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• Different religions and festivals (e.g.
Vaisakhi, Diwali and Eid)
• Social conventions (e.g. castes and
arranged marriages)
• Indian style in clothes, jewellery and décor
• Indian food (thank goodness!)
• Leisure activities (e.g. Indian cinema and
music and a love of cricket)

Indians in India
• Hindus (80.5%)
• Muslims (13.4%)
• Christians (2.3%)
• Sikhs (1.9%)
• Buddhists (0.8%)
• Jains (0.4%)
• Other religions (0.6%)

Indians in the UK
• Hindus (45%)
• Sikhs (29.1%)
• Muslims (12.7%)
• Christians (4.9%)
• Small numbers of
Buddhists, Jains and
other religions or “religion
not stated”
 

Punjab: (Sikhs)

Gujarat (Hindus)

Pakistan und Bangladesh (Muslims)

From the Punjab, after the second world
war (1939–1945) and Partition (1947)
• From East Africa (1970s)
• From Afghanistan (1990s)
mainly to Birmingham, in the West
Midlands, and to Southall in West London

• Founded in 15th century (Punjab)
• Founder = Guru Gobind Singh (Guru Nanak)
• Place of worship = a Gurdwara
• The Golden Temple in Amritsar = main temple
• Khalsa and non-Khalsa Sikhs in the UK
• A Sikh man initiated into the Khalsa is characterised by
“the 5 Ks”:
- Kes = uncut hair
- Kangha = a wooden comb
- Kara = a steel bracelet
- Kachh = soldiers’ shorts
- Kirpan = a dagger or sword
• First purpose-built Gurdwara built in Shepherds Bush,
London, in 1967 (in private houses since 1902)

• Names: Kaur (princess) and Singh (lion)
• Hair and beard
• Turban (Dastaar) = part of faith
- Idioms and proverbs
- Exchanging turbans
- Turban tying ceremony
- WWI and WWII
- 1969 Wolverhampton busmen
- 1976 Motor Cycle Crash Helmets (Religious
Exemption) Act
- 2012 Sikh guardsman in turban

13. April

• For Sikhs, Vaisakhi marks the beginning of the
harvest season and the birth of the Khalsa
• Southall Nagar Kirtan = a week or two before
Vaisakhi (attracts 40–70,000 people)
• Birmingham Nagar Kirtan = late April:
processions from two gurdwaras in the city,
make their way to Handsworth Park for the
Vaisakhi Mela (attracts 100,000 people)

• Based on (1) divinely revealed texts (texts in
Sanskrit dating from between 1500 and 300 BC)
and (2) handed down texts, such as epics
• Rites are carried out to maintain the relationship
between humanity and the gods
• Each individual must fulfil their duty (dharma)
• Dharma is determined by social class (varna)
and stage in life (ashrama)
• A guru can enlighten others and help them cross
the ocean of repeated death and rebirth
(samsara) to gain liberation (moksha)

• Brahmins (scholars, teachers, priests)
• Kshatriyas (kings, warriors, law enforcers,
administrators)
• Vaishyas (agriculturalists, traders, bankers,
artisans)
• Shudras (labourers, craftsmen, service
providers)
• Dalits (“the downtrodden ones” aka.
“untouchables”) – named the Harijan (children
of God) by Gandhi
• NB There are many sub-castes within each
level.

• Marriage
(Very traditional Hindus believe that you should
never marry a member of a lower caste)
• Food
(and you should never accept food prepared by
someone of a lower caste)
• Employment
(and you should remain in the family/caste
business) 

• Every person has duties to fulfil (the
concept of Dharma)
• “Clean” and “pure” are different things
• There’s a hierarchy of crafts and jobs
based on the level of purity of the job
• Purity = living without violence, eating only
vegetarian food and avoiding contact with
“dirty” things, e.g. animal fat, dirty
washing, excrement or leather
• Membership of “working castes” is fixed

1869-1948

Fought (non-violently) for:
• Independence from the British (self-rule)
(e.g. by organising non-violent protest marches;
the marchers were called Freedom Fighters)
• Equal rights for Dalits
(e.g. by encouraging all people to dispose of
their own dirt)
• Support for home industries
(e.g. by encouraging all people to spin, to weave
and to wear homespun cloth)

Untouchability Offences Act of 1955; amended in
1976 and now known as the Protection of Civil
Rights Act provides for:
Reservations (quotas) in education and jobs for:
• Scheduled Castes (SC) = Dalits (16% of pop.)
• Scheduled Tribes (ST) = tribal groups (7% of
pop.)
• Other Backward Classes (OBC) = 3,000 castes
(30–50% of pop. – opinions and studies differ)
• NB Some Forward Classes protest (claims of
reverse discrimination)

• Caste issues
• Family issues
• The astrologer
• The dowry
• Wedding outfits, jewels and make up
• “Matrimonials” section in newspapers
(special terminology, e.g. “wheatish” and
“no issue”)

• Festivals: Holi and Diwali
• Epics: The Ramayana and The
Mahabharata
• Classical instruments (e.g. tabla and sitar)
• Classical music: Ragas
• Dance: Kathakali and Bharatha Natyam
• Puppet shows
• Street entertainment

• Fesitval of lights
• Between mid-October and mid-November
• Lasts 5 days
• People clean their homes and decorate
them with lamps and candles
• Since 2009, Diwali is also celebrated at 10
Downing Street
• Leicester Diwali = one of the biggest
outside India

