How Indian Girmitians, brought for Sugar Industry, Transformed Fiji

Editor’s Note: The sugar industry is the lifeline of rural Maharashtra. It has transformed the countryside and improved the quality of life for millions. To shed light on the history, challenges, long-term and short-term solutions, and future expectations of this industry, Shri Mangesh Titkare — Managing Director of the Maharashtra Cooperative Development Corporation, former Joint Director of Sugar, a seasoned administrator, and author of several books on the sugar sector — writes the popular column ‘Sharkarayana.’ In this series, he explores the impact of the sugar industry on human migration in the Indian context. This series is sure to captivate all readers.

The Early Indian Girmitians of Fiji

The Republic of Fiji is a nation situated in the Melanesian region of Oceania, in the southern Pacific Ocean. The archipelago comprises 332 islands, of which 110 are inhabited. Viti Levu and Vanua Levu are its two principal islands. The country gained independence from British rule in 1970. The capital city, Suva, is located on Viti Levu, and approximately 75% of the population resides in and around the Suva metropolitan area. Fiji has the most developed economy in Oceania, endowed with abundant forest, mineral, and fishery resources. Its currency is the Fijian Dollar. As of the 2013 census, the population stood at 868,000, of which 38% was of Indian descent. In 1942, the population was 210,000, including 94,000 individuals of Indian origin.

Official Languages: English, Fijian, and Fiji Hindi Area: 18,274 sq. km. The country is located approximately 12,000 kilometres from India.

Formal British rule over Fiji commenced in October 1874. Sir Arthur Gordon became Governor of Fiji in 1875. He decided to replace the existing cotton plantations with sugarcane fields and resolved to bring indentured labourers from India to work in them.

Between 1879 and 1916 — a span of 36 years — a total of 60,962 labourers were brought from South and East Asia under contract. Of these, 15,132 were Indian labourers brought to Fiji, constituting approximately 25% of the total workforce. They were referred to as Indian Girmitians. Most of them were contract workers from the central and northern regions of India — primarily Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This system was based on the Indentured Labour Scheme that had been operative within the British Empire since 1837.

Rural recruitment offices were established in various agricultural regions across northern, southern, and western India. On 14 May 1879, the labour transport ship Leonidas departed Calcutta (now Kolkata) and docked at Levuka. The first vessel carried 498 indentured workers. Over the next 37 years, more than 61,000 labourers arrived from South and East Asia — these were among the first.

The contracts signed by indentured workers were known as Girimit agreements. Workers were obligated to serve in Fiji for a period of five years. The majority of Girmitians worked on sugarcane plantations under poor living conditions. The areas were dominated by rows of barracks known as “Coolie Lines.” These workers arrived from diverse regions, villages, backgrounds, and castes, and over time they intermixed, giving rise to a blended culture. They came to be identified as Indo-Fijians. This was, in essence, a new and legally sanctioned form of bondage.

By 1916, growing resentment over the violation of the human rights of indentured workers led to the abolition of the scheme. On 1 January 1920, all remaining indentured workers were formally freed from their contracts.

85% of Indian Workers Were Hindu

Approximately 85% of the Indian indentured workers brought to Fiji were Hindus. The remainder included Muslims, Indian Christians, and Sikhs. Most were brought from conditions of poverty and famine. About one-quarter of the migrants came from South India, primarily Tamil Nadu, while the remaining 75% came from Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, and Punjab. Some workers also came from Gujarat.

Many indentured workers in Fiji chose to return to India after their contracts expired. By 1940, 40% had returned. After the abolition of the indenture system in 1920, Indian workers continued to leave Fiji for various reasons, creating a serious labour shortage on the sugarcane plantations. To curb this emigration, the British colonial government extended limited electoral and civil rights to Indo-Fijians in 1929, based on a racial quota system.

Hindu Fijians opposed this arrangement, and A. D. Patel — a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi — led the independence movement in Fiji. After Britain granted Fiji independence in 1970, Indians were accorded equal status as Fijians. According to the 1976 Fiji census, 295,000 people were of Indo-Fijian descent.

During the 1980s, a significant number of Indo-Fijians emigrated to Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Canada, and India for various reasons. Around 50,000 individuals relocated during this period. As a result, by 2017, Indo-Fijians numbered approximately 295,000, accounting for only 24% of the population.

The Sugar Industry

The sugar industry is a cornerstone of Fiji’s economy and its primary source of export revenue. Sugarcane originally grew wild in Fiji, and local Fijians used it as thatch for their traditional bures (dwellings). After cotton prices fell in 1870, plantation owners turned to sugarcane cultivation, and the sugar industry took root in the 1870s. In 1871, the Cakobau government offered a prize of £500 for the best and highest-yielding crop from cane planted before January 1873 — such government incentives spurred the growth of sugarcane farming.

Fiji’s first sugarcane processing factory was established in 1872 in the capital Suva by Brewster and Joske. By the end of 1874, four sugar mills were operational. By 1878, the number had grown to ten, though most mills operated for only a few years. After a sharp fall in sugar prices in 1884, only a handful survived — the Navua, Penang, Taveuni, and Rewa Sugar Company mills among them.

In 1880, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR), an Australian-owned enterprise, became a dominant force in the industry. It is currently managed by the government-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC). CSR established the Nausori Sugar Mill on the banks of the Rewa River (1882), the Rarawai Mill in Ba (1883), and in 1890 assembled the Labasa Mill using components from a defunct Queensland mill. By 1926, all other sugar mills had closed, and CSR held ownership of Fiji’s five remaining sugar factories. The Nausori Mill closed in 1959.

