Ethnic group (Indians) In the UK - Essay Example

most significant and vibrant minority populations. It is not even so much of stretch to say that one day in the near future, the U.K. may wake up one morning with its own Indian Barack Obama as Prime Minister. This essay will further examine the role of Indians in British society and culture. While there were some Indians in Britain before the Second World War, they really began to pour in in the 1950 and 1960s. Once a breadwinner had found a job he could bring his family from India. Although there were efforts to restrict immigration in the 1960 and 1970s following an Enoch Powell style backlash and the rise of xenophobia in some urban centres, many Indians simply happily raised their birth rate, having more children.

Their population within Britain rapidly expanded. They now number about 1.6 million out of a total population in the United Kingdom of approximately 61 million people, which makes them the largest visible minority in the country and also in the country’s history. The rise of the Indian population in Britain has not always been easy. There have been conflicts and setbacks and a few ugly episodes. In some poor British urban centres there have been what have been described as race riots especially in Bradford in seven or eight years ago.

These have sometimes been provoked by members of the British far right nationalist groups which are usually racist, as in the case of this particular riot which saw a great deal of property damage.1 Part of the reason such riots occur is due to the large number of young people in the immigrant population who are bored or poor and looking for excitement. They often feel disenfranchised. However, the riots have not been especially significant and not on the same scale as the riots that rocked France in 2005, which resulted in the destruction of thousands of cars and some deaths.

Overall, Britain has integrated its minority populations much more successfully than the French have managed