PARAMARIBO, June 6 : President Droupadi Murmu has announced that India has decided to extend the eligibility criteria for Overseas Citizen Of India card of the original Indian immigrants in Suriname from the fourth generation to the sixth generation, marking their importance in the 150-year-old bilateral relationship.

Murmu made the announcement on Monday while addressing a gathering at the Independence Square here where she along with Suriname counterpart Chandrikapersad Santokhi witnessed a cultural event on the occasion of the commemoration of 150 years of the arrival of Indians in Suriname.

The first ship - Lalla Rookh - carrying 452 Indian labourers arrived in Suriname's capital Paramaribo on June 5, 1873. Most of the labourers hailed from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.