Indian Diaspora

The section attempts to link people with Indian roots to their native land. The Indian Government recognises the importance of Indian Diaspora, who despite being away from India is making her shine on a global platform.

Diaspora is a word of Greek origin that means scattering or sowing of seeds. It is used to refer to people who leave their native lands to live in other parts of the world for employment, business or any other purpose.

Indian Diaspora is a generic term used for addressing people who have migrated from the territories that are currently within the borders of the Republic of India. It constitutes NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and PIOs (Persons of Indian origins). The Indian Diaspora is estimated to be over 30 million. The Government of India recognises the importance of Indian Diaspora as it has brought economic, financial, and global benefits to India.

The Indian Diaspora today constitutes an important, and in some respects unique, force in world culture. The section caters to the cognitive needs of the Indian Diaspora by providing an in-depth knowledge of the various schemes and incentives offered by the Government of India to them.

Role of Non-Resident Indians in making India Self Reliant:

• Financial Contribution: Indian diaspora is a strong community, which is approximately 18 million strong. They are the topmost contributors to the home economy, measured in terms of global remittances. In fact, Indians contribute 13% of global remittances. The remittance sent by Indians back to India amount to approximately 3.2% of the Indian GDP.
• Indian diaspora’s contribution to the world: Indian diaspora in the world can be divided into two major categories (apart from others who are in myriad occupations and almost in every country in the world):
• Technological graduates: They are the engineering and management graduates, who are in high-value jobs majorly located in, but not limited to, the western countries like US and Europe.
• Manual Labour: These comprise the comparatively lower-skilled population, which has been hired for manual labour, majorly in the Arab or West Asian countries.
• The contribution of both the categories to development of India is immense and they have both contributed to making India the largest recipient of foreign remittances globally.
• Contribution to the place of residence: Similarly, their contribution to the country of residence is also noteworthy. For e.g., the Indian diaspora in UK is almost 1.8% of the total population of UK, but it contributes almost 6% of the total GDP of UK.
• Part of Global supply chains: Far from being isolated from the world, Self-reliant India envisions India as a contributor to the world and a part of global supply chains. COVID crisis has shown the perils of being dependent upon foreign sources for raw materials and intermediate products. Thus, the direction of Self-reliance is towards creating alternate supply chains. For e.g. due to the origin of the COVID crisis in Wuhan, the Chinese companies had to be locked down and the global supply of raw materials was interrupted. This has prompted initiatives like Self-reliant India and the Japan-led Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (.link to RCEP: India’s stand)
• Changing perceptions: After the 1991 LPG reforms, the outflow of the Indian diaspora has contributed a lot to changing the perception of the world towards the Indian employees. The leadership position of many Indians in the tech companies of Silicon Valley has strengthened the image of India as a technology powerhouse and a source of quality human resources. Indian executives have often been credited with being the harbingers of innovation as a part of the top technology companies around the world. For e.g., executives like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella etc. have reached the highest echelons in their respective sectors.
• Focus on ‘Make in India’: Indians are counted amongst the most affluent communities around the world. This source of capital can be tapped by encouraging them to invest in India. Also, taking advantage of their corporate leadership positions in the Silicon Valley and other technological sectors, Indian diaspora can be facilitated to contribute to the Indian development story by investing in the Greenfield and brownfield projects, as well as, portfolio investments in India.
• Knowledge Economy: Experts indicate that in the upcoming future, it would be the Artificial intelligence-driven industry which will create high-value jobs. In such a scenario, the investment in engineering education in the country is expected to pay off. Similarly, the Indian diaspora is expected to guide the policy-makers in the required direction to extract maximum benefit out of the changing global scenario. For e.g., the Vaibhav conference (see inset) of Indian scientists abroad has yielded many ideas for the benefit of India.
• India’s inherent strengths: Indians are also well integrated into the healthcare sector around the world in the form of doctors and healthcare workers. This can be combined with the inherent strength of India in the pharmaceutical sector to create an efficient partnership. For e.g. Serum Institute of India is manufacturing the Oxford-Astra Zenca vaccine, which is a symbiotic relationship between the UK’s research and development industry and the Indian pharma sector. Similarly, the engine of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas will be co-developed by Rolls Royce in India, giving it the much-needed strength and global visibility.

Significance of Indian diaspora:

• Diaspora diplomacy:  Examples include their remittance inflow and lobbying for the US-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement Bill in 2008. In Houston recently, Prime Minister Modi continued his extraordinary political investment in reaching out to the Indian diaspora.
• Remittances:  USA was the largest source, contributing more than 20% of the 87 billion dollars in remittances that India received in 2021. In fact, 13% of global remittances are made by Indians. About 3.2% of India’s GDP is made up of remittances from Indians living abroad.
• Freedom Struggle: Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle to end the systemic prejudice against Indians in South Africa inspired legends about the diaspora that have endured in contemporary India. As the fight for independence gained traction at home, it started to have an impact on many Indian communities abroad.
• Technological development and entrepreneurship:  As thriving IT hubs, Bengaluru, Gurugram, and Hyderabad are home to numerous Indian start-ups in addition to MNCs.
• Cultural extension: Sikhs are one of the largest migrants from India to the UK, Canada and many other countries.
• Enhancing India’s global say:  In addition to political pressures and lobbying at the ministerial and diplomatic levels, India can use its diaspora to influence different states.
• Agents of change: enhancing and facilitating investment, hastening industrial growth, and enhancing both international trade and tourism.
• Indian diaspora’s contribution to the world: Indian diaspora in the world can be divided into two major categories (apart from others who are in myriad occupations and almost in every country in the world):

1. Technological graduates: They are current engineering and management graduates who work in high-value positions primarily in western nations like the US and Europe but also elsewhere.
2. Manual Labour:  These people make up the population that is comparatively less skilled and who has been hired for manual labour, primarily in Arab or West Asian nations.

Major Issues pertaining to Indian Diaspora

1. Culture:  The Indian Diaspora is very aware of its extensive cultural heritage. They are aware that they are the descendants of the oldest continuously existing civilization in the world. They are naturally eager to preserve their cultural identity because they are a part of such a rich legacy.
2. Consular and other issues:  Our customs and immigration officials’ mistreatment, intimidation, and demands for illegal gratification at the points of entry are the Diaspora’s most frequent complaints.
3. Dual Citizenship: The vast majority of Indians living abroad prefer to keep both their Indian and home country citizenship.
4. Threat to their security:  The security of foreign workers in the Middle East is now under new threat as a result of recent violent incidents in the region. For instance, the IS group recently abducted Indian workers.
5. Threat to their employment (Nitaqat Law):  It aims to replace a significant portion of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia with locals. This has an impact on international workers from Kerala, Tennessee, etc.

Recent steps by the Indian government:

• Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas – see inset
• Ease of Doing Business: India has consistently ranked in the top improving countries for the last three years, with Indian rank improving from 130 to 66 in 2020. This creates a favourable environment for businesses to invest in India and also gives an opportunity to the diaspora to confidently create an outreach strategy, in their areas of influence.
• Merger of Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status: The merger of PIO and OCI has been a long-standing demand of the Indian community, which has been accepted by the government. Along with that, Indian government has accorded many advantages to the OCIs by including them in the definition of Indian management control, in the context of sensitive industries. This will create investment opportunities for the diaspora.
• Launch of informative projects: Indian government is in the process of launching awareness generation portals like the Global Pravasi Rishta portal, to provide an instrument of connecting with the diaspora. It will be a dynamic communication platform to connect the diaspora with the Ministry of foreign affairs, Indian missions and the Indian diaspora abroad.

