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Hindustanis in Holland

An industrious, however invisible minority

The population in The Netherlands totals 15 million inhabitants (16.669.112 in 2011) 2.7 (3)million of which have a non-Dutch background. One million originate from other countries in Europe and the United States of America. The remaining 1.7 (2) million have their roots in Turkey, Morocco, Africa, Asia and Latin America (Suriname being part of it). The immimigrants from Suriname, the major part being Afro-Surinamese people on the one hand and Hindustanis on the other, emigrated to the Netherlands in the 1970s and early 1980s. The Hindustanis originate from Indians, mainly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who were taken to Suriname as indentured labourers, from 1873. In the year 2000 approximately 300.000 Surinamese live in The Netherlands, of which more than fifty per cent are Hindustanis. (Added: According to recent estimates the total number of Hindustanis in the Netherlands is somewhere between 160.000 and 170.000 in 2011). The largest concentration of this ethnic minority group is to be found in the four biggest cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Today's PIO's (Persons of Indian Origin), residing in Holland, somehow always kept staying on the northern part of the world they went to: from Northern India, UP/Bihar (red in map below) to the north of South America, and of Europe in mainly the northern part of The Netherlands/Holland.

In this presentation I will restrict myself to The Hague, where their presence in the economic and cultural field is most visible compared to the other towns. According to recent reports about 45.000 Hindustanis live and work in The Hague, which is a share of ten per cent of the population. (Fifty percent of the 450.000 inhabitants (November 2011: 500.000) are members of minority groups). The Hindustanis are regarded upon as “an industrious minority”. It is impossible to provide a view of the Hindustanis in the Netherlands without referring to their Surinamese background. The Netherlands is their second major leap within only one-century –the first major leap was the migration from India to Suriname, which started in 1873. After their indentured contracts had expired and about thirty per cent eventually decided not to return to India, the Hindustanis initially restricted themselves to the agricultural field. Although initially they showed no great interest in education, neither for themselves or their children, they had a great sense of self-employment as smallholders concentrating on cultivating rice for both the local market and exports, which contributed tremendously to their economic independence. Despite this ability of self-support as an ethnic group they would be confined to a lesser social status in comparison to the Afro-Surinamese population in Suriname for a long period. This was a result of the ethnic division of labour. In general the Afro Surinamese had higher educational qualifications, which conducted them to positions in governmental, managerial and political environments. [Immigrants, Schooling and Social mobility”, University of Amsterdam] Presentation Indians in Diaspora, Allahabad India, January 2000 Kishoendajal, Mala