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Indian Diaspora: All you need to know

Last updated on June 30, 2024 by ClearIAS Team

The term  “diaspora” originates from the Greek term diaspeirein, which translates as “dispersion.”

In India, diaspora is commonly understood to include Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI), of which PIO and OCI card holders were merged under one category — OCI — in 2015.

Table of Contents

Who are included in the term ‘Indian diaspora’?

The Indian Diaspora is a broad term for people who have migrated from territories that are now part of the Republic of India. Additionally, it alludes to their progeny. The Diaspora is estimated to number over twenty million people, made up of “NRIs” (Indian citizens who do not reside in India) and “PIOs” (Persons of Indian Origin who have acquired citizenship of some other country).

India has the world’s second-largest Diaspora. Over 25 million Indians live abroad, and they are dispersed across all of the world’s major continents.

Diasporas are symbols of a nation’s pride and represent their country internationally. The diaspora’s ability to spread Indian soft power, lobby for India’s national interests, and contribute economically to India’s rise is now well-recognized.

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):
• 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.
• 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.

India’s policy towards the diaspora

India was initially concerned that supporting Indians living abroad might offend host nations, who ought to be solely responsible for their welfare and security. The diaspora could not expect India to defend their rights, according to Jawaharlal Nehru, so India’s foreign policy in the 1950s was designed as a model of non-intervention.

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Rajiv Gandhi, on the other hand, was the first prime minister to change the diaspora policy in the 1980s by urging Indians living abroad, regardless of their nationality, to participate in nation-building initiatives, similar to the overseas Chinese communities.

A number of beneficial policies were implemented after 2000 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee administration, including the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Card, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, Overseas Citizen of India Card, NRI funds, and voting rights for Indian nationals living abroad.

The present regime has carried forward the work in a positive direction. Additionally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced the e-migrate system in 2015, which necessitates the database registration of all foreign employers.

Major Issues pertaining to Indian Diaspora

• 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.
• 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.
• Dual Citizenship: The vast majority of Indians living abroad prefer to keep both their Indian and home country citizenship.
• 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.
• 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.

Measures taken by the Government

• Since 2003, the government has celebrated Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas to recognise the contribution of the Indian diaspora to the advancement of India.
• The government established a specific Ministry of oversees Indian affairs in 2004 in order to give particular attention to the issues relating to the Indian diaspora. The diaspora receives comprehensive services from it.
• The government has introduced a number of programmes for the welfare of Indians living abroad, including the Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojana from 2006 and others.
• The Overseas Citizenship of India Scheme ( OCI ) was introduced by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 in August 2005 in response to persistent calls for “dual citizenship,” particularly from the Diaspora in North America and other developed nations, and keeping in mind the Government’s strong commitment to meeting the aspirations and expectations of Overseas Indians. In some areas, such as the economy and education, the Scheme offers benefits comparable to those of citizens. Although it grants lifetime, multiple, and multi-entry visas with some rights, it is not truly dual citizenship.
• The Know India Program was established as a three-week orientation programme for youth from the diaspora in order to raise awareness of the various facets of Indian culture and the advancements the nation has made in various fields. KIP offers a special platform for students and young professionals of Indian descent to travel to India, share their opinions, hopes, and experiences, and forge closer ties with modern India.
• The Swarnapravas Yojana- New Plan Scheme: Given the large supply of labour in India, this programme has been established to increase Indian workers’ employability abroad by giving them the necessary training.
• The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is running a scheme known as “Tracing the Roots” to facilitate PIOs in tracing their roots in India.
• In addition to all of these, the government has made social security agreements with numerous foreign nations to safeguard the Indian community in those nations.

Way Forward

Though, the government has launched many reforms and policies towards the Indian diaspora. But still, there is a need for certain improvements. In this regard following may be recommended:

•  A friendlier reception at their point of entry is necessary to ensure that Diaspora members feel welcome upon arrival in India and also fondly recall their visits. Additionally, simpler procedures for immigration and customs clearances that are marked by courteous service are crucial.
• The following should be put into action as soon as possible to address the issues facing our blue-collar workers abroad. These include: a) Establishing a welfare fund for repatriated overseas workers in distress; b) Negotiating Standard Labour Export Agreements with the host countries; c) Monitoring and supervision of both the employment contracts and the conditions of our d) overseas workers by our Missions; e) Launching compulsory insurance schemes covering the risks faced by our overseas workers;
•  The Diaspora can significantly aid India’s tourism industry is expanding. PIOs frequently travel back to their home country or to see family. Promoting tourism should receive more attention among PIOs of the second generation.
• The Indian community living abroad requires further economic liberalisation.
• The establishment of a parliamentary standing committee on the Indian diaspora is a possibility. Members who are interested in issues affecting the Diaspora should be included. This Committee might also serve as a hub for communication with lawmakers from other nations who are of Indian descent. Such discussions are crucial to fostering greater mutual understanding and amity between them.

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.

Article written by: Remya

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The Evolution of Indian Diasporic Communities: A Historical Overview

Table of Contents

Have you ever considered the intricate tapestry of cultures that Indians have woven across the globe? The Indian diaspora is not just a modern phenomenon but a historical odyssey that has shaped world history. This journey of Indian diasporic communities spans continents and centuries, reflecting a complex narrative of migration, adaptation, and cultural fusion.

A walk through history: The early migrations

The history of the Indian diaspora is as old as trade winds. Ancient trade routes like the Silk Road facilitated the first waves of Indian emigrants to Southeast Asia and beyond. These early travelers were traders, monks, and adventurers whose legacy can still be seen in the cultural and religious imprints they left behind.

The colonial era: Indentured labor and beyond

With the advent of colonialism, the nature of Indian migration took a dramatic turn. The British Empire, in need of cheap labor for its colonies, formalized the system of indentured servitude . This led to the large-scale movement of Indians to places like Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad, and Guyana. The indentured labor system exposed Indians to harsh realities, but it was also the crucible in which the resilient Indian diasporic identity began to take shape.

The end of indenture and the rise of free emigration

The abolition of the indenture system in the early 20th century did not stop the flow of Indians abroad. Free emigration took over, and new waves of migrants ventured out for better opportunities, this time to East Africa, the United Kingdom, and later to the United States and Canada.

The cultural impact: What does the Indian diaspora bring to the table?

The Indian diaspora has been a cultural powerhouse, contributing to the arts, cuisine, politics, and the economy of their adopted homelands. From the worldwide popularity of Bollywood to the gastronomic delights of Indian cuisine, the influence is undeniable. Indian festivals such as Diwali and Holi are now celebrated on foreign shores, testament to the cultural integration and mutual enrichment of the diaspora and their host countries.

Success stories and challenges

Indian diasporic communities have produced notable personalities in various sectors, from tech giants like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella to literary figures like Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie . However, this success does not come without its challenges. Issues like racial discrimination , identity crises, and the struggle to preserve cultural heritage are part of the diasporic narrative.

Looking ahead: The future of Indian diasporic communities

What does the future hold for Indian diasporic communities? As the world becomes more interconnected, the diaspora plays a pivotal role in fostering global relationships. The rise of transnationalism allows for a more fluid identity, where one can stay connected to their roots while contributing to their host nation’s progress.

The role of technology and social media

Technology and social media have revolutionized the way diasporic communities communicate and organize. Platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp keep families connected across continents, while digital media helps preserve and share cultural practices with younger generations.

The journey of Indian diasporic communities is a saga of resilience, adaptation, and cultural amalgamation. Their evolution from indentured laborers to influencers in their adopted countries encapsulates a unique narrative of triumph and challenge. The story of the Indian diaspora is a testament to the enduring spirit of exploration and the universal quest for a better life.

What do you think? How do you see the contribution of the Indian diaspora in shaping the global cultural landscape? Can preserving one’s heritage and assimilating into a new culture go hand in hand?

