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===Music===
===Music===
[[File:Jay Sean - 2009 India Day Parade.jpg|100px|thumb|[[Jay Sean]] has recently broke into to the global music market, and is already the most successful European male urban artist in US chart history]]
[[File:Jay Sean - 2009 India Day Parade.jpg|100px|thumb|[[Jay Sean]] has recently broke into to the global music market, and is already the most successful European male urban artist in US chart history]]
{{See also|Asian Underground|Bhangra|Indian pop}}
{{See also|Asian Underground|Bhangra|Indian pop|Raga rock}}


[[Music of India|Indian music]] has a strong influence on global music as a whole. Today, British Indian musicians exist in almost every field and genre, however there is an extremely large number of [[Bhangra (music)|Bhangra]] artists that cement the UK as the stronghold of traditional Indian music outside of India although this is a Punjabi music mainly performed by the [[Sikh]] community. Notable British Indian Bhangra acts include [[Panjabi MC]], [[Rishi Rich]], [[Juggy D]], [[DCS (band)|DCS]] and [[Sukshinder Shinda]]. World famous award winning singer-songwriter [[Freddie Mercury]] (a former member of the rock band [[Queen (band)|Queen]]) was born on the island of [[Zanzibar]] to [[Parsi]] parents, originally from the [[Gujarat]] area of India. Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) and his family fled when he was 17 years old due to the [[Zanzibar Revolution]]; he remains not only one of the most famous British Indian musicians of all time, but one of the most famous British musicians. Other world-famous British Indian musicians include [[Biddu]], who produced a number of worldwide [[disco]] hits such as "[[Kung Fu Fighting]]", one of the [[List of best-selling singles worldwide|best-selling singles]] of all time having sold eleven million records worldwide,<ref name="metro_biddu">{{cite web|title=Biddu|author=James Ellis|work=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/412-biddu|accessdate=2011-04-17}}</ref><ref name="times_2004">{{cite news|date=August 20, 2004|title=It's a big step from disco to Sanskrit chants, but Biddu has made it|author=Malika Browne|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article471655.ece|accessdate=2011-05-30|location=London}}</ref> and [[Apache Indian]], who also had worldwide hits such as "[[Boom Shack-A-Lak]]". [[Jay Sean]], whose parents immigrated to the United Kingdom from the Punjab region, is the first solo British Asian artist to reach the #1 spot on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] with his single "[[Down (Jay Sean song)|Down]]" selling more than three million copies in the United States,<ref name=Caulfield>{{cite web|title=Taylor Swift Edges Susan Boyle For 2009's Top-Selling Album|author=Keith Caulfield|work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=January 6, 2010|url=http://www.billboard.com/news/taylor-swift-edges-susan-boyle-for-2009-1004057203.story#/news/taylor-swift-edges-susan-boyle-for-2009-1004057203.story|accessdate=2009-01-07}}</ref> making him "the most successful male UK urban artist in US chart history."<ref>{{cite news|last=Youngs |first=Ian |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8269400.stm |title=British R&B star conquers America |publisher=BBC News |date=2009-09-23 |accessdate=2009-10-08}}</ref> Other contemporary British Indian singers include [[S-Endz]] and [[BRIT Awards|BRIT Award]]-nominated [[Nerina Pallot]].
[[Music of India|Indian music]] has a strong influence on global music as a whole. Indian influence on [[British popular music]] dates back to the development of [[raga rock]] by British [[rock band]]s such as [[The Beatles]] and [[The Rolling Stones]]; several Beatles songs (such as "[[Within You Without You]]") also featured London-based Indian musicians.<ref name=diary>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_TBkf1ttNBYC&pg=PA259&dq=Mike+Leander++sgt+pepper&hl=en&ei=zmZSTaikBNSxhQfm95COCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Mike%20Leander%20%20sgt%20pepper&f=false |title=The Beatles Diary: The Beatles years|author=Barry Miles, Keith Badman |page=259 |publisher=Omnibus Press, 2001 |accessdate=9 February 2011 }}</ref> Today, British Indian musicians exist in almost every field and genre. However, there is an extremely large number of [[Bhangra (music)|Bhangra]] artists that cement the UK as the stronghold of traditional Indian music outside of India, although this is a [[Music of Punjab|Punjabi music]] mainly performed by the [[Sikhism in the United Kingdom|Sikh community]]. Notable British Indian Bhangra acts include [[Panjabi MC]], [[Rishi Rich]], [[Juggy D]], Jay Sean, [[DCS (band)|DCS]], and [[Sukshinder Shinda]]. World famous award winning singer-songwriter [[Freddie Mercury]] (a former member of the rock band [[Queen (band)|Queen]]) was born on the island of [[Zanzibar]] to [[Parsi]] parents, originally from the [[Gujarat]] area of India. Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) and his family fled when he was 17 years old due to the [[Zanzibar Revolution]]; he remains not only one of the most famous British Indian musicians of all time, but one of the most famous British musicians. Other world-famous British Indian musicians include [[Biddu]], who produced a number of worldwide [[disco]] hits such as "[[Kung Fu Fighting]]", one of the [[List of best-selling singles worldwide|best-selling singles]] of all time having sold eleven million records worldwide,<ref name="metro_biddu">{{cite web|title=Biddu|author=James Ellis|work=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/412-biddu|accessdate=2011-04-17}}</ref><ref name="times_2004">{{cite news|date=August 20, 2004|title=It's a big step from disco to Sanskrit chants, but Biddu has made it|author=Malika Browne|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article471655.ece|accessdate=2011-05-30|location=London}}</ref> and [[Apache Indian]], who also had worldwide hits such as "[[Boom Shack-A-Lak]]". [[Jay Sean]], whose parents immigrated to the United Kingdom from the Punjab region, is the first solo British Asian artist to reach the #1 spot on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] with his single "[[Down (Jay Sean song)|Down]]" selling more than four million copies in the United States,<ref name="riaa">{{cite web|title=Searchable Database|publisher=[[Recording Industry Association of America]]|url=http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH|accessdate=21 June 2011}}</ref><ref name=Caulfield>{{cite web|title=Taylor Swift Edges Susan Boyle For 2009's Top-Selling Album|author=Keith Caulfield|work=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=January 6, 2010|url=http://www.billboard.com/news/taylor-swift-edges-susan-boyle-for-2009-1004057203.story#/news/taylor-swift-edges-susan-boyle-for-2009-1004057203.story|accessdate=2009-01-07}}</ref> making him "the most successful male UK urban artist in US chart history."<ref>{{cite news|last=Youngs |first=Ian |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8269400.stm |title=British R&B star conquers America |publisher=BBC News |date=2009-09-23 |accessdate=2009-10-08}}</ref> Other contemporary British Indian singers include [[S-Endz]] and [[BRIT Awards|BRIT Award]]-nominated [[Nerina Pallot]].


