Paper Titles & Abstracts

Multiculturalism cherishes cultural diversity and envisages a society in which different communities forge a common identity while retaining their cultural provenance. Both India and Germany have most diverse and complex migration histories. The fact that the integration discourse is taken up by an increasing number of countries illustrates that the alternatives of complete assimilation and complete segregation or separation are not feasible in practice. In India multiculturalism is reflected in history, traditions, constitution and political arrangements while in Germany integration is understood as a sort of middle ground in between de facto segregation and demands for full assimilation but so far the link to the integration discourse currently employed in the context of migration has not been made. Frequent use of citizenship in public documents and political discourses belie its underlying complexity in recent years. The dominant perspectives and theories on multiculturalism have been western-centric, focusing on racial differences and tensions unlike other countries which entail ethnic rather than racial differences. This paper provides a broad overview of migration flows of both India and Germany with historical retrospect and their remittances and contributions to their respective home states. It focuses various challenges the country faces like reverse migrations, illegal immigrations, secondary migration, refugees and asylum. Paper also discuses paradigm shift of policies towards Diaspora and policy of immigration of both the countries in broader prospective.