D. A. Rajapaksa
| D. A. Rajapaksa ඩී.ඒ. රාජපක්ෂ |
|
|---|---|
| Minister of Agriculture and Land | |
| Member of Parliament for Beliatta |
|
| Deputy Speaker of the Parliament | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 November 1906 Madamulana, British Ceylon. |
| Died | 7 November 1967 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Political party | Sri Lanka Freedom Party |
| Other political affiliations |
United National Party |
| Spouse(s) | Dandina Samarasinghe Dissanayake |
| Children | Chamal, Jayanthi, Mahinda, Chandra, Gotabhaya, Basil, Dudley, Preethi, Gandani |
| Alma mater | Richmond College, Galle |
| Occupation | politician |
| Religion | Buddhist |
Don Alwin Rajapaksa (Sinhalese: දොන් අල්වින් රාජපක්ෂ; Tamil: டி.ஏ. ராஜபக்ஷ) (5 November 1906 – 7 November 1967) (known as D. A. Rajapaksa) was a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament, who represented the Beliatta electorate in Hambantota district from 1947 to 1965. A founding member of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Land in Wijeyananda Dahanayake's government, he was the father of the former Sri Lankan President Dr Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Don Alwin Rajapaksa was a democratic politician from the Ruhuna region.
He was born on 5 November 1906 in a hamlet called Madamulana and had his early education at Mandaduva School in Weerakatiya. His father, Don David Rajapaksa, who held the post of Vidane Arachchi in Ihala Valikada Korale, sent him for secondary education to Richmond College, Galle. Having completed his education successfully, he helped his father to manage the family property which consisted of paddy fields and coconut plantations.
He also helped his elder brother D. M. Rajapaksa, who was the State Councillor for Hambantota in attending to affairs of the electorate. Thus he got sufficient experience in the field of politics, but was reluctant to contest the Hambantota seat at the by-election of 1945 on the death of his brother.
Nevertheless, the politically influential people in the area insisted that he should contest the by-election and were finally successful in dragging him into active politics. He won the seat at the by-election and was included in the Committee on Agriculture and Land in the State Council. This gave him a good opportunity to tackle the problem of landlessness of the peasantry of Giruvapattuva. DA adopted a 99-year lease scheme to transfer crown land to landless peasants in 5-acre (2.0 ha) plots. For the middle income earners, the land extending from 10 to 50 acres (20 ha) was alienated in the same manner. These measures in fact gave a boost to the paddy and coconut cultivations in Giruva Pattuva.
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