Diaspora Diplomacy of India

Monalisha Dash

As thousands of Indian Diaspora actively participated in #HowdyModi Campaign rally in Houston, US during PM Narendra Modi’s campaign on India’s vision and his visit to the US, the importance of “Pravasi Bharatiya” or overseas citizens of India is again in the limelight and Diaspora Diplomacy of India is on high stage once more. As over 50,000 overseas citizens enthusiastically participated in the rally, India’s rising soft power and spreading through these overseas Indians are shining. It is one of the important steps towards India’s vision of achieving US$ 5 trillion economy by 2025.

Brand Power

Diaspora is often considered as one of the biggest agents of promoting soft power and brand of India in a foreign land. Starting from enhancing the credibility of India in the international sphere to contributing for the development of India, these Diasporas have emerged as one of the face and forefront of foreign policy determinants of India’s foreign policy. Recently, as per the UN DESA report, India secures the first rank in overseas citizens ranking followed by Mexico, China, Philippines, Syria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

This overseas Diaspora of India be it Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Person of Indian Origin (PIO) or Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), are carrying utmost importance for India from several aspects. Be it economic, political, social, cultural or external relations between countries, Indian Diaspora in a foreign land have immensely contributed for India. According to the International Immigration Report 2018, Gulf region including Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain holds nearly 8 millions of Indians out of 20 million Diasporas of India worldwide.

Gulf Countries

Gulf region, which is blessed with vast natural resources crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum, is most favored by Indians for living because of availability of decent and qualitative employment opportunities and capital and also for a better standard of living including health and education.US and Europe followed by Gulf are second-most favored region to live for the Indian Diaspora. Because of the talent of IT Skills among Indians and skills in the field of Medical and Science, several foreign countries are inviting Indians to their land by offering competitive opportunities and living facilities. In a sense, dealing and engaging with Overseas Indians have become a culture and tradition for India since last decades.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

The first important step was when the Indian Government set up a separate department for Overseas Indians within the Ministry of External Affairs. Later on, the Government of India decided to celebrate 9^th January as “Pravasi Bharatiya Divas” to commemorate the contribution of Overseas Indians for nation-building and journey of sustained economic development. These actions were further strengthened by Modi’s decision to address the Indian Community in foreign lands whenever he visited a foreign country amid bilateral and multilateral events.

Sushma Swaraj

The importance of NRI and other overseas Indians increased when the NDA Govt. invited the NRI’s to come and invest in India as part of the “Make in India” campaign. The government’s policy from ‘Brain Drain’ to ‘Brain Gain’ has attracted NRIs to come closer to India. Further, the efforts of Former External Affairs Late Sushma Swaraj’s greatest contribution towards building strongest and closest ties with Indians by providing help to the needy Indian’s in a foreign country is another goodwill gesture towards Indian Overseas Community.

Growing influence

Amid bloom of Overseas Indians in recent years, it is worth noting to recount their pivotal contribution towards India. Many times, as this is external affairs of India, generally many of us are unaware of their importance and contribution in nation-building and development. NRIs are considered to be one of the biggest sources of income in foreign countries in India. According to Economic Survey 2018-19 and Union Budget 2019-20, there are more than US$ 430 billion of foreign exchange reserves out of which the foreign remittances accounted for around US$ 80 billion. So, for the stability of the current account and Growth of Indian Economy, the role and contribution of Indian Diaspora is a very important factor. Further, the role of Diaspora in the growing influence of India in a foreign land is another foremost role played by the Indian Diaspora.

As India is emerging as knowledge-based capital of the world, we cannot ignore that India will emerge as a nation that exports human resource services in the areas of Health, IT, Software, Medical, Space and Education. In addition to these areas, India is now a major destination for medical tourism and further attracting foreigners to explore India’s best-kept secrets which are ensuring India’s contribution and influence in the World.

Dual Citizenship

However, with rising dominance and influence of Diaspora of India’s economic, political, social, cultural and external affairs, there are some issues with Indian Diaspora. Dual citizenship is one of the long demands of the Indian Diaspora. Now if they are opting to take foreign citizenship, their Indian citizenships are being forfeited. The Indian Diaspora strongly feels that such a step would result in their bigger contribution by way of investment and other aspects. Good news is the govt. has recently cleared the proposal for a new law to expand the scope for dual citizenship.

For continuous engagement with the Diasporas, we need greater and better interaction and require deeper cultural relations where India’s eminent institution Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) can play a bigger role. Further, to boost the economic development of the Indian economy, the govt. need to be more business and investment-friendly and should remove all obstacles and hurdles in their way of investment and the business climate in India should attract their foreign investment (both FDI and FII). India’s quantum jump – almost 70 notch rank improvement – in Ease of Doing Business globally is a positive sign.

Negative Fallout

Last but not the least; the changing international political structure is a menace towards engaging with Indian Diaspora worldwide. Due to the rise of trade protectionism in the western world, the Indian Government must find out ways to engage with huge Indian Diaspora. India must follow a robust and flexible policy in order to leverage the strength of Indian Diaspora and minimize the possibilities of any negative fallout.

(The writer teaches at  Kendrapara Autonomous College)