Government to unveil memorial on indentured labour in Kolkata

NEW DELHI: The ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA), with support from the West Bengal government and the ministry of shipping, is all set to unveil a memorial monument, dedicated to the people who were sent as indentured labour to various countries around the world, during the British colonial period in India.

Symbolically, the memorial is being unveiled at Kolkata port - from where thousands of men and women set sail for various destinations around the world to work as indentured labour at British plantations - on January 11.

The Global Indo Diaspora Heritage Society (GIDHS), which was set up to establish the memorial at a location which has emotional and physical connect for the descendants of the indentured workers, now plans to establish a museum and resource centre of emigration records, writings, films and other memorabilia from the colonial emigration period in the 19th and 20th centuries.

"Our long-term goal has been to establish the commemorative memorial in Kolkata followed by a museum and a resource centre that will connect the descendants of indentured workers with the history of their ancestors who left India from 1834 and 1920. This will be a lasting legacy to present and future generations of their descendants," says Ashook Ramsaran, an US-based engineer who is the executive vice-president of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO).

He was born in Guyana where his great-grandfather had gone to work as an indentured labourer in 1853. Many other PIOs with similar background from countries such as Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, Jamaica, Guadeloupe, South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius and Malaysia have been involved with the project. They include Mahendra Chaudhry, former Prime Minister of Fiji; Yesu Persaud, an industrialist from Guyana and Kumar Mahabir, an anthropologist from Trinidad.