===Television===
===Television===

Revision as of 22:09, 28 June 2012

Indians in the United Kingdom
(British Indians/ Indian Britons)
Ben Kingsley Nasser Hussain Anish Kapoor
Shobna Gulati Monty Panesar Jay Sean
Salman Rushdie Ravi Bopara Keith Vaz
Dev Patel Naveen Andrews Freddie Mercury
Regions with significant populations
Throughout the United Kingdom
In particular London · Birmingham · Manchester · Leicester · Leeds · Glasgow · Preston · Sheffield · Liverpool · Nottingham · Southampton · Bristol · Newcastle upon Tyne · Slough · Edinburgh · Cardiff · Wolverhampton · Sandwell · Coventry
Languages
1st generation:  · Bengali{}Telugu · Hindi · Tamil · Punjabi · Gujarati · Indian Languages · Urdu
English (British English, Indian English)

2nd generation: English, Indian Languages

3rd generation: predominantly English
Religion
Hinduism · Sikhism · Islam · Christianity · Buddhism · Bahá'í · Jainism
non-religious and others
Related ethnic groups
British Asian · Indian Diaspora · Indian people · Anglo-Indians
Indian Americans · Indo-Canadians · Indo-Caribbeans

The term British Indian (also Indian British or Indian Britons) refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK. Today, Indians number around one and a half million in the UK (not including those of mixed Indian and Other ancestry), making them the single largest visible ethnic minority population in the country. They make up the largest subgroup of British Asians, and are one of the largest Indian communities in the Indian diaspora, mainly due to the Indian-British relations (including historical links such as India having been under British colonial occupation and still being part of the Commonwealth of Nations). The British Indian community is the fifth largest in the Indian diaspora, behind the Indian communities in Nepal, the United States, Malaysia and Burma.

