Girmitiyas:
The Prime Minister recently said the descendants of Girmitiyas are no longer defined by struggle but by their “success, service, and values”.
- “Girmitiyas” were Indian indentured labourers who left India in the mid to late 19th century to work in British colonies, where many eventually settled.
- The word ‘girmitiya’ is etymologically derived from ‘girmit’, meaning ‘agreement’.
Indians then pronounced ‘agreement’ as ‘girmit’, so indentured labourers who were transported to work in places like Fiji and Mauritius, became known as ‘girmitiyas’. - However, the agreements weren’t all that fair.
- Indian labourers signed indentureship contracts with the British in hopes of higher wages and better employment opportunities.
- However, they made long treacherous journeys on old slave ships and upon reaching foreign lands, were made to live in slave barracks, were paid very little, and did not have access to proper legal frameworks under which they could get grievances redressed.
- Though girmitiyas were not technically slaves in the eyes of the law, they were subjected to a practice known as “blackbirding”, which involved deceiving or tricking people to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries far away from their native land.
- Despite the unfortunate history of girmitiyas, their descendants have prospered in their respective countries, some having held “high-level” government positions and others having achieved success in business and arts.