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Diaspora & Transnational Communities

1 Conceptual Understanding of Indian Diaspora and Transnational Studies

• Transnationalism Globalisation and Diaspora
• Perspectives on Studying Indian Diaspora
• Longing and Belonging: The ‘In-between’ State of Indian Diaspora

2 Approaches to the Study of Indian Diaspora

• The Study of Indian Diaspora
• Studying Indian Diasporic Communities: Some Perspectives
• Indian Diaspora and Multiculturalism: Civilizational and Settlement Societies
• The Universe of Discourse: A Framework

3 Diasporic Communities of the World

• The Jewish Diaspora
• The Chinese Diaspora
• African Diaspora

4 Migration and Settlement of Indians Abroad

• Emigration: Volume and Destination
• Colonial Background of Indian Emigration
• Five Patterns of Indian Emigration

5 Indian Emigration During Colonial Rule

• Historical Context of Indian Emigration
• Abolition of Slavery
• Evolution of Indenture Labour Scheme
• Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Identity

6 Post Independence Patterns of Migration

• Overseas Migration: Trends and Patterns
• Migration in Post-Independence Period
• Government Policy
• Types of Migration Flows
• Processes and Patterns of Socio-Cultural Adaptation
• The Phenomenon of Brain Drain

7 Indians in the Carribean

• Three Important Phases
• Arrival of Indians
• Common Features of Immigration
• Experiences of the Emigrants
• Emergence of Indian Identity

8 Indian Diaspora in Africa

• Indian South Africans
• East African PIO
• PIO in Francophone Africa
• Indians in Mauritius
• Identity Issues of PIO in Africa: Indian Responses

9 Indian Diaspora in South and South East Asia

• Understanding Indian Diaspora
• Indian Diaspora in South Asia
• Indian Diaspora in Southeast Asia

10 Indian Diaspora in Europe

• Distribution of Indian Diaspora in Europe
• Background of Indian Diaspora in Europe
• Indian Diaspora in the UK: A Case Study

11 Indian Diaspora in the New World – North America

• Indian Diaspora in Canada
• Indian Diaspora in the United States
• Indian Diaspora Associations of North America and their Political Potential in the ‘New World’

12 Indians in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji

• Indians in Australia
• Indians in New Zealand
• Indians in Fiji

13 Indian Diaspora in West Asia

• Indians in the Gulf Region
• Indian Diaspora in Israel
• Economic Profile

14 Immigration and Emigration Policies and their Implications

• Evolution of Restrictive Immigration Policies
• Lifting of Restrictions in the New World and Antipodes
• Typology of Issue-based Emigration Policies in Origin Countries
• Policy Negotiations Affecting South Asian Migration
• Policy Changes in India and the World: Lessons to be Learnt

15 lndian State and Diaspora

• Pre-Independence Era: Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi
• Evolution of Nehru’s Policy
• Pro-Active Interest of the Indian State Towards the Diaspora

16 Socio-Cultural Linkages Between lndian Diaspora

• Introduction
• Transnational Linkages
• Preservation and Promotion of Socio-Cultural Linkages
• Organisational Linkages Between the Indian Diaspora
• Regional Diasporas: Global Networks

17 lndian Diaspora-Homeland Linkages

• Mapping the Indian Diaspora
• Changing Diaspora-Homeland Relations
• Multi-Layered Home Connections
• Growing Importance of Diasporas
• Diaspora Finance
• Political Connections
• New Policies for Mobilising Diaspora-Homeland Relations

18 lndian Diaspora in Cyberspace

• Defining Cyberspace
• Understanding Virtual Community
• Indian Digital Diasporas
• ICTs, Nationalism, Religious Diasporas
• South Asian Digital Diasporas – Mobile (Gadget) Generations
• Bollywood and Diaspora – Consumption and Representations
• Diasporic Filmmakers and their Communities

20 Indian Diasporic Writing

• Diasporic Communities-Circumstances and Reasons for their Formation
• Diasporic Communities-Cultural Identity Versus Cultural Assimilation
• Indian Diasporic Communities – History and Evolution
• Diasporic Writing as a Marker of Cultural Identity
• Indian Diasporic Novel in Canada – a Case Study

21 Popular Perception

• Model Minority: Indians in America
• The Curry Tide: Indians in UK
• Inter-Racial Divide: Indians in Caribbean and Africa
• The Indian State’s Perception of Overseas Indians
• What India Thinks of the Indians Abroad

22 Identity, Nation-State and Diaspora

• Conceptual Clarification
• Globalisation: Transnational Networks and Identities
• Indian Diasporic Identity in the New Global World
• Nation States: Cross Border Identities

23 Sub-National Identities and Diaspora

• Factors for the Growth of Diasporic Community
• Factors for the Growth of Transnational Community
• The Indian Diaspora
• Indian Diaspora: The Regional Dimension

24 Globalisation, Nationalism and Transnational Communities

• Globalisation
• Ten Theses on Globalisation
• Nationalism
• Transnationalism

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Book contents

• Frontmatter
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory
• PART 1 CRITICAL HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
• PART 2 CRITICAL SOCIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
• Bibliography
• Contributors

1 - Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2021

Introduction

There are currently approximately 20,000,000 people of South Asian origin living outside of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with the majority in Africa, the Caribbean, and Oceania. Although there are regional variations in their adaptations, in many ways, they display a common ‘Indian’ identity. They may want their children to prosper in their adopted countries, but at the same time they may prefer them to adopt Indian family values, marry other Indians, and share their common culture. In other words, many South Asians living overseas tend to reproduce their Indian culture, values, language, and religion as much as possible. Moreover, many South Asian migrants are currently trying to re-connect with their homeland, either through modern mass media, the Internet, or personal visits. These re-connections are often seen as romantic rendezvous with the historical past and their ‘original roots’.

Within, academic ‘Indian diaspora’ literature, the reproduction of culture in an often-hostile environment and the relation to the homeland are key features of the diaspora concept. Nevertheless, in this collection, we emphasise a rather different approach. The authors, during their fieldwork and archival research, realised that there were quite a few overseas Indians who were not interested in re-connecting with the homeland. They felt that the Indian Government was excluding them from their historical roots, as in the case of many Muslim Indians after Partition and Indian Africans after their expulsion from Uganda by Idi Amin. In the case of ‘twice migrants’ like the Hindustanis in the Netherlands, we find that they may identify with both India and Suriname. Moreover, it has been shown that in cases where Indians do reconnect with their ancestral villages, the relationship with family members has grown ambivalent and is sometimes experienced with noticeable discomfort. In other words, re-connection with one's homeland is not self-evident. It happens or it doesn’t. Though some of these finding are not new, they do shed some fresh light on the diaspora concept as a whole.

Thus the main aim of this collection is to gather sociological, anthropological, and historical perspectives on the ‘Indian Diaspora’. The papers published in this volume present new empirical research on South Asian migrants world-wide.

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• Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory
• By Gijsbert Oonk
• Edited by Gijsbert Oonk
• Book: Global Indian Diasporas
• Online publication: 23 January 2021
• Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048501069.001

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24 Approaches to the study of the Indian Diaspora

1.INTRODUCTION

Research on the Indian diaspora, so named, is relatively recent, dating in fact only from the 1990s, when a distinct interdisciplinary field of ‘Diaspora Studies’ emerged. In earlier studies on the subject, the term diaspora was not used .  ‘Overseas Indians’, ‘Indian emigrants/immigrants’, ‘Indians living abroad’ were the usual ways of referring to what later became known as ‘diaspora’.

Emigration from India is an old phenomenon. Precolonial trading communities established settlements, some temporary and some permanent, in South east and Central Asia. During the colonial period, starting from the 1830s till the early 20th century, large groups of Indians were recruited as indentured labour to work in other British, French, Dutch colonies , spread all over the globe – notably in Africa , Caribbean and South east Asia and Pacific. Additionally, in this period, there were also other kinds of migrants – in business and trade, but also soldiers, clerks, teachers and others in sundry occupations who looked for service in the colonial governments of those destination countries.After independence, there were several waves of migration. Students going to the west for higher studies and professionals for better economic opportunities form a distinct group. The voluminous emigrants to the Gulf countries from the 1970s following the oil boom were composed mostly of workers both skilled and unskilled , with some proportion of highly qualified professionals as well. Gulf migrants in fact form the largest proportion of Indians overseas. The most recent wave of emigrants, to the advanced industrialized countries, consists of IT professionals encompassing a wide spectrum of IT skill sets, beginning from data entry and soft ware programmers to cutting edge technology leaders and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

Already from the colonialperiod, information on migrants began to be systematically collected, and the seeds for an academic field were sown. The compusions of the colonial government to have control over the process of migration of its subjects, and its administrative and political need for certain kinds of information dictated the data gathering and compilation of statistics and reports. These materials have formed a fertile source for historians to map and analyze the overseas migration in the 19 th and early 20th centuries. In all these studies, the term used for the migrants is ‘overseas Indians’ and this tradition was continued in the studies in the early years after independence.

Research and writing on the Indian diaspora has some noteworthy features. It has come from at least three geo-political locations – India, diaspora and the west . These are also, in a sense, cognitive locations.Each body of work reflects this locational dynamics, although it is not reducible to the latter. Further, until recently, diasporas were studied through a disciplinary lens – in social sciences and humanities. Interdisciplinarity has been espoused formally only in the last few decades. Traditionally in Indian social  science research on diasporas, history and ethnography were strong , along with economic research on the brain drain.Of late, political scientists and economists are taking considerable interest. Literature from diasporics has a long history and critical studies of them started emerging soon after. The disciplinary grounding means that theoretical and methodological approaches to the Indian diaspora take their cue from the major concerns and debates within the respective disciplines at any given point in time. Few academics take up the study of Indian diaspora as their full-time research interest. A considerable share of writing on the Indian diaspora is by former bureaucrats, diplomats and practitioners in the field.

