UG Berbice campus hosts conference on Indian diaspora
Jeffrey urges consideration of current political concerns
By Daniel DaCosta
Stabroek News
May 22, 2002
Local and international academics gathered on Monday at the Berbice Campus of the University of Guyana for a conference on the Indian diaspora and Education Minister Henry Jeffrey urged consideration of the political concerns facing the country.
In his opening remarks, director of the campus, Dr. Parsram S. Thakur said that the Tain, Corentyne campus needs all the help it can get. "We are here, we are growing and we need your help," he told the gathering. "Guyana has been a laboratory for ethnic and racial studies and it is my hope that we can take the initiative here at Tain and at Turkeyen in this area." Noting that the country is in crisis, Dr. Thakur called for a greater degree of educational, social and political reforms.
Minister of Education, Dr. Henry Jeffrey delivering the feature address said, "We must not forget that the indentureship system in which the East Indian diaspora is rooted was in no way exclusive. Africans, Portuguese, Chinese, Europeans, Maltese and Germans," he noted, "all came and suffered." Between 1851 and 1917 some 239,000 East Indian labourers arrived in Guyana, he recalled, and approximately 75,000 returned to India at the end of their indentureship.
Congratulating the organisers of the conference, Jeffrey told the audience that it was taking place at a time "when ongoing political and social events threaten the social fabric and have for decades prevented this land and its people from fulfilling their potential. For more than 50 years the political process in Guyana has operated sub-optimally."
Declaring the conference open, India's High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Prakash V. Joshi said, "Guyana's prosperity today is due to a large extent to the hard work of the early Indian pioneers and their descendants. Guyanese of Indian descent are in the forefront of trade, politics and industry and this is the pattern of the Indian diaspora."
According to the High Commissioner "between 1834 and 1920, approximately 12 million Indians left our shores but some eight million returned after their indentureship."
The Indian diaspora, he explained, is comprised of four categories. These include indentured labourers; people who left in the early and later 19th century to work as petty administrators and shopkeepers in Africa; businessmen who left India for the Gulf countries during the 18th century and those who left for the United States and the United Kingdom after independence.
The diplomat said that some 35,000 Indian doctors are in the United States and Indian migrants have the highest per capita income among all others there. "There is no doubt that Indians have done an excellent job wherever they are and have contributed to the development of those countries."
Jeffrey in his address congratulated the organisers "for doing what universities should be doing ....that is providing the opportunity for its community to discuss and distill ideas and formulations that affect community life."
Observing that the campus is a fitting place for such discourse, he said it augured well that the organisers were able to attract some international participants. "Berbice is replete with important historical symbols which can provide a backdrop for other discourses of this type."
According to the education minister, East Indians have toiled and are still toiling to ensure the survival and progress of the sugar industry. "Today Guyanese of Indian descent form a significant portion of the professional class and have emerged as teachers, headmasters, lawyers, doctors, magistrates, civil servants and have even ascended to the office of the presidency."
High Commissioner Joshi called on East Indians to "know who you are. You cannot deny your past. You can be proud of your culture and still be a good Guyanese. The bonds between the Indian diaspora," he posited "should be strengthened in an effort to merge it with the world at large and to share its knowledge, prosperity and feelings so that the world community benefits."
According to Jeffrey "the period leading up to 1964 was wasted in a geo-political confrontation, intended to and succeeded in removing the PPP from office. The years between 1964 and 1992 saw the establishment of a more or less dictatorial regime. From 1992 to date we have seen a governance mechanism that a significant number of citizens view with suspicion but see as unremovable."
He contended that for 50 years normal politics had not prevailed in Guyana, but there were many roads to a workable level of normalcy. "The problem is to design and adopt a politically feasible course. However, this will only materialise with discourse and the political will....this conference must consider these current concerns," he concluded.
An art exhibition by Indian artists was opened by UG Vice- Chancellor, Dr. James Rose following the official opening which was spiced with several Indian cultural items.
Later in the day a literary panel chaired by Dr. Frank Birbalsingh of York University, Toronto, Canada was convened. The panellists included Vijay Maharaj and Gietree Kistow of the University of the West Indies, and Dr. Martin Boodhoo of the United Nations Association of Guyana.
Yesterday, another panel discussion was convened and chaired by Tota Mangar. The panellists included Professor Victor Ramraj and Dr. Ruby Ramraj, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Professor Roydon Slick, University of the West Indies, and Dr. Birbalsingh.
Similar discussions will be held over the next three days on several topics, including history, religion, education and the Indian diaspora. The conference concludes on Saturday with a business meeting.