Children of Chettair families, born and brought up abroad, who visited Cholapuram near Sivagangai to learn the history, culture and heritage of their community at Nagarathar Training Programme orgainsed by Dubai-based Nagarathar Business Initiative Group (NBIG). Deccan Chronicle, Year 2016

WRITTEN BY LONDON SWAMINATHAN

Post No. 12,315

Date uploaded in London – –  23 July , 2023                  

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“South Indian caste from Chettinad whose main occupation is commerce and moneylending. The Chettiyars migrated in large numbers to colonial Myanmar after 1880, playing a major role in transforming the peasant subsistence economy and connecting it with the export producing sector.  By providing mortgage loans to Myanmar peasants, at 12 p2cent a month interest, they came to possess, through foreclosures, about 25 percent of the agricultural land in 13 main  rice growing of southern Myanmar by 1936. The Chettiyar was seen by the Myanmar farmer as his main enemy. Indebtedness due to Chettiyar moneylenders was one of the causes of peasant unrest and of the Saya San Rebellion in 1930. The Chettiyars were also engaged in extending credits to traders and urban land owners. Shortly before the Japanese occupation of Myanmar (1942-1945), total Chettiyar investment in Myanmar was estimated as 56 million pounds sterling, the largest foreign investment in the country. From 1942 to 1945 most Chettiyar residents in Myanmar left for India. After the war they attempted aa comeback, but without much success”.

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Indians in Burma

“The Indians along with the Chinese  are the largest non indigenous ethnic group in Myanmar, though now Chinese are probably more numerous than Indian residents whose numbers have been reduced to  some 100,000 in recent decades. The Indian population of Myanmar consists largely descendants of the migrants who came to  the country especially from southern India and Bengal. , during the British colonial era in the early 20^th century. While not all  of the Indian immigrants chose to live in the country for good, by the 1930s about one million Indians resided in Myanmar, forming about half of the population of Yangon. Educated and rice Indians occupied the middle levels of business and administration with the Chettiyars playing a prominent role as money lenders and absentee land lords. Poor Indians came and worked as  seasonal agricultural workers and contract labourers. The Indian community was distinct from the Bamar majority and was not easily integrated into Myanmar society.  There was resentment against Chettiyars and also against the largely unrestricted influx of Indian labour, which combined with a different culture and religion, aroused feelings which were manifested I two anti Indian riots in 1930  and 1938. On the other hand Myanmar nationalists drew inspiration from the Indian National Congress.

In 1942, at the beginning of Japanese occupation, half of the Indian population left the country for India. And several hundred thousands died on the trek.

After 1945, many Indians came back to Myanmar, but since Myanmar’s independence in 1948, there have been rigid restrictions on the number permitted to enter Myanmar. The Indians were gradually excluded from public services, dispossessed of their lands and discriminated against in commerce and trade.

Indian interests were particularly affected by  the nationalization of Myanmar economy during the Burma Socialist programme Party era in the 1960s.

The present Indian community is made up of poorer classes who earn their living in menial jobs. A majority of the Indians born in Burma are Muslims and the minority are Hindus “.

(This matter is taken from Historical Dictionary of Myanmar by Jan Becka, 1995)

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1643 KM border

The India–Myanmar border is the international border between India and Myanmar (formerly Burma). The border is 1,643 kilometres (1,021 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with China in the north to the tripoint with Bangladesh in the south. (from Wikipedia).

Picture Credit , Deccan Chronicle, Year 2016

Children of Chettair families, born and brought up abroad, who visited Cholapuram near Sivagangai to learn the history, culture and heritage of their community at Nagarathar Training Programme orgainsed by Dubai-based Nagarathar Business Initiative Group (NBIG).

–Subham —

tags- Tamils, Chettiyars, Burma, Myanmar, Anti Indian riots, High interest rates