In 1982, the late L K Jha had a fortuitous meeting with Swraj Paul on board an Air-India flight from London to Delhi. Mr Jha suggested to him that non-resident Indians (NRIs) should give back something to their mother country. | |
| Mr Paul took that to mean that he should try and buy up a company or two and when, in 1983, he tried to buy Escorts and DCM, a huge furore ensued. How dare you, was the leitmotif and it took the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi, MP, to "persuade" him to give up the attempt. |
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| Since then NRIs have bobbed up and down like those pop-up menus on computer screens""insistent, irritating but sometimes useful as well. |
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| They have been a major source of foreign exchange when it was in short supply (wooed as they were with special interest rates and initiatives like the Resurgent India Bonds), but they have also been skittish and withdrawn money when things began to look tricky""like any other foreigner. |
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| Nevertheless, for a combination of reasons (not least among them their funding of organisations that are linked to political parties), they have grown into a powerful lobby, so much so that in 2003 the Vajpayee government decided to issue special cards for Persons of Indian Origin. |
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| These cards served no greater purpose other than to ensure that these Indians (and former Indians) had a special queue in the immigrations hall in airports and did not have to suffer the same visa restrictions. |
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| But the NRIs were not satisfied, not least because the PIO cards came at a substantial price""so there weren't many takers. The government then announced dual citizenship, but restricted it to 16 countries""leaving out most importantly all the Gulf countries. |
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| That NRIs had arrived firmly on the government's map became clear when the Manmohan Singh Cabinet included for the first time a minister for NRIs. |
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| Though Jagdish Tytler has had problems in getting started, he has now made a breakthrough. For Manmohan Singh went a step further at the third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, and announced that India would now allow dual citizenship with all countries. |
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| It must be assumed that since many other countries have managed to make dual citizenship work, India should be able to do so, too. |
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| But since the Indian state tends to be excessively suspicious of all aliens, it must be presumed that the Intelligence Bureau and the finance ministry (i.e. the tax officials) have given the green signal, and that they don't see too many dangers in the decision to open up. |
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| And since NRIs have played an important role in getting a variety of software companies off the ground and networking with Indian firms, they have also helped the mother country while living overseas. |
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| This has helped change attitudes even about that old issue, the brain drain. And so, to the extent that the new policy makes some people better off without making anyone else worse off, the policy will be generally welcomed. |
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| Nevertheless, it is hard not to wonder at some of old- fashioned things like flags and salutes, oaths, and allegiances. If you have two citizenships, which country's Constitution do you swear to uphold, which flag do you salute? |
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