Standing Committee Report Summar

• The Standing Committee on External Affairs (Chair: Mr. P.P. Chaudhary) presented its report on ‘Welfare of Indian Diaspora: Policies/Schemes’ on August 3, 2022.  Indian diaspora refers to people whose origins can be traced to India or are Indian citizens living abroad.  This includes Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO), and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI).  Key observations and recommendations of the Committee include:
• Policy for diaspora: The Ministry of External Affairs engages with the diaspora through various programmes and schemes.  The Committee observed that no clear policy on diaspora is in place, despite their socio-economic contributions to the development of the country.  The Committee recommended that the Ministry draft a clear policy document on the diaspora which would serve as a guiding principle for engagement with the community.
• Database on Indian diaspora: The Committee observed that the Ministry of External Affairs does not have updated data on Indian diaspora, as registration with Indian Embassies is voluntary.  In the absence of such a database, welfare schemes may not be implemented properly.  The Committee recommended that Indian Embassies encourage the diaspora to register themselves, which would allow the Ministry to effectively implement welfare schemes.
• Emigration Management Bill: The Committee observed that the Emigration Management Bill, 2022 has been under consultation and vetting for a long time.   It seeks to establish an emigration framework, liberalise clearances, and strengthen welfare for overseas migrants.   The Committee recommended that the Ministry introduce the Bill at the earliest.
• Multiple portals for grievance redressal: Several portals such as e-Migrate, and the Centralised Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) are in place to resolve the grievances of Indian nationals abroad.  The Committee noted that multiple portals may delay grievance resolution and recommended that the Ministry ensure it does not lead to duplication of work.  Resolution of grievances in most cases may require a connect at the local level.  The Committee noted that the CPGRAMS portal is the quickest way to interact with state governments or the district police, but it is not popular overseas.  It recommended that the Ministry publicise the portal so it can be used to resolve grievances effectively.
• Rehabilitation of workers: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers including Gulf returnees lost their jobs.  As the pandemic eased, few workers have returned to their places of employment abroad.   The Committee noted that a rehabilitation scheme to ensure livelihood security for workers who lost their jobs or were unable to return to their place of employment is required.  It recommended that the Ministry draft a comprehensive rehabilitation scheme in coordination with the concerned Ministries, Departments, state governments, and stakeholders.
• Skilling of potential migrant workers:  The Committee noted that the international labour market has now become demand driven, compared to the earlier supply driven system.   With new labour markets emerging in east-Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, the skilling of potential migrant workers is a challenge.  The Committee noted that providing skills that match the destination country’s requirements is an important challenge, especially in the post-COVID era.  It recommended improving the quality of domestic skilling and standardising curricula across the country to ensure that migrant workers are able to go abroad and secure employment with better wages.
• Students in Ukraine and China: Several Indian medical students studying in Ukraine and China were unable to resume their courses physically or complete their internships in India due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  The Committee recommended that the Ministry ensure that Indian private medical institutions enrol returnee students from Ukraine by granting a one-time exemption.  With respect to Indian students enrolled in medical colleges in China, the Committee recommended allowing them to complete the remaining part of their internship in India.
• NRI Marriages: The Committee observed increasing cases of women being deserted in NRI marriages.  The Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indian Bill, 2019 was examined by the Committee and a report was presented in March, 2020.  The Committee recommended that the Ministry complete its consultation and enact a law for the benefit of NRI women.
• One Stop Centres: The Committee observed that the Ministry had decided to establish overseas centres to help distressed NRI women.  It recommended that the scheme be launched without delay.

Conclusion

A myopic perspective would be to only see the Diaspora through the lens of remittances and other financial flows. Not all expatriates need to be investors, and measuring an expat’s development impact solely in terms of monetary contributions to the country of origin misses the bigger picture.

An international community can and often does act as a crucial “bridge” for gaining access to information, skills, resources, and markets for the advancement of the country of origin. The ability of the Diaspora to develop and project a coherent, internally motivated, and progressive identity, as well as the capacity of the home country to create the conditions and institutions for long-term, mutually beneficial engagement, are frequently prerequisites for the success of this bridge.

Home nations are now starting to acknowledge the necessity of pursuing and promoting the Diaspora and development dynamic. India cannot be a special case.