Suriname VP's Indian roots

The Indian roots of Suriname Vice President Michael Ashwin Adhin, chief guest at the Youth Pravasi Divas event, go back to 144 years. His great-great-great-grand father from Uttar Pradesh was taken as an indentured labourer to the South American country to work in sugarcane fields.

The 36-year-old leader said the Dutch hired labourers from India to work in sugarcane fields in its colony of Suriname to replace African workers, following the abolition of slavery.

“Today, 30% of Suriname’s population comprises people of Indian origin, besides Afro-Surinames and Japanese who immigrated from Indonesia,” Adhin said.