Ethnic groups in Delhi

2021-10-03T19:28:43Z

103.65.30.232: /* Caste and politics */

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'''Delhi's ethnic groups''' are diverse. The Yamuna river's flood plains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture but are prone to recurrent floods. The Yamuna, a sacred river in Hinduism, is the only major river flowing through Delhi. The original natives of [[Delhi]] are those whose ancestors lived in the [[Yamuna]] basin, a region which spreads radially from the capital up to a distance of approximately 200 kilometres.<ref name="autogenerated146">''Memorandum submitted to the States Re-Organisation Commission Regarding Greater Delhi'', 1 May 1954, quoted in Shiv Charan Gupta, ''Delhi: The City of Future'', New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1987, pp. 146–156.</ref> Today the migrant population consists largely of [[Punjabi people|Punjabis]], [[Bengali people|Bengalis]] and recently, [[Bihari people|Bihari]]s.<ref>[[Percival Spear]], ''Delhi: The Stop-Go Capital: A Summation'', p. 32, in RE Frykenberg, (editor), ''Delhi Through the Ages: Selected Essays in Urban History, Culture and history''. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993.</ref>

During parts of the [[British Raj]], Delhi was made a district city of the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]] of [[British India]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=2000|edition=fourth}}</ref> This province was not ethnically homogeneous and large amounts of Hindi speakers resided in the southeast, now [[Haryana]] and Delhi.
[[File:Punjab 1909.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Punjab (British India)]] in 1909 from [[The Imperial Gazetteer of India]]]]

== Caste and politics ==
A 2013 ''[[The Pioneer (India)|The Pioneer]]'' report estimates Jats to be only 5.5% of the total electorate and [[Brahmin]]s comprising 13-15% of Delhi's population. .<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2013/page1/delhis-jats-from-farmers-to-determined-political-climbers.html |title=Delhi's Jats: From farmers to determined political climbers |last=Kumar |first=Rajesh |date=13 November 2013 |work=The Pioneer |access-date=10 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2013/india/fight-for-brahmin-votes-intensifies.html |title=Fight for Brahmin votes intensifies |work=The Pioneer |access-date=10 September 2018}}</ref>

According to a 2015 ''[[India TV]]'' article, the major voter social groups include Punjabis (different castes) (35%), [[Purvanchal|Jats]] (15%), [[Muslims]] (12%), [[Rajputs]] (5%), Purvanchalis (8%), Vaish (8%), Gujjars (8%), [[Ahir]] (7%), Sikhs (5%) and around 2 million [[Uttarakhand]]is.<ref>https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/key-to-50-seats-on-aap-radar-voters-from-uttarakhand-4617486/</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Raj |title=Delhi Assembly elections 2015: Important facts and major stakeholders |url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/delhi-assembly-elections-2015-important-facts-and-stakeholders-25298.html |accessdate=12 April 2019 |work=[[India TV]] |date=6 February 2015}}</ref>

Brahmins dominated politics in Delhi for many decades.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/534/534%20sanjay%20kumar.htm|title=534 Sanjay Kumar, A tale of three cities |website=india-seminar.com |access-date=21 March 2019}}</ref> Ethnic Punjabis are believed to account for at least 40% of Delhi's total population and are predominantly [[Hindi]]-speaking [[Punjabi Hindus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/delhi-assembly-elections-2015-important-facts-and-stakeholders-25298.html|title=Delhi Assembly Elections 2015: Important Facts And Major Stakeholders Mobile Site|date=6 February 2015|work=India TV News|access-date=7 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/sunday-special/perspective/why-punjabis-are-central-to-delhi-election/36387.html|title=Why Punjabis are central to Delhi election|author=Jupinderjit Singh|date=February 2015|work=tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/perspective/why-punjabis-are-central-to-delhi-election/36387.html|access-date=7 September 2015}}</ref><ref name="Sanjay2008" />

In the [[2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly election|2015 Legislative Assembly election]], 12 out of Delhi's 70 constituencies were reserved for [[scheduled caste]] ([[Dalit]]) candidates because of dominant Dalit population.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Darpan |last2=Haidder |first2=Faizan |title=For Delhi, the Dalit die is caste |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/for-delhi-the-dalit-die-is-caste/story-wrd3faiNfQvDf6j0tenwXN.html |access-date=20 April 2021 |work=Hindustan Times |date=25 December 2014 |language=en}}</ref>

