Salient Features of Indian Society, Diversity of India

Multi-Ethnic Society

• India is a diverse multi-ethnic country that is home to thousands of small ethnic and tribal groups. That complexity developed from a lengthy and involved process of migration and intermarriage. For example, the peoples of north-central and north-western India tend to have ethnic affinities with European and Indo-European peoples from southern Europe, the Caucasus region, and Southwest and Central Asia.
• In north-eastern India, West Bengal (to a lesser degree), the higher reaches of the western Himalayan region, and Ladakh, much of the population more closely resembles peoples to the north and east—notably Tibetans and Burmans, etc.