Genetics of Castes and Tribes of India: Indian Population Milieu

Abstract

South Asia, constituting mainly the Indian sub-continent, is a panorama of social diversities, racial differences and rich cultural heritage. However many facets of history, race and culture of this area are still relatively unexplored. Debates and doubts centering around the autochthonous status of the early settlers continue -it is very difficult to ascertain how human groups and settlements were formed in the pre-historic times, whether they were the original inhabitants or migrated from some other place and if they migrated, which route did they take. However, the infiltration and admixture of new racial and cultural elements, from time to time, have made the Indian population more diverse and heterogeneous.

Presence of the functional CASPASE‐12 allele in Indian subpopulations

“…As the largest number of subjects who were positive for CASP12 were ethnic Tamils, we analysed allele distribution in Tamils vs. non‐Tamils (Table 2). In Table 2, we also compared the Dravidian or Indo‐European language groups, which define the languages that are predominantly spoken in the states of origin of our subjects, according to linguistic maps of India (Bhasin, 2006; Consortium, 2008).…”

Prevalence of color blindness in pre-employment screening in a tertiary health care center in Pakistan

“…Instead we detected 1.41% males have CVD in our studied population, while internationally reported CVD in males are India 8.73%, Belgium 8%, United States 8%, Turkey 7.33% and China 6.5%. 7-9 Internationally reported overall CVD differs in different races and geographical areas 7,10…”

Genetic sketch of the six population groups of Rajasthan: a study based on 12 autosomal loci

“…The Indus Valley civilization was spread over Pakistan and western India, parts of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and was linked to a huge area including portions of Afghanistan, coastal Persia, north and central India, and Mesopotamia by trade links that followed the major rivers, which might have attracted people from these places to explore India, entering India probably through presentday Rajasthan and Gujarat. Also, from the fourth century BC onwards for 2000 years, India, particularly in the north, was subjected to waves of penetration: history testifies that Greeks, Parthans, Sakas (Scythians), and Pahalvas, including the Kushans, were the first to arrive, after the IndoAryan civilization had entered its settled course (Bhasin, 2006). The impact of these Indo-European speakers can be accounted from the fact that even the tribal people of Rajasthan speak dialects belonging to the Indo-European family, which is unique as this linguistic group mainly encompasses caste groups.…”

“…Since it is located at the crossroads of Africa and West as well as East Eurasia (Cordaux et al, 2003), Rajasthan in India probably served as one of the major land routes for human migrations. Moreover, from the fourth century BC onwards, India, particularly in the north, was subjected for 2000 years to repeated waves of penetration by alien peoples (Danielou, 2003;Bhasin, 2006). The archaeological evidence for this is present in the form of many prehistoric sites which include the Indus Valley civilization that is approximately 4500 years old, but disappeared about 3500 BP.…”