Questions

It seems that South Asians do so but my perspective is different.
Ours is the only country with a dark-skinned goddess Kali who is known as the destroyer of evil.
Moreover, there are many popular actresses like Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Chitrangada Singh, Rimi Sen and so on with a skin tone that would be called "muddy" by people from other cultures. Therefore, despite centuries of colonisation and subjugation of the Indian culture, people still like darker women. There is a growing movement to accept brown skin, especially in urban areas.