Bengaluru: India needs to support all the Girmitya countries and help in preservation of languages, sites, objects and pictures related to indentured labour for posterity, said Prithirajsing Roopun, Minister for Culture and Arts, Social Integration and Economic Empowerment in Mauritius.
Speaking at the session on ‘Connecting Contemporary India to Diaspora in Girmitiya countries: Link to past for a shared future’, Mr. Roopun said, “Policy drive is needed to have linkage, and networking should also include music, literature, writings and academia.”
He offered his country’s help to other Girmitya countries in digitisation and preservation of heritage.
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Responding to the request, Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. V.K. Singh (retd.) said that India will help people in Girmitya countries trace their origins by enabling access to old gazettes.
Of cricket and hockey
With many Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) in the Girmitya countries evincing interest in cricket and hockey, the Ministry of External Affairs has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Hockey Federation of India to promote these sports in more than 25 Girmitya countries, and four islands in the Indian Ocean that are under French control.
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The proposal has been made by a 17-member consultative committee that includes 10 representatives from Girmitya countries. The committee made the proposal on the concluding day of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on Monday.