Issues in National and Cultural Identity: The Case of Asian (East) Indian Migrants

Migration is defined as movement of people, especially of whole groups, from one place, region, or country to an other, particularly with the intention of making permanent settlement in a new location (Microsoft Encarta). Migration is as old as the beginnings of human evolution, and in the distant past migrations were localized, slow, and gradual processes taking centuries or even longer to establish significant populations in a given region or country. The populations, therefore, possessed unique and highly homogeneous characteristics of race, religion, culture, traditions, or language. From the oldest periods of civiliza tion, India attracted migrants from different parts of the neighboring regions and continents (notably, Middle east, China, and Africa) owing to its warm weather, wealth of natural resources, spices, and so forth. Like wise, India also be came a prominent country from where people migrated to different parts of the world, first to the neighboring lands (Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Bali) and then to distant countries (several African countries, for example, Uganda, South Africa, Mauritius). More recently, migration of Indians has been mostly to the Western Europe and USA.