The India People
Indian people or Indians are people who are citizens of
India, which forms a major part of South Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's
population. The Indian nationality consists of many regional ethno-linguistic
groups, reflecting the rich and complex history of India. India, in its current
boundaries, was formed out of a number of predecessors.
Populations with Indian ancestry, as a result of
emigration, are somewhat ubiquitous, most notably in Southeast Asia, South
Africa, Australia, United Kingdom, Middle East and North America. Population
estimates vary from a conservative 12 million to 20 million diaspora.
Genetics
Basu et al. (2006) emphasize that the combined results
from mtDNA, Y-chromosome and autosomal markers suggest that
(1) there is an underlying unity of female lineages in
India, indicating that the initial number of female settlers may have been
small
(2) the tribal and the caste populations are highly
differentiated
(3) the Austroasiatic tribals are the earliest settlers
in India, providing support to one anthropological hypothesis while refuting
some others
(4) a major wave of humans entered India through the
northwest
(5) the Tibeto-Burman tribals share considerable genetic
commonalities with the Austroasiatic tribals, supporting the hypothesis that
they may have shared a common habitat in southern China, but the two groups of
tribals can be differentiated on the basis of Y-chromosomal haplotypes
(6) the Dravidian tribals were possibly widespread
throughout India before the arrival of the Indo-European-speaking nomads, but
retreated to southern India to avoid dominance
(7) formation of populations by fission that resulted in
founder and drift effects have left their imprints on the genetic structures of
contemporary populations
(8) the upper castes show closer genetic affinities with
Central Asian populations, although those of southern India are more distant
than those of northern India
(9) historical gene flow into India has contributed to a
considerable obliteration of genetic histories of contemporary populations so
that there is at present no clear congruence of genetic and geographical or
sociocultural affinities.
According to a major 2009 study published by Reich et al.
using over 500,000 biallelic autosomal markers, the modern Indian population is
composed of two genetically divergent and heterogeneous populations which mixed
in ancient times (about 1,200–3,500 BC), known as Ancestral North Indians (ANI)
and Ancestral South Indians (ASI). ASI corresponds to the Dravidian-speaking
population of southern India, whereas ANI corresponds to the
Indo-Aryan-speaking population of northern India. Till 4,200 years ago,
the two populations grew independently and produced many more groups but there
was no admixture between them. But during the time period between 1,900 years
and 4,200 years, the ANI-derived populations and ASI-derived populations mixed
together to form the modern day population.The ANI population is related to
West Eurasians (people of Central Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus and
Europe); the ASI population is distinctly related to the indigenous Andaman
Islanders. The admixture of the populations between the two ancestral
groups was rampant for an extended period before endogamy became the norm.The
period of admixture coincides with increasing population density in the central
and downstream portions of the Gangetic system, and deurbanisation of the Indus
civilisation. Caste, which came later, drastically reduced the chances of
admixture making it nearly zero.
Caste Group
India has more than two thousand ethnic groups and every major religion is represented, as are four major families of
languages (Indo-Aryan – a branch of the larger Indo-European language group –,
Dravidian, Austroasiatic, and Tibeto-Burman) as well as a language isolate (the
Nihali language spoken in parts of Maharashtra). India's castism history is
extremely complex; nevertheless, distinct racial divisions between peoples
still exist as established by modern anthropologists, despite the fact that the
national Census of India does not recognize racial or ethnic groups within India, but recognizes many of the tribal groups as Scheduled Castes and Tribes (see
list of Scheduled Tribes in India).
Religion
India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism
and Sikhism, collectively known as Indian religions. Indian religions, also
known as Dharmic religions are a major form of world religions along with
Abrahamic ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third- and
fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers
altogether, and possibly as many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion
followers. India is also the birthplace for the Jain, Lingayat, and
Ahmadiyya faiths.
India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in
the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures.
Religion still plays a central and definitive role in the life of most of its
people.
The religion of 80.5% of the people is Hinduism. Islam is
practiced by around 13% of all Indians. Sikhism, Jainism and especially
Buddhism are influential not only in India but across the world. Christianity,
Zoroastrianism, Judaism and the Bahá'í Faith are also influential but their
numbers are smaller. Despite the strong role of religion in Indian life,
atheism and agnostics also have visible influence along with a self-ascribed
tolerance to other people.
Hinduism is the majority in most states; Kashmir and
Lakshadweep are Muslim majority; Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are Christian
majority; Punjab is mainly a mixture of both Hindus and Sikhs. It is to be
noted that while participants in the Indian census may choose to not declare
their religion, there is no mechanism for a person to indicate that he/she does
not adhere to any religion. Due to this limitation in the Indian census
process, the data for persons not affiliated with any religion may not be
accurate. India contains the majority of the world's Hindus, Zoroastrians,
Sikhs, Jains and Bahá'í. India is also home to the third-largest Muslim
population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan. Muslims are the largest
religious minority.
Table 1: 2001 Religious Data Composition
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Religious Composition
|
Population
|
(%)
|
Hindus
|
827,578,868
|
80.5%
|
Muslims
|
138,188,240
|
13.4%
|
Christians
|
24,080,016
|
2.3%
|
Sikhs
|
19,215,730
|
1.9%
|
Buddhists
|
7,955,207
|
0.8%
|
Jains
|
4,225,053
|
0.4%
|
Other religions
& persuasions
|
6,639,626
|
0.6%
|
Religion not stated
|
727,588
|
0.1%
|
Total
|
1,028,610,328
|
100.0%
|
Caste System
The Indian caste system describes the system of social
stratification and severe social restrictions in India in which social classes
are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed jātis or
castes. Within a jāti, there exist exogamous groups known as gotras, the
lineage or clan of an individual. In a handful of sub-castes such as
Shakadvipi, endogamy within a gotra is permitted and alternative mechanisms of
restricting endogamy are used (e.g. banning endogamy within a surname).
The Indian caste system involves four castes and
outcasted social groups. Caste barriers have mostly broken down in large
cities, though they persist in rural areas of the country, where 72% of India's
population resides.
National Personification
Bharat Mata (Hindi, from Sanskrit भारत माता,
Bhārata Mātā), Mother India, or Bhāratāmbā (from अंबा
ambā 'mother') is the national personification of India as a mother goddess.
She is usually depicted as a woman clad in an orange or saffron sari holding a
flag, and sometimes accompanied by a lion.
The image of Bharat Mata formed with the Indian
independence movement of the late 19th century. A play by Kiran Chandra
Bandyopadhyay, Bhārat Mātā, was first performed in 1873.
Indian diaspora
estimates vary from a conservative 12 million
to 20 million diaspora.
Britain
The British Indian community had grown to number over one
million. According to the 2001 UK Census, 1,053,411 Britons had full Indian
ethnicity (representing 1.8% of the UK's population). An overwhelming majority
of 99.3% resided in England (in 2008 the figure is thought to be around 97.0%).
In the seven-year period between 2001 and 2009, the number of Indian-born
people in the UK increased in size by 38% from 467,634 to around 647,000 (an
increase of approximately 180,000).
Canada
There are over 1 million Indian people in Canada, the
majority of which live in Greater Toronto and Vancouver. 3% of the total
Canadian population is of Indian ancestry, a figure higher than both the United
States and Britain.
South Africa
More than a million people of Indian descent live in
South Africa, concentrated around the city of Durban.
Tanzania
About 40,000 people of Indian origin live in Tanzania mostly
in the urban areas.
United States
According to the American Community Survey of the U.S.
Census Bureau, the Indian American population in the United States grew from
almost 1.67 million in 2000 to 3.1 million in 2010 which comprises as the
third-largest Asian American community in the United States after Chinese
Americans and Filipino Americans.
