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Migration is defined as movement of people, especially of whole groups, from one place, region, or country to an other, particularly with the intention of making permanent settlement in a new location (Microsoft Encarta). Migration is as old as the beginnings of human evolution, and in the distant past migrations were localized, slow, and gradual processes taking centuries or even longer to establish significant populations in a given region or country. The populations, therefore, possessed unique and highly homogeneous characteristics of race, religion, culture, traditions, or language. From the oldest periods of civiliza tion, India attracted migrants from different parts of the neighboring regions and continents (notably, Middle east, China, and Africa) owing to its warm weather, wealth of natural resources, spices, and so forth. Like wise, India also be came a prominent country from where people migrated to different parts of the world, first to the neighboring lands (Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Bali) and then to distant countries (several African countries, for example, Uganda, South Africa, Mauritius). More recently, migration of Indians has been mostly to the Western Europe and USA.

A sociology of human rights is a modern challenge, and this study draws on the universalizing codification in the history of human rights documents from ancient societies to the present challenges of modern society. Power contradictions and conflicts are analyzed in the case study of historic inequalities and the modern deprivation of human rights of the People of Indian Origin in their diaspora in the modern world. Insider perspectives are posed to increase awareness and knowledge to the forming of community identity and to challenge others to study these complex social conditions. A public sociology is assumed in this chapter, derived from the author's public speech to further the development of a sociology of human rights, one that will reflect the complexity, universality, and inclusiveness protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Established methods and theories may be augmented by challenging their bases and working collaboratively to research contemporary human rights.

David L. Altheide is Emeritus Regents’ Professor in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. Using qualitative methodology, his work has focused on the role of mass media and information technology for social control. His two most recent books are: Terrorism and the Politics of Fear (Alta Mira, 2006) and Terror Post 9/11 and the Media (Lang, 2009). The former work as well as Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis (Aldine/Transaction, 2002) received the Cooley Award as the best books for the year in the tradition of symbolic interaction, from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Dr. Altheide also won this award in 1986 for his book Media Power, and he is the 2005 George Herbert Mead Award recipient for lifetime contributions from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

The Studies in Communications book series presents contemporary scholarship on the central dynamic of society – communications. Theoretically grounded empirical studies drawn from the social sciences focus on the institutional patterns, media, and the dynamic process of meaning construction. Incorporating communications, mass media and communications, sociological and critical theories, comparative and historical analysis, with combinations of qualitative and quantitative research provide compelling themes for each volume of the series. Volume 6 develops the “Human Rights and Media” theme. The collective rights associated with age, class, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and disability are framed by the media. The studies in this volume explore the connections and discourse of media and human rights, through media production, social policies and responsibilities, human rights violation and the social, institutional, and global contexts of social movements for human rights protections and about human rights violations.