Indian Gorkha

Indian Gorkha

Gorkha regiment soldiers Men of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) of the Indian Army operating alongside soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army in 2013
Total population
2,926,168 (2011 Indian Census)
Regions with significant populations
Sikkim · Darjeeling · Assam · Dehradun
Languages
Nepali
Religion
Hinduism · Buddhism · Kirant Mundhum · Christian
Related ethnic groups
Burmese Gorkha · Indian people · Nepali people · Sikkimese people

Indian Gorkhas, also known as Nepali Indians, are an ethno-cultural group native to India, who speak Nepali as a common language. They inhabit mainly the states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Northeast and Uttarakhand, including their diaspora elsewhere in India and abroad. The modern term "Indian Gorkha" is used to differentiate the Nepali language Speaking Indians from Nepalis (citizens of Nepal).^[1]

Indian Gorkhas are citizens of India as per the gazette notification of the Government of India on the issue of citizenship of the Gorkhas from India.^[2] The Nepali language is included in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution.^[3] However, the Indian Gorkhas are faced with a unique identity crisis with regard to their Indian citizenship because of the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1950) that permits "on a reciprocal basis, the nationals of one country in the territories of the other the same privileges in the matter of residence, ownership of property, participation in trade and commerce, movement and other privileges of a similar nature".