Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian ethnicity who live in Myanmar. While Indians have lived in Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in the mid 19th century to the separation of British Burma from British India in 1937. During British times, ethnic Indians formed the backbone of the government and economy serving as soldiers, civil servants, merchants and moneylenders. A series of anti-Indian riots beginning in 1930 and mass emigration during the Japanese occupation of Burma followed by the forced expulsion of 1962 left ethnic Indians with a much reduced role in Burma. Ethnic Indians today account for approximately 2% of the population of Burma and are concentrated largely in the two major cities and old colonial towns. They are largely barred from the civil service and military and are disenfranchised by being labeled as 'foreigners' and 'non-citizens' of Burma. Amongst the well-known Burmese Indians is S. N. Goenka, a leading practitioner and teacher of the vipassanā meditation technique and Helen, a well-known Bollywood film actress. Wikipedia [ - ]

Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian ethnicity who live in Myanmar. While Indians... [ + ]