{{see also|List of Scheduled Castes in Delhi}}

== Migrants ==
The Indian censuses record the native languages, but not the descent of the citizens. Linguistic data cannot accurately predict ethnicity: for example, many descendants of the [[Punjabi Hindu]] and [[Sikh]] refugees who came to Delhi following the [[partition of India]] now speak Hindi natively. Thus, there is no concrete official data on the ethnic makeup of Delhi.<ref name="Sanjay2008">{{cite book | author=Sanjay Yadav | title=The Invasion of Delhi | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CTBBL1q5C_EC&pg=PA10 | year=2008 | publisher=Worldwide Books | isbn=978-81-88054-00-8 }}</ref>{{rp|8–10}}

Delhi is an ancient city, and the people residing in the [[Yamuna River]] basin were the original natives of the city.<ref name="Sanjay2008"/>{{rp|12}} However, being a historical capital and prominent city, Delhi has always attracted a large number of immigrants. When the capital of British India was shifted from [[Calcutta]] to Delhi, a substantial number of government personnel, especially from the [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], migrated to Delhi.<ref name="Sanjay2008"/>{{rp|19}} Following the partition of India in 1947, a large number of people migrated to Delhi. These included a large number of Punjabis (with a relatively small number of [[Sindhi people|Sindhis]]), which led to the characterisation of Delhi as a "Punjabi city". According to the first census right after partition, the 1951 census, Delhi had a total population of 1,744,072 people which included:<ref name="Sanjay2008"/>{{rp|20}}

{| class="wikitable"
! Place of birth of Delhiites in 1951
! Number of people
|-
| Delhi
| 717,310
|-
| [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] (mainly [[Punjab, Pakistan|West Punjab]] and [[East Bengal]])
| 474,744
|-
| [[Uttar Pradesh]] (including present-day [[Uttarakhand]])
| 262,098
|-
| [[East Punjab]] (including present-day [[Chandigarh]], [[Haryana]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], and [[Punjab, India|Punjab]])
| 162,468
|-
| [[Rajasthan]]
| 48,592
|}

By 1991, the number of those born outside Delhi was 3.7 million (out of a total population of 9.4 million). Most of these included immigrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar (1.75 million) and Rajasthan (0.23 million). However, these neighbouring states are themselves ethnically diverse, so it is hard to use this data for determining the ethnic make-up of Delhi.<ref name="Sanjay2008"/>{{rp|19}} There are also a large number of immigrants from the East Indian states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Bengal. The number of South Indians is relatively less, with most of them coming from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are also several immigrants from the [[North-East India]], who have migrated to Delhi because of the conflicts and bad economy in their native states.<ref name="Duncan2012">{{cite book | author=Duncan McDuie-Ra | title=Northeast Migrants in Delhi: Race, Refuge and Retail | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZfg00heCDwC&pg=PA161 | year=2012 | publisher=Amsterdam University Press | isbn=978-90-8964-422-0 | pages=161–}}</ref> Today [[Hindi]] and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] are still the most widely spoken languages in Delhi and have become the [[lingua franca]].<ref>''Demographics of North India by P.S. Rawat p. 186''</ref> English is the principal written language of the city and the most commonly used language in government work and in Delhi's huge financial sector. In addition to [[Hindi]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and English, [[Urdu]] also has official language status in Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.delhicapital.com/about-delhi/fast-facts.html|title=Know about Delhi Fast Facts, Area, population, Geographical Location, Languages|date=6 July 2019|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/d09fd2004bd07ad9a305ab56803943f0/Delhi+Official+Languages+Act+2000.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-344844204 |title=Archived copy |access-date=10 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084459/http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/d09fd2004bd07ad9a305ab56803943f0/Delhi+Official+Languages+Act+2000.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-344844204 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of Scheduled Castes in Delhi]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://revenueharyana.gov.in/html/mainchild/gazatteers_delhi_1883.htm Delhi District Gazetteer 1883]

[[Category:Ethnic groups in India by state or union territory|Delhi]]
[[Category:Social groups of Delhi|*]]

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Ethnic groups in Delhi