For the NRI, the last year was one of contrasts. The elite dined with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent state visit to Washington, while for the less privileged, the Dubai debacle was a shocker, as he was sacked via an sms. As the Dubai crisis unfolded, the vulnerability of the ?other NRI? heightened as never before. While the Indian government prepares to honour its elite at its annual jamboree?the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD)?now in its eighth version, the gap within the diaspora seems to be widening. And, the PBD is increasingly reflecting that gap.
Vinay Lal, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles, avers, ?The brute fact, though many in the Indian government will not admit, is that there is a two-tiered structure with respect to NRIs. Though the government would like to pretend that all NRIs are equal, the indisputable fact is that for decades Indians belonging to the older diaspora, the diaspora of the global South? Malaysia, Fiji, Guyana?were pretty much ignored by the government. Even the term NRI was invented to characterise Indians of the newer Indian diaspora, the diaspora of the affluent North, particularly Indians in the US.? Lal stresses that it is pertinent to remember that in the discussions in previous years when the government was thinking of dual citizenship, the idea was to extend it only to NRIs in a few countries such as the US, Canada and Australia.
However, Vivek Wadhwa, Senior Research Associate, Labour & Worklife Programme at Harvard Law School, opines that this trend is being driven by economic and competitive needs. ?India has enough of a population that it doesn?t need to attract workers back who don?t create jobs and boost economic growth for others in India. I don?t blame the government for being selfish. Low-skilled workers like the majority who have gone to the Gulf do more for the country by earning money and sending it back home than the highly educated and tech-savvy NRIs who are returning home with large savings.?
Despite the downturn, and share of global remittance declining, thanks to a resilient banking system back home, India witnessed a steady remittance flow of an estimated $54,000 million in 2009 . Remittance flows provide an enormous source of development, especially for Kerala, Punjab and now Uttar Pradesh. In these states, they have worked wonders both at micro as well as macro level and have become an important source of external financing. They are expected to remain resilient than private capital flows in the near future. Remittances are a cardinal share of migrants? incomes and they continue to send remittances even when hit by income shocks, as the Dubai ordeal revealed. In response to wage cuts and job losses, many migrants sent their families back home, cut daily expenditures, shared accommodation, switched to lower-paying jobs with other employers and even stayed on illegally. Unofficial estimates suggest that about 10% of migrants in the Gulf are undocumented.
Development, it might have contributed more to poverty alleviation than any other factor, including agrarian reforms, trade union activities and social welfare legislation, indicating the potential for other states too.
However, this rosy remittance flow situation might change fast. In its November 2009 Migration and Development Brief, the World Bank pointed out that remittance flows are likely to be affected due to a jobless economic recovery in the West, coupled with tighter immigration controls and unpredictable exchange rate movements. Several European countries are considering measures that may reduce the inflows of new migrants. Italy recently passed a bill that criminalises illegal immigration. The European Union?s proposed Blue Card will favour natives and move towards a points-based system, which is likely to favour skilled migrants at the cost of the unskilled. But some provisions such as high salary requirements for foreign workers could make entry difficult even for the highly educated. The number of applications for H-1 B visas in the US has fallen sharply in 2009. As of September, only 46,700 petitions had been filed against a quota of 65,000 for the 2010 fiscal year. The lack of applications is in part a result of slack demand for workers, but it is also in part due to the fact that the US stimulus package makes it difficult for firms receiving government support to hire foreign workers. All these measures, along with the recent Indian experiences in Australia, are shifting focus to the Gulf nations or South-South migrations.
Bridging the divide
S Irudaya Rajan, Chair Professor, Research Unit on International Migration, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, estimates that there are about five million Indians in the six countries of the Gulf and if the government wants to recognise these workers, it will be difficult to do so at the PBD. He questions why the Indian approach is limited to just remittances. ?Even returning migrants, who have worked in the Gulf, can contribute to the economic growth of our country. I believe we have still to exploit the potential of returning emigrants. According to my calculations, India has 1.5 million return emigrants from the Gulf over the past 20 years. And they are more disciplined as workers compared to Indian workers.?
