Roma people to expand diaspora |
The government of India is reviving a somewhat tenuous romance with the Roma people as the forgotten children of this country. In February, the ICCR in collaboration with an NGO, Indian Council for International Cooperation ( ARSP ), will organise the fourth Roma conference in New Delhi to encourage academic research into the origins of this largely European nomadic community who, many historians believe, are originally Indian.The Roma are largely described in pejorative terms in the countries they live in — gypsies, "gitanos" (Spain), "tsiganes" (France) — and have battled discrimination for centuries. From 1976, India has occasionally brought Roma scholars and performers over from several countries (1983, 2001 and 2008) to discuss their problems and attempt to establish cross-cultural links.In the four decades that India has highlighted its connections with the Roma people, no Indian educational institution has been persuaded to conduct research or set up a chair on Roma studies.The Modi government`s diaspora policy is also predicated on the role that Indian diaspora communities can play in support of India in their different countries. But for the Roma community, it would be interesting to see whether the Indian government takes up cudgels on their behalf with their respective governments.
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