Mauritius Celebrates 12th March

This year Mauritius has celebrated its 43rd anniversary

of independence. Mauritius struggled hard

SSR in England

to get its independence in 1968.

The then Prime Minister was

Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam (SSR),

the father of the present Prime Minister

Today Mauritius is a very beautiful island state,

attracting visitors from all over the globe.

SSR was educated in England and rule the

country as a true democrat and won the heart of all Mauritians.

He is today known as the father of the nation. Below is a brief about Mauritius about the island.

 

 

Beauty and Nature of the island.

 

The island of Mauritius has a magnetic attraction. Long ago, Mauritius was blessed with the visit of great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Charles Darwin and famous writers like Bernadin de Saint Pierre and Mark Twain.  These visitors were very much impressed by the beauty of this island and the nature of its people.  Charles Darwin and Mark Twain called Mauritius a heaven on earth. They were amazed to see how a heterogeneous people, who came from different parts of the globe, were living together in peace and harmony.  They praised this country and its people and predicted that this spirit of harmony and brotherhood of the inhabitants would pave the way for the success of Mauritius.

 

Today, looking at the progress made in different fields, Mauritius is cited, in many international forums, as an ideal example for the developing and underdeveloped countries.

Mauritius is an independent country, full of natural beauty and attracts visitors from all parts of the world. It is situated in the south west of the Indian Ocean, 800 kilometres east of Africa, and 4,700 kilometres south of India. It is now a republic with an area of 2048 square kilometers with beautiful sea shores, white sandy beaches, green sugar-cane fields, tropical plants, exotic flowers and fruit trees which are a feast to the eyes.

Mauritius is a melting pot with people of different religious belief and faith.  All the great religions of the world flourish side by side on this small island and the inhabitants whose ancestors hail from Europe, Africa and Asia still speak and cherish the languages and cultures of their forefathers.

Population – Religions and Languages

 

According to the population census of 1990, the population of Mauritius was 1,056,827 only.  Today it is approximately1,200,000.  The inhabitants follow all the great religions of the world like, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.  In spite of the fact that people have different religious belief, they all live in unity and harmony.

The Hindus are the majority community in Mauritius. They are 60% of the population and Christians are 30%.  The Afro-Mauritians, the French and some Chinese adhere to the Christian faith.  A few Chinese are also Buddhists.    The Muslims are 10%.  The French are better financially compared to the other communities.

People of Indian origin speak Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bhojpuri.  Among them, the Hindi-Bhojpuri speakers outnumber the others.  Most of the inhabitants speak ‘Creole’.  ‘Creole’ dialect has developed as an off-shoot of French.

Although English is the official language of Mauritius, French is very popular, and has become the language of the media.  There are also newspapers in English, French, Hindi and Chinese.  The local radio and television station-The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) broadcast more programmes in French, English and Hindi.  Today Mauritius gets Doordarshan TV channels in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Marathi Urdu and Hindi also.  There are also private channels offered to the public against the payment of a subscription fee.  P

We love Mauritius, island of paradise.

 

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