The revolting system of Indentured Labour from India was started in 1834 by the French planters from Mauritius – where, in the alien land, these helpless people were badly treated. In 1838, the East India Company imposed an embargo on the movement of Indian workers, but the unregulated activity continued well into 1839. However, the situation improved considerably, when the East India Company took control from December 1842 to 1857. From now on till the end of colonial rule, every aspect for the welfare of Indentured Labour was considered humanely – for the colonies did not want to lose them, in their larger economic interest.

In 1882, the-then Government of India commissioned two reputed judges: Major G.D. Pitcher and George Grierson, asking them ‘separately’ to conduct surveys and submit their reports on the system of Emigration from India to the British and foreign colonies. This volume includes these judges’ reports, diaries and other papers, describing the conditions Indian indentured labour.

Leela Sarup: heading a large business house, currently divides her time in copying, editing the digitalized research material concerning the Colonial Emigration of the 19th and 20th centuries.