British Indians are a socioeconomically affluent and richly well established and upper middle middle class ethnic group.[1] A study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2011 found British Indians have among the lowest poverty rates among different all ethnic groups in Britain second only to White British.[2]

History

Middle Ages - 18th century

No one knows the earliest origins of settlement of Indians in Great Britain for certain; if the Romani (Gypsies) are included, then the earliest arrivals may have been in the Middle Ages — although not normally included as South Asian, the Roma and Sinti (most in the UK have been Sinti) are both believed to have originated in parts of what is now North India and Pakistan and to have begun travelling westward around 1000 C.E., though they have mixed with Southwest Asians and Europeans over the centuries. Romani began arriving in sizeable numbers in parts of Western Europe in the 16th century.

17th - 19th centuries

People from India have settled in Great Britain since the East India Company (EIC) recruited lascars to replace vacancies in their crews on East Indiamen whilst on voyages in India. Many were then refused passage back, and were marooned in London. There were also some ayahs, domestic servants and nannies of wealthy British families, who accompanied their employers back to "Blighty" when their stay in Asia came to an end.

The Navigation Act of 1660 restricted the employment of non-English sailors to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships. Baptism records in East Greenwich suggest that young Indians from the Malabar Coast were being recruited as servants at the end of the 17th century, and records of the EIC also suggest that Indo-Portuguese cooks from Goa were retained by captains from voyage to voyage.[3] In 1797, 13 were buried in the parish of St Nicholas at Deptford.

Year British Indian
Population[4]
~1850 (est) 40,000[5]
~1900 (est) 70,000[6]
1951 (census) 31,000
1961 (census) 81,000
1971 (census) 275,000
1981 (census) 676,000
1991 (census) 840,000
2001 (census) 1,053,411

During the 17th to 19th centuries, the East India Company brought over thousands of Indian lascars, scholars and workers (who were largely Bengali and/or Muslim) to Britain, most of whom settled down and took local British wives, due to a lack of Indian women in Britain at the time.[7] Due to the majority of early Asian immigrants being lascar seamen, the earliest Indian communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of what is now Bangladesh. One of the most famous early Bengali immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomet, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom.[8] By the mid-19th century, there were more than 40,000 Indian seamen, diplomats, scholars, soldiers, officials, tourists, businessmen and students in Britain.[5]

20th century

By the late 19th century and early 20th century, there were around 70,000 Indians in Britain,[9] 51,616 of whom were lascar seamen (when World War I began).[6]

Following the Second World War and the breakup of the British Empire, Indian migration to the UK increased through the 1950s and 1960s. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration, although family members of already-settled migrants were still allowed. In addition, much of the subsequent growth in the British Indian community has come from the births of second- and third-generation Indian Britons.

Although post-war immigration was continuous, several distinct phases can be identified:

  • Manual workers were recruited to fulfill the labour shortage that resulted from World War II. These included Anglo-Indians who were recruited to work on the railways as they had done in India.
  • Workers mainly from the Punjab region arrived in the late 1950s and 1960s. Many worked in the foundries of the English Midlands and a large number of Sikh people worked at Heathrow Airport in west London. This created an environment to where the next generation of families do not lose their identity as easily.
  • During the same time, medical staff from India were recruited for the newly formed National Health Service. These people were targeted as the British had established medical schools in the Indian subcontinent which conformed to the British standards of medical training.
  • During the 1960s and 1970s, large numbers of East African Indians, who already held British passports, entered the UK after they were expelled from Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar. Many of these people had been store-keepers in Africa and opened shops when they arrived in the UK.

21st century

By the early 21st century, 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 nine year period between 2001 and 2010, the number of Indian-born people in the UK has increased in size by 43% from 467,634 to around 669,000 (an increase of over 200,000).[10]

Demographics

Region of Birth[11] Percentages
United Kingdom 45.9%
England 44.8%
Scotland 0.7%
Wales 0.3%
Northern Ireland -
UK not specified 0.1%
Other Europe 0.2%
Africa 16.0%
Kenya 7.9%
Uganda 2.9%
Tanzania 1.9%
Rest of Africa 3.3%
Asia 36.6%
India 34.6%
Rest of Asia 2.1%
North America 0.3%
South America 0.2%
Oceania 0.2%
Other 0.6%

Indians have existed in the UK for generations and have long been the country's largest visible ethnic minority group. In 2006 there were at least 1.3 million fully blooded Indians in the UK, while one estimate for 2008 suggests a total of 1.6 million British Indians.[12]

Ethnicity

In the 2001 UK Census, Indians in the UK were most likely to have responded to code 41 - Indian or Indian British. Indian was one of only five sub categories in the UK census which represents a nation (along with Irish, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese).

