Badri Narayan writes in The Hindu on 29 June 2013
The descendants of indentured labourers, who migrated from eastern Uttar
Pradesh and Bihar to erstwhile colonies, recently met at The Hague in
the Netherlands to commemorate 140 years of migration — perpetuated
through a system popularly known as ‘Girmit.’ They gathered from all
corners of the world to pay homage to their ancestors and celebrate the
end of slavery in the Dutch colonies. Persons of Indian origin in
Suriname, a sizeable portion of the country’s population, are also
marking the occasion this month.
Contractual system
Suriname, previously a Dutch colony, abolished slavery in 1863. To meet
the demand for cheap labour, however, the Dutch conceived a contractual
system, different from its predecessor only in name. Dutch and British
officials came to an ‘understanding’ — made in writing — to ‘borrow’
labourers from certain parts of Haryana, west and east Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and Madhya Pradesh for a period of five years. Thus came to be
born the ‘Girmit’ system in Suriname. The word ‘agreement’ was
transliterated as ‘Girmit’ and ‘Girmitya’ by migrant labourers
themselves.
The Girmityas were sent not just to Suriname, but also Mauritius, Fiji,
Trinidad, and Guyana. Of these, the Bhojpuri speaking population from
east U.P. and west Bihar constituted the largest number. About 1.2
million people from this region were sent as migrant labourers to former
colonies. They held festivities annually to celebrate and rejoice the
days of their leaving India and settling down in foreign lands. Their
descendants have continued this tradition, eulogising their Indian
roots, while using the occasion to decry the colonial practice of
indentured labour. They also remember India’s abject poverty that forced
their ancestors to look for greener pastures.
Migrant Indian labourers worked on sugarcane, rice and coffee farms,
shouldering the burden of the economy in the colonies they worked. When
Suriname was freed from the Dutch rule in 1970, many Girmitiyas settled
in the Netherlands. They identified themselves not as Bharatiyas but as
Suriname-Hindustanis. Most wealthy people in Suriname made their money
by trading in agricultural products such as spices, tea, coffee, and the
like. The biggest bank in Suriname, ABN (Amro) started out by trading
in sugarcane. Its branches have been set up today in New Delhi and other
metropolitan cities of India. Most Indians are unaware of the bond of
toil that ties their ancestors to this bank.
Whether they were successful financially or not, the Girmityas bore the
pangs of separation from their families and clans. Their yearly
‘celebrations’ stood testament to their desire to belong home.
Ironically, those in India seem to have forgotten all about the
Girmityas.
Attuned to modern times
Colonialism across the world was founded on the bonded labour and
inhuman toil of the enslaved. The upsurge and revolt by slaves against
the ruling class brought about the abolition of this barbaric practice,
albeit progressively. A closer examination, however, suggests indentured
labour still persists — only this time, it has been attuned to modern
day interests and sensitivities.
Even today, people from Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and Bihar of the Hindi
heartland are migrating to earn a better livelihood. Why is it that even
after 150 or 200 years, people from this region are forced to leave
their home and hearth? If their earlier destinations were Mauritius,
Suriname, Fiji and Trinidad, they now head for Ghaziabad, Noida,
Faridabad, Punjab, Mumbai and Surat. Earlier, they served colonial
masters but now they serve the masters of this country.
‘Bhaiya Express’ is a contemporary term of reference for trains that
displace people. It does not indicate one train but several trains that
carry workers, often perched on roofs, to India’s cities. In colonial
times, these trains carried them to coastal depots from where they were
shipped overseas. Today, the trains carry migrants from villages like
Semra, Barwaripur and Majhauwa to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Surat, or to Assam and Punjab, where they either work as labourers or
from where they are transported further by airplane.
The lion’s share of migrant labourers comes from Azamgarh, Ghazipur,
Basti, Banda, Gorakhpur, Sultanpur, Gonda, and Faizabad in the eastern
part of U.P. and Raxaul, Narkatiaganj, Betia, Sugauli, Motihari, Chakia,
Darbhanga, Madhubani, Jaynagar, Nirmali, Farbisganj, Munger, Purnea,
Saharsa, Begusarai, Araria, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Chhapara, Gopalganj ,
Bhojpur and Buxar in Bihar. Every day, at least a hundred people or more
gather at the railway station or a bus depot in these places to travel
to the nearest railway stations like Allahabad, Banaras, Katihar,
Barauni, Samastipur, Mokama, Patna, Buxar, Ara, Sasaram, Muzaffarpur,
Chhapra and Siwan which fall on the route of long distance trains.
Most of them are unaware of the direction in which their destination
lies. Migrant labourers are under the complete custody and ‘protection’
of labour contractors who beg, cajole, lure and threaten them to go to
work in factories in big cities. These contractors are the present day
equivalents of recruiters or ‘arkatiyas’ of the colonial times, who used
to travel from village to village luring hapless people into sub-depots
and depots, taking them to work as Girmityas in overseas plantations in
the Dutch colonies.
Agony of separation
Today’s migrant labourers, like their colonial-era counterparts, have
learnt to live with the sorrow and agony of separation. It is often
inevitable. Migration is fuelled by economic necessity and aspiration
for a better life. There are payoffs and heartbreaks. Labourers at home
and abroad, from then to now, have developed a rich cultural repertoire
around migration: folk songs, folk dramas, stories and legends about
deities — often goddesses — and folk beliefs.
Earlier, in the Girmitiya phase, the songs dealt with Calcutta and
foreign lands, where the labourers migrated. Now, these destinations are
inland cities like Ghaziabad, Punjab, Surat and Mumbai. Contemporary
songs are woven around a lovelorn woman, who pines for her lover (often
husband). These songs — Birhas, Kajri, Jatsaar, Bidesia — are not
gender-specific and are sung by both men and women.
New rituals, deities
Such cultural forms have led to a shift in belief systems as a natural
historical process. New rituals and deities have been created. Two such
deities are Murkatti Devi in Barwaripur village in Sultanpur district
and Sankata Devi in Varanasi. Women pray to these goddesses for the
well-being and safety of their migrant husbands. It has a unified
sensibility and includes birds and spiders, like Shuklain Pakshi, crows
and parrots — different calls of these birds convey different meanings,
from good, not-so-good, to evil. Certain calls of animals like dogs and
cats too form a part of this belief ‘eco-system.’
Families still yearn for the return of their separated members. Earlier,
it would take anywhere between six months to a year for letters and
money orders to reach homes but today we have the facilities of PCOs and
mobile phones for quicker communication. Online transfers of funds
happen in a jiffy. Though there are connectivity problems, mobile
service providers are expanding their networks in these rural areas.
Every year, during the month of January, our government organises
‘Prawasi Diwas’ in honour of India’s migrants. A separate Ministry of
Overseas Indian Affairs too has been formed for this purpose but such
celebrations neither offer any critique of the self nor any glimpse of
the future. Decades after independence, the Planning Commission is yet
to formulate concrete plans for the welfare of migrant labourers, headed
overseas or to different parts of India.
Taking off from the Prawasiya Bharatiya festivities in Suriname and the
Netherlands, we need to review and critique our economic systems,
development and social failures in the context of migration and forced
labour. This would help stem and stop the social displacement and exodus
of labour which still occur from particular regions.
Migration is at once a source of happiness and heartbreak, expectation
and disappointment. Every night will always be a dark one for migrant
workers. But if the government can find ways to mitigate the physical
discomfort that comes with dislocation — poor wages and housing, no
healthcare or rations — the migrant will manage to deal a little better
with the emotional pain that comes with separation.
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