11-06-2005, 08:14 PM
<b>I will try to answer your questions in brief.
Since the time of British conquest of Burma, till Gen Ne Win took over the Govt by a coup, the merchants from Barabazar of Kolkata controlled the retail market of Burma through their branch offices located in down town Rangoon.
The British took labor force from old Madras Presidency to work for them in Burma. Some of these people in course of time became money lenders and also got addicted to Burmese mistresses. They also took with them the Bengali babus to operate the Burma Railways and to operate the Postal services. A few persons from Bengal also went into timber business. Thus the Indians became a symbol of British Imperial Power and abuse in Burma and this image of Indians being exploiters continued till 1961.Till that year India was Burmaâs largest trading partner.
Only in recent years we have officially tried to mend fences with Myanmar and trade links have been re established</b>
Since the time of British conquest of Burma, till Gen Ne Win took over the Govt by a coup, the merchants from Barabazar of Kolkata controlled the retail market of Burma through their branch offices located in down town Rangoon.
The British took labor force from old Madras Presidency to work for them in Burma. Some of these people in course of time became money lenders and also got addicted to Burmese mistresses. They also took with them the Bengali babus to operate the Burma Railways and to operate the Postal services. A few persons from Bengal also went into timber business. Thus the Indians became a symbol of British Imperial Power and abuse in Burma and this image of Indians being exploiters continued till 1961.Till that year India was Burmaâs largest trading partner.
Only in recent years we have officially tried to mend fences with Myanmar and trade links have been re established</b>