India is a diverse nation composed of many ethnic groups, this is reflected in the British Indian community although there are several ethnic groups that number considerably more than others. The largest subgroup of British Indians are those of Punjabi origin (representing approximately two thirds of direct migrants from South Asia to the UK), combined with Pakistani Punjabis they number over 2 million in the UK and are the largest Punjabi community outside of South Asia.[13] British Gujaratis are also another large subgroup of the British Indian population and they form the largest overseas Gujarati population on earth, being larger than the combined Gujarati communities of New York City and Toronto (which are second and third largest, respectively). There are also approximately half a million Bengalis in the UK (although not all of these people originate from what is now considered India, but Bangladesh).[14] Alongside Punjabis, Gujarats and Bengalis there are also significant numbers of Tamils and Parsis. There has also been a recent immigration of Malayalees from South India who number approximately 100,000.

Population

According to the 2001 UK Census 1,053,411 people (1.8% of the country's population) was of Indian descent. Between 2001 and 2009, National Statistics has released estimates for the number of Indians in England only. They were as follows: 2001 - 1,045,600, 2002 - 1,074,700, 2003 - 1,109,100, 2004 - 1,156,000, 2005 - 1,215,400, 2006 - 1,264,200, 2007 - 1,316,000 2008 - 1,366,400 and 2009 - 1,414,100.[15] Today there are considerable numbers of Indian Britons who have ancestry via the Caribbean, South and East Africa as well as the Pacific Islands. See also: British Indo-Caribbean community, Ugandan British, Kenyan British, South African British and Tanzanian British.

Population spread

The table below shows the dispersity of Indian people in the United Kingdom. The figures for all of the English regions, cities and boroughs are based on 2009 estimates, whilst the figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are from the 2001 Census.

Indian population in the United Kingdom regions
Region Population of region Indian population Percentage of total population Significant communities
England London [16]
7,753,600
480,000
6.20%
Harrow - 15.9% Indian
Brent - 14.2%
Ealing - 12.9%
Hounslow - 12.8%
Redbridge - 10.7%
Newham - 9.7%
Hillingdon - 9.0%
Barnet - 8.4%
England West Midlands [17]
5,431,100
199,300
3.70%
Wolverhampton - 10.5% Indian
Sandwell - 8.2%
Coventry - 7.7%
Birmingham - 5.8%
Walsall - 5.3%
England South East [18]
8,435,700
178,900
2.10%
Slough - 11.2% Indian
England East Midlands [19]
4,451,200
143,200
3.20%
Leicester - 18.7% Indian
Oadby and Wigston - 10.7%
Blaby - 5.7%
Charnwood - 5.1%
Nottingham - 4.5%
Derby - 3.5%
Northampton - 3.5%
England East [20]
5,766,600
115,600
2.00%
Bedford - 4.7%
Cambridge - 4.7% Indian
Luton - 4.3%
England North West [21]
6,897,900
109,700
1.60%
Blackburn - 9.2% Indian
Preston - 6.8%
Bolton - 5.6%
Manchester - 3.4%
Trafford - 2.1%
England Yorkshire and the Humber [22]
5,258,100
96,900
1.80%
Kirklees - 4.2%
Bradford - 3.1% Indian
Leeds - 2.6%
Sheffield - 2.3%
England South West [23]
5,231,200
63,700
1.20%
Bristol - 2.4% Indian
Gloucester - 2.3%
Swindon - 2.0%
England North East [24]
2,584,300
26,700
1.00%
Newcastle Upon Tyne - 2.8% Indian
Scotland Scotland
5,094,800
17,000
0.30%
Glasgow - 2.4% Indian
Wales Wales
2,903,085
8,200
0.30%
Cardiff - 1.3% Indian
Northern Ireland
1,685,267
1,600
0.10%

Communities

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London is the largest Hindu temple outside India

London

Indians number over half a million in London, which is the city's single largest non-white ethnic group. Indians have a significant impact on the culture of the British capital. Within London, Southall, Hounslow, Brent, Croydon, Redbridge, Ealing, Barnet, Tooting, Harrow and Wembley, the latter of which is one of the few places outside of India where Indians make up the largest ethnic group (almost 4 times larger than the indigenous White British population). There are more Indians in the British capital than in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Portugal combined.

