A Great Tamil Man and Former Prime Minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana Mr. Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo. PART. A.

Introduction:  All the Indians and specially all the Tamil people living throughout the world are proud of the former Honourable Prime Minster of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana Mr. Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo.  Honourable Mr..Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo, son of Mr. Ramasamy Nagamootoo [Indo-Guyanese of Tamil ethnicity] was elected as the Honourable Prime Minster of Guyana on 20th May 2015, and he reached this august political Post and power by his hard work, creative thinking, vision, statesmanship and extraordinary political intelligence and he decorated this Post till August 2020. with great distinction.  Mr.Moses V Nagamootoo was one of the very few Tamils to occupy and decorate the office of   Prime Minister of a Nation, in the whole world 

                                                      Mr. Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo.

Historical background  of the Indian Indentured labourers who settled in Guyana: Following the abolition of slavery  in 1834 and termination of apprenticeship system in 1838, there arose a compelling demand for low paid laborers in British and other European colonies  like Trinidad, Jamaica , Guyana, Figi, Ceylon,South Africa,  Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, Malaysia , etc, to work in the rubber and sugar plantations and in tea and  coffee estates.and mines of those colony countries, as contract laborers for a period of five years for very low wage. During the period between 1838 and 1917 , India was one of the main suppliers of indentured laborers to these colonies and India for the first time sent 396 indentured labourers to British Guyana from Calcutta Port on the initiative taken by Mr. John Gladstone [F/o of British Statesman Mr William Gladstone] with the permission of the East India Company. The Steamships Whitby and Heperus, started their sea voyage in 1838, carrying the first batch of Indian Indentured labourers. and reached Guyana after nearly three months. From Calcutta and Madras Ports Indian indentured labourers along with some women labourers were sent to Guyana in Coolie Ships during the first few decades starting from 1838.  In order to escape from starvation and social suppression and caste-based exploitation, and also to improve their social and economic status, the poor Indian labourers agreed to go and work as indentured labourers in foreign colony countries. From 1834 to the end of the Second World War in 1917, Britain had transported about 2 million Indian indentured workers from India to 19 colony countries. 

The Indian Presence in Guyana today [ Indo-Guyanese]: The indentured labourers recruited from Bhojpuri speaking area in India [ now U.P] were embarked at emigration depot at Calcutta and the Tamil Indentured labourers recruited from the then Madras Presidency were embarked at Emigration depot at Madras Port. The descendants of the immigrants from Madras province are called as Madrasis in Guyana. Majority of the indentured labourers brought from India to Guyana came from the so called low and backward castes and all of them were very poor and powerless. The descendants of the indentured labourers brought from India to Guyana in Coolie Steamships, to work in the Plantations in Guyana, today by their hard work and natural competent intelligence have become a social, economic, cultural, educational and political power in Guyana.  Now the Indo-Guyanese people constitute the majority in the population of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. All the Descendants of the Indian indentured labourers who have become the Citizens of Guyana are called as Indo-Guyanese. Indo-Guyanese people worked very hard with tolerance and perseverance for their survival.  It is really heartening to learn that the former Prime Minster of the Cooperative Republic of the Guyana, Mr Moses V Nagamootoo was one of the descendants of a Madrasis Tamil indentured labourer brought from Madras Presidency long back.  Now I will precisely deal with the biographical   sketch, family life, journalistic and political career of Mr. Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo. 

Mr Moses V Nagamootoo and his Birth and Parents: An Indo-Guyanese, belonging to Tamil ethnicity by name Mr. Nagamootoo Ramasamy and his beloved and beautiful wife Mrs Gangama Ramasamy were living at the idyllic and fertile coastal village Whim, in the eastern county of Berbice, Guyana. Mrs Gangama. Nagamootoo was born to a couple who lived in Bath Estate.  Mrs Gangama's father Mr Badriveeran was a descendant of an Indentured labourer from South India who was brought to Guyana in 1847. Ms Gangama worked in the Bath Sugar Plantation Estate as Weeder. and her husband Ramasamy Nagamootoo was working as a labourer. Then due to some political and social reasons they moved to Whim and settled there. And to this blessed couple a boy child was born on 30th November,1947, at Whim, Berbice, Guyana. Mr Nagamootoo Ramasamy and his wife Mrs. Gangama Ramasamy Nagamootoo christened their cute son as, Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo. Mr. Nagamootoo Ramasamy bought some fishing boats and began his own fishing business; and did his best to give the best possible education to his beloved smart son Mr Moses V Nagamootoo.

Mr Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo and His Education:  Mr. Moses V. Nagamootoo had the natural inclination towards education and learning. and thirst for knowledge and flair for reading and writing. Mr.  Moses V Nagamootoo did his Primary School Education at Auchlyne Scot School, situated at Corentine, Berbice, Guyana.  It is quite interesting and inspiring to learn that Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo, even while he was studying at the Auchlyne Scot Primary School, he happened to meet his future life-partner Ms Mary. and at that time Mr. Moses Nagamootoo was only 11 years old and the beautiful Mary was only 9 years old.  Even at the very first sight Moses Nagamootto was impressed and instantly infatuated by the extreme and compelling elegance of young Mary. That meeting made a lasting impression in the young mind of Moses Nagamootoo, After Moses Veerasamy Nagamootoo, left the Auchylyne Scot School and joined the Rose hall & Corentyne Comprehensive High School for his high School education; he was unable to see to Mary's face for some years. It is pertinent to mention here that the world famous, Cricket Player Isaac Alvin Kalicharran was also an old student of this Corentyne Comprehensive High School. Mr Moses V Nagamootoo, was a constant and continuous up-grader of knowledge, so after his High School education, he pursued his upgrading education and training in the following educational institutions:
[1] Accabre College of Social Sciences [George Town, Guyana]
[2] Venezuelan Spanish Language Institute.
[3] Allen White School of Journalism, University of Kansas, USA [He worked there as a Visiting Journalist, and it was sponsored by U.S. Information Service]
[4] The University of Guyana [To read for his LL.B degree, graduated in 2002].
[5] The University of West Indies [Hugh Wooding Law School, for Legal Education Certificate} 
Next Part will Follow soon.
By. P. Babu Manoharan, M.A, [ Rights reserved. This Article will be enlarged, modified or corrected later, if needed]