. With the prestigious NORAD fellowship, he has worked in Norway, Israel, Palestine, and Egypt. Raj Janarthanan migrated to Canada, and then moved to the USA where he worked for various environmental bodies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Hazardous Waste Research Institute, the Illinois State Water Survey and the Land Monitoring Agency. He started a business in New York in the nineties and continues to live there. He also runs a factory in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, with “Conscious Capitalism” as it’s philosophy.

Jekhan Aruliah (left); Raj Janarthanan with his business partner John Tastad (right) Source: Supplied Photos