(The article first appeared in Scroll on August 19, 2023)
- In 1894, the British colonial authorities in the Straits Settlements (present-day Malaysia and Singapore) began to raise concerns about a new immigration pattern. In a note to their counterparts in India, they wrote, “The Straits Government brings to notice that the number of Sikhs arriving in the Colony and applying for certificates under Section 11 of [the Straits Immigration] Ordinance V of 1884 is greatly on the increase.” This certificate, which was likely a precursor to the Emigration Check Not Required system for Indian passport holders, stated that a holder was “not a labourer or of a class ordinarily employed in agricultural work”…