Indian Immigrants Slow to Integrate into Host Societies

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PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD, June 4, 2003: Lamenting the fact that Indian diaspora was “slow to integrate into the mainstream of the host societies,” a senior Indian official said that most Indians looked for a middle ground in most issues and avoided extremes. Speaking at a two-day seminar on “From Indentureship to Entrepreneurship,” hosted by the Indian High Commission to mark the 158th anniversary of Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs J. C. Sharma said, “It has become second nature for Indians to look for the middle ground and avoid extremes.” Indians followed a 3,000-year-old tradition of diversity, accommodation and acceptance. Admitting that Indians in Trinidad had suffered from discrimination, principal of the University of the West Indies Bhoe Tewarie said that the community had adapted and progressed in spite of such obstacles and “the future of the Indian community cannot be divorced from the wider community in which we live.”