Another striking feature of the field is that the bulk of the research tends to follow the unfolding scenario in international migration as well as the changing dynamics of Indian society, rather than set its own agenda. Government of India’s policies have had a considerable influence on the shaping of research priorities. In particular, the aggressive pro diaspora policy of Indian national governments since 1991 has coincided with the way academics look at the field and frame issues. To an extent there is a causal relationship, with the former driving it, as we shall see later. But policy itself is not unblemished and realistic, as Jayaram (2009: 414) points out.

Yet Indian Diaspora Studies is a growing field, attracting fine research oriented minds. Collaborative, and comparative interdisciplinary work has commenced , with insights emerging on a range of issues. It is a field that is here to stay and can make seminal contributions to our understanding of contemporary global dynamics.

2. EVOLUTION OF INDIAN DIASPORA STUDIES

Developments in the field of Indian Diaspora Studies can be clearly demarcated into two phases: before and after the 1990s. Obviously there are nuanced variations and divisions even within each phase, but the major transition occurred at the conjunction of three major phenomena of the early 1990s in the Indian landscape: globalization, liberalization and privatization, leading to what Naujoks (2009:4) calls a paradigmatic shift in India’s relationship with its diasporas and also, and this is important, in concomitant ways of comprehending the relationship. Prior to this, there was no academic field by that name, although there were well- researched writings on overseas Indian communities. The story of the transition has been talked and written about in several fora. A succint account can be found in the Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora (2006: 10-13) edited by Brij Lal and others. During the colonial period, the national movement in India took up the issue of the poor working and living conditions ofoverseas Indian indentured labour in a powerful way. It formed part of the campaign against the British colonial regime. The emigrants also had deep sentimental ties with the homeland.After India’s independence, both the attitude of government and popular attitude changed. Nehru’s famous exhortation wasin effect saying, ‘now thatyou have chosen to be there, you need to throw your full weight behind your adopted land and mingle with the indigeneous population’. Newly independent India was trying to find its place in the comityof nations. Its role as leader of the non-aligned movement also dictated that it refrain from interfering with the internal matters of other nations, so it did not take up the case of Indian origin population in these  countries. This was also the approach of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when, in the 1960s, the largely Gujarati Indian population in East Africa had to leave, following Idi Amin’s hostile policies. In the case of the students and professionals who migrated to the west in the 1960s and 70s, , there was a popular feeling that byleaving, they had betrayed their motherland which resulted in the ‘brain drain ’. In the case of migrants to the Gulf, they were mostly working class and employed on a temporary basis. Their situation was not salient in the popular discourse. The overall result was that after independence, the diaspora had no significant presence inpopular awareness and public discourse. The academic research of that time also reflected this paradigmimplicitly (Naujoks 2009: 4).

Due to changes in the cumulative position of the Indian diasporas in their host countries as well as changes in Indian economic, political, cultural and domestic dynamics and policies, the government’s earlier indifferent or casual attitude took a turn into a more proactive and positive enagagement.

Following the liberalization of the economy and integrating with the world economy, the idea of India as a bottomless market started capturing global attention. The foreign exchange crisis of 1990, averted by support from the Indian diaspora in US, alerted government to the possibilites of foreign direct investments from this source. In the advanced industrialized countries where the Indian diaspora had achieved success and affluence in corporate and IT related fields, their potential for facilitating trade and investment and also enriching the knowledge economy in India was sought to be tapped. Remittances, also a major source, were increasing. With the end of the cold war and end of India’s non alignment orientation, the country’s ambition for a significant role in global affairs became explicit. Thepolitical clout of Indians in some countries where they had achieved success was also sought to be tapped by government for national benefit. Culturally, many Indian arts and sciences had already achieved considierable popularity in the west, but with government backing – for example through the Festivals of India – cultural ‘products’ like yoga, ayurveda, Bollywood films, arts and crafts classical music and dance, cuisine – increased in scale, visibility and intensity, aided by new technologies of communcation. Simultaneously, there were also what Naujoks (2009: 14) calls interactional and vibrational changes – a more frequent and intense mutual visits and greater communication between Indians and Indian diasporics. The burgeoning new middle classes in India, with their aspirations and qualifications, formed the source for new migrations and there was increasing intertwining between Indians at home and in the diaspora.

The detailed policy formulation, the setting up of a separate ministry (Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs) by Govt. of India has been detailed in a later module. The changed ‘pride paradigm’, in which the successes of the diaspora are accepted and celebrated by the government and people in India, is also reflected in academic publications – in terms of an increase in quantum and a change of focus. (Naujoks 2009:5) .

3. TRADITIONAL VS RECENT APPROACHES

Until recently, studies on the Indian diaspora have been discipline based, rather than interdisciplinary.

Taking an overview of the traditional approaches, Sharma (1989) as cited by TGL Bhaskar classifies the literature into three broad categories – historical, anthropological and diplomatic – and identifies two mainperspectives underlying these studies :

(a)   The sociocultural perspective

(b)   The political economy perspective.

The former stresses on the tendency for Indians to carry their culture wherever they go, recreate it, hold on fast to it, integrate economically rather than assimilate culturally. The latter analyzes the objective conditions that create subjective consciousness.

Historians on pre-independence India have been active and productive in their writings on the trade diaspora (for eg. Markovitz 2000, Chaudhury 1985, Pearson 2003, Levi 2002 ) and on indentured labour (for eg.Lal, 1983, Gillion 1962, Sandhu 1969, Tinker 1974).

The best known diplomats who have contributed to the major transformation of government of India’s policy on Diaspora are L.M.Singhvi and J.C.Sharma, respectively the Chairman and Member-Secretary of the High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora (2002) , whose comprehensive report was to have far-reaching consequences.

There are several sociologists and anthropologistsin India who have contributed to the subject of Indian Diaspora, but special mention should be made of R.K.Jain, Chandrasekhar Bhat, Yogesh Atal and N.Jayaram who have been active in the field for a long time, and made several critical interventions.

Commenting on the twin themes of cultural retention and cultural adaptation in the traditional approaches, Ravindra Jain (1993) as cited by TGL Bhaskar observes that there are two processes that the literature identifies: the cultural relationist and the cultural adoptionist. The former espouses a position that customs and traditions persist in spite of the fact that the diasporic Indians are ‘outside’ their historical homeland. In thelatter, the question of the adaptation of the immigrant society to the social environment of the host society is important.Elsewhere, Jain (1997)brings together the two views of cultural persistence (maintenance) and thesociocultural plurality of the host society (integration)

3.1 From ‘Overseas Indians’ To Diasporas.

‘Diaspora’ is of fairly recent usage in India. Until well into the 1990s, research studies used the term ‘overseas Indians ’ (See for instanceKondapi 1951, Tinker 1970, Jain 1990, Sahadevan 1995, Mearns 1995, Clarke et al 1996). Other terms were  immigrants/migrants (for example Bhachu 1985, Gillion 1962, Jensen 1988), minorities (for example, Mahajani 1960) or even just Indians/Indian people (for example Arasaratnam 1970, Kuper 1960) or Indians in Little India (for example Gandhi 1974)  .Nowhere was the appellation ‘diaspora’ used. Historian Phillip D. Curtin was, in 1984, the first to introduce the term diaspora in the context of South Asia when he talked about its ‘trade diasporas’ , but it still did not enter the popular discourse. Interstingly, a major conference in 1987 organized by Oxford University on ‘South Asian Communities Overseas’ did not use the term, but by 1991, the proceedings were published and there the term ‘diaspora’ was used in the itnroduction. (Oonk 2013:16) .

‘Overseas Indians’ is not just a phrase, it signals a certain genre of studies. Its subtextwasto see migrants primarily as Indians displaced from the homeland who would someday return. The most popular theme of these studies was cultural continuity, the abilityof Indians to retain, reconstitute, recreate and revitalise many aspects oftheir culture in an overseas setting. Tinker ‘s (1977) view is that either the studies are about overseas Indians recreating India in the land of adoptionor about being the victim of circumstances in the hostland. These studies dealt with the processes of acculturation, adaptation (for example Kannan 1978, Kurian and Srivastava 1983). They were also meagre in number, mostly a few detailed monographs and comparative essays mainly on the Old Diaspora, and its patterns of cultural resistance and adaptation. (Jain 1993: 52). They were mostly done within the conventional parameters of Structure-Functionalism ( Jayaram 2004: 32).

It is a truism that in general Indians living abroad want to mould their family and cultural lives in close connection with Indian values and culture as they see it, and do try to retain a sentimental as well as material connection with India. They are everywhere noted, admired or more often reviled, for not intermingling socially and culturally and maritally with their host societies. The traditional literature emphasizes this reproduction of Indian culture in a hostile environment, and gradually starts exploring the concept of ethnic identity and the dilemmas of dual identity(for example see Mearns 1995 , Clarke et al 1996, Brah 1996)

3.2 Broadening of themes

In the last few decades ,there is a thematic widening of the subject to include demography, emigrants’ background, process of emigration, factors in the host country, social organization of the diasporic community, identity, power, relations with homeland , and India’s orientation towards its diaspora. There is also an expansion of regions focused from Caribbean and Africa to include especially US and Canada, Australia and Singapore, a spin off from the ‘pride paradigm’ ( Navjoks : 18) There are also studies of religious diasporas especially on the Hindu diaspora and Jain Diaspora. Family, ageing , gender, caste, development, philanthropy, remittances, investment, entrepreneurship, have all come under the rubric of diaspora studies which is now also studied in conjunction with transnationalism.

