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{{Short description|Ethnic community}}{{EngvarB|date=December 2018}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Ugandan Indians
| image =
| poptime =
| popplace = [[Kampala]], [[Jinja, Uganda|Jinja]]
| langs = [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[English language|English]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Malayalam]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]], [[Urdu]], [[Kutchi language|Kutchi]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Hindi]], [[Odia language|Odia]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| rels = [[Hinduism]], [[Islam]], [[Sikhism]], [[Christianity]], [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Jainism]]
| related-c = [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin]]
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| related_groups =
}}

There's a sizable community of people of Indian origin living in [[Uganda]]. In 2003, there were an estimated 15,000 people of [[Asia]]n descent (majority of Indians and Pakistanis) living in Uganda compared to approximately 80,000 before [[Expulsion of Asians from Uganda|they were expelled]] by the dictator [[Idi Amin]] in 1972.<ref name="Drive">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/17/world/once-outcasts-asians-again-drive-uganda-s-economy.html | title=Once Outcasts, Asians Again Drive Uganda's Economy | access-date=14 March 2016 | date=17 August 2003 | first=Marc | last=Lacey | newspaper=[[New York Times]] | location=New York City}}</ref>

Many returned to Uganda in the 1980s and 1990s and have once again gone on to dominate the country's economy.<ref name="BBCsource">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36132151 |title=Ugandan Asians dominate economy after exile |last=Dawood |first= Farhana |date=15 May 2016 |website=www.bbc.com |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=14 December 2017 }}</ref> Despite making up less than 1% of the population, they are estimated to contribute up to 65% of the country's tax revenues.<ref name="BBCsource"/> [[Sudhir Ruparelia]], who is of Indian origin, is the richest man in Uganda and has an estimated fortune of $1 billion.<ref name="BBCsource"/>

==History==
[[File:SSDM Shikma temple at Nakasero, Kampala Uganda.jpg|thumb|Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal faith (SSDM) was established by early Asians who came to Uganda to work on the Uganda railway under the colonial era. The foundation stone to this temple, was laid in 1954 and completed in 1964. It was the first Shikma temple built outside India. This structure was built without any iron bars or steel right from the foundation up to it’s dorm which is over four floors high.]]

In 1895 construction of the [[Uganda Railway]] began. The [[Imperial British East Africa Company]] awarded [[Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee]], an agent based in [[Karachi]], with the contract to supply the required labour force. Jeevanjee recruited his workforce from the [[Punjab, British India|Punjab]] region of British India.<ref name=US7>Uganda Society, The Uganda Journal, Kampala, 1948, p.7</ref> The first group to arrive had a total of 350 men, and over a six-year period, a total of 31,895 men worked on the project. Some died, others returned to India after the end of their contracts, and others chose to stay. The population was later bolstered by [[Gujarat]]i traders called "passenger Indians", both Hindu and Muslim free migrants who came to serve the economic needs of the indentured labourers and to capitalize on the economic opportunities.<ref name="Springer Science & Business Media">{{cite book|last1=Ember|first1=Melvin|title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Volume II: Diaspora Communities|date=30 November 2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC&q=passenger+indians+uganda&pg=PA290|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780306483219|access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | access-date=14 March 2016 | last=Hiralal | first=Kalpana | title=Indian Family Businesses in Natal, 1870–1950 | publisher=Natal Society Foundation | url=http://natalia.org.za/Files/38/Natalia%2038%20pp27-37%20C.pdf | date=1994}}</ref>

Over time, Indians became prosperous and dominated much of the Ugandan economy, which prompted the rise of resentment and [[Anti-Indian sentiment|Indophobia]].<ref name="Springer Science & Business Media"/> These resentments came to a crisis when [[Idi Amin]] ousted [[Milton Obote]] by military [[1971 Ugandan coup d'état|coup d'état]] in 1971. The following year, Amin ordered the [[Expulsion of Asians from Uganda|expulsion of Asians living in Uganda]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/short-sighted-demagogue-who-played-the-race-card-idi-amin-expelled-the-asians-20-years-ago-richard-1538196.html | title=Short-sighted demagogue who played the race card: Idi Amin expelled the Asians 20 years ago. Richard Dowden, Africa Editor, explains why the decision was supported by Ugandans | date=4 August 1992 | access-date=14 March 2016 | first=Richard | last=Dowden | newspaper=[[The Independent]] | location=London}}</ref> As a result, many Indians migrated to the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere and began rebuilding their lives. After Amin's death, however, more Indians who were born in Uganda started migrating back.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen, Ronald Lee, 1944-|title=Global diasporas: an introduction|date=1997|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=0-295-97620-9|oclc=318266657}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-19066465 | title=Ugandan Asians: Life 40 years on | access-date=14 March 2016 | date=6 August 2012 | first=Rupal | last=Rajani | publisher=[[BBC|BBC Asian Network]] | location=London}}</ref>

Demographically, the number of people of mixed Ugandan-Indian heritage is not known ([[Multiracial Ugandans in Uganda]]).

==Notable Ugandan people of Indian descent or notable people of Indian-Ugandan descent ==
*[[Akbar Baig]] - Ugandan cricketer
*[[Alykhan Karmali]] - Ugandan industrialist
*[[Charli XCX]] - British singer
*[[Anup Singh Choudry]] - Former judge of the High Court of Uganda
*[[Arif Virani]] - Member of Parliament (Canada)
*[[Asif Din]] - English cricketer
*[[Bharat Masrani]] - CEO of [[TD Canada Trust]]
*[[Bhaskar Bhattacharya]]- Indian independent film-maker and scholar.
*[[Hasmukh Dawda]] - Businessman
*[[Jayesh Manek]] - Indian fund manager
*[[Jitendra Patel]] - Canadian cricketer
*[[Mahmood Mamdani]] - Ugandan academic
*[[Mayur Madhvani]] - Ugandan industrialist
*[[Miraj Barot]] - Businessman
*[[Mobina Jaffer]] - Canadian senator
*[[Mukesh Shukla]] - Ugandan industrialist
*[[Nandikishore Patel]] - Ugandan cricketer
*[[Naomi Scott]] - English actress and singer
*[[Nehal Bibodi]] - Ugandan cricketer
*[[Priti Patel]] - British politician
*[[Peter Nazareth]] - Ugandan-American author
*[[Rajat Neogy]] - Ugandan-American poet, Founder & First Editor of [[Transition Magazine]]
*[[Shailesh Vara]] - British politician
*[[Shekhar Mehta]] - Kenyan rally driver
*[[Shimit Amin]] - Indian film director
*[[Sikander Lalani]] - Ugandan steel magnate
*[[Sudhir Ruparelia]] - Ugandan businessman
*[[Suresh Dalal]] - Ugandan & American Attorney
*[[Wilfred de Souza]] - Politician and [[Chief Minister of Goa]]
*[[Walter de Sousa]] - Indian field hockey player.

==See also==
* [[India–Uganda relations]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [[Demographics of Uganda]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120206063957/http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter8.pdf Indian Diaspora in Africa]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071217134908/http://www.rudyfoto.com/IndiansofAfrica.html Indians of East Africa]

{{NRI-PIO}}

[[Category:Asian diaspora in Uganda]]
[[Category:Indian diaspora by country|Uganda]]
[[Category:Indian diaspora in Africa]]
[[Category:Ugandan people of Indian descent| ]]

Indians in Uganda - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 01:16, 14 August 2023