UP Tourism Dept’s project helps descendants of immigrant workers trace surviving relatives; Ballia adopted as pilot project.
Surendra Pratap Singh
Lucknow, April 29: IT is a search for long lost roots — a journey which goes back to over a century. Between 1900-1911, thousands of people from various districts of Uttar Pradesh were shipped by the ruling British to serve as bonded labourers across the globe. Today, their descendants, most of whom are now well-to-do Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), are trying to trace their roots with the help of the UP Tourism Department.
The present generation of these NRIs are trying to track the whereabouts of their surviving relatives. In a recent breakthrough, two were successful in tracing their families in Jaunpur and Azamgarh.
Although the department initiated the project, ‘‘Discover your Roots’’, in 2000, it only received a boost last year. This year, the search has received a budgetary allocation of Rs 7 lakh from the State Government. Another proposal for Rs 30 lakh is lying with the Centre. All interested NRIs can register under scheme by paying a fee of US$ 100.
Nikhil Chandra, joint MD, UP Tourism Corporation, said it has been an uphill task so far. ‘‘As per the instructions of the Government of India, we have been searching for the families of 56 people who migrated from Ballia. Of these, eight families have been found so far,’’ he said.
‘‘Information on 38 districts has been collected so far. The names and addresses of 10,000 people who went as indentured labourers have been compiled,’’ said R R Saxena, project manager of Discover Your Roots.
The district of Ballia has been undertaken as the pilot project. ‘‘An office has been set up in Ballia with two field supervisors, who are engaged in visiting villages to collect the necessary information,’’ he said.
Five other districts — Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Faizabad and Azamgarh — will also be taken up as part of the pilot project. The maximum number of immigrants was found to be from these six districts. The details of villagers who have been successfully traced will be put up on the department’s website.
Officers involved in the search revealed how their task was made more difficult by villagers’ unwillingness to divulge information. They feared that the NRIs would return to ask for their share of property.
On a district level, officials are scanning old land records, talking to old people belonging to the same caste as the immigrant, checking ration cards, and studying birth and death registration certificates. Even old folk songs are being studied to look for some names.
Seventy colonial immigration registers have been dug out from the Lucknow archives. The pothis (record books) on the ghats of Haridwar, Varanasi, Gaya, Badrinath, Dwarkadham and Pushkar are also being scanned. These pothis contain the names of people who perfomed pind daan (prayers for dead relatives) or other religious functions, along with their addresses too.
Efforts are also on to study the immigration lists (1917-1978) at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius.
The whole project has been divided into three phases. In the first phase, information on the immigrants will be collected. This preliminary information will then be sent to the related NRIs, along with an invitation to visit their ancestral place.
In the second phase, a packaged tour for the NRI will be organised to his village. This will include fooding, lodging and conveyance.
And in the third, the tourism department will facilitate any construction activity or other developmental work that the NRI may want to undertake at his village.
Girmitias to NRIs
FROM 1900-1911, the British got thousands of Indians to sign agreements undertaking to work in foreign countries under the then British empire. They were promised a good life, job opportunities and a chance to make more money.
These people, most of whom belonged to Ballia, Gonda, Basti, Azamgarh, Rae Bareli, Gorakhpur and Bahraich districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, were packed into three ships. Some men were alone, while others were accompanied by their families.
The living conditions on board the ships were bad. Even the rations were inadequate. Many died during the journey. Those who survived were dumped in Mauritius, Surinam, Fiji and other neighbouring areas to work as bonded labourers.
They came to be known as ‘‘Girmitias’’, a distortion of the word ‘‘agreement’’. Because, whenever they were questioned, these Indian immigrants used to answer that they were there ‘‘on agreement’’.
Over the years, the immigrants became affluent through sheer hard work. And most of their descendants are now well-off NRIs.
Surendra Pratap Singh
Lucknow, April 29: IT is a search for long lost roots — a journey which goes back to over a century. Between 1900-1911, thousands of people from various districts of Uttar Pradesh were shipped by the ruling British to serve as bonded labourers across the globe. Today, their descendants, most of whom are now well-to-do Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), are trying to trace their roots with the help of the UP Tourism Department.
The present generation of these NRIs are trying to track the whereabouts of their surviving relatives. In a recent breakthrough, two were successful in tracing their families in Jaunpur and Azamgarh.
Although the department initiated the project, ‘‘Discover your Roots’’, in 2000, it only received a boost last year. This year, the search has received a budgetary allocation of Rs 7 lakh from the State Government. Another proposal for Rs 30 lakh is lying with the Centre. All interested NRIs can register under scheme by paying a fee of US$ 100.
Nikhil Chandra, joint MD, UP Tourism Corporation, said it has been an uphill task so far. ‘‘As per the instructions of the Government of India, we have been searching for the families of 56 people who migrated from Ballia. Of these, eight families have been found so far,’’ he said.
‘‘Information on 38 districts has been collected so far. The names and addresses of 10,000 people who went as indentured labourers have been compiled,’’ said R R Saxena, project manager of Discover Your Roots.
The district of Ballia has been undertaken as the pilot project. ‘‘An office has been set up in Ballia with two field supervisors, who are engaged in visiting villages to collect the necessary information,’’ he said.
Five other districts — Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Faizabad and Azamgarh — will also be taken up as part of the pilot project. The maximum number of immigrants was found to be from these six districts. The details of villagers who have been successfully traced will be put up on the department’s website.
Officers involved in the search revealed how their task was made more difficult by villagers’ unwillingness to divulge information. They feared that the NRIs would return to ask for their share of property.
On a district level, officials are scanning old land records, talking to old people belonging to the same caste as the immigrant, checking ration cards, and studying birth and death registration certificates. Even old folk songs are being studied to look for some names.
Seventy colonial immigration registers have been dug out from the Lucknow archives. The pothis (record books) on the ghats of Haridwar, Varanasi, Gaya, Badrinath, Dwarkadham and Pushkar are also being scanned. These pothis contain the names of people who perfomed pind daan (prayers for dead relatives) or other religious functions, along with their addresses too.
Efforts are also on to study the immigration lists (1917-1978) at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius.
The whole project has been divided into three phases. In the first phase, information on the immigrants will be collected. This preliminary information will then be sent to the related NRIs, along with an invitation to visit their ancestral place.
In the second phase, a packaged tour for the NRI will be organised to his village. This will include fooding, lodging and conveyance.
And in the third, the tourism department will facilitate any construction activity or other developmental work that the NRI may want to undertake at his village.
Girmitias to NRIs
FROM 1900-1911, the British got thousands of Indians to sign agreements undertaking to work in foreign countries under the then British empire. They were promised a good life, job opportunities and a chance to make more money.
These people, most of whom belonged to Ballia, Gonda, Basti, Azamgarh, Rae Bareli, Gorakhpur and Bahraich districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, were packed into three ships. Some men were alone, while others were accompanied by their families.
The living conditions on board the ships were bad. Even the rations were inadequate. Many died during the journey. Those who survived were dumped in Mauritius, Surinam, Fiji and other neighbouring areas to work as bonded labourers.
They came to be known as ‘‘Girmitias’’, a distortion of the word ‘‘agreement’’. Because, whenever they were questioned, these Indian immigrants used to answer that they were there ‘‘on agreement’’.
Over the years, the immigrants became affluent through sheer hard work. And most of their descendants are now well-off NRIs.