Leicester
Leicester is set to soon become the UK's first ethnic minority-majority city and Indians make up by far the largest ethnic group besides the White British. At 18.7% of the local population in 2009, Leicester has one of the highest percentages of Indians per head of the population of any local authority in the UK.[25] According to the 2001 Census, 14.74% of Leicester's population were Hindu and 4.21%.[26] Also worth of note is that Gujarati is the primary language of 16% of the city’s residents, 3% speak Punjabi as a primary language and 2% Urdu. Other smaller but common language groups include Hindi and Bengali.[27]

Religion

According to the 2001 Census, the religious breakdown of Indians in England and Wales can be seen in the table below.[28] Although the majority of British Indians are Hindu, the UK is home to the largest Sikh community outside of India.[29] Notable Gurdwaras in the country include: Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick, Guru Nanak NSJ, Soho Road, Birmingham, see also: Gurdwaras in the United Kingdom. Notable Hindu temples include BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London (the largest Hindu temple outside of India), Bhaktivedanta Manor, Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal, Skanda Vale, Sree Ganapathy Temple, Wimbledon and Tividale Tirupathy Balaji Temple. There are also significant numbers of Muslim and Christian British Indians as well as Ravidassia community with their main temple (Bhawan) in Handsworth, Birmingham.

Sikhs are also supporting separate Sikh monitoring in the 2011 census, Virendra Sharma MP met with representatives from the Sikh community to lobby parliament in November 2009 stating "It is vital that the Office of National Statistics recognise the importance of the Sikh community and provide this monitoring at the next Census".[30]

Religion Percentage of Indian population in England and Wales.[28]
Hinduism 45.00%
Sikhism 29.06%
Islam 12.70%
Christianity 4.89%
Not Stated 4.63%
Other Religion 1.75%
Agnostic 1.73%
Buddhism 0.18%
Judaism 0.06%
Total 100%

Diaspora

Today the British Indian community is extremely well established and it even has its own diaspora, many Indian British people now live abroad including in Canada (some 11,200), the United States (around 17,000), Oceania (largely Anglo-Indians) amongst others.[citation needed]

Culture

Cuisine

Veeraswamy restaurant on Regent Street, London is by far the most famous single site Indian restaurant in the country

Indian cuisine is extremely popular in the United Kingdom, and even above the British roast and Fish and Chips, the hybrid dish "Chicken tikka masala" always comes out on top as the UK's favourite meal. There are around 9,000 Indian restaurants located across the UK, which equates as approximately one per 7,000 people, this an extremely large number and suggests that any village or town with a population of over 2,000 is likely to be home to an Indian eatery. The popularity of the Indian curry in the UK was mainly made by Bangladeshi restaurateurs, where 85 percent of Indian restaurants in the UK are in fact owned by Bangladeshi Sylheti Bengalis.[31] Over 2 million Britons eat at Indian restaurants in the UK every week, with a further 3 million cooking at least one Indian based meal at home during the week.[32][33] Veeraswamy, probably the world's most famous Indian restaurant is located on Regent Street in London, and is the oldest surviving Indian restaurant in the UK, having opened in 1926[citation needed].

Film

The British Indian film industry is a successful enterprise, and over recent years many British Indian actors have rose to prominence globally, particularly in Britain, India, and the USA. Notable films include Bend it like Beckham, one of the better known productions revolving around British Indian life, and Slumdog Millionaire, a British drama film set in Mumbai starring British Indian actor Dev Patel in the lead role. The latter has won four Golden Globes, seven BAFTA Awards and eight Academy Awards. Besides British-produced Indian-based films, there are many Bollywood productions which have been filmed in the United Kingdom. These include Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Yaadein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

1970s

1980s

1990s

first decade of the 21st century

Music

Jay Sean has recently broke into to the global music market, and is already the most successful European male urban artist in US chart history

