Indians in Myanmar’s Zayawaddy
Author Name
Dipannita Maria Bagh
Author Address
Member of SRC on International Law & Governance at the International Association for Political Science Students, also Editor, www.southasianstudies.org
Email Address:
[email protected]
Keywords
Diaspora, Colonialism, Nationalism, Zayawaddy, India, Myanmar
Abstract
India and Burma both fell to the debacle of World War II as Crown’s most precious colonies, the former being the largest source of revenue and man power and the latter to Rice for fodder and beer supplements feeding the war machinery. Both the nations rose from the debris of war and transformed into two different forms of government over the decades. With nationalism taking a radical turn in Burma at the onset of Tatmadaw regime (thereafter named Myanmar), the country’s thriving Indian diaspora forced to return to India. The ones that stayed behind were those with proof of living for generations, a small cluster of them residing in Zayawaddy. With the impact of ‘Nationalisation’ policy, the Indians were isolated from the rest of the population, allowing them to forge a deeper cultural and national identity. Over the decades their population strength has gone to something close to 70,000 with over 100 Hindi medium schools, temples and households as one gets to see in UP-Bihar migrant parts of metropolitan India. Most of them haven’t any idea of what India presently looks like, much of them have not had the affording power to pay a visit to the land of their ancestors. It is only through the histories from their elderly that they revisit India. While they are Myanmar citizens, yet a ‘Little India’ lives within them.
Conference
International Conference on "Global Migration: Rethinking Skills, Knowledge and Culture"