THE PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRY OF FIJI WHERE PEOPLE OF INDIAN-ORIGIN MAKE UP NEARLY 50 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION

(MONIKA SINGH ON THE LEFT FROM FIJI WITH A FELLOW COLLEAGUE FROM GUYANA, MS BIBI FAREEZA HANIFF)

BY SUBRY GOVENDER THE ISLAND COUNTRY OF FIJI NEAR AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND HAS BECOME FAMOUS BECAUSE OF WORLD GOLFING STAR, VIJAY SINGH. SINGH IS A DESCENDANT OF INDENTURED LABOURERS WHO WERE TAKEN TO THE ISLAND BY THE BRITISH IN THE EARLY 1800s. TODAY PEOPLE OF INDIAN-ORIGIN IN FIJI MAKE NEARLY 50 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION. WHAT IS THE SITUATION OF PEOPLE OF INDIAN –ORIGIN ON THE ISLAND? I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF TALKING TO MS MONIKA SINGH, A JOURNALIST FROM FIJI, WHEN SHE ATTENDED THE PRAVASI BHARATIAR DIVAS CONFERENCE IN CHENNAI IN JANUARY 2009. MONIKA SINGH WAS ONE OF 19 JOURNALISTS OF INDIAN-ORIGIN WHO ATTENDED THE CONFERENCE FROM GUYANA, SURINAME AND TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO IN THE WEST INDIES, MALAYSIA, MAURITIUS, SINGAPORE, SEYCELLES, SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIA AND FIJI. I COMPILED SEVERAL RADIO FEATURES ON SOME OF THESE COUNTRIES WHERE PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN MAKE UP A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATIONS OF THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. IN THIS RADIO FEATURE, MONIKA SINGH TALKS ABOUT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE OF INDIAN-ORIGIN IN FIJI.