The Prayas ePathshala

Exams आसान है !

Indian nationals who live abroad are known as non-resident Indians, or NRIs. An individual qualifies as an NRI if:

During the fiscal year, she/he does not spend 182 days or more in India Or;
if the person spends less than 60 days in India during the year and less than 365 days in the four years before to that year.
Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs): PIOs are foreign nationals (with the exception of those who are citizens of China, Iran, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Nepal) who:

Possessed an Indian passport at all times:

Anyone who, according to the Government of India Act, 1935, was born and lived permanently in India, either their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents
person who is the spouse of a PIO or an Indian citizen.
In 2015, the PIO category was eliminated and combined with the OCI category.
Indian nationals living abroad (OCIs): In 2005, a new classification of OCIs was established.

A foreign national received an OCI card:

Who could have been an Indian citizen on January 26, 1950?

held Indian citizenship on January 26, 1950, or at any point thereafter
It belonged to an area that, after August 15, 1947, was incorporated into India.
OCI cards were also available to minor offspring of such individuals, with the exception of those who were citizens of Bangladesh or Pakistan.

Facts about the Diaspora:

Tamils make up a sizable portion of the Indian diaspora.
They make up the bulk of Sri Lankan, Singaporean, and Malaysian Indians.
In addition to the Gulf countries, the United States, Canada, Britain, and the European countries, they are present in significant numbers in Burma, Mauritius, South Africa, the Seychelles, the Reunion Islands, Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Australia, and New Zealand.

These three dynamic groupings are who they are:

Identity of Tamils

The diaspora phenomenon:

The Indian diaspora is moving to Australia, Canada, and the United States in search of better opportunities after leaving Fiji, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Writer Bharati Mukherjee, who is from a diaspora, says, “I am a woman with multiple countries.” I have to establish roots wherever I go and wherever I decide to remain.

Causes of the Issues They Face:

The Tamil community abroad:

In the fine arts, athletics, science, politics, economics, and literature, they have excelled.
A few prominent names are T.S. Maniam, Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman, Janaki Thevar, Chandrasekhar, Monty Naicker, Sambandan, Indira Nooyi, Sundar Pichai, Raghuram Rajan, and Nagamattoo.

Policies of the host nation, their effects:

Soon after the island gained its freedom, Ceylon passed its first laws, which required the Tamils from India who had been brought there by the British government to work on the tea plantations.
Nehru’s fundamental stance: Citizenship should be granted to those who have lived in Ceylon for a considerable amount of time and who regard it as their home.
Ceylon maintained that the introduction of citizenship laws was within its sovereign rights.
For thousands of Indian Tamils, the Burmese government never gave them citizenship and instead evicted them.
The Burmese currency was demonetized the night before they were to travel.

India’s approach to Sri Lanka:

At times, India was prepared to forgo the interests of the Indian diaspora in order to strengthen political ties.
The 1964 Sirimavo-Shastri Pact saw India adopt a give-and-take strategy that turned the Tamil community in India into a commodity to be shared between the two nations.
The agreement was opposed by P. Ramamurti, Krishna Menon, C.N. Annadurai, Kamaraj Nadar, Rajagopalachari, and other significant Madras Presidency politicians.

What actions are necessary to safeguard the Indian diaspora?

The Way Ahead:

The central government is the only body with authority over policy regarding the Indian diaspora.
State governments have the power to shape public opinion in order to affect policy.
The phrase “persecuted minorities” might have been used in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
Additionally, Sri Lanka is not included in the CAA, despite the fact that ethnic violence there has forced many Tamils to flee to Tamil Nadu.
India claims that Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka are illegal immigrants and demands that they return to their home country.
It will be counterproductive for Tamil Nadu to pursue a confrontational posture instead of attempting to establish amicable relations with the central government.
It is imperative that the federal and state governments work together to find a cooperative solution.
It is statesmanship, not political expediency, that is required here.