Parmanand Singh (born 1905) was one of the three

Indo-Fijians Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constit ...

elected to the Legislative Council of Fiji in October 1929 when Indo-Fijians were given the first opportunity to elect their own representatives. The other two were

Vishnu Deo Pt. Vishnu Deo (Hindi: विष्णु देव) OBE (17 July 1900 – 7 May 1968) was the first Fiji born and bred leader of the Indo-Fijians. From his initial election to the Legislative Council in 1929 to his retirement in 1959, he remai ...

and James Ramchandar Rao. Singh was a landlord from Ba and undertook several business ventures which included publishing newspapers.

Biography

Parmanand Singh was born in

Yalalevu Yalalevu () is a settlement in the District of Ba in Fiji, bounded by the Ba River on the east, Namosau River on the south and the settlement and village of Nailaga towards the north and west. Most of Yalalevu is within the Ba town boundary a ...

in the Ba District of Fiji in 1905. His parents had come to Fiji as

indentured labourer Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repaymen ...

s and prospered in the opportunities available after indenture. He was educated at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

College, graduating in 1923. While in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, he played rugby, a game rarely played by Fiji Indians. On his return to Fiji, he took advantage of a business opportunity by leasing land from Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) and sub-leasing it to small farmers. Like most rich farmers from Ba, he joined the

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj ( hi, आर्य समाज, lit=Noble Society, ) is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. The samaj was founded by the san ...

and was chosen by

to contest the Northern & Western Division in the 1929 general elections, the first in which Indo-Fijians were allowed to vote. He won easily with the support of Deo and the Arya Samaj, an organisation to which most educated Fiji Indians belonged. However, two weeks after being sworn in he and the two other Indo-Fijians representatives resigned when a motion asking for equal political rights for Indo-Fijians was defeated. He was opposed to the immigration of Punjabis and

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

s, a cause later taken up by his brother,

Chattur Singh Chandersen Chattur Singh was an Indo-Fijian politician. He caused a major sensation in the 1937 elections when he defeated A. D. Patel, a well known lawyer and political ally of Vishnu Deo. Early Political Activities Chattur Singh was one o ...

who was later also a member of the Legislative Council. In 1948, he left for

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

for the education of his children and returned 3 years later. He saw opportunities in the printing industry and established a printing press in Ba, which he used to publish a newspaper, ''Awaaz'' (The Voice) in the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

language. He was unable to keep the newspaper in circulation due to a natural disaster and poor staff. He then moved to

Lautoka Lautoka () is the second largest city in Fiji. It is on the west coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Ba Province of the Western Division. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane-growing region, the city has come to be known as the Sugar ...

and in 1956, started publishing another newspaper, ''Jai Fiji'', which remained in circulation until 1980. The family involvement in Fijian politics has continued with his son,

Anand Singh Anand Singh may refer to: *Anand Singh (Fijian politician) (1948–2020), Fijian lawyer and former politician of Indian descent *Anand Singh (cricketer) (born 1986), Indian cricketer *Anand Singh (Karnataka politician), Indian politician from the s ...

, also serving in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

and as the

Attorney General of Fiji The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in Fiji. The attorney-general is the chief law officer of the State, and has responsibility for supervising Fijian law and advising the government on legal matters. Like other members of the ...

in the

Fiji Labour Party The Fiji Labour Party (FLP; fj, Ilawalawa Cakacaka ni Viti), also known as Fiji Labour, is a political party in Fiji. Most of its support is from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an i ...

government of

Mahendra Chaudhry Mahendra Pal Chaudhry ( hif, महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी; born 9 February 1942) is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former lead ...

from 1999 to 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Parmanand 1905 births Year of death missing Politicians from Ba (town) Fijian Hindus Arya Samajis in Fiji Indian members of the Legislative Council of Fiji Fijian businesspeople Fijian publishers (people) Fijian landlords University of New Zealand alumni 20th-century landowners