India celebrates its diaspora a lot and names them differently, PIO & NRI.
NRI are those who are Non-Resident Indians. It implies the people who have left India for their work, business, education or just to be with families but are continuing to be Indian citizens.
PIOs are those who left India but have relinquished their Indian citizenship. This further includes two distinct categories.
One, those who left India under duress, they were either forced to leave their hearth and home in Indian villages or were lured to distant lands across the seas with promises which were scheduled to fall flat. The Whites were habituated to using Slaves from Africa, South America, or Carrebeans but were disturbed by the revolutions emanating from within some Whites. They resorted to Asians, mainly of Indian origin people, and used them as Slaves till the time they were able to maintain that status.
The second class of persons includes those who left Indian soil at their option, some to do business, and some to work for others. India has been exporting manpower in all categories, elite, as also labour since independence.
I am talking about class discrimination: Yes, and mean it when I say that there is serious class discrimination in the treatment of Indians who left India. When the Government started luring the Indian diaspora, it eyed the investment, the foreign remittances, and thereby its forex reserve. Certainly, the persons who left India more than a century ago, especially those who belonged to the poorer section of Indians at that stage, were not the focus stars of the Government. But with the billions of cusec of water flowing from the river into the sea, a relook is necessary if the Government is seriously looking at the Diaspora as an important factor in the marketing of the "Brand India".
The new generation of expatriates who left India and are blue-eyed boys of the politicians of the day, might have earned a quick name, fame, and money, but they are still maintaining contacts in India. Some of them have taken the citizenship of their adopted country, but their focus had been and is going to be money, money, and money. Many of them left India because they had a disaffection towards India, the comparative lack of education, opportunities, and such reasons. They found their newfound homes cozier than the India they left.
The case with the pre-independence expatriates, the labourers was different. They left either in acute poverty; some were forced by the then occupier of their lands; and some were lured by the saying 'you will find gold there in fields'. These people were shocked to meet the hardships, with no way out of their situations, they stayed there, and their way back to India was closed. However, many geographies witnessed the progress of these people, and they moved forward economically, politically, and socially. Some of them rose to the power, and such people are certainly entertained by Indian politicians.
The people got assimilated into every sphere of society in their adopted countries, but the Indian Government is recognizing only those who have either attained brilliant political positions or International business magnets. The government should take the approach that there are millions of those who still think of India as their original land, they still stick to the religious and family traditions which their forefathers carried with them 100-200 years ago. There are many who are not internationally known billionaires but are medium or large entrepreneurs, they still have affection towards India, and they come, spend, and connect to India. And they do have the potential to influence the local politicians in their current countries. These people are feeling left out in the cut throat race in the celebrations of the Diaspora.
Before closing, I want to quote two delegates in the recently concluded Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas at Indore from 8th to 10th January 2023.
One person said, "This event is hijacked by the new generation NRIs and we, the original PIOs are left out, we are nobody for the organizers."
And the second person said, "The Government is inviting, allocating special seats for NRI/PIOs in medical and engineering courses charging them multiples of the fee charged from Indians. But, labour, an NRI, earning still 500 USD, sending the entire amount to India, is also supposed to pay the higher fee fixed for an NRI? Why? If I had earned in India, I would not have thought of sending my ward to such courses. And now, when I am working abroad, earning a bit more, still I am not entitled to think of sending my ward to such courses. It means once I am poor, my descendants should also stay away from the knowledge, Why?"
Anup Mukherjee "Sagar"
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