WASHINGTON: 1 In 2 Indian-Americans Faced Discrimination In Past 1 Year: Report

WASHINGTON: Indian-Americans, who constitute
the second-largest immigrant group in the US, regularly encounter
discrimination and polarisation, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

The
report, ‘Social Realities of Indian Americans: Results from the 2020 Indian
American Attitudes Survey” draws on the Indian-American Attitudes Survey
(IAAS) — a collaboration between the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, Johns Hopkins-SAIS, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The findings
of the report are based on a nationally representative online survey of 1,200
Indian-American residents in the US — the 2020 IAAS — conducted between
September 1 and September 20, 2020, in partnership with the research and
analytics firm YouGov, it said in a statement.

“Indian-Americans
regularly encounter discrimination. One in two Indian Americans reports being
discriminated against in the past one year, with discrimination based on skin
colour identified as the most common form of bias.

“Somewhat
surprisingly, Indian-Americans born in the United States are much more likely
to report being victims of discrimination than their foreign-born
counterparts,” said the report.

According
to the report, Indian-Americans exhibit very high rates of marriage within
their community.

While
eight out of 10 respondents have a spouse or partner of Indian-origin, US-born
Indian-Americans are four times more likely to have a spouse or partner who is
of Indian-origin but was born in the United States.

The
survey found that religion plays a central role in the lives of
Indian-Americans but religious practice varies.

While
nearly three-quarters of Indian-Americans state that religion plays an
important role in their lives, religious practice is less pronounced.

Forty per
cent of respondents pray at least once a day and 27 per cent attend religious
services at least once a week.

The
report notes that roughly half of all Hindu Indian-Americans identify with a
caste group. Foreign-born respondents are significantly more likely than
US-born respondents to espouse a caste identity. The overwhelming majority of
Hindus with a caste identity — more than eight in 10 — self-identify as
belonging to the category of General or upper caste.

“Indian-American”
itself is a contested identity. While Indian-American is a commonly used
shorthand to describe people of Indian-origin, it is not universally embraced.
Only four in 10 respondents believe that “Indian-American” is the
term that best captures their background, the report said.

Civic and
political engagement varies considerably by one’s citizenship status. Across
nearly all metrics of civic and political participation, US-born citizens
report the highest levels of engagement, followed by foreign-born US citizens,
with non-citizens trailing behind.

Indian-Americans’
social communities are heavily populated by other people of Indian-origin.
Indian-Americans — especially members of the first generation — tend to
socialise with other Indian-Americans.
Internally, the social networks of Indian-Americans are more homogenous in
terms of religion than either Indian region (state) of origin or caste.

The
report says that polarisation among Indian-Americans reflects broader trends in
the American society.

“While
religious polarisation is less pronounced at an individual level, partisan
polarisation — linked to political preferences both in India and the United
States — is rife. However, this polarisation is asymmetric: Democrats are much
less comfortable having close friends who are Republicans than the
converse,” it said.

The same
is true of Congress Party supporters vis-a-vis supporters of the BJP.

“To
some extent, divisions in India are being reproduced within the Indian-American
community. While only a minority of respondents are concerned about the
importation of political divisions from India to the United States, those who
identify religion, political leadership and political parties in India as the
most common factors,” the report added.

Indian-Americans
comprise slightly more than 1 per cent of the total US population-and less than
1 per cent of all registered voters.

Indian
Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the United States. There
are 4.2 million people of Indian origin residing in the United States, according
to 2018 data.