Elaborate on the nature of Indian diaspora in Fiji

Indians in Fiji: Indo-Fijians are Fijians whose ancestors came from India and various parts of South Asia, South-East Asia and Asia itself.

The number 313,798 (37.6%) (2007) out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji. They are mostly descended from indentured labourers, girmitiyas or girmit, brought to the islands by Fiji’s British colonial rulers between 1879 and 1916 to work on Fiji’s sugar cane plantations.

These were complemented by the later arrival of Gujarati and Punjabi immigrants who arrived as free settlers in comparison to their counterparts who were brought under the indentured labour system. 

They have adapted to the new environment with changes to their dress, language and culinary habits, although they have maintained their distinct culture.

The Fiji Indians have fought for equal rights, although with only limited success. Many have left Fiji in search of better living conditions and social justice and this exodus has gained pace with the series of coups starting in the late 1980s.

The Leonidas, a labour transport vessel, disembarked at Levuka from Calcutta on 14 May 1879.

The 463 indentured workers who disembarked were the first of over 61,000 to arrive from South Asia and some from East Asia over the following 37 years.

The majority were from the districts of eastern provinces mostly and a lot from the south that was later followed by, as well as some coming from the northern and few west regions, then later southern eastern countries,

they originated mostly from different regions, villages, backgrounds and castes that later mingled or intermarried into one which hence the “Fijian Indian” identity was created.

The indentured slaves originated mostly from rural village backgrounds or were mostly dispossessed peasants. 

While the women on the other hand were either kidnapped, prostitutes or young widows. Some were even brought as kidnapped child labour. From the early 1900s, Indians started arriving in Fiji as free agents.

Many of these paid their own way and had previously served in Fiji or other British colonies or had been born in Fiji.

Amongst the early free migrants, there were religious teachers, missionaries and at least one lawyer.

The government and other employers brought clerks, policemen, artisans, gardeners, experienced agricultural workers, a doctor and a school teacher.

Punjabi farmers and Gujarati craftsmen also paid their own way to Fiji and in later year years formed an influential minority amongst the Fiji Indians.

According to the 1996 census (the latest available), 76.7% of Indians are Hindus and a further 15.9% are Muslims.

Christians comprise 6.1% of the Indian population, while about 0.9% is members of the Sikh faith. The remaining 0.4% are mostly non-religious.

(a) Social Integration in Fiji after 1970: Differences between ethnic Fijian taukeis and Fijian Indians complicated preparations for Fijian independence, which the United Kingdom granted in 1970, and have continued to define Fijian politics since.

Prior to independence, Indians sought a common electoral roll, based on the principle of “one man, one sought a communal franchise instead, with different ethnic groups voting on separate electoral rolls. 

At a specially convened conference in London in April 1970, a compromise was worked out, under which parliamentary seats would be allocated by ethnicity, with ethnic Fijian taukeis and Fijian Indians represented equally.

In the House of Representatives, each ethnic group was allocated 22 seats, with 12 representing Communal constituencies (elected by voters registered as members of their particular ethnic group) and a further 10 representing National constituencies (distributed by ethnicity but elected by universal suffrage.

A further 8 seats were reserved for ethnic minorities, 3 from “communal” and 5 from “national” constituencies.

Ethnic Indians outnumbered indigenous Fijians from 1956 through the late 1980s.

This was due to the death of 1/ 3 of the indigenous population, mainly male and children, that died from smallpox contracted when King Cakabau and other chief leaders returned from a trip from Australia during which they caught smallpox.

The percentage of the Indigenous female population increased as a result, and the native male population was scarce at one stage,

but by 2000 their share of the population had declined to 43.7%, because of a higher ethnic-Fijian birthrate and particularly because of the greater tendency of Fijian Indians to emigrate.

Emigration accelerated following the coups of 19 (which removed an Indian-supported government from power and, for a time, ushered in a constitution that discriminated against them in numerous ways) and of 2000 (which removed an Indian Prime Minister from office).

Following the military coup of 1987, many Indians saw little future in staying in Fiji and tried to find any means to leave the country.

Professional, middle class and business found it easier to emigrate. It has been estimated that more than 100,000 Fiji Indians have emigrated since 1987. This represents a third of the existing Indian population in Fiji. 

Political differences between the two communities, rather than ideological differences, have characterized Fijian politics since independence, with the two communities generally voting for different political parties.

The National Federation Party founded by A.D. Patel, was the party favoured overwhelmingly by the Indian community throughout most of the nation’s history, but its support collapsed in the parliamentary election of 1999 when it lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives; its support fell further still in the 2001 election

when it received only 22% of the Indian vote, and in the 2006 election, when it dropped to an all-time low of 14%.

The party currently favoured by Indians is the Fiji Labour Party, led by Mahendra Chaudhry, which received about 75% of the Indian vote in 2001, on all 19 seats reserved for Indians.

Originally founded as a multi-racial party in the 1980s, it is now supported mostly by Indians. Indo-Fijians are concentrated in the so-called Sugar Belt and in cities and towns on the northern and western coasts of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu; their numbers are much scarcer in the south and inland areas.

The majority of Fijian Indians converse in what is known as the Fiji Hindi language that has been joined from the eastern Hindi dialects mixed with native Fijian and English words, with some minorities speaking Gujarati, and Punjabi, among others.

Almost all Indians are also fluent in English.

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