Atma Doolooa
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Bhawanand Doolooa | |
|---|---|
| Director of State Trading Corporation Director of Development Works Corporation | |
| In office 1995–2000 | |
| Prime Minister | Navin Ramgoolam |
| Advisor at Ministry of Commerce and Cooperatives | |
| In office 2000–2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Anerood Jugnauth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1952 |
| Died | 5 August 2013 (aged 61) |
| Party | MMM Mouvement Travailleur Mauricien (MTM) Front National Mauricien (FNM) |
| Alma mater | Indore University, India |
Bhawanand Doolooa, commonly known as Atma Doolooa (1952–2013) was a Mauritian politician and author.
Atma Doolooa was born in a Hindu Ravived (synonymous of caste Chamar) family in Flacq, British Mauritius. His father Bissoon Doolooa was a Sirdar, that is, a supervisor of labourers, and who was the grandchild of Shree Doolooa who landed in Mauritius from Bihar, India in 1856 as a coolie or indentured labourer who later worked as a tanner at the Constance Manes sugar estate in Flacq. After leaving secondary school he worked in a tavern owned by his father before travelling to India for tertiary studies in Indore in Hotel Management.[1][2][3]
Beginning of activism
When he returned to his home country from India in 1980, Doolooa formed Mouvement des Gradués Chômeurs (Unemployed Graduates Organisation) to protest against the high rate of unemployment in Mauritius. He formed part of a group of unemployed university graduates who held a hunger strike for 13 days. A few years later, Doolooa formed part of a delegation to Africa which managed to find 300 jobs for unemployed Mauritian graduates in Zimbabwe.[4]