Mauritian scholar Sarita Boodhoo gets India’s top diaspora award

Dr Sarita Boodhoo, a Mauritian scholar and champion of Bhojpuri language and culture, received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India's highest honour for the diaspora, from President Droupadi Murmu on 10 January 2025 during Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The award recognised her decades of work preserving the heritage of the indentured labourer community.

A fourth-generation descendant of 19th-century Girmitiya indentured workers, Dr Boodhoo was born Sarita Makhan in Port Louis. She studied in India at Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata, and earned a Master's and PhD in Hindi from Banaras Hindu University. In 1982 she founded the Mauritius Bhojpuri Institute, which revived the language through festivals, documentation, and schools. In 2016 she led the delegation that secured UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status for Geet Gawai, the folk songs of Mauritian women.

Dr Boodhoo served as the first chairperson of the Bhojpuri Speaking Union from 2012 to November 2024, helping reintroduce Bhojpuri into school curricula. She also helped establish 2 November as a public holiday in Mauritius commemorating the arrival of indentured labourers. Her earlier honours include Mauritius's Grand Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (GOSK) in 2023 and the Vishwa Hindi Samman in 2012.