The Indian American community in the United States The Indian American community in the United States
is over a million, but this large number has grown from small beginnings
and an expansion of immigration within the last thirty years. The first
Indian immigrant entered the United States in 1790 as a maritime worker,
as part of the early commerce connections between India and the U.S. After
that, the next noticeable groups of Indians came to the west- coast of
the United States, in the state of Washington, entering from Canada. The U.S. Census bureau defines Indian-Americans as "Asian Indians." When households fill out the census they define themselves as Asian Indians, a sub-category of the Asian or Pacific Islander group People who choose to write in more specific categories, such as Gujarati or Sikh, are still classified as Asian Indians. People are classified as Asian Indians if they are of Asian Indian origin or if they are of Asian Indian race, or if they are foreign born people from India. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the national census count of 1990 differed from the true population by less than two percent, which means that their statistics about the size of the Indian American population are quite accurate. Using this margin of error, the Indian American community in 1990 would, at its highest count be approximately 831,755 people. This means that perhaps, with the highest estimates, around 15,000 Indian-Americans were left out of the census. In estimating this undercount, the Census Bureau uses birth and death records, immigration records and previous censuses to estimate the true population. It also conducts special surveys by taking scientific samples of census blocks and re-interviewing them independently of the census enumeration to determine accuracy. It is, however, difficult to accurately estimate the undercount of Indian-Americans because adequate records on this segment of the population have not existed for a long period of time.4 The Census Bureau margin of error, an estimated 15,000 uncounted Indian-Americans, is consistent with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Services estimate that the number of undocumented resident immigrants from India in October 1988 was around 15,000. Furthermore, according to INS estimates, the number of undocumented Indian-American immigrants in 1992 had grown to about 28,000. Most of these undocumented Indian immigrations are people who were supposed to visit the United States only for a specific period of time, but then decided to remain indefinitely. The largest portion of these immigrants reside in the states of California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and Illinois in that order.5 The 1990 U.S. Census published some revealing information about the Indian American community. Indians have attained a high level of education. Eighty-five percent of them have at least graduated from high school, and fifty-eight percent of them have received a bachelor's degree or higher. This is an impressive level of higher education, especially when compared with the twenty percent of the total population who hold a bachelor's degree or higher. High levels of education have enabled Indian Americans to become a productive segment of the population, with 72.3% participating in the work force, and an even higher 84% of men doing so. Of these labor force participants, 43.6% are employed in managerial and professional specialties. Technical, sales, and administrative support occupations constitute another 33.2% of the labor force, and the remaining 23.3% of the population works in other areas, such as operators, fabricators, laborers and precision production. Higher labor participation rates have also led to a higher per capita income of $17,777.00 for this community, as compared with a national per capita income of $14,143.00 The mean earnings of Indian-American households in 1989 was $56,438.6 In contrast, the poverty rate for Indian-Americans is only 9.7 percent, lower than the national average 13 percent. Considering the size of the population and income figures, it is estimated that the annual buying power of Indian-Americans in the United States is around twenty billion dollars annually7 . The average Indian-American family has 3.83 people, and 89.2 percent of this population is married-couple families. To extrapolate, this indicates the importance of family-centered life for the Indian-American community, as most Indian families consist of a husband, wife and their two children.8 Not only is the Indian American Community strong
in its numbers, facts and figures, but more importantly in the successful
endeavors it has ventured to undertake over a spectrum. Large Indian-American
communities exist in every state in the nation, the five largest in California,
Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, with populations of over 60,000.
The Washington D. C. metropolitan area has a community of over 50,000
people.9 Moreover, Asian Indians are the largest of Asian American ethnic
groups in New Jersey, the second largest after the Chinese Americans in
New York and Maryland, and after Filipinos in Illinois, and the third
largest after Vietnamese and Chinese in Texas. The Indian American community
has strength and unity, as is illustrated by the over 1,000 Indian-American
organizations across the country. These organizations engage in a wide
range of activities, from cultural festivals and civic work to political
activism. Not simply separate groups, many of them belong to larger, unifying
umbrella organizations, such as the National Federation of Indian-American
Associations (NFIA), the American Indian Associations (AIA), and the Indian
American Forum for Political Education (IAFPE), which enables them to
pursue their interests in a more cohesive and effective manner. In their
occupations, Indian-Americans have attained a high degree of professionalism.
They are most prevalent in the fields of In addition to being a great professional force
in many realms, Indian-Americans have also become a strong voting force
in the United States. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, of the 593,423
foreign-born Indian-Americans, 34.3% of them have been naturalized. Along
with the other 212,021 United States born Indian-Americans who are already
U.S. citizens, the The cohesion of the community has continued to grow. Although internal differences within community organizations continue to subsist, as they do between organizations, the community was able to get together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Independence on August 15, 1997, in Washington DC, with a gala banquet attended by community representatives from across the country, representative of all sections, religious and regional, of Indian Americans. The Banquet was graced by the presence of the First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Secretary of State Albright and the Secretary Commerce Bill Daley among a number of distinguished guests. A specially recorded video message from the President Bill Clinton was projected on the occasion. Reports of well attended celebrations of the 50th Anniversary, organized by Indian American organizations, poured in from across the US. Community leaders helped secure India Day Proclamations in several cities, by Mayors and many States, by Governors. The best attended of such events was perhaps at Detroit IL, attended by 18,000. Civil disturbances in some parts of India have
been reflected in the interrelationships of the community and in their
relationship with the Embassy. These have largely subsided mostly because
of the improving situation within India, but also as a result of positive
outreach by the Embassy. Embassy functions are now regularly attended
by all sections of the community including those who were for a time disaffected.
Functions like the annual celebration of Guru Nanak's birthday and Iftar
at the The outreach program of the Embassy has included non-Indian American communities with an interest in India like the major Jewish organizations the American Jewish Committee, which has sent delegations to visit India, JINSA and Anti-Defamation League, and the American Muslim Council (on which of course the Indian American community is also represented).
Indians No 2 in US immigrants SEP 01/2002 The data says 70,290 Indians received Pakistani officials have said the raid on Defence Society was actually one of the three conducted with an active American technical and intelligence support between September 9 and 11. India accounted for 6.6 per cent of the green cards, up from 4.9 per cent in 2000, while Chinas contribution dropped slightly from 5.4 to 5.3 per cent. PTI
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