1.2. Indian Diaspora: Characteristics

Indian Diaspora is a generic term used for addressing people who have migrated from the territories that are currently within the borders of the Republic of India. It constitutes NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and PIOs (Persons of Indian origins). The Indian Diaspora is estimated to be over 31 million. The Government of India recognizes the importance of Indian Diaspora as it has brought economic, financial, and strategic benefits to India. The Indian Diaspora today constitutes an important, and in some respects unique, force in world culture. A Diaspora is also characterized by the role played collective memory in preserving history and culture.

Thus one can find the Indian Diaspora is characterized by the following:

1. It maintains family traditions of origin, but also is gradually subject to social, cultural, and political integration into the host nation.

2. It is acutely aware of Indian (and regional) origins, but do not go much further than a sympathetic curiosity about them. However, our personal identity is significantly affected by that awareness.

3. It takes an active interest in the general fate of India, and in important events in India.

4. It perpetuates significant aspects of Indian culture like language, tradition, and religion. For example:

♤ Most speak Hindi, as well as our mother tongues like Telugu, Gujarati, etc.

♤ Maintains tradition for weddings, birth and cremations etc.

♤ Maintain religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, and other India based religions.

5. It maintains regular communications with family and friends in India.

6. It sends remittances back home on a regular basis. India is number one in the world with over $69 billion in annual remittances constituting 3 percent of the GDP.

7. It attempts to influence our host country’s government to pursue policies favorable to India. For example, the intense lobbying by the Indian diaspora in the US that persuaded a recalcitrant US Senate to approve the Nuclear Treaty a few years ago.

From the 1920s onward, the Indian nationalist movement had acknowledged and lauded the contribution of overseas Indians to the struggle for freedom. After all, the “Father of the Nation,” Mohandas K. Gandhi, had been prominent in the Diaspora and had begun his experiments with civil disobedience movements while in South Africa.