Indentured labour

Also called: Indenture system, Girmitiya · Topic: The Making of a Global World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "The Making of a Global World"

Meaning

Indentured labour was a system in which a poor worker signed a contract to work for one employer for a fixed number of years, usually about five years for Indians, to repay the cost of the ship fare to a colony. Once on the plantation, he was not free to leave. Indian indentured workers are also called Girmitiyas. The name comes from "girmit", the workers' way of saying "agreement", the contract they signed.

It matters because it shows the double face of the 19th-century global economy. Trade and shipping grew fast. But the plantations that fed world markets ran on deception, debt and force. Nationalist leaders attacked the system from the 1900s, and it was abolished in 1921.

Explanation

Background: why Indians signed up

• Slaves had to be replaced. In 1834 the British Government chose Mauritius for what it called the "great experiment": using so-called 'free' labour in place of slaves [3].
• The experiment was copied. It was judged a success, so from the 1840s other colonial powers adopted it. In all, more than two million indentured labourers moved around the world [3].
• Push factors were created by colonial rule in India. Several pressures hit the rural poor at the same time:
• Cottage industries (village handicrafts) declined, so old jobs disappeared.
• Rents rose, so farmers kept less of what they grew.
• Land was cleared for mines and plantations, so villagers lost common land.

• People fell into debt. A five-year contract abroad looked like the only way out.

• Source regions: mainly eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, central India and the dry districts of Tamil Nadu.

How the system worked

• The contract: the employer paid the worker's passage (ship fare). The worker repaid it with years of labour.
• The promise: Indian contracts promised return travel after five years of work.
• The reality: the worker could not leave, could not change his master, and had almost no legal protection.
• Recruitment: commission agents were paid for each person they signed up. This reward encouraged them to lie about:
• the destination,
• the journey,
• the type of work,

• the living conditions.

• Many recruits were not told about the long sea voyage at all. Some were simply kidnapped.

• Punishments: Ram Narain Tewary, a labourer in Demerara, described bruised hands from the work, being put in jail, and having his wages cut as punishment.
• Because of all this, 19th-century indenture is often called a "new system of slavery".

Recruits from	Main destinations
Eastern UP, Bihar, central India	Caribbean (Trinidad, Guyana, Surinam), Mauritius, Fiji
Dry districts of Tamil Nadu	Ceylon and Malaya
Within India	Assam tea plantations

How workers survived and built new cultures

• Escape: some workers ran away into the wilds. If caught, they were punished severely.
• Cultural mixing: others combined the traditions they brought with them with what they found in the new land.
• In Trinidad, the yearly Muharram procession turned into a large carnival called Hosay, named after Imam Hussain. People of all races and religions took part.
• Rastafarianism, the religious movement made famous by Bob Marley, is said to show links with Indian migrants.

• Chutney music of Trinidad and Guyana is another blend that came out of these communities.

• Staying on: most workers did not use the return passage. That is why large Indian-descended communities live in these countries today. Examples include the writer V.S. Naipaul and the cricketers Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

• Countries with large Indian-descended populations from this system include Fiji, Grenada, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya and Guyana [2].

The end, and what came after

• From the 1900s, Indian nationalist leaders attacked the system as cruel and abusive.
• The system was abolished in 1921.
• The stigma did not end with the law. Descendants long remained an uneasy minority. They were insulted as "coolies" and not fully accepted in their new homes.
• On the dates: NCERT gives 1921 for abolition. UNESCO records show recruitment ending in 1917 for Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, while movement to Surinam and Fiji ran on for longer [2][3]. The two dates fit together: 1917 is when recruiting stopped, and 1921 is when the system was formally abolished and the remaining contracts ended.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 1834 to 1921 (NCERT's abolition date). In some colonies the traffic continued later.
• Years of traffic by colony, from the surviving registers [2]:
• Guyana: 1838–1917
• Trinidad and Tobago: 1845–1917
• Surinam: 1853–1946

• Fiji: 1879–1962

• Aapravasi Ghat, Port Louis, Mauritius:

• Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million Indian indentured labourers landed here. They worked on sugar plantations or were sent on to Reunion Island, Australia, southern and eastern Africa, or the Caribbean [3].
• The immigration depot was built in 1849. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006 [3].

• The site covers 1,640 m². Its remains include immigrant sheds, kitchens, lavatories, a hospital block and the flight of 14 steps every new arrival had to climb [3].

• Official records: UNESCO placed the Records of the Indian Indentured Labourers (1845–1917) on its Memory of the World Register. These are the emigration passes, registers and ship lists kept in Fiji, Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago. The Mauritius records of the labourers were listed separately [2].

• Worker testimony: the account of Ram Narain Tewary from Demerara.
• Main textbook source: NCERT Class 10, Ch 3 "The Making of a Global World".

Don't confuse with

• Slavery: a slave was owned for life and had no contract. An indentured worker signed a contract for a fixed term (about five years) and was promised a return passage. The legal form was "free" labour, even though daily life was not free.
• Shikaripuri shroffs and Nattukottai Chettiars: these Indians also went abroad, but as bankers who financed export agriculture in Central and Southeast Asia. They were not bonded workers.
• Hyderabadi Sindhi traders: they set up emporia (large shops) selling curios to tourists at ports around the world from the 1860s. They were merchants, not labourers.
• 1917 vs 1921: 1917 is when recruitment ended for Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago [2]. 1921 is NCERT's date for the abolition of the system.

Prelims Hooks

• Indian indenture contracts promised return travel after five years. The contract paid the worker's passage, which he repaid with his labour.
• Mauritius, 1834: the British "great experiment" with indentured labour in place of slaves [3]. Aapravasi Ghat: built 1849, UNESCO World Heritage Site 2006, famous 14 steps [3].
• Recruits from the dry districts of Tamil Nadu went mainly to Ceylon and Malaya. Recruits from eastern UP and Bihar went to the Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji.
• Hosay (Trinidad) grew out of the Muharram procession and is named after Imam Hussain. Chutney music comes from Trinidad and Guyana.
• Ram Narain Tewary gave his testimony from Demerara, describing jail and wage cuts.
• Records of the Indian Indentured Labourers, 1845–1917 are on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, not the World Heritage List [2].

Mains Points

• Indenture shows that globalisation had two sides. The 19th-century world economy linked continents and raised output, but its labour supply rested on lies, debt and force. Integration and exploitation happened together.
• Was it "a new system of slavery"?
• For: false recruitment, kidnapping, jail, wage cuts and no real way out.
• Against: a written contract, a fixed term, a promised return passage, and an official depot system with registers (Aapravasi Ghat, and the emigration passes now in UNESCO's Memory of the World) [2][3].

• Balanced view: on paper it was free labour. In practice it was unfree.

• The causes lay in colonial policy in India. De-industrialisation, rising rents and land cleared for mines and plantations created the indebted poor who signed up. The results reached beyond suffering: new cultural forms (Hosay, chutney music) and lasting Indian-descended communities from Fiji to Guyana. A good answer covers both the coolie ship and the culture the migrants built.

Related concepts

• Abolition of slavery in the British Empire 1833
• Nattukottai Chettiars

Read more

• Indentured migration from India; Indian entrepreneurs abroad