3.3 Limits and Limitations of the term and concept of Diaspora

Following the emergence of Diaspora Studies as an academic field in the west, scholars on India also shift to the term ‘Diaspora’. But within the first few decades itself, the limits of the concept of diaspora, narrowly defined, have come in for wide ranging debatein the field itself, and this is part of the paradigm shift in the field. (See for instance the articles in the early issues of Diaspora: Journalof Transnational Studies).There is a point of view that work on the Indian diaspora has not entered into these debates (Naujoks 22-23). Yet , a perusal of recent studies reveals that some fundamental questions being asked about the Indian diaspora feed into this debate. Some of the specificities and dynamics of Indian communities living abroad have in fact served to flesh out and substantiate the foundational shift.

3.4 From one diaspora to many diasporas

One of the striking features of Indian migrants abroad is their diversity. Whether the diasporic outcomes of such fundamentally different patterns of migration such as happened from India can be subsumed under the singular label of Indian diaspora is a question that is being asked of late (See for example the essays in Jayaram 2011 and Oonk 2007 ) . Of course, even earlier, the pattern of empirical studies clearly indicate that much of the research was being done on specific communities , named by region, language and religion, such as studies on the Gulf Migrants from Kerala, Gujaratis in Africa and Jain Diaspora , even though the titles were sometimes on ‘Indians’. But the recent self-conscious and deliberate look at diversities and their conceptual and theoretical implications constitutes a significant intervention.

3.5 Do Diasporas Mirror Indian Diversities?

Implicitly and sometimes, more explicitly as in the case of several studies on Dalit diaspora (such as Vivek Kumar 2004, Sinarine 2006), there is a presumption that diversities in the diaspora mirror Indian diversities (Oonk 2007: 12), that somehow migrants take their caste and region and language and other primordial as well as cultural affiliations with them as an inherent part of their being and strive to reproduce them in their new locations, even though perforce they have to make some adaptations. On the other hand, there is a view point (Ganesh 2011) that though these categories do exist in name in the new locations, their structure and meaning may sometimes alter so radically as to be very different from the category in India, as we shall see shortly in the case of South African Tamils.

3.6 Relationship to Homeland queried

Traditional approaches give a central place to homeland orientation. Oonk (2007:9- 10) strikes a different chord when he argues that there are many Indians abroad who do not want to reconnect with India because they feel govt. of India has neglected and excluded them (as for instance, the Gujaratis who were expelled from East Africa and did not find succour from India or Muslim Indians after Partition), or because they are twice migrants like the Surinamese Hindustanis in Netherlands who identify with two homelands Surinam and India. Or when they do reconnect, it is with their region, often a linguistic region and not ‘India’ which for them is an abstract and remote concept. Relevant here is Markowitz’s (2000:6) point that Gujarati Hindus and Gujarati Muslims in Africa connect with each other more intimately than Hindus who speak Gujarati and Bhojpuri  respectively. Echoing this is Ganesh’s (2010: 31 ) empirical observation that in South Africa, among Tamils caste has been erased to a large extent. Even though caste based surnames are common among them, it is a continuation of the way their ancestors registered themselves while being recruited in India and on disembarkation in Natal. Most Tamils today do not know that their names are actually caste names, much less which castes they refer to. Likewise, religious differences among Tamils have been erased to a large extent. Hindu Tamils have bonded together more closely with Christian Tamils than they do with the ‘Hindi walas’ referring collectively to Bhojpuri and Gujarati speakers. But in the case of twice migrants from the old diaspora, for eg. Caribbean Indians in UK, Netherlands or Canada, Oonk (2007:13) reminds us that for them their region or language of origin is only a vaguely recalled second hand memory and India, the country is some kind of reference point. Also in the past few decades of Government of India’s aggressive pro-diaspora policy, there is a powerful recreation of the nation, and this to some extent modulates the appeal of region and language.Another kind of example of ‘Indianization’ comes from the racialized politics of countries like Fiji, South Africa and others, where ‘Indian’ has become a racial category in which all Indians, irrespective of regional and other identities are clubbed together.

3.7 Shifting and Constructed Identities

This brings us to the problematic framing of multiple identities as mutually incompatible in some of the earlier works.Undoubtedly the emphasis on linguistic and regional anchoring of Indian diasporas is a welcome shift from the earlier conceptual emphasis on national identity. However, the recent literature on identities, their multiplicity, fluidity and constructed nature (eg., Stuart Hall 1992) alerts us to the dangers of positing a regional/lingusitic/religious identity as contrary to or incompatible with the existence of an Indian diasporic identity. In fact, empirical studies also show how at different moments, linguistic, caste or Indian identities come to the fore among diasporic Indians, and which identity is prominent at a given time is situational or a product of deliberate mobilizing. For instance, Ganesh (2011: 176-77) points out that in the Gujarati diaspora, caste associations play the role in forging endogamous marital alliances, regional/linguistic based associations and identities regulate much of the day-to-day personal lives and pan-Indian identity comes to the fore when celebrating India’s independence day or Diwali . Prime Minister Modi’s speech at the Madison Garden event in New York in Sept 2014 was attended by a large number of Gujaratis who identified themselves both as Gujaratis and Indians.

3.8 Research On Diasporas Within India

There are well established diasporas within India, both of ancient vintage and more recent ones. Parsis and Jews, both fleeing from persecution, have been received and accomodated in India without much fanfare or objections. Sidis, of African origin, came to India as soldiers . They have intermarried and largely mingled with the Indian population. There have been some studies on thse, notably the Parsis. More recently, migrants from Tibet, Srilanka and Bangladesh have come into India and although there is some grumbling about illegal migrants, as Naujoks (2009:1-2) observes, they are not part  of any debate or public discourse on immigration and integration, and research on these communities is relatively sparse.

3.9 Brain Drain Research Then and Now

The 1960s and 70s saw a great deal of discussion in public debates and policy making about the ‘brain drain’, ie emigration of skilled professionals from India for better opportunities. Most of the research came not from migration studies but from economists who were worried about the loss of skills and talents to India. The tone was mostly pessimistic and judgemental, as for example economist Dandekar’s writings and the so – called Bhagwati tax proposal to tax skilled migrants through the country of residence was met with public approbation. In the 80s, already the tone was milder, focusing on how to use the resources abroad. The discourse on brain drain has changed now. It argues that the threat of losing skilled personnel is real only for small countries. For populous countries like India and China, this actually provides an opportunity for the homeland to benefit through harnessing the technology, skills and wealth of the ‘talent ’ diaspora, through back and forth and circulatory flows in the knowledge economy, which globalization has enabled(Naujoks 2009: 20- 21) .Thus a wider understanding of ‘brain drain’ in tandem with ‘brain gain’ and ‘brain chain’ is to be find in contemporary writings such as that of Khadria (1999).

3.10 Research on Gender in diaspora

One of the topics that is only now beginning to receive some attention, that too from just a few scholars is that of gender issues in the diaspora . The experience of women in diaspora has its own specificities in which patriarchal practices of homeland as well as hostland combine to create new restraints, pressures and responsibilities for women. Women are everywhere in India, seen as culture bearers. It is well-established that where questions of culture and identity are at stake, as they are in the diasporic situation, the burden of maintaining them falls disproportionately on women. By their dress and deportment and conduct as well through appropriate socialization of children, they are expected to uphold cultural identity and family values. Deviation can lead to severe reprisals, as has been noted in the case of girls who marry out of community . Studies by Aparna Rayaprol (1997), Vijay Agnew (2005) Shyamala Parameswaran (1995) and others take up the issue of gender in the diaspora . Domestic violence is also a serious issue and several women’s organizations have come up to tackle this problem and provide support to battered and abandoned women (see for instance Abraham 1998 ) . However, a look back at the colonial diaspora, especially at women indentured labour reveals a slightly different picture. During the early decades of migration, women migrants were few and were in demand both as labour and as marital partners. Despite the overall hold of patriarchy, under the special circumstances, they had relatively greater mobility and feedom and were able to make personal choices, as the literature on that period indicates (see for eg. Carter 1994 , Kannabiran 1998).

