Indentured labourers are being honoured with a monument that was unveiled in Kolkota, India with a two-day ceremony that ends today.
The "Kolkota Indenture Memorial" was inaugurated on January 7 with a plaque that was placed at the location where indentured immigrants boarded the ship for the journey overseas. The plaque is a landmark where a monument and a museum will be established to remember those who were shipped off as indentured labourers and placed on bonds to work on estates.
Millions of East Indians were transported to the Caribbean, Africa, the Pacific, and Indian Ocean islands to work as contractual indentured servants. Approximately, 148,000 came to Trinidad and Tobago to work on the sugar plantations as a cheap form of labour on the colonies.
Some 300 diplomats and distinguished guests were invited from around the globe and travelled to Kolkota for the occasion. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs believes that the "Kolkota Indenture Memorial" will serve to educate future generations about this system of bondage through arts, artifacts and other exhibits depicting the life of indentured servants and the entire indentured system. There is the hope that a monument such as this will help people to trace their roots and feel connected to their ancestors.
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