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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugarcane as members of Gang 12. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-fiji-3693-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugarcane as members of Gang 12. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-3693-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2011<br />
Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugar cane as members of Gang 12 of the Labasa Mill. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-3693-merchant.jpg
  • Sharjah, UAE: The MSV Shree Mahalaxmi, a Indian-flagged dhow, with a crew from Gujarat
    indiaworld-23-merchant.jpg
  • Chennai, India: Preparing the nets at Valmiki Beach.
    india-portfolio-2000-merchant.tif
  • Labasa, Fiji | 2012<br />
Bhawna’s relatives dress her in her wedding sari during her marriage ceremony to Arvendra. Arvendra’s parents work in the cane fields, while he is a manager in an insurance company. Bhawna studied at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji’s capital city. Like most of their generation of Indo-Fijians, they will work in professions far from the cane fields.
    indiaworld-4711-merchant.jpg
  • Yuba City, California | 2104<br />
Karm Bains is a fourth-generation California farmer, who grows peaches, prunes, walnuts, and almonds. His father, Didar Singh Bains, worked on California farms as a day laborer, saving most of his meager wages and buying land on his way to becoming one of the biggest peach growers in the nation. Sikhs from Punjab first arrived in the early 20th century to work on railroads, sawmills, and in agriculture in Canada. Many settled farther south in California, working first as laborers and then buying and developing land. Today the northern Central Valley is home to a Sikh community that has expanded beyond agriculture and into other forms of business, politics, philanthropy, and the arts.
    indiaworld-4091-merchant.jpg
  • Hotel linens hang to dry among Hindu shrines in Dhobi Chour, the section of Kathmandu that is home to the caste of washers and others who work in the laundry industry.
    kathmandu-5725-merchant.jpg
  • Wailea Settlement, Suva, Fiji: Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill, while his family cut sugarcane. Their lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He brought his house from Labasa to Suva and reassembled it on leased land in a slum area popular with displaced farmers
    LastIndianCaneCuttersofFiji-3434-201...tif
  • Wailea Settlment, Near Suva, Fiji | 2011<br />
Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill while his family cut sugar cane. Their land lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to the outskirts of Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He transported his house by truck and boat from Labasa and reassembled it on leased land in a squatter settlement popular with displaced cane farmers.
    indiaworld-3434-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2011<br />
Basant Kumar and Premila Wati, Arvendra’s parents, in their home. Basant has worked as a tenant farmer on this land nearly all his life and was recently able to renew his lease with his native Fijian landlord.
    indiaworld-5794-merchant.jpg
  • Wailea Settlement, Suva, Fiji: Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill, while his family cut sugarcane. Their lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He brought his house from Labasa to Suva and reassembled it on leased land in a slum area popular with displaced farmers
    indiaworld-3434-merchant.jpg
  • Woolgoolga, Australia | 2011<br />
Sikhs gather for a wedding at the Guru Nanak Temple. Woolgoolga is home to the largest Sikh community in Australia, many of whom are banana growers. Sikhs took up banana farming in Australia in the 1940s when mechanization came to the sugar cane industry in Queensland, where many of them had worked as laborers. Today, the Sikh community in Woolgoolga is prosperous, having diversified into blueberries, hydroponic vegetables, and other business ventures.
    indiaworld-2406-merchant.jpg
  • Woolgoolga, Australia: Banana grower John Arkan is an elected member of the Coffs Harbor City Council. His grandfather came to this region on the mid-north coast of New South Wales in 1895. Sikhs took up banana farming in the 1940s when mechanization came to the sugarcane industry in Queensland, where many of them had worked as laborers. Today, the Sikh community in Woolgoolga is prosperous, having diversified into blueberries, hydroponic vegetables, and other business ventures.
    indiaworld-2020-merchant.jpg
  • Hayes, United Kingdom | 2010<br />
Having spent part of his childhood in foster homes in West London, Aryian Singh served two prison terms as a juvenile for kidnapping and armed robbery. After his release, he worked as a chauffeur in London and now is a writer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur.
    indiaworld-1457-merchant.jpg
  • Nairobi, Kenya | 2007<br />
Former captain of Kenya’s national cricket squad, which competed in the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, Aasif Karim poses with wife Nanzeen, daughters Fatema and Zainab, and sons Irfan and Imran. Kenya won two matches in 2003, and Aasif was named Man of the Match for his performance against Australia, even though his side lost. Now he is the managing director of an insurance brokerage in Nairobi and also works as a property developer.
    indiaworld-0616-merchant.jpg
  • Sacramento, California | 2014<br />
Sukhdeep Singh, a member of bhangra troupe Ankhiley Gabroo, performs during halftime for Sikh Appreciation Night at the Sacramento Kings basketball game. Greater Sacramento is home to a large Sikh community that traces its roots to laborers who worked on farms in the Central Valley in the 1920s.
    indiaworld-7041-merchant.jpg
  • The award for Outstanding Story on South Asia New Media was presented to Sachi Cunningham and Jigar Mehta, Frontline/World, PBS.org, for "Road to Peace," a multimedia report on efforts to bring peace to Kashmir. Cunningham and Mehta were second-year students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism when they worked on this project. They are shown here with SAJA Journalism Leader Award winner Stephen B. Shepard (left) and SAJA awards committee chair Sandeep Junnarkar (right).
    img_1951.jpg
  • The award for Outstanding Story on South Asia New Media was presented to Sachi Cunningham and Jigar Mehta, Frontline/World, PBS.org, for "Road to Peace," a multimedia report on efforts to bring peace to Kashmir. Cunningham and Mehta were second-year students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism when they worked on this project. They are shown here with SAJA Journalism Leader Award winner Stephen B. Shepard (left) and SAJA awards committee chair Sandeep Junnarkar (right).
    img_1949.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Arvendra Kumar returns home for his wedding and shares an emotional moment with his mother, Premila Wati. Arvendra works in Latoka as a branch manager for an insurance company based in Suva.
    indiaworld-3714-merchant.jpg