These Anglo-Indians take their mother's name, and are
therefore in the matrilineal sense members of the Khasi
Scheduled Tribe. So, they do not use the Constitutional
definition of Anglo-Indian because they reject
patriachalism.
These Khasi Anglo-Indians/Scheduled Tribe respondents
stated that they were Anglo-Indians when they attended
Anglo-Indian schools, but adopted their mother's name after
completing their secondary education. There was a purpose
in this strategy. The Indian Government offers positive
discrimination in favour of jobs and Higher Education to
members of the Scheduled Tribes, and thus Anglo-Indians
whose mothers are Khasi benefit from accepting Scheduled
Tribe status .
This has shaped the decision for these respondents because
policies of positive discrimination continue to play an
important role for this group of Anglo-Indians in India.
The next section is a comparative analysis between the
Keralite and the Meghalayan Anglo-Indians.
4.3. A comparison between the Keralite and Meghalayan
Anglo-Indians
These two Anglo-Indian communities inhabit opposite corners
of the Indian sub-continent. This spatial location
explains why although both communities fall within the
Constitutional definition of an Anglo-Indian, each may have
difficulties in recognising the other as part of the same
community (c.f. photographs Appendix 3 of Keralite and
Meghalayan Anglo-Indians respectively pp.435-6 and p.441) .
On the mother's side, the Meghalayan Anglo-Indians are
descended from Austro-Asiatic stock; the Keralite
Anglo-Indians from Dravidian stock. On the father's side
the Meghalayan Anglo-Indians are descended from Anglo-Saxon
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