Diaspora

noun (countable and uncountable)

/daɪˈæspərə/

The dispersion of a people from their original homeland, or the community of such dispersed people living outside their country of origin. The Indian diaspora, estimated at over 32 million people (Ministry of External Affairs, 2023), is the world's largest, spread across the Gulf, North America, the UK, and Southeast Asia. The Indian government engages it through the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention and the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) scheme.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

Remittances from the Indian diaspora reached a record $125 billion in 2023 (World Bank), making India the world's top remittance recipient and underscoring the diaspora's macro-economic significance for the current account.

Synonyms

expatriate communityemigrant communitydispersionscatteringoverseas communitytransnational community

Antonyms

homeland communityindigenous populationresident population

🌱 Word Family

diasporic (adjective), diasporize (verb, rare), diasporan (adjective/noun)

🔡 Root

Greek dia- = across, through + speirein = to sow, scatter; literally 'a scattering across'

📜 Etymology

From Greek diasporā (dispersion), a compound of dia- (through, across) and speirein (to scatter, sow). Originally a Biblical Greek term describing the scattering of Jews after the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE) and later after 70 CE. Adopted into broader social science vocabulary in the 20th century to describe any large-scale dispersal of an ethnic or national group from their homeland.

🧠 Memory Hook

Diaspora = DIA (across) + SPORA (spore/seed). Imagine seeds blown across the wind and settling far from the parent plant. A diaspora is a people 'seeded' across the world — scattered but still connected to the original soil.

👥 Society 📖 Seen in: Salient Features of Indian Society — D...

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