Immigration to India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ancient era
India has a long history of accepting refugees. Its Jewish community dates back to the fall of Jerusalem in the first century AD, and its Zoroastrianism-adhering Parsis immigrated to escape the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia.[3]
Medieval era
Persians, Turks, and Central Asians migrated to India during the Indo-Muslim period. They participated in the imperial bureaucracy, brought Muslim influences such as Sufism, and helped to form the Indo-Persian culture.[4][5]
Colonial era
The British colonial presence in India varied in characteristics over time; British people generally stayed in the colony on a temporary basis, and were sometimes aiming to avoid local cultural habits and contact.[7] Children would often grow up in India, be sent to Britain to receive a "proper" education,[8] and then return to India as adults.[9] With the mortality rate for foreigners being high at the time due to disease, playing British sports was one way that the British could maintain their health and spirits; in the words of a contemporary writer, it was best for Englishmen to "defend themselves from the magic of the land by sports, games, clubs."[10]
Contemporary era
The modern dynamics of migration to India are often specific to India's neighbourhood;[11] for example, 97% of immigrants from Bangladesh live in the Bangladesh-bordering regions of India (East India and Northeast India).[12] Medical tourism has also been a factor in some migration decisions.[11]
Return migration of the Indian diaspora is another factor; for example, because of the COVID-19 pandemic's economic disruption, some Indian labour migrants in the Arab Gulf countries were forced to come to India, generally via the Vande Bharat Mission.[13] (See also: Deportation of Indian nationals under Donald Trump)