Indian music has a strong influence on global music as a whole. Indian influence on British popular music dates back to the development of raga rock by British rock bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; several Beatles songs (such as "Within You Without You") also featured London-based Indian musicians.[34] Today, British Indian musicians exist in almost every field and genre. However, there is an extremely large number of Bhangra artists that cement the UK as the stronghold of traditional Indian music outside of India, although this is a Punjabi music mainly performed by the Sikh community. Notable British Indian Bhangra acts include Panjabi MC, Rishi Rich, Juggy D, Jay Sean, DCS, and Sukshinder Shinda. World famous award winning singer-songwriter Freddie Mercury (a former member of the rock band Queen) was born on the island of Zanzibar to Parsi parents, originally from the Gujarat area of India. Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) and his family fled when he was 17 years old due to the Zanzibar Revolution; he remains not only one of the most famous British Indian musicians of all time, but one of the most famous British musicians. Other world-famous British Indian musicians include Biddu, who produced a number of worldwide disco hits such as "Kung Fu Fighting", one of the best-selling singles of all time having sold eleven million records worldwide,[35][36] and Apache Indian, who also had worldwide hits such as "Boom Shack-A-Lak". Jay Sean, whose parents immigrated to the United Kingdom from the Punjab region, is the first solo British Asian artist to reach the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single "Down" selling more than four million copies in the United States,[37][38] making him "the most successful male UK urban artist in US chart history."[39] Other contemporary British Indian singers include S-Endz and BRIT Award-nominated Nerina Pallot.

Television

Out of all of the countries in the Indian diaspora, the UK is most likely to be the best at portraying Indian culture and life in the UK through television. Long-running British soap operas such as Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks have all had significant numbers of Indian characters, while shorter British series such as The Jewel in the Crown and Skins also feature British Indian characters. By far the most notable British Indian television shows are Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42, a talk show that stars many famous British Indian actors including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim. British Indian actors not only have a strong presence in the UK, but also in the United States, where Parminder Nagra, Naveen Andrews, Kunal Nayyar and Nicollette Sheridan (who are all Britons of Indian origin) have found fame in ER, Lost, The Big Bang Theory and Desperate Housewives respectively, though Nagra is the only one to portray an actual British citizen of Indian descent. There are dozens of channels aimed at the British Indian community available on Satellite and Cable, which include:

Indian owned Sky channel Virgin Media channel Other
Sony TV Asia 782 806 N/A
STAR One 783 N/A N/A
STAR Plus 784 803 N/A
Zee TV 788 809 Channel 808 (Tiscali TV)
Zee Music 789 N/A N/A
Zee Cinema 617 810 N/A
Alpha ETC Punjabi 798 812 N/A
SET Max 800 806 N/A
Aastha TV 807 N/A N/A
STAR News 808 802 N/A
STAR Gold 809 N/A N/A
Zee Gujarati 811 N/A N/A
SAB TV 816 N/A N/A
Sahara One 817 N/A N/A
Aaj Tak 818 N/A N/A
Peace TV 820 N/A N/A
Zee Jaagran 838 N/A N/A
Joint owned Sky channel Virgin Media channel Other
B4U Movies 780 815 N/A
B4U Music 781 816 Channel 504 (Freesat)
9X 828 N/A Channel 662 (Freesat)
9XM 829 N/A N/A
NDTV Imagine 831 N/A N/A
British owned Sky channel Virgin Media channel Other
MATV 793 823 N/A

Radio

The BBC Asian Network is a radio station available across the entire United Kingdom which is aimed predominantly at Britons of South Asian origin under 35 years of age, besides this popular station there are only a few other national radio stations for or run by the British Indian community - including Sunrise and Yarr Radios. Regional British Indian stations include Asian Sound of Manchester, Hindu Sanskar and Sabras Radios of Leicester, Kismat Radio of London, Radio XL of Birmingham and Sunrise Radio Yorkshire based in Bradford (which itself has a much larger Pakistani than Indian community).

Social issues

Discrimination

Discrimination against persons of Indian origin in the United Kingdom is not completely widespread, but has been known to happen in certain instances. There are several areas across the country where hostility between the local Indian and Pakistani communities occur, although the names and racial slurs given to British Indians by some members the white community are evidence of lack of knowledge and ignorance, the term "Paki" is likely to be the most commonly used anti-Asian phrase in the UK and despite it being a shorted and derogatory term for a person of Pakistani origin it is all too often used to refer to anyone from the Indian subcontinent. However, some young British Pakistanis have attempted to reclaim the word and use it in a non-offensive way to refer to themselves.[40]