3.11 Other themes and issues in research

There is a fair amount of scholarly interest in Remittances in the last couple of decades, but it is focused on macro level numbers and quantities (eg. Nayyar 1994) and on how India has bettered China. The implications of the remittanced in social and developmental terms at the regional and household level and on poverty reduction is only now slowly catching up, but mostly with respect to Kerala (eg. Gulati and Modi 1983)

The recruitment policies and procedures, especially for Gulf migrants, and human rights have not yet received much attnetion. Also not enough attention to the human rights, civil rights, recruitment policies, etc of Gulf migrants.Diaspora policy itself is the subject of some academic research, and acadmicians are increasingly involved in suggestions and recommendations for policy. Some scholars have also got associated with organizations like GOPIO ( Global Organization of People of Indian Origin) (eg. Motwani 1993). Naujoks ( 2009:19) cautions that some of this scholarship is not based on primary reserch but consists of overviews, compilations and anecdotal material. There is also a certain tendency for research to follow the ‘pride paradigm’ and focus on the more admirable achievements of the Indian diaspora and ignore the harsh realities of many migrants. While this is a point well- made, it is also a fact that sound social science scholarship on the Indian diaspora, now widening its ambit and asking broader questions, is growing.

4.  DISCIPLINARY, THEMATIC AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF INDIAN DIASPORA STUDIES

We will conclude the module with a brief look at the way the academic field in India is structured at present. In the west, it is often part of South Asian Studies, sometimes it is clubbed with or absorbed into Transnational Studies. In policy areas, it is treated as part of immigration, minority and multicultural policies.

In India, academic research and writing was done, till recently, as part of different social science and humanities disciplines. From the mid 1990s, institutional settings have been created mainly for research and advocacy, with teaching being an ancillary activity.

The Centre for the Study of Indian Diaspora (CSID) was established in Hyerabad in 1996 under the Area Studies Programme of the U.G.C. carry out interdisciplinary research on overseas Indians The Centre’s research agenda encompasses the historical context of the Indian Diaspora, civilizational heritage of diasporic communities, continuities and transformation in culture, economy and political life, besides promoting communication and linkages between India and the Indian diaspora. It is also a centre for Mphil and PhD research on the subject. http://www.uohyd.ac.in/index.php/academics/2011-10-27-18-38-04/

Centre for Indian Diaspora and Cultural Studies Hemchandra Acharya North Gujarat University, Patan was set up in 2002. It specializes in Literature and on the Guajrati Diaspora. www.ngu.ac.in/center/dias/index.htm

There are a few universities who have recently set up Centres for Diaspora Studies at the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhi nagar , Punjabi University Patiala, Central University of Kerala, Kasargode. These are as yet fledgeling centre with potential for enriching research especially on their respective regions. The Organization for Diaspora Initiatives (ODI) is an all India Society registered as a non profit educational and cultural organization based in Delhi, which is a hub for research , publication, advocacy and collaborations on the subject of Diaspora ( www.odi.in ) . It also brings out a refereed biannual journal called ‘Diaspora Studies’ from 2007 onwards. The Indian Sociological Society conducts its activities – research, conferences and publications through 24 Research Committees, and one of them is Migration and Diaspora Studies, which provides a forum for senior scholars, researchers and students to interact and enrich the pan-Indian scholarship on the Indian Diaspora (www.insoso.org ) . Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), an international consortium of researchers and policy makers drawn from national and international universities, institutes and organizations, based in New Delhi is an active body that brings together academic and policy research (www.grfdt.com ) . Group for Research on Indian Diaspora (GRID) is a virtual centre at the University of Mumbai that is funtioning from 2009 as one of the projects under the UGC’ s University with Potential for Excellence (UPE) Scheme .Apart from research, it has made a significant contribution by introducing teaching courses invarious departments of the University (http://mu.ac.in/portal/group-for-research-on-indian-diaspora-university-of-mumbai/.  As far as teaching goes, very few universities and colleges in India offer a degree or diploma in Diaspora Studies. IGNOU is one of them.

Within disciplines, Departments of Sociology in Universities of Hyderabad, Goa and Mumbai offer elective courses on the subject. So do several centres at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Many Departments of English teach courses on Diasporic and Post colonial literature.

While research is increasingly being done with interdisciplinary approaches as befits the very nature of the field, teaching is largely within disciplinary confines. Earlier, history and sociology/social anthropology were the major disciplinary anchors. Now scholars international relations, politics and economics, literature also work in the field, as do scholars from film studies, feminist and gender studies and dalit studies.

Indian Scholars:

• Abraham, Margaret 1998 Domestic Violence and the Indian Diaspora in the United States.Indian Journal of Gender Studies 5, 215-24
• Agnew, Vijay (ed) 2005 Diaspora, Memory and Identity: A Search for Home. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Arasaratnam, S 1970 Indians in Malaysia and Singapore. Institute of Race Relations, London: Oxford University Press.
• Bhachu, Parminder 1985Twice Migrants: East African Settlers in Britain. London and New York: Tavistock Publications
• Bhaskar, TLS 2011 Indian Diaspora. shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/1827/8/08_chapter2.pd (accessed on 18.8.15)
• Brah, Avtar 1996Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. Londonand New York: Routledge
• Carter, Marina 1994 Lakshmi’s Legacy: The Testimonies of Indian Women in 19th century Mauritius. Mauritius: Editions de l’Ocean Indien
• Chaudhury K N 1985Trade And Civilization In The Indian Ocean.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Clark, Colin, Ceri Peach and StevenVertovec (eds.) 1990 South Asians Overseas: Migration and Ethnicity. Cambridge:CUP
• Gandhi, R.S. 1974Locals and Cosmopolitans of Little India : a sociological study of the Indian student community at MinnesotaUSA. Bombay: Popular Prakashan
• Ganesh, Kamala 2010Beyond Historical Origins : Negotiating Tamilness in South Africa, Journal of Social Sciences Special issue edited by Anand Singh, Ravindra K Jain and Shobhita Jain, Kamala-Raj publishers, New Delhi, v. 25(1-2-3), 25 – 37
• Ganesh, Kamala 2011 Diaspora, A mirror to Indian Diversity? Caste, Brahmanism and the New Diaspora in N.Jayaram (ed) Diversities in the Indian Diaspora: Nature, Implications and Responses.Delhi: Oxford University Press, 173 – 190.
• Gillion K.L. 1962Fiji’s Indian Migrants: A History to the end of indenture in 1920.Melbourne: Oxford University
• Gulati, I.S. and Ashoka Modi 1983Remittances of Indian Migrants in the Middle east with special reference to migrants from Kerala state. Working Paper #o. I82 Trivandrum: Centre for Development Studies.
• Hall, Stuart 1992 The question of cultural identity, in Stuart Hall, David Held and Anthony McGrew Modernity and its futures. Cambridge: Polity Press in association with the Open University, 274–316
• Jain, Prakash 1990Racial Discrimination against overseas Indians: A class analysis. New Delhi:Concept Publishing Company
• Jain, R.K. 1970South Indians on the Plantation Frontier in Malaya.Sydney: University of New England Press
• Jain, R.K. 1993Indian Communities Abroad: Themes and Literature. NewDelhi:Manohar
• Jain, R.K. 1997A Civilizational Theory of Indian Diaspora and its Global Implications (a mimeo), Presented in the Workshop on The Study of IndianDiaspora: Conceptual and Methodological Issues, 12 & 13 September at University of Hyderabad
• Jayaram, N. 1997The Study of Indian Diaspora: A Multidisciplinary Agenda(a Mimeo), Presented in the Workshop on The Study of Indian Diaspora: Conceptual and Methodological Issues, 12 & 13 September at University ofHyderabad
• Jayaram, N. 2004 Indian Diaspora: Dynamics of Migration. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
• Jayaram, N. 2009 The Study of Indian Diaspora in Yogesh Atal (ed) Sociology and Social Anthropology in India Kindle Edition, New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 392- 423.
• Jensen, Joan M 1988 Passage from India: Asian Indian Immigrants in North America. New Haven and London: Yale University Press
• Kannabiran, Kalpana 1998 Mapping Migration, Gender, Culture and Politics in the Indian Diaspora: Commemorating Indian Arrival in Trinidad.Economic and Political WeeklyVol. 33, No. 44 (Oct. 31 – Nov. 6, 1998), pp. WS53-WS57.
• Kannan, CT 1978Cultural Adaptation of Asian Immigrants: First and Second Generation.Bombay: India Printing Works: 1978.
• Khadria 1999 The Migration of Knowledge workers: Second generation effects of India’s brain drain. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
• Kondapi. C. 1951Indians Overseas 1938- 1949. NewDelhi: Indian Council ofWorld Affairs
• Kurian, George and Srivastava, Ram.P. (eds.) 1983 Overseas Indians: A Study in Adaptation. NewDelhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd.
• Kuper, Hilda 1960Indian People in Natal Natal: University Press
• Lal, Brij 1983Girmitiyas. Canberra: Journal of Pacific History Monograph
• Levi, Scott, C 2002The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and its trade.Leiden: Brill
• Mahajani, Usha 1960The role of Indian Minorities in Burma and Malaya. Connecticut: Greenwood Press
• Markovits, Claude 2000 The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750-1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Mearns, David James 1995Shiva’s Other Children: Religion and Social Identity amongst Overseas Indians. New Delhi : Sage Publications
• Motwani, Jagat.K, Mahin Gosine, Jyoti Barot- Motwani (eds.) 1993Global Indian Diaspora: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. NewYork: GOPIO
• Nayyar, Deepak 1994Migration, Remittances and Capital Flows: The Indian Experience. NewDelhi: OUP
• Naujoks, Daniel (2009) India and its Diaspora: Changing Research and Policy Paradigm https://www.academia.edu/9942361 (accessed on 20.8.15). Published in Dietrich Thranhardt and Michael Bommes (eds) National Paradigms of Migration Research Gottingen: V & R Unipress, 269-300.
• Oonk, Gijsbert (ed) 2007Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
• Parameswaran, Shyamala (1995) Gender, Ethnicity and Immigrant Status: Asian Women in the United States, Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois at Chicago
• Pearson, M.N. 2003The Indian Ocean.UK: Taylor and Francis
• Rayaprol, Aparna 1997Negotiating Identities: Women in the Indian Diaspora Delhi: OUP.
• Sandhu, Kernial 1969Indians in Malaya: Immigration and Settlement 1786-1957. Cambridge: CUP
• Sahadevan P 1995India and Overseas Indians: The case of Srilanka.New Delhi: Kalinga Publications
• Sinarine, Moses 2006 The persistence of caste and anti-caste resistance in India and the diaspora. http://tamillibrary.org/teli/caste1.html (accessed on May 15, 2010).
• Tinker, Hugh 1977The Banyan Tree: Overseas Emigrants from India,Pakistan, and BangladeshOxford: OUP
• Tinker, Hugh 1974 A new system of slavery; the export of Indian labour overseas, 1830- 1920. Institute of Race Relations et Oxford University Press, Londres et New York
• Vivek Kumar 2004 Understanding Dalit Diaspora. Economic and Political Weekly, XXXIX, 1, Jan 3 2004, 114-116

