Indian Diaspora

What is meant by Indian Diaspora? The Indian Diaspora is the people who have been migrated from the territories that are currently within the borders of the Republic of India, and also to their descendants.

The Indian Diaspora is a generic term to describe the people who have been migrated from the territories that are currently within the borders of the Republic of India, and also to their descendants. A defining trait of the Indian Diaspora is its heterogeneity. This is the consequence of the episodic history of emigration, the diversity of the migrants in terms of their linguistic, geographic and ethno-religious profile, and great variances in skill level of India’s overseas workers as well as in (interrelated) places and patterns of settlements. 

The Indian Diaspora is composed of “NRIs” – Indian citizens not residing in India and “PIOs” – Persons of Indian Origin who have acquired the citizenship of some other country. The Indian Diaspora is estimated to be second largest in the world only to the Chinese Diaspora, which has a diversified global presence. The Indian Diaspora is estimated at over 25 million, spread across more than 200 countries with a high concentration in regions such as the Middle East, the United States of America, Malaysia, and South Africa. They form a strategic resource in intellectual, economic and cultural spheres besides being goodwill ambassadors of India in the land of their adoption.

 In the past couple of decades, the overseas community has grown into an energetic and confident diaspora over 25 million strong that has given Indian a presence in many parts of the world. A successful, prosperous and politically influential diaspora is an asset to India, for it acts as a vibrant bridge between two countries, adding sustenance to their bilateral relations. It is not a one-way interaction that benefits only one side; both India and the diaspora have something to gain from the connection, in real as well as intangible terms.

The dispersion of people from India and the formation of Indian diaspora communities is the result of different waves of migration over hundreds of years driven by a variety of reasons: slavery under mercantilism, indentured labour under colonization and guest work programmes of post colonialism. Contemporary flows from India are of two kinds:

1. the first is the emigration of highly skilled professionals, workers and students with tertiary and higher educational qualifications migrating to developed countries, particularly to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This flow started after Indian independence and gathered momentum with the emigration of IT professional in the 1990s.
2. the second is the flow of unskilled and semi – skilled workers going mostly to the Gulf countries and Malaysia, following the oil boom in the Gulf countries, mainly from Kerala and other South Indian states. Of late, however northern states in India like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have also emerged as the leading states of origin for such migration.

Based on the causes, nature and period of emigration from India, the Indian Diaspora has been broadly grouped into two categories – old and new Indian Diaspora. This distinction signifies far more than simple chronology; rather, these two branches vary in terms of their destination, context for emigration, socioeconomic background, and the degree of contact sustained with the ‘homeland’. Their social, cultural and religious adaptations to their new surroundings have been similarly divergent.

The old diaspora has generally demonstrated a greater level of homogenization across communities, as its links with India waned; whilst the new diaspora has maintained much closer links with the motherland and preserved specific markers of locality, caste, sect, region and language. The Old Indian Diaspora includes those who emigrated during the colonial period of nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries to different imperialists of India as slaves, while the New Indian Diaspora consists of those Indians who have emigrated from India in the twentieth century mainly to the developed countries of the world.

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For more information, click on Diaspora, Brain Gain, Brain Drain in Indian Context, Brain Drain,  Brain Exchange, Brain Waste,  Brain Gain in Indian Context, Brain Circulation, New Indian Diaspora, Old Indian Diaspora

  

Reference:

• Ajaya Kumar Sahoo and Laxmi Narayan Kadekar (edited), Global Indian Diaspora: History, Culture and Identity.

• Various

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Related Questions:

Understanding Indian Diaspora.

Define Indian Diaspora.

Factors for Indian Diaspora.

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