Why indentured labour was taken by the British from India to other colonies ? Have they been able to preserve their cultural identity over there ?
Approach · directive: “why / have they been able”
What it asks · Explain the causes of indentured emigration (labour demand after slavery ended and push factors in India) and judge how far the migrants and their descendants kept their culture.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Why indentured labour was taken from India: colonial labour demand after slavery ended (pull), distress in India (push), and the nature of the system
- Have they preserved their cultural identity: evidence of preservation, adaptation and erosion, leading to a judgement
Open with · After slavery was abolished in the British Empire in the 1830s, plantations needed cheap labour, and from 1834 Indians were shipped under contract to Mauritius, the Caribbean, Natal, Fiji and elsewhere.
Cover
- Pull: sugar, tea, cotton and rubber colonies needed disciplined, cheap labour once slavery ended; India, with a vast rural workforce, was a convenient British-controlled source.
- Push: poverty, famines, indebtedness, land-revenue pressure and the ruin of handicrafts drove peasants and artisans to accept fixed-term contracts, often after deceptive recruitment by agents.
- Conditions: harsh work, low wages, penal labour laws and poor housing led historians to call it a 'new system of slavery'; a nationalist campaign helped end it in 1917–20.
- Cultural preservation: religion was the anchor, through temples, Ramcharitmanas recitation and festivals such as Diwali, Holi (Phagwa) and Muharram (Hosay), along with Hindi-dialect tongues such as Fiji Hindi and Sarnami.
- Adaptation: shared voyages and plantation life loosened caste and regional divides; food, music (chutney, baithak gana), dress and family ties blended with local cultures into new creole identities.
- Erosion: Christian conversion, English and creole replacing Hindi, migration to Europe and North America, intermarriage and ethnic politics, as in Fiji and Guyana, have diluted identity.
- Links today: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (since 2003), OCI cards, ICCR cultural centres and Hindi promotion sustain ties with the diaspora.
Close with · Indenture arose from colonial labour demand and Indian distress; descendants kept core religious and cultural practices while creating hybrid, locally rooted identities.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 293 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
After slavery was abolished in the British Empire in the 1830s, plantation colonies needed cheap labour, and from 1834 Indians were shipped under contract to Mauritius, the Caribbean, Natal, Fiji and elsewhere as 'girmitiyas'.
Why indentured labour was taken
- Pull: sugar, tea, cotton and rubber plantations needed disciplined, cheap labour once slaves were freed; India, under British control and with a vast rural workforce, was the convenient source.
- Push: poverty, famines, indebtedness, land-revenue pressure and the ruin of handicrafts drove peasants and artisans to accept fixed-term contracts, often after deceptive recruitment by agents.
- The system: harsh work, low wages, penal labour laws and poor housing led historians to call it a 'new system of slavery'; nationalist campaigning helped end it in 1917–20.
Have they preserved their cultural identity?
- Preserved: religion was the anchor, through temples, Ramcharitmanas recitation and festivals such as Diwali, Holi (Phagwa) and Muharram (Hosay); Hindi-derived tongues such as Fiji Hindi and Sarnami survive.
- Adapted: shared voyages and plantation life loosened caste and regional divides; food, music (chutney, baithak gana), dress and family ties blended with local cultures into new creole identities.
- Eroded: Christian conversion, English and creole replacing Hindi, onward migration to Europe and North America, intermarriage and ethnic politics, as in Fiji and Guyana, have diluted identity.
- Links today: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (since 2003), OCI cards, ICCR cultural centres and Hindi promotion sustain ties with the descendants of the girmitiyas.
Judgement
- Preservation has been selective: core religious and cultural practices endure, but in hybrid, locally rooted forms rather than as a replica of nineteenth-century India.
Indenture arose from colonial labour demand meeting Indian distress; its descendants kept the core of their culture while building new identities, which is why their heritage is both recognisably Indian and distinctly their own.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.