I was quite pleased to find out that India has taken refugees into her borders consistently, even though those refugees were not fleeing as the result of anything India had done.

Moreover, Indian population density is very high and she supports the second largest population of any country in the world on relatively small land area:

 As per the provisional population totals of Census 2011, the population density of India has gone up to 382 [Lila: 394 according to more accounts] persons per square kilometer from 325 persons per square kilometer in 20011……….

[Lila: Compare this to a European population density of 105 per sq km and only 33 per sq km for the United States.]

India accounts for a meagre 2.4 percent of the world surface area of 135.79 million square kms. On the other hand, it supports and sustains 17.5 per cent of the world population. In contrast, the USA accounts for 7.2 per cent of the surface area with only 4.5 per cent of the world population. As such, among the ten most populous countries of the world, only Bangladesh has a higher population density compared to India.”

Meanwhile Indian Gross Domestic Product (by Purchasing Power Parity):

India 2013 –  $4000

US 2013  -$52,800

India  1999 – $1800

UD 1999 – $33,900  [CIA world fact book.]

In nominal terms, the numbers are even more divergent.

Here are some of the most notable refugee flows into India:

1. 7.249 million Hindus and Sikhs entered India from Pakistan after the partition i 1948, with roughly the same number going out, in one of the biggest population movements in history.  There were other flows of about 3-4 million in each direction, thereafter.Given the impoverished state of the country and lack of facilities, the population exchange was quite extraordinary.
2. 150,000 Tibetans have made their home in India, in the wake of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against China. They were given free education, health-care, identity cards that could function as passports, college scholarships, and several large settlements, including 3000 acres of land in Mysore District.
3. 10 million East Pakistani refugees were taken into West Bengal from the present-day Bangladesh, after the 1971 Bangladesh genocide that India ended by military intervention.
4. 60,000 Afghan refugees were admitted after the 1979 Soviet-Afghan war.
5. There are over 400 refugee settlements for thousands of Hindus fleeing from Pakistan.
6. Over 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees.