Ethnic groups in Delhi

Delhi’s ethnic groups may be sub-divided into two categories, indigenous and migrant. The indigenous people are those who belong to the Delhi-middle Yamuna basin, a region which spreads radially from the capital up to a distance of approximately 200 kilometres.The migrant population consists largely of Punjabis, Bhojpuris and Biharis, Bengalis and Malayalis.

Natives and migrants

The definition of indigenous and migrant requires explication. The union territory of Delhi was not established on vacant, virgin land. The Delhi basin has known human settlement for several millennia. The political fortunes of the city have risen and fallen with the ebb and flow of political power. The city has been a capital sometimes, and sometimes just an ordinary urban centre. However, it has never been vacant land awaiting settlement; it has always had human habitation, with the river Yamuna as its sustainer. Delhi existed even in the epoch of the Mahabharata; its name then was Indraprastha. This is therefore an old city, with an old, historic ethnic character. The population that has traditionally resided in the region of the middle Yamuna qualifies for the appellation ‘indigenous people’; the belief that everybody in the city is an ‘outsider’ is therefore incorrect. The current boundaries of the union territory of Delhi are un-related to the issue of Delhi’s ethnicity. The union territory is merely an administrative construction, nothing more. Delhi still has villages and the people of these villages are identical with the villagers of the neighbouring districts of the adjacent states of India.

The indigenous population is not, however, an inseparable part of the whole of north India. Its character is more narrowly defined. Delhi’s native people share common ties of descent only with the population of Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and the north-eastern sections of Rajasthan. The Delhi basin is the land of Gaur Brahmins, Hindu Jats, Tyagis, Yaduvanshi Ahirs, and others. These castes marry within the middle Yamuna basin, not beyond, thus giving to the area distinct ethnic lineaments. From Kurukshetra in the north to Mathura-Vrindavan in the south and Indraprastha (Delhi) in the centre, the region is dotted with sites associated with the life of Lord Krishna. The Delhi basin is Krishna country, the geographical setting of the epic story, the Mahabharata.

The indigenous population, curiously, does not today possess a descriptive tag, as do the people of Bengal or the Punjab, who are called Bengalis and Punjabis respectively. The middle section of the Yamuna valley, the Delhi suba (province) of the Mogul days, is Hindustan in the narrowest, the strictest sense. However, loose use of this term has tended to give Hindustan a very broad meaning and now it sometimes means the whole of north India, and sometimes the whole of India. The term ‘Hindustani’ is therefore no longer an accurate ethnic name for the native people.

People from beyond the ethnic zone of the Delhi-middle Yamuna can be called migrants; the description does not apply to those who, for instance, move to Delhi from Gurgaon or Meerut, for these towns fall within the Delhi basin. This usage is consistent with practice the world over. A resident of London whose origins are in Bristol is not called a migrant, an Indian is; likewise, closer home, a Marathi from Sholapur resident in Mumbai is not called a migrant, a Bihari from Patna is. Analogously, in India, as elsewhere, identity is determined by descent, not place of birth or domicile. Just as an African born in London is not thought an Englishman, so a Bengali or Punjabi, born or domiciled in Delhi is not thought a local person.

Castes of Delhi

Our knowledge of caste numbers is limited by the fact that post-independence India has not held any caste-based census. The last such censuses were in 1931 and 1921, the latter being more thorough. According to the 1921 census of India, the caste breakdown of the indigenous Hindu population (in per cent) in Delhi was as follows: Agari 1.7, Yaduvanshi Ahirs 3.1, Arain 0.8, Arya 0.7, Bairagi 1, Bania 8.6, Banjara 0.8, Brahmin 10.5, Chimba 0.3, Chuhra 3.9, Dagi/Koli, Dhanak 1.4, Dhobi 1.1, Fakir 0.8, Gujjar 3.6, Jats 13.3, Jatav 12.8, Jhiwar 3.5, Jogi-Rawal 0.3, Julaha 2.5, Kumhar 2.5, Lohar 0.6, Macchi 0.3, Mali 2.2, Nai 1.7, Rajput 7.5, Saini 0.6, Sunar 0.3, Tarkhan 1.4, Teli 0.8, Forwards 26%, OBCs 56%, Scheduled Castes 18%.

The caste composition of the migrant population remains unknown, for there are no data on the subject.

Ethnic landscape in 1991

Since 1947, the native population has been consistently declining, while the population of the migrants has been rising precipitously. At independence, after the Muslim colonists from medieval times departed for Pakistan, the indigenous people enjoyed a 95 per cent presence over their patrimonial lands. With the partition settlers flooding in, their proportion fell almost overnight to 55 per cent. Thereafter, it continued to decline steadily at a rate of about 3 per cent annually. In 1991 it stood at 43 per cent and today it may be only 37 per cent. Side by side, migrant numbers have grown systematically. Today, about 63 per cent of Delhi residents may be migrants from beyond the Delhi-middle Yamuna basin. Amongst migrants, Punjabis constitute a large group. They were about 24 per cent of the population of the union territory in 1991. Easterners, i.e. those from Awadh, Bhojpur and Bihar, are equally large in number and constituted about 22 per cent of the city in 1991; today, their numbers are likely to be between 25 and 30 per cent. Migrants from other parts of India are small in number, though those from Kerala are thought to be increasingly numerous.

Ethnic groups and social stratification

In terms of ethnicity and social hierarchy, Delhi’s picture is unusual. Other great cities of the world such as London, New York and Paris too host many million migrants, but white collar employment remains predominantly in native hands. Migrants assimilate into the local culture and gradually work their way upwards into the established economic and social hierarchies. Delhi’s situation is completely the reverse. Here the indigenous population is the underclass and holds only about six per cent of the white collar positions available in the city. In many sectors, such as universities, their presence is almost invisible. By contrast, Punjabis, who are two per cent of the country’s population and 24 per cent of the city, hold approximately 53 per cent of Delhi’s managerial employment; in some sectors, such as Delhi administration, they possess nearly 70 per cent of the appointments. The remainder of white collar work is largely in the hands of forward castes drawn from Awadh, Bengal, Bhojpur, Bihar and Orissa. Because of this unusual ethnic stratification, Delhi’s society appears to have an imperial character, more typical of empires than free, democratic nations.

Legacy of history

The prevalent ethnic stratification is a product of the events of 1857. The Delhi-middle Yamuna basin was the epicentre of the rebellion against British rule. Elements of the indigenous population committed atrocities against the British residents who fell captive. By contrast, the Punjabis sided solidly with the British rulers. Following the restoration of control, Britain pursued a complex ethnic policy. The official gazetteer observes that the people of the Delhi-middle Yamuna basin had to be "taught to know their masters" , and the indigenous population was given a "lesson which will never be forgotten". The Punjabis, on the other hand, were to be richly rewarded. In consequence, observes the official British gazetteer, the "political punishment was pronounced of [Delhi's] transfer to the Punjab. By Act XXXVIII of 1858 the city was attached as a provincial town to the frontier province [i.e. the Punjab]." By and by, a tripartite ethnic division evolved. At the top sat Britons, the imperial race. Below them, as imperial auxiliaries, were Punjabis, manning the middle ranks of the administration. At the bottom was the indigenous population, the subject race. The transfer of capital to Delhi in 1912 gave an enormous spurt to building activity; again lucrative contracts were preferentially awarded to the Punjabis, especially Sikhs, and this enabled families like that of Khushwant Singh to acquire vast estates in the city, so far from their traditional homes in the distant west Punjab.

The end of British rule in 1947 effectively implied transfer of power to the transplanted auxiliary communities, i.e. the Punjabis. The decision to settle partition refugees in the middle-Yamuna basin, rather than in the Punjab alone, was a reflection of the power of these groups and engendered a further Punjabization of the Yamuna basin. A new feature of the post-independence years has been the rise of Kashmiri pandits. They have a disproportionately large presence in executive employment and ownership of property--this again is an outcome of political forces, in this instance, the proximity of the pandits to the higher echelons of the ruling Congress party.

In Mumbai migrant domination gave birth to a powerful nativist movement, with parties like the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena vigorously championing the rights of the indigenous population. Hitherto, this has not happened in Delhi, but a recent report indicated that murmurs of resentment are beginning to be heard..

External links

Delhi District Gazetteer 1883