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The Literature of the Indian Diaspora

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The Literature of the Indian Diaspora constitutes a major study of the literature and other cultural texts of the Indian diaspora. It is also an important contribution to diaspora theory in general. Examining both the ‘old’ Indian diaspora of early capitalism, following the abolition of slavery, and the ‘new’ diaspora linked to movements of late capital, Mishra argues that a full understanding of the Indian diaspora can only be achieved if attention is paid to the particular locations of both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ in nation states.

Applying a theoretical framework based on trauma, mourning/impossible mourning, spectres, identity, travel, translation, and recognition, Mishra uses the term ‘imaginary’ to refer to any ethnic enclave in a nation-state that defines itself, consciously or unconsciously, as a group in displacement. He examines the works of key writers, many now based across the globe in Canada, Australia, America and the UK, – V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, M.G. Vassanji, Shani Mootoo, Bharati Mukherjee, David Dabydeen, Rohinton Mistry and Hanif Kureishi, among them – to show how they exemplify both the diasporic imaginary and the respective traumas of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Indian diasporas.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter | 21  pages, introduction: the diasporic imaginary, chapter | 49  pages, the girmit ideology, chapter | 35  pages, indenture and diaspora poetics, chapter | 27  pages, traumatic memory, mourning and v. s. naipaul, chapter | 51  pages, diaspora and the multicultural state, chapter | 28  pages, the law of the hyphen and the postcolonial condition, chapter | 33  pages, diasporic narratives of salman rushdie, chapter | 11  pages, epilogue: the subaltern speaks.

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India And Its Diaspora

India and its diaspora.

The Indian diaspora is quite a heterogeneous group and comprises people from different economic and social classes, speaking a diversity of languages, professing a multitude of cultural practices, and can also be divided along the lines of the time of their migration into foreign lands. Read on for an insight into the Indian diaspora for the IAS mains exam.

This article talks about the Indian diaspora and its significance today. It is a topic that is featured in the news quite frequently and henc e, important for the civil services exam.

Indian Diaspora Meaning and Important Points

A UN Report – ‘International Migration 2020 Highlights’ by UNDESA (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) said that the Indian Diaspora (18 million residing outside India in 2020) is the largest in the world.

What is the meaning of Indian Diaspora – Originally, the term ‘Diaspora’ has Greek origins (loosely it means – scattering of seeds) and is used to refer to the mass movement of Jews away from the homeland. In contemporary times, Diaspora refers to the people living away from their homeland due to various reasons. Hence, the meaning of Indian Diaspora is the group of people who are currently living outside India (temporary or permanent) and those who can trace their origin to India.

Countries with Largest Diaspora – 2020

• India – 18 million
• Mexico – 11 million
• Russia – 11 million
• China – 10 million
• Syria – 8 million

Countries Hosting Indian Diaspora -2020

• United Arab Emirates (UAE) – 3.5 million
• United States of America (USA) – 2.7 million
• Saudi Arabia – 2.5 million

Diaspora increased most in 2000-2020 period from the following countries:

• India (almost 10 million increase in the number of people living outside)
• Philippines

Destination of International Migrants – 2020:

• USA – 51 million (approx 18 percent of the world’s total migrants choose to reside in the United States)
• Germany – 16 million
• Saudi Arabia – 13 million
• Russia – 12 million
• UK – 9 million

Introduction

In the theatre of development, the competitiveness and growth of an economy are determined by its capacity to acquire and apply new knowledge. In a rapidly globalizing world, learning new ways of doing things depends in no small measure on the ability to integrate with the larger world outside. We live in a world in which the free movement of goods and capital across borders is seen as a virtue. Arguably, it is seen to reinforce the principle of competitive advantage and help spur savings, investment, and demand. What is less recognized is that International migration of human capital: the movement of knowledge, talent, and skills across borders is central to learning and development.

The rise of significant Diasporas has in the past few years, brought into the limelight a couple of key facts. First, there is a huge expatriate population of skilled people from developing countries in developed nations. Second, overseas communities can form a major resource for the development of the countries of their origin. The movement of high and low skilled workers from less to more developed economies and back brings about a great many new opportunities for development. Talking about diaspora only in terms of remittances and financial flows is a narrow approach and needs to change. It is not necessary for all expatriates to be investors, and their contributions to their countries of origin need not be solely financial.

An overseas community serves as an important ‘bridge’ to access expertise, knowledge, markets, and resources for the development of the home country. The success of this bridge often depends upon 2 conditions: the ability of the Diaspora to develop and showcase a coherent, intrinsically motivated, and progressive identity and the capacity of the home country to develop conditions and institutions for a maintainable, tenable, symbiotic, and mutually rewarding engagement. Home countries are now beginning to recognize the need to pursue and promote the dynamic of Diaspora and development.

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India, Diaspora and Migration: An Overview

• India is one of the pioneers in recognizing the importance of its overseas population and establishing an institutional framework for sustainable and mutually beneficial engagement with its Diaspora. 
• By creating an independent and effective Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs , India has given mainstream attention to its estimated 25 million-strong Overseas Indian community. 
• This experience too has helped us develop appropriate and well-calibrated institutional r esponses, through bilateral and multilateral engagements, to meet the challenges of capacity-building for better migration management.

The Indian Diaspora is a diverse, heterogeneous and eclectic international community, representing a diversity of types, forms, geographies and formation periods. Hence, it requires diverse and distinct approaches to engage them and connect with India. The common thread that binds them together is the idea of India and its intrinsic values. Overseas Indians — comprising People of Indian Origin and Non-Resident Indians, stretching across all oceans and continents — have considerably added to knowledge, innovation and development across the globe by making significant contributions to their countries of residence.

Historically, the dispersion of people from India and the formation of Indian Diaspora communities is the result of different waves of migration over hundreds of years driven by a variety of reasons: slavery under mercantilism, indentured labour under colonisation, and guest work programmes post-colonialism. This transnational engagement of people, riding on the processes of globalisation has been reinforced through global networks of families, friends and businesses, which are symbiotic and which enable the exchange of shared ideas of cultural, social and economic interests.

In retrospect, the formation of the Indian Diaspora makes up an engaging saga of trials, tribulations and the eventual triumph of determination and hard work. It pleases all Indians when the Overseas Indian community is respected for its work culture, discipline, and successful integration with the local community as much as being counted for its outstanding contributions in their countries of residence. This community having overcome considerable adversity represents an eminently successful Diaspora in the host countries with several of its representatives occupying leadership positions there. We look at them as a significant strategic resource for India.

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Contemporary flows from India are of two kinds:

• The first is the emigration of the highly skilled professionals, workers and students with tertiary and higher educational qualifications migrating to the most advanced OECD countries, particularly to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This flow started after Indian independence, in pursuit of better career prospects and living, and gathered momentum with the emigration of IT professional in the 1990s. 
• The second was the flow of unskilled and semi-skilled workers going mostly to the Gulf countries and Malaysia—following the oil boom in the Gulf countries, mainly from Kerala and other south Indian states. Of late, northern states in India like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have emerged as the leading states of origin. 