Chintamani Mahapatra, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, avers, ?No government in India can ignore the NRIs partly due to internationalisation of Indian economy and the growing influence of overseas Indians in western developed countries, including the US. But Indians, including the government , should pay due respect to millions of unskilled and semi-skilled workers for their contribution to national development, their inclusion will pose difficulty.? He adds, ?First, they may not be interested to spend money and join such functions. Second, their participation can be little more than generating feel-good factor.?
Ajaya K Sahoo, Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Indian Diaspora, University of Hyderabad, affirms that the government is needed to showcase the achievements of the diaspora but at the same time the PBD is not the real venue as it cannot address all diasporic Indians? successes. ?Gulf workers should be treated separately and should be given due recognition. The attention that the government is giving to North American and European Indian diasporas should be matched by those for the Gulf workers, as their contribution of remittances is higher than any other diasporas and it is also incomparable.?
Do we need the government?
Even as experts remain divided about the role the Indian government is playing in engaging the diaspora there are many quarters that are questioning if a government initiative is at all called for. Lal reasons, ? I don?t really see diaspora as an issue where the government is needed. Of course, many will dispute this, pointing to the necessity of the Indian government to ensure FDI, woo wealthy NRIs and use NRI talent to develop India. These are all predictable reasons. But, in the long run, we have to understand that the state can be too obtrusive and relationships with the diaspora are best cultivated through civil society initiatives.?
The other NRI, given its bigger share of remittances, should be the government?s priority to attract the much-needed development money, which it is seeking to raise from different quarters. Whether platforms such as the PBD help the government harness these resources remains to be seen.
?We are initiating a programme of return and resettlement?
He is initiating talks with governments in Europe for providing skilled migrants and associating it back home with the national skilled development programme. After signing an MoU with Denmark on skilled migrants, he is now negotiating with the EU and France. Overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi tells Sarika Malhotra how Europe will be high on the agenda for 2010
What will be the focus for the PBD this year?
We are focusing on giving more time to delegates to speak and their interaction with ministers directly. They can discuss the new taxation policy and how it concerns NRIs with the finance minster. We will have two important seminars on nanotechnology and property-rated issues. The nanotechnology seminar will bring together scientists, technologists, policy-makers and entrepreneurs from India and abroad. The highlight will be the web-cast in an interactive mode on the MOIA website, as well as on the ministry?s e-magazine ?Pravasi Bharatiya?, enabling Indians across the world to not only witness the proceedings of the PBD convention, but also interact with the minister and express their views.
What role is the government hoping for the diaspora to play in the long run?
Engaging the diaspora is a continuous process. We are shifting our focus to the new generation, who were born and brought up abroad and know little about India. Every year, we invite 160 children from different countries and introduce them to Indian culture. Language and culture are important components of connectivity and this connectivity has to be strengthened. For development and continuity we now want to tap the knowledge of people of Indian origin?scientists, doctors, engineers, lawyers?and connect them by making an electronic bridge that will translate into a knowledge bank. Indianness of an Indian living abroad should be evoked as he is always eager to help, but for that he does not have to come back, he can do it by sitting there. Global Indian Network of Knowledge (Global-INK) will start from January 2010. The other important step in the connectivity process is the India Development Fund, which is a single-window system. NRIs who essentially live in clusters in their countries of adoption generally hail from one village or district and want to contribute to rural development, especially healthcare and education, will be able to do through it.
Given that 2009 saw considerable number of migrants returning, does the government have a back-up plan in place?
In Saudi Arabia and Oman, migration has increased, though Dubai has been a problem area. The ministry has facilitated the Overseas Indian Workers? Welfare Fund in all embassies under the custody of the ambassadors, where the government is sending money. Rs 1.75 crore has been disbursed to the GCC countries and Malaysia. The fund will be a corpus and the money can be used wherever the workers are in distress. I am also initiating a programme of return and resettlement. The idea is to make a contributory fund, in which the migrant will take a membership and contribute monthly and the government will also pitch in. We will try to persuade the employees also to contribute to it by either making a one-time payment or monthly payments. It is a very ambitious programme and the project report is getting finalised.