• Chai, lassi and Kingfisher beer
• The milder, creamy dishes of the north with
chapatis
• The spicy dishes of the south with rice
• Pickles and chutneys
• Fresh coconut milk
• Indian sweets and desserts
• The staple dish: rice, dhal and vegetables
• Veg. and Pure Veg. restaurants

• Starts in the south, in June, and works its
way up India, finishing in the hill stations of
the north by October
• Brings a long-awaited end to blistering
heat in some places
• Brings the promise of renewal and good
harvests
• Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander
Frater, 1992

India = the jewel in the crown of the Empire

The Koh-i-Noor (Mountain of light) diamond in crown of late Queen Mom

• Before Partition, 35% of Indians were Muslims
• After independence, no agreement could be
reached on how to govern the country, and
Muslims demanded their own state
• West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) were created
• 14 million people moved to achieve Partition,
and approx. 500,000 died in the process 

Most migrants were unskilled and semi-skilled
workers from rural areas in Gujarat and Punjab
and filled jobs in:
- textile mills in the north (e.g. Bradford)
- iron foundries in Birmingham
- Wolf’s rubber factory in Southall
- steelworks in Sheffield and Scunthorpe
• Some were professionals, e.g. doctors
• Many became self-employed when the post-war
boom ended and led to redundancies
(e.g. they bought corner shops and restaurants)

• Gloomy weather
• Jobs (often with long working hours)
• Racism and discrimination
• Rejection by neighbours
• A lack of integration policies
• Pressure to send remittances to India
• Indian communities
• Jobs with compatriots

• Indian food/restaurants (a British favourite is
chicken tikka masala) and Madhur Jaffrey
• Small shops with longer opening times and
British-Asian businesses (e.g. Patak’s Pickles)
• Cinema (Hindi films, Bollywood, British Asian
films)
• Music (classical, contemporary)
• The arts (dance, drama and literature)
• Changes in the appearance of certain areas
(Indians concentrated in some districts)

1960s

• Post-war recovery and expansion
• The British Nationality Act 1948
• Steady flow of migrants
• Economic recession 1956–1957
• Fears and racist agitation at street level
• Political exploitation of these tensions
• Notting Hill Riots 1958

• 25 August to 5 September 1958
• White youths attacked West Indians and their
homes in the Notting Hill area
• Arrests led to the exemplary sentencing of 9
white youths
• The riots led to tensions between the West
Indian community and the Metropolitan Police
• Claudia Jones, a Trinidadian journalist, started
the Notting Hill Carnival in 1959

Immigration
• 1962 Commonwealth
Immigrants Act
• 1968 Commonwealth
Immigrants Act
• 1971 Immigration Act

Race relations
• 1965 Race Relations Act
• 1968 Amendment Act
• 1976 Race Relations Act

1962

You had an automatic right to enter Britain
and remain only if:
• you were born in the UK
• or you had a UK passport as a CUKC or a
Republic of Ireland passport
• and your CUKC passport was issued by
London (most colonial citizens held
passports issued

If you did not belong to those categories, you
could only enter by obtaining a Ministry of
Labour voucher in one of three categories:
• A: people with a job offer in their hand
• B: people whose skills were considered useful to
Britain
• C: unskilled workers without a job offer
Quotas at the beginning:
• For A and B together = 20,800 a year
• For C: 10,000 a year

Some Commonwealth and alien citzens
received privileged treatment:
• Students
• Members of the armed forces
• The independently wealthy
In addition, the Act guaranteed the entry of
spouses, children under 18 and
grandparents over 65 (= secondary
immigration)

1.It permanently ended privileges enjoyed
by Commonwealth citizens for centuries
and divided subjects into two categories
2.It showed that the argument for control
had been won (no more “open door”
policy): the question that remained centred
on the degree of contro

• There was a general election in 1964
• Conservative MP for Smethwick, Peter
Griffiths, used the following election
campaign: “If you want a nigger for a
neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour”
• Labour won the election
• PM Harold Wilson (Labour) called Griffiths
“a Parliamentary leper

• Conservatives pressed for further controls
• The Labour government enacted two
measures in 1965:
1) The 1965 White Paper, reducing quotas
of 1962 Act (reducing number of vouchers)
and tightening secondary immigration
2) The 1965 Race Relations Bill
• No new controls were introduced

1965

Was introduced by Labour Government
and made it unlawful to:
• practise racial discrimination in public
places and on public transport
• stir up racial hatred, in speech or writing
It included the setting up of the Race
Relations Board (now called the
Commission for Racial Equality)

• Had two years to apply for Kenyan
citizenship after independence, but most
chose to keep their CUKC status
• As conditions grew more difficult for them,
many came to Britain (in early 1967 =
1,000 a month)
• The British public demanded that
measures be taken

1968

• Now meant that UK citizens who were born or
registered in a Commonwealth country before it
became independent (e.g. Kenya) were also
subject to immigration controls
• Distinguished between “belonging” and nonbelonging”
citizens (only those who were born in
the UK or had a parent or grandparent who was
born there qualified as a “belonging” citizen)
• But an additional 1,500 was added to the
existing quotas for Kenyan heads of households
(with dependants, a total of 6,000 to 7,000 a
year)