From 1882 onwards, CSR made the Fijian sugar industry commercially viable. Post-1970, the industry underwent significant expansion. Today, the Fiji Sugar Corporation is the government-owned milling company, established by an Act of Parliament in 1972 and formally constituted in 1973.

The FSC is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the government, which sets policy and functions as an administrative body. Its management and staff are predominantly Fijian citizens. The corporation holds a monopoly over raw sugar production, is the country’s largest public enterprise, and directly employs 1,800 people. A further 200,000 or more people in Fiji’s rural cane-growing regions depend on the mills for their livelihoods. The FSC operates four sugar factories in total.

Caste Composition of 19th-Century Migrants

Languages Spoken by Indian-Origin People in Fiji (1956 Census)

The Indian Cane Growers Association

Fiji’s first sugarcane growers’ organization — the Indian Cane Growers Association — was founded in 1919. It entered into negotiations with the dominant cane cultivation and raw sugar production company, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, established in 1880. In 1921, a strike by sugarcane farmers was led by Vashisht Muni. In 1959, the Cane Growers Union was established, and in 1980, a Joint Committee of Cane Growers’ Associations was formed.

The Lautoka Mill, the Rarawai Mill in the Ba District, the Penang Mill in Rakiraki, and the Labasa Mill on Vanua Levu — the last being the largest sugar mill in Fiji — are the four operational mills. More than 90% of sugar produced is exported. The Sugar Industry Act of 1984 established the Fiji Sugar Commission, the Sugar Industry Tribunal, and the Sugar Cane Growers Council to regulate, adjudicate, and represent the interests of farmers respectively.

The Influence of Arya Samaj and Girmitians Day

The first ship carrying Indian indentured workers to Fiji’s shores arrived on 14 May 1879. Accordingly, 14 May is observed as Girmitians Day in Fiji — a national public holiday commemorating the contribution of Indians to the building of the nation. Over time, these Girmitians established themselves across various industries, the wider economy, and trade, playing a pivotal role in strengthening the country’s economic foundations.

A majority of the Girmitians who came to Fiji were adherents of Sanatan Dharma (orthodox Hinduism) and the Arya Samaj movement. They liberated themselves from superstitions and expensive religious rituals, opposed child marriage, championed the remarriage of widows, and encouraged the education of girls.

Notable Indo-Fijian Personalities

Joy Ali (boxer), Junior Farzan Ali (boxer), Shabana Aziz (Australian actress), Ganesh Chand (academic historian, politician, and jazz musician), Rajesh Chandra (first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fiji and President of the University of the South Pacific), Mahendra Chaudhry (fourth Prime Minister of Fiji), Imrana Jalal (UN Human Rights Advisor and member of the International Commission of Jurists), Rocky Khan (New Zealand rugby sevens player), Roy Krishna (footballer), Siddiq Moideen Koya (first Leader of the Opposition in post-independence Fiji, politician and eminent lawyer), Brij Lal (historian), Prerna Lal (US attorney and civil rights lawyer), Shanil Lal (indigenous rights activist),

Shirin Latif (women’s rights activist), James Madhavan (one of Fiji’s longest-serving parliamentarians), Julian Moti (former Attorney General of the Solomon Islands), Satya Nandan (President of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission), Rajan Prasad (former Member of Parliament, New Zealand), Jack Ram (Indo-Fijian-origin Tongan rugby player), Jai Ram Reddy (former Leader of the Opposition in Fiji), Sir Anand Satyanand (Governor-General of New Zealand, 2006–2011), Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (Attorney General of Fiji),

Faiza Shahin (British economist), Nazhat Shameem (President of the UN Human Rights Council), Vivekananda Sharma (former Minister for Youth and Sports, former President of Sanatan Dharm, former Director of Radio Fiji), Rekha Sharma (Canadian actress), Ajit Swaran Singh (District Court Judge, New Zealand), Bobby Singh (retired professional American and Canadian football guard),

Lisa Singh (Australian Senator), Nalini Singh (author of supernatural romance fiction), Vijay Singh (former World No. 1 golfer), Tanita Tikaram (singer who emigrated to Britain), Ben Volavola (rugby union player).

Fiji Samachar

The Arya Samaj established schools in Fiji and furthered its mission through its principal newspaper, Fiji Samachar, founded in 1923. Subsequent generations of Girmitians also entered the political arena. The National Federation Party, founded by A. D. Patel, was for much of Fiji’s history the preferred political party of the Indo-Fijian community. In later years, as the NFP’s representation declined, the Fiji Labour Party — led by Mahendra Chaudhry — rose to prominence among Indo-Fijian voters and came to power in 1999. On 19 May 1999, Mahendra Chaudhry was sworn in as Fiji’s fourth Prime Minister — and the first of Indo-Fijian heritage.

Following the military coup of 1987, and amid opposition from indigenous Fijian Christian communities, successive generations of educated Indo-Fijians emigrated to Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world. Around 50,000 individuals emigrated during this period, taking their Indo-Fijian culture with them. This phenomenon is regarded as a significant brain drain for Fiji.

What began as the recruitment of labour for sugarcane plantations ultimately transformed the entire social fabric, political landscape, and ethnic composition of a nation. The contributions of the Indo-Fijian community span every sphere of national development — and it must never be forgotten that this extraordinary transformation was set in motion by the sugarcane fields and the sweet sugar they yielded. (To be continued)

This article is part of the ‘Sharkarayana’ column authored by Shri Mangesh Titkare, published in Sugartoday.