The
ethno-linguistic composition of the population of
South Asia, that is the nations of
India,
Pakistan,
Bangladesh,
Nepal,
Bhutan,
Maldives and
Sri Lanka is highly diverse. The majority of the population fall within two large
linguistic groups,
Indo-Aryan and
Dravidian. Indian society is traditionally divided into
castes or clans, not ethnicities, and these categories have had no official status since independence in 1947, except for the
scheduled castes and tribes which remain registered for the purpose of
affirmative action. In today's
India, the population is categorized in terms of the 1,652
mother tongues spoken.