Kayman Sankar

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Kayman Sankar
Member of the
National Assembly of Guyana
In office
1986–1992
Preceded by
Personal details
Born3 June 1926
, British Guiana
Died11 February 2014 (aged 87)
Hamptoncourtpolder, Guyana
Political partyPeople's National Congress

Kayman Sankar (3 June 1926 – 11 February 2014) was a Guyanese businessman, philanthropist, and member of parliament. He helped to establish the rice industry on the Essequibo coast, and rose from a labourer to "Guyana’s most successful rice farmer".[1]

Sankar was born at , on the western bank of the Demerara River (in what was then British Guiana, but is now in Guyana's Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region). He was the oldest of five children born to Dukhnee and Sewsankar Boodhoo, both of East Indian extraction.[2] Owing to his family's poverty and his mother's illness, he discontinued his education at the age of nine, initially selling milk and later working as a labourer on the sugarcane fields at Cornelia Ida, where his jobs included weeding, cutting, loading, and manually fertilising the fields with manure.[3] Nicknamed "Polo" as a young man for a perceived resemblance to actor Eddie Polo,[4] Sankar eventually saved enough to purchase two acres at , having supplemented his income by making jewellery and driving a taxi.[3] By 1956, he was farming on Essequibo's Atlantic coast, at , , and (all now in the Pomeroon-Supenaam region). Sankar subsequently went into partnership with his brother and nephew, purchasing uncleared land between Dunkeld and Perth.[5] He had earlier travelled as far west as the Pomeroon River, searching for land suitable for rice cultivation.[3]

Despite initial failures, in 1966 Sankar was able to purchase 1,556 acres (6.30 km2) at Hamptoncourtpolder with his first rice crop harvested two years later.[5] The land was expanded further in 1975, when Kayman Sankar & Co. Ltd. (KSC) was first registered, with rice mills, a rice sheller, and a length grader installed in 1984. The Hampton Court facility was later further expanded to include drying facilities (replacing the earlier method of sun-drying), and increased storage, with Sankar eventually becoming Guyana's largest miller,[1] exporting rice to other Caribbean countries and the European Union.[2] He later expanded his business interests beyond rice, with KSC and another company, Kayman Sankar Investments Ltd. (KSIL) eventually combining to form the Kayman Sankar Group of Companies (KSG).[1] In 1986, Sankar was nominated to sit in Guyana's National Assembly as a member of the People's National Congress (PNC), filling a casual vacancy left by .[6] He served until the 1992 election (which he did not contest), and was known as an advocate for the interests of rice farmers and other agricultural workers.[7]

A keen cricket enthusiast, Sankar was the inaugural president of the , an affiliate of the Guyana Cricket Board. He sponsored local players and tournaments, and also established the Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground in Hampton Court,[8] which often hosted the Essequibo cricket team and also several matches for the Guyanese national side.[9] He was a noted philanthropist, and often helped poorer workers fund marriage ceremonies and funerals.[8] Sankar died at his Hampton Court residence in February 2014, aged 87.[5] He and his wife, Seraji (née Ramnauth, known as Mavis or Mae), had wed in Cornelia Ida in January 1945, when he was 17 and she was 13, in a coupling arranged by Seraji's aunt.[10] The couple, who lived apart for the first two years of their marriage, had two daughters, Sita and Sattie, and a son, Beni, who played first-class cricket for Essequibo and later took over the running of KSG.[2][11] Sankar was a devout Sanātanī Hindu throughout his life, and paid for several overseas swamis to visit Guyana.[8]

See also[]

Further reading[]

  • Chanderbali, David (1995). Kayman Sankar: the Ultimate Rice Magnate. Georgetown, Guyana: K. Sankar and Co. ISBN 9768136553.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c (13 February 2014). "Kayman Sankar, rice magnate, dies" – Kaieteur News. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c (15 February 2014). "Rice magnate Kayman Sankar hailed a “true patriot”" – Kaieteur News. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c (5 May 2012). "Kayman Sankar – bringing life out of God's earth" – Guyana Chronicle. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Kayman Sankar" Archived 2014-12-21 at the Wayback Machine – Horizons (April 2006), p. 40. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c (15 February 2014). "Rice magnate Kayman Sankar laid to rest" Archived 2014-12-18 at the Wayback Machine – Guyana Times. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  6. ^ (27 February 2014). PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FIRST SESSION (2012-2014) OF THE TENTH PARLIAMENT OF GUYANA UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CO-OPERATIVE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA HELD IN THE PARLIAMENT CHAMBER, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, BRICKDAM, GEORGETOWN – Parliament of Guyana. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  7. ^ (15 February 2014). "Granger hails Sankar as an extraordinary businessman" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine – Guyana Times. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Kayman Sankar – Humantarian (sic) and supporter of sports" – Kaieteur News. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  9. ^ Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground, Hampton Court – CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  10. ^ Yannason Duncan (27 January 2009). "Kayman and Seraji Sankar celebrate 64 years of marital bliss" – Kaieteur News. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  11. ^ Beni Sankar – CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
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