Slavery by other name

The Indentured and Their Route: A Relentless Quest for Identity Bhaswati Mukherjee Rupa Publications Rs.595 Pages 214 As soon as slavery was outlawed in all territories of the British empire in 1834, the practice of indenturing labour from India began This is a book which chronicles the use, by indenturing, of 1.3 million impoverished labourers from eastern and southern India for cultivation in the British-owned plantations in West Indies, Fiji and Mauritius. It tells a grim tale of inhumane conditions, both in the voyage to far flung plantations as well as the torturous conditions of work they had to endure in alien situations. As analysed by other scholars, the book refers to the link between the legislation which ended slavery in British territories by 1808 as well as the end of ‘apprenticeship’ by former slaves in British-owned plantations in 1834, and the indenturing of labour, primarily from India, starting in 1834 itself. The arrangement implied the need to find labour to work in near servitude conditions so not to interrupt cultivation in plantations owned by British financiers. A diplomat by profession, Bhaswati Mukherjee wears the robe of a meticulous historian in drafting the contents of this slim book. She highlights three specific aspects of her proposed analysis in its blurb. They include: (a) differential between indentured status and slavery (or coolitude) of workers; (b) a need to discover the route (or journey) of the indentured, and (c) the search for identity serving as saviour for the indentured, flourishing over time as diaspora. Mukherjee further comments, in the preface which follows, on the forgotten indentured route, contrasting the slave route which was brought to light by Unesco and African states in 2014. However, the author contradicts herself with her citations of available literature which abound, very appropriately, in her scholarly book. Before proceeding further, she highlights how unfair the practice of indenturing turned out, with ‘so-called’ written contracts (girmit) and migration to undisclosed destinations, was different in form (but not content) to slavery. Only one-fifth of the 1.3 million recruited between 1838 and 1917 (when the system ended) returned to India. Thus the perilous conditions of the journey which took a toll on 80 percent of the recruits continued, despite the promise agreed upon in their contract (or girmit) of providing return fare! The reasons are documented in the following chapters. The deceit implicit in the so-called girmit was the promise of a better life and safe return home on completion of work over a minimum period. The causes of migration were that impoverished labourers in India’s countryside faced severe famine (mostly man-made), commercialisation of agriculture and huge transfers of financial resources to meet Britain’s overseas expenses (titled as ‘home charges’) — all of which resulted from policies which suited Great Britain. These conditions made it easy for recruiters (arkatiy) to entice and trap the poor for the undisclosed voyage. Incidentally, payments to recruiters by higher officials were made on the basis of the number recruited. Those lured (or even blackmailed…