Put together, these migratory flows have resulted in diverse communities of people of Indian origin in various parts of the world: East Asia, Middle-East Asia, South and Eastern Africa, Europe, North America, Australia, the northern part of South America and the Caribbean Islands. These distinct communities of people of Indian origin, as well as Indian nationals living abroad, constitute the vast Indian Diaspora. There is no single homogeneous Overseas Indian community; there exist diversities within them as well as in the level and degree of their engagement with India, defined by the lapse of time, generations and distance that separate them from their country of origin.

The Diasporas provide important links and contact points between home and host societies by building transnational networks which transact not only emotional and familial bonds but also cultural, social and economic interests. With advances in information technology and cheaper transport services, the Diasporas, as compared to situations prevailing earlier, are able to maintain connections with people and networks back home more effectively.

Such Diaspora associations in host countries impact and influence local businesses, even political decisions, thereby ensuring a friendlier environment and outcomes for the existing and prospective migrants. At the same time, these Diaspora associations also help to channel remittances, capital and investments to benefit not only home communities but also by developing partnerships with the host-country counterpart, benefit both. The same can be said of the exchange of skills, cuisines, ideas, knowledge and technology.

As such, such exchanges between a host and home countries, leveraged through the Diaspora, are never unidirectional or temporary or limited in scope. What remains a work in progress, however, is the formation of mechanisms or patterns to engage the Diasporas to its full potential. Engaging with the Diaspora in a sustainable and mutually rewarding manner across the economic, social and cultural space is at the heart of the policy of the Ministry. The officers in MOIA, continually seek to create conditions, partnerships and institutions that will best enable India to connect with its Diaspora comprehensively.

Such engagement has to take into account the fact that the Indian Diaspora, like India itself, is not a homogeneous group of people. And for this reason, it needs diverse and distinct approaches to engage them and connect with India. It is not necessary for all Overseas Indians to be a part of the development process. Not all of them need to make financial contributions, nor do they need to relocate to India.

These ‘Global Indians’ can serve as bridges by providing access to markets, sources of investment, expertise, knowledge and technology; they can shape, by their informed participation, the discourse on migration and development, and help articulate the need for policy coherence in the countries of destination and origin.

All of this requires not only the home country to establish conditions and institutions for a sustainable, symbiotic and mutually rewarding engagement with the Diaspora—which are central to our programmes and activities; but for the Diaspora to project itself as an intrinsically motivated and progressive community.

The above details would help candidates prepare for UPSC 2023 .

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FAQ about India & its Diaspora

Does india provide dual citizenship, how often pravasi bharatiya divas is held.

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Essay: Learning from the Indian diaspora

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “India”?

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hat comes to your mind when you hear the word “India”? Many are likely to answer Bollywood. Some may think of the distinctive female garment the sari. Others may associate it with its dishes known for their exotic flavors.

Like the Chinese, Indians are spread throughout the world. People can come across them in any area at any time.

Indonesia should learn many things from the Indian diaspora. Not only does their typical distinctiveness show a splendid cultural legacy, more importantly, the Indians of the diaspora are instrumental in setting an example for us, either at home or overseas, to beef up the quality of our human resources on a global scale.

I am of the view that learning from the lives of the Indian diaspora is an attempt to look at ourselves in the mirror, learning from the experience of others or bringing out the best in others. Despite their dynamics, however, the people of the Indian diaspora are strongly rooted in the following forces.

First, international orientation is the key to their existence and identity. It lends color to the Indian education system and way of communication. It is not simply limited to the curriculum at primary, college or university level.

Equally importantly, it also deals with the quality of human resources, instead of spending too much capital on financial resources, on mere physical aspects, such as deluxe university buildings. It is no surprise that many university classrooms in India do not have air-conditioning. Yet Indian students enjoy the best and brightest lectures from Indian professors graduating from the best universities in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.

The international standard of education has produced India’s best talent, occupying various senior posts around the globe in finance, taxation, medicine, IT and many other fields. Many renowned CEOs in the world’s largest corporations are Indian-born, such as Satya Narayana Nadella of Microsoft and Sundar Pichai of Google.

The amazing thing is that many Indians going abroad do so on a free-fall principle — without scholarships from their government and relying upon their own funds when it comes to seeking jobs overseas.

Besides, their global orientation cannot be separated from their cultural power and English-speaking skills. Indians are noted for being a talkative people, which is their source of confidence. In response to this, I told a joke to my Indian friend, “While it’s hard to get Indonesian students to start speaking in English in a classroom or international forum, it is much more difficult to get Indian students to stop talking in the same venue.”

In terms of English competence, it is public knowledge that Indians speak English better than any other non-English speaking countries.

In Australia, for example, people do not simply meet Indians as bankers, accountants, professionals, researchers, or IT specialists but also as drivers, bakers or call-center officers. They easily access any jobs as they have no problem with English as a tool of communication and service.

Second, Indians are very proud of their culture. They are committed to bringing their own identity into the public space, not only on certain seasons or festivities.

On many occasions, for example, I often come by Indian women wearing their traditional clothes, such as  kurta , in the workplace, going shopping and picking up their kids from school. While attending functions outdoors, they continue to listen to Desi songs even though they speak English between them.

This suggests that Indians excel in sustaining a balance between the need to become global citizens and pride in identity. In a multicultural country, a sense of and pride in identity is of paramount significance, as many people — particularly third-generation immigrants — are prone to become detached from their cultural identity, marked by their inability to speak their mother tongue.

In many ways, we have much in common with Indians. The richness of culture, language and culinary arts are the main elements that attract the world community to visit Indonesia.

However, our momentous task is how to build our citizens’ ability to communicate globally through the English language, something we may learn from Indians. The balance between pride in our own culture and globally exploring capabilities through the English language needs to be taken into account as early as possible.

Third, Indians have a high regard for elderly people. This is something serious and readily found among the Indian diaspora. Just visit food courts in shopping malls in Melbourne, Australia, for instance, you will find lots of complete Indian extended families — father, mother, kids and grandparents.

I assumed it was a typical phenomenon of certain multicultural suburbs, like Clayton, Springvale or Bix Hill in Melbourne. My assumption was wrong. They are found in many places mostly inhabited by white people, including in Port Melbourne, Toorak or Brighton. As I asked my Indian friend about this, he replied that Indians highly appreciated and respected their parents. They will not leave their parents at home on their own; in a nutshell, extended family is a precious treasure for the Indian diaspora.

The writer is a lecturer at the School of Cultural Sciences, Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra.

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Indian Diaspora: Policies and Challenges of Technology and Knowledge Transfer

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Indian diaspora has recently gained recognition among our policy makers and the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is being observed as contribution of Overseas Indian community in the nation’s development since 2003. Further,Indian alumni are being encouraged to contribute to our universities through a Government of India Scheme called Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN). These are some efforts of diaspora engagement. There is a strong need to examine the process of knowledge and technology transfer through global experiences and how these can be contextualised through our policies in the social sector that will impact the way we productively engage with our diaspora. This paper will examine the challenges, policies and strategies for knowledge and technology transfer of our human capital that will help contributing towards nation building and developing a sustainable knowledge society.

(This paper was first published in April, 2019 on Research Gate)

Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the Centre for Public Policy Research.

Dr Shakila T Shamsu

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Indian Diaspora

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What is the current status of the Indian Diaspora?

Who qualifies to be part of the indian diaspora, what are the distinct characteristics of the indian diaspora, what are the factors that led to a large indian diaspora, what is the significance of the indian diaspora, what are the various government initiatives to engage with the indian diaspora, what are the measures needed for the welfare of the indian diaspora.

Prelims:   Current events of national and international importance.

Mains:   Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests, Indian Diaspora.

The Indian Diaspora is one of the largest in the world, with an estimated 18 million people of Indian origin living abroad.

• The US , Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Myanmar, the UK , Sri Lanka , South Africa, and Canada host an Indian diasporic population of at least one million each.
• According to Global Migration Report 2020 , India continues to be the largest country of origin of international migrants, with a 17.5 million-strong Diaspora across the world.
• According to a World Bank Report , India received approximately 87 billion dollars in remittances in 2021 with the USA being the biggest source, accounting for over 20% of these funds.

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 and settled in different parts of the world. It constitutes NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and OCIs.

• Non-Resident Indian (NRIs): is a term that refers to an Indian citizen who resides outside India 182 days in a financial year, but still maintains strong ties to their homeland .
• People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are people of Indian birth or ancestry who are not citizens of India but are citizens of other nations.
• The government of India merged the PIO under the OCI programme in 2015.
• Diversity: The Indian Diaspora is extremely diverse, comprising people from different regions, religions, castes, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Large population: The Indian Diaspora is one of the largest in the world, with an estimated 18 million people living outside India.
• Economic success: Members of the Indian Diaspora are often highly educated and successful in business and entrepreneurship, with many holding influential positions in their host countries.
• Cultural preservation: Despite living in foreign countries, the Indian Diaspora has maintained strong connections to their cultural roots and often celebrates their customs and traditions.
• Political involvement: Many members of the Indian Diaspora are involved in politics and advocacy, both in their host countries and in India.
• Strong family values: Family is an important aspect of Indian culture, and this value is often preserved among members of the Diaspora, who maintain close ties with their families in India.
• Strong sense of identity: Despite being a diverse group, members of the Indian Diaspora often share a strong sense of Indian identity and are proud of their heritage and culture.