Tamils protesting against the Sri Lankan Civil War outside of India House

Verbal discrimination such as explained above has become somewhat more common after the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, even though Islam extremists who committed these atrocities have little to do with the British Indian community. One of the best examples of anti-Indian sentiment in the UK is the 2007 Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy which received significant media coverage, white contestants Jade Goody (who is mixed race), Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were all seen to have been mocking Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty because of her accent. They also persisted on making fun on general parts of Indian culture, Channel 4 went ahead and screened the arguments which received over 50,000 complaints. The controversy generated over 300 newspaper articles in Britain, 1,200 in English language newspapers around the globe, 3,900 foreign language news articles, and 22,000 blog postings on the internet.[41] Another example of discrimination is the Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972 (a decision made by the President of Uganda to ethnically cleanse the country) which lead to tens of thousands of East African Indians coming to the UK to start a new life, the majority of these already had British passports, due to Uganda at that time being part of the British Empire. Other examples of discrimination towards British Indians in the mainstream population include the case of 27 year old Chetankumar Meshram, a call centre trainer from Northampton who was compensated £5,000 after his boss told him he was to be replaced by a better English speaker.[42] Also Meena Sagoo, 42 is demanding over £100,000 after herself and a fellow employee of the ING Bank of Sri Lankan heritage were called The Kumars at No. 42 (after the popular TV comedy show of the same name). The same bank has been noted to have paid out £20,000 to a worker of Chinese origin who also claimed racial harassment in office.[43] Another form of discrimination towards British Indians is stereotyping, one example is British Asians being stereotyped as being the majority of newsagent and convenience store shopkeepers, the stereotype "Paki shop"; and also making a majority of doctors, these are all again often associated as being hardworking. This stereotype was made fun in the television and radio sketches of Goodness Gracious Me by four British Indian comedy actors themselves. In the comedy sketch Little Britain, a British Indian character called Meera continuously receives racist comments from weight loss advisor Marjorie Dawes who always makes it know that she does not understand a word of what Meera says, although it is completely obvious to the surrounding people and the viewer.

Female infanticide

According to a study published by Oxford University 1500 girls are missing from birth records in England and Wales over a 15 year period from 1990 to 2005. The vast majority of the abortions are carried out in India as finding a doctor willing to carry out an abortion is difficult in Britain.[44][45]

Economic status

A traditional Indian wedding in Nottingham, 2006

The richest person in Britain Lakshmi Mittal is an Indian citizen with an estimated fortune of £10.8 billion in 2009.[46] A study by Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2007 found British Indians have among the lowest poverty rates among different ethnic groups in Britain second only to white British. Of different ethnic groups Bangladeshis (65%), Pakistanis (55%), black Africans (45%) had the highest rates; black Caribbeans (30%), Indians (25%), white Other (25%) and white British (20%) had the lowest rates.[47] According to BBC findings, the economic makeup in 2001 of Indian-born British Indians only is as follows. 65.98% of new immigrants were employed with 16.43% being 'low earners' (people earning less than £149.20 a week) and 18.13% being 'high earners' (people earning more than £750 a week). By comparison settled Indian immigrants to the UK are actually slightly less likely to be in employment, 62.85%; in fact, the percentage of low and high earners for settled immigrants stood at 15.9% and 7.88% respectively. Therefore on average, 64.42% of Indian-born immigrants to the UK are employed. This figure is approximately 10% lower than the rate of employment for British-born people (regardless of ethnicity) which stood at 73.49% in 2001.[48] Sikhs are on average the wealthiest Indians, and the second wealthiest religious group after Jewish people, in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000.[49]

Caste issues

Many British Hindus and Sikhs still adhere to the caste system and still seek marriage with individuals who are of similar caste categories. There have been several incidents involving abuse of low caste British Hindus, known as Dalits, by higher caste individuals in schools and workplaces.[50][51] However, other Hindus say that caste discrimination is a thing of the past in Britain, and that the Asian community has moved on.[50]

Crime rates

In a list of the top 20 non-British communities engaged in crime in London this year, British Indians ranked 8th; committing 748 crimes, 235 of which were violent.[52] This is, however, one rank lower than the previous year, though it is the highest rate of crime for any Asian ethnic group.[52]

Between October 2006 and May 2008, UniVisa - a company run by three Indian illegal immigrants - submitted 980 fraudulent visa applications to the Home Office for would-be Indian immigrants.[53] It has also been reported recently[when?], that there are large numbers of illegal immigrants coming in from India. An MP in England described it as a big problem.[54]

Notable individuals

See also

Religion

Subgroups

Other

References

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  2. ^ Lucinda Platt (May 2011). "Inequality within ethnic groups" (PDF). JRF programme paper: Poverty and ethnicity. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  3. ^ Lascars in The East End
  4. ^ Abbas, Tahir (2005). "Muslim Britain: Communities under pressure". ISBN 978-1-84277-449-6. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ a b Fisher, Michael H. (2007). "Excluding and Including "Natives of India": Early-Nineteenth-Century British-Indian Race Relations in Britain". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 27 (2): 303–314 [304–5]. doi:10.1215/1089201x-2007-007.
  6. ^ a b Ansari, Humayun (2004). The Infidel Within: The History of Muslims in Britain, 1800 to the Present. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 37. ISBN 1-85065-685-1.
  7. ^ Fisher, Michael Herbert (2006). Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Traveller and Settler in Britain 1600-1857. Orient Blackswan. pp. 111–9, 129–30, 140, 154–6, 160–8, 172, 181. ISBN 81-7824-154-4.
  8. ^ "Curry house founder is honoured". BBC News. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  9. ^ Radhakrishnan Nayar (January 5, 2003). "The lascars' lot". Chennai, India: The Hindu. Retrieved 2009-01-16. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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  11. ^ National Statistics 2006
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  14. ^ http://www.chsuk.tv/
  15. ^ http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276743&c=london&d=13&e=13&g=325264&i=1001x1003x1004&o=322&m=0&r=1&s=1305747150781&enc=1&dsFamilyId=1809
  16. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - London - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  17. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - West Midlands - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  18. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - South East - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  19. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - East Midlands - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  20. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - East - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  21. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - North West - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  22. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - Yorkshire and the Humber - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  23. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - South West - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  24. ^ "Resident Population Estimates by Ethnic Group, All Persons - North East - Neighborhood Statistics". Office for National Statistics.
  25. ^ http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276827&c=leicester&d=13&e=13&g=394575&i=1001x1003x1004&o=1&m=0&r=1&s=1243613683858&enc=1&dsFamilyId=1812
  26. ^ http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276827&c=leicester&d=13&e=15&g=394575&i=1001x1003x1004&o=1&m=0&r=1&s=1243613614983&enc=1&dsFamilyId=17
  27. ^ "The Diversity of Leicester May 2008, A Demographic Profile". Leicester City Council. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
  28. ^ a b "Ethnic groups by religion". 2001 Census. Retrieved 2008-07-28. Cite error: The named reference "rel" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  29. ^ Britain isvhome to the largest community of Sikhs outside India with about 750,000 devotees
  30. ^ http://www.virendrasharma.com/virendra-sharma-mp-supports-sikh-monitoring-in-2011-census
  31. ^ From Bangladesh to Brick Lane Guardian (Friday 21 June).
  32. ^ Indian restaurants in the UK
  33. ^ Indian cuisine and eating in the UK
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  35. ^ James Ellis. "Biddu". Metro. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
  36. ^ Malika Browne (August 20, 2004). "It's a big step from disco to Sanskrit chants, but Biddu has made it". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 2011-05-30.
  37. ^ "Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  38. ^ Keith Caulfield (January 6, 2010). "Taylor Swift Edges Susan Boyle For 2009's Top-Selling Album". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
  39. ^ Youngs, Ian (2009-09-23). "British R&B star conquers America". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  40. ^ After the N-word, the P-word
  41. ^ Alan Cowell (2007-01-21). "Racial Subplot on British 'Big Brother' Grabs Nation and Ratings". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
  42. ^ British-Indian call centre worker wins racial discrimination case
  43. ^ British Indian woman slams racism case against ING bank
  44. ^ "UK Indian women 'aborting girls'". BBC News. 2007-12-03.
  45. ^ Desai, Kishwar (2010-05-11). "Britain's hidden gendercide: How Britain's Asians are copying Indian cousins and aborting girls". Daily Mail. London.
  46. ^ Sunday Times Rich List 2009 – Analysis, The Daily Telegraph, 2009-04-26
  47. ^ Poverty rates among ethnic groups in Great Britain, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, April 2007
  48. ^ "Born Abroad - Economics". BBC News. 2005-09-07. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  49. ^ "An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK" (PDF). Report of the National Equality Panel. The London School of Economics - The Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion. 2010-01-29. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  50. ^ a b Puri, Naresh (2007-12-21). "British Hindus divided by caste". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  51. ^ "Low caste Hindus 'abused'". BBC News. 2007-12-21. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  52. ^ a b http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/22839/International/2/20/2
  53. ^ http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/illegal-indian-fraudsters-behind-uks-largest-visa-scam_100189490.html
  54. ^ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/illegal-indian-immigration-poses-big-problem-for-uk/69176-2.html

Further reading

  • Fisher, Michael H. (2006). Counterflows To Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settlers In Britain 1600-1857. New Delhi: Permanent Black. ISBN 978-81-7824-154-8.