Abstract
P.S. Vivek’s pioneering work has highlighted the plight of the Chinese and Indian indentured labourers working on various overseas plantations. He compares their condition to slave labourers and people who have lost their homeland, family ties, caste and religion, and who worked for their master and earned only misery for themselves. The author traces the historical transition of emigrant Indians in Mauritius over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He reconstructs the social, political and economic history of emigrant Indians from the early inhabitants of the island, up to the contemporary period (viz. till 2005). Vivek also delineates the emigrants’ struggles as indentured labourers in a new land. Alongside, he focuses on the way today’s technologically advanced globalised world (viz. the European Union and World Trade Organisation [WTO]) have extended their power and dominated this population in Mauritius. He mentions how a reduction in sugar price in the world market affects the small planters of Mauritius. The author shows how these Indians, during colonial rule, subjugated their aspirations to the cruelties of the European estate masters, elaborating the high handedness of the ruling elite and their officiating agents, disguised as elected representatives of the planters during the post-1968 era (p. 3).
The basic idea of the author is to enumerate the possible implication of the reduction of sugar price on the small planters of Mauritius at the behest of the European Union and to locate possible alternatives that may be available to the small planters of Mauritius to face the emerging crisis in maintaining their present standard of living (p. 4). The author delineates the emergence of a new form of consciousness and its role in shaping the political awareness and economic betterment of these people in the island.
Divided into seven chapters along with an introduction and conclusion, the book traces various layers of European Union economic policies and forms of domination in the Africa Caribbean, and Pacific Countries (ACP) and how they affected the big planters (miller planters) and small planters in different ways. It examines why, despite the existence of legal and constitutional equality and welfare state’s benefits, these small planters are still subjects of backwardness and exploitation in the society and economy of independent Mauritius.
Along with diverse archival sources, the author has also consulted literary sources to understand the process of transformation of indentured Indians (from labourers to planters), their shift from the cane-fields to the parliament and the way in which they created a new economic group identity. It is indeed creditable that the author has gone beyond official sources in order to incorporate the views and articulations of the ‘invisible’ people (p. 216). Thus, Vivek’s exhaustive interviews with the small planters (with Bissoo Mungroo of Flick En Flack, Goburdhun, etc.), leaders (such as Rama Sithanen, Minister of Finance and Economic Development; Rajesh Jeetah, Minister for Industry and Commerce; Arvin Boolell, Minister for External Affairs and International Co-operation) and high ranking officials of the Mauritius Sugar Authority help to understand not only government policies but also the views from the ‘margins’.
Vivek begins with a well-formed introductory note that underlines the need to understand the economic policies of the advanced western countries towards the dependent third world countries. For example, the sugar industry in Mauritius is reliant on the preferential arrangement it has with the European Union and the access to the European market at guaranteed prices. This has come under threat as a result of the steady erosion of trade preference in the EU market that has led to a continuous fall in sugar prices and rising domestic cost of production.
The author discusses various aspects of the island such as the history of its existence, its colonisation, the inhabitants, their history and the cultural diversities (viz. since the population includes the Dutch, French, British, Chinese and Indians). He also provides information regarding the environmental and climatic change of the island and how this has affected the growth of the population and agricultural production. After this, the author discusses why indentured labourers were introduced into the economy of Mauritius, including the social origins of these migrants and the factors that led to their migration. He also examines the shift and changes in indentured laws and regulations over 1834 and 1910. The author highlights the deteriorating condition of the Indians in the colony. He argues that the Mauritian experience of nineteenth century and the people’s responses to the challenges of the time have given shape to the present social, economic and political structure of the island. The coercive measures of the white plantocracy to wield power over the people provided possibilities to the Indians to raise their social, economic and political status and seek to change the power relationship in their favour (p. 98).
The author shows how internal and external factors transformed the agro-based Mauritian economy into an export-oriented manufacturing economy. He argues that globalisation of the world economy and the implementation of the WTO provisions have strongly impacted the Mauritian economy, and it is facing the competition from other emerging exporters. He highlights how provisions of market liberalisation have augmented the suffering of the poor cane producing countries, benefitting the European Union and United States (p. 105). His argument incorporates the EU sugar production policies and the reforms towards the exporters that have affected the developing countries.
Next the author examines the history of sugar production in Mauritius since its independence, up to the present time. He argues that environmental determinism (which emphasises the role of geography and endowments in growth, the ‘enabling institutions’, positive post-colonial policies and developmentalist ideology) has helped in fostering an ‘economic miracle’ in Mauritius. The planters adopted a scientific method for the rationalisation of sugar industry in Mauritius, but small planters could not apply these methods in their land, because they hold small areas of land. However, the co-operative societies and small planter’s co-operatives provided credit to the small planters for their growth.
Next Vivek emphasises the political awareness, spiritual and cultural renaissance amongst the Indians in Mauritius. The notion of ‘public health’ and good living condition became important for the independent country. The small planters became aware about their rights and participated in the collective protest march in 2003 for preserving the ‘pension rights’ of the Mauritius working class. They also organised the crusade against corruption and mismanagement and demanded financial support from the government for small planters.
The author raises some important questions like why past policies have failed to benefit small planters. He examines the forces that designed these policies and the motivation behind them. He also discusses the role of government policies and institutions. Thus, as he puts it, although these are meant for the welfare of small planters, in actual terms they have adopted an anti-small planter approach (p. 259).
The author has suggested some alternatives to the government and bureaucrats for the welfare and betterment of the small planters. He emphasises how the government thrusts a public policy on the people without their consent which is unfair and against natural justice. He is critical about the small planters who have become puppets in the hands of their own government and suggests a broader/democratic approach vis-à-vis policy formulation. Further, he demands planters’ freedom from government decisions to cultivate whatever they want to cultivate on their land. As he puts it, the government should allow and encourage these planters to engage in whatever they think is suitable, profitable and viable for them.
It would have been much better if the author had incorporated the social, economic and political or cultural experience of emigrant women. Nevertheless, one has to say that this is a stimulating book for scholars/researchers and students associated with social science and all those who yearn to learn about the indentured Indians and the Indian Diaspora. This book would also attract those who want to study the present-day economic interactions between the developed and the developing countries. The Appendices as well as a detailed Bibliography would be really useful to researchers. What makes this work particularly striking is the author’s keen interest in fieldwork research, following the sociological method of ‘participation observation’.