India has one of the largest Diaspora populations in the world, estimated to be over 18 million. There are several reasons why India has such a large Diaspora, including historical, economic, and social factors.

• Historical factors: India was ruled by the British for over two centuries, and many Indians were taken to various parts of the world as indentured laborers. These laborers were brought to British colonies like Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji, and the Caribbean to work on sugarcane plantations.
• Economical factors: India has been experiencing rapid economic growth in recent years, but it has not been able to generate enough jobs to keep pace with its growing population. As a result, many Indians have been forced to look for job opportunities abroad.
• Social factors: Indians are known for their strong family ties and support networks. This has enabled many Indians to establish themselves in different parts of the world and create successful businesses and careers.
• Other factors such as culture: India has a rich cultural heritage and traditions that have been exported to different parts of the world through the Diaspora. Indian cuisine, music, dance, and spirituality have all been embraced by people in different parts of the world.

The Indian Diaspora is significant for several reasons:

• Economic contributions: Indian Diaspora members have started businesses, created jobs, and invested in their home countries. They have also contributed to India's economy through remittances. Ex: India being the largest receiver of remittances in the world
• Cultural influence: The Indian Diaspora has had a significant cultural influence on their host countries. Indian food, music, dance, and clothing have all become popular in various parts of the world due to the influence of the Indian Diaspora. Ex: Indian restaurants in America.
• Political impact: Indian Diaspora members have been elected to public office in various countries, and they have used their positions to advocate for issues that are important to the Indian community. Ex: UK Prime Minister
• Diplomatic relations: Indian Diaspora members have served as cultural ambassadors, and they have helped to foster greater understanding and cooperation between India and their host countries. Ex: Role of Indian Diaspora in India-Canada relations.

The Indian government has implemented a number of policies and initiatives to engage with the Indian Diaspora and provide them with opportunities to connect with their roots and contribute to the development of India. Some of these policies include

• Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) Scheme, 2005 : This scheme allows foreign nationals of Indian origin to apply for a lifelong visa to visit India without any restrictions on the duration of stay, and also provides them with some other benefits, such as the ability to open bank accounts, buy property, and invest in India.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) : This is an annual event organized by the Indian government since 2003 to celebrate the contributions of the Indian Diaspora and provide a platform for them to connect with each other and with India.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award: It is the highest honour started in 2003, which is conferred on NRIs, a PIO, or an organization or institution established and run by them.
• Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojana 2006: It is a mandatory insurance scheme aimed at safeguarding the interests of Indian emigrant workers falling under the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category going for overseas employment to ECR countries.
• Swarna Pravas Yojana- New Plan Scheme: to increase Indian workers’ employability abroad by giving them the necessary training.
• Tracing the Roots : to facilitate PIOs in tracing their roots in India.
• In addition to all of these, the government has made social security agreements with numerous foreign nations to safeguard the Indian community in those nations.
• Voting rights for citizens abroad: It was through the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, that eligible NRIs were allowed to vote.
• Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) : The Indian government has established this fund to provide financial assistance to Indian nationals in distress overseas.
• Know India Program: It is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, that aims to familiarize young Indian Diaspora (aged between 18-30 years) with their Indian roots and contemporary India.

Some measures that can be taken for the welfare of the Indian Diaspora are:

• Consular services: The Indian government should ensure that consular services are available to Indian expatriates in all major countries. This includes issuing visas and passports, as well as assisting Indian citizens in distress abroad.
• Employment opportunities: Encourage Indian companies to set up overseas operations and create job opportunities for the Indian Diaspora. This would not only provide employment but also foster a sense of belonging among Indians living abroad.
• Cultural programs: Organize cultural programs and events in foreign countries to promote Indian culture and provide a platform for the Diaspora to connect with their roots.
• Legal assistance: The Indian government should provide legal assistance to the Diaspora in case they face any legal issues in the foreign countries they reside in.
• Education: The Diaspora should have access to quality education, especially for their children. This could include scholarships and subsidies for education, as well as special programs to promote the learning of Indian languages.
• Financial assistance: The government can offer financial assistance to the Indian Diaspora in times of crisis, such as natural disasters or emergencies.
• Health services: Facilitate access to health services for the Indian Diaspora, including telemedicine services, health insurance, and health camps.

Previous Year Questions(PYQs)

Q) ‘Indian Diaspora has a decisive role to play in the politics and economy of America and European Countries’. Comment with examples. ( 2020 )

Q) The Indian Diaspora has an important role to play in South East Asian countries economy and society. Appraise the role of Indian Diaspora in South-East Asia in this context. ( 2017 )

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)  

Q) which country is the largest recipient of remittances in the world.

According to the World Bank, India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world in 2021. India received $87 billion in 2021. 

Q) What is Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana?

Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY) is a skill development initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship(MSDE) and is aimed at training and certification of the Indian workforce keen on overseas employment in select sectors and job roles, in line with international standards, to facilitate overseas employment opportunities.

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Indian Diaspora

• 27 Feb 2019
• 11 min read
• GS Paper - 2

Why in News?

• Recently India celebrated its 15 th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas from 21 st January to 23 rd January.
• India every year celebrates its Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas on 9th January to commemorate return of its most iconic Pravasi M.K. Gandhi from Africa on 9 th Jan 1915.
• India would be celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s 150 th birth anniversary in the year 2019.
• The Diaspora encompasses a group of people who can either trace their origins to India or who are Indian citizens living abroad, either temporarily or permanently.
• It includes Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI).
• PIO and OCI card holders were merged under OCI category in 2015.

Overseas Citizen of India

• A person with OCI status is not an Indian citizen. The person does not have voting rights in India, nor can contest elections or hold any constitutional office.
• An Overseas Citizen of India is however entitled to some benefits such as a multiple-entry, multi-purpose life-long visa to visit India.
• They are exempted from police reporting for any length of stay in the country.
• They are also granted all rights in parity with NRIs except, the right to acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.

Non-Resident Indian

• An Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India and holds an Indian Passport.
• A person is considered NRI if She is not in India for 182 days or more during the financial year Or;
• If he/she is in India for less than 365 days during the 4 years preceding that year and less than 60 days in that year.
• Indian example of large scale migration began during the British rule as indentured labourers to former colonies like Fiji, Kenya and Malaysia (also known as Girmitiya people ).
• Today the Indian diaspora numbers over 20 million, reflecting the full multiplicity, variety of the rich social, ethnic and cultural tapestry of the land of its origin.

Importance of Overseas Indian

• One of the greatest benefits of engaging with the 30-million-strong Indian diaspora has been in terms of remittances.
• Remittances close to 69 billion dollar make an invaluable contribution by aiding in socio-economic development, poverty reduction and changes in consumption behaviour in rural areas.
• NRIs are more prone to donating to domestic charities because of the strong cultural and emotional feelings that they nurse.
• Diaspora acts as 'agents of change' facilitating and enhancing investment, accelerating industrial development, and boosting international trade and tourism.
• Another tangible long-term advantage in nurturing ties with an active Diaspora is an accelerated technological sector.
• A less tangible but important advantage in having a large emigrant group is “diaspora diplomacy” and they act as “bridge-builders” between their home and adopted countries.
• Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal is a case in point, as ethnic Indians in United States successfully lobbied for clinching of the N-deal.
• The migration of less-skilled labour (especially to West Asia) has also helped in bringing down disguised unemployment in India.
• Migration of skilled labours to foreign countries and their eventual success bolstered the nation’s image.
• Diaspora’s motives to invest in India are in contrast to non-diaspora FDI. Their investments are long lasting as many of them wish to establish a long-term base in India.

Government Initiative

• Government’s initiatives towards the diaspora are two-pronged. Firstly non-residents are provided with consular services, protection and outreach activities.
• At the same time, policies are created to encourage the diaspora to contribute in India’s growth through philanthropy, knowledge transfers, and investments in development projects.
• There is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) for implementation of the Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY) .

Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana

• The objective of the Scheme is to institutionalize the process of skill development of emigrant Indian workers.
• Provide them basic knowledge about laws, language and culture of the destination countries for the purpose of overseas employment.
• The Scheme also aims at capacity building in the country in the area of development of standards, learning material, assessment standards, testing and certification on par with global standards.
• Indian Government has also launched Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children (SPDC) under which 100 scholarships per annum are granted to Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Non Resident Indians (NRI) students for undergraduate courses.
• Know India Program’ (KIP) is a flagship initiative for