Indian diversity in the UK : an overview of a complex and varied population

Abstract

This country report of Indian migration the UK broaches this broad and wide ranging topic through a variety of perspectives. To begin with, the historical migration of Indians to Britain is treated in order to understand the long term trends which set in motion the later waves of migration to the country we have seen since WWII. A demographic and socio-economic portrait of the UK’s Indian population is then built using a variety of statistical and qualitative sources, while the internal complexities of this group are continuously highlighted in order to avoid a simplification of the differences within the British-Indian community. Immigration to the UK has undoubtedly been influenced by over a century of fluctuating immigration policies and law, thus to truly understand the context of India-UK migration, the legal framework is explored in the following section which is then followed by chapters on the way Indian migrants have been treated by the British media and a summary of the most important religious centres and cultural associations they have produced. A report of this size could never be exhaustive, but through these various lenses the reader will gain a general picture of the ways Indians have migrated to Britain and how they have got by there.