Introduction India is a vast country, having a geographical area of 3287263 sq.km. and a population of little more than one billion people. Based on the generous concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), we have a great cultural heritage. This has accommodated and integrated many communities and their ways of life from time to time.

(i) Human settlement in India had begun from the early Stone Age and so far it has been the homeland of many communities who have contributed to its rich cultural heritage. India harboured a great civilization, popularly known as the Indus Valley Civilization, which produced a continuum between rural and urban cultures. Further, India produced a universally respected compendium (collection) of knowledge in the form of Vedas, Upanishads and great epics. It provided a suitable atmosphere for a number of religions and religious ideas to flourish, different languages to develop and diverse ideologies to take root. India shelters many religions coming from outside its boundaries. All these, over millennia, interacting with each other have produced a cultural fabric that is unique in its characteristics and exclusively Indian in nature.

(ii) Diversity in India is found in terms of race, religion, language, caste and culture. Sociologists say that Indian unity has been both politico-geographic and cultural in nature. The diversities have remained, but simultaneously provided a mainstream culture. it is estimated that there are 4635 communities found in India. Out of which 751 are scheduled caste communities and 461 are scheduled tribe communities. The highest number of Scheduled castes is found in Uttar Pradesh. Scheduled caste communities are not found in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Scheduled tribe communities are not found in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Goa and Pondicherry. There is tremendous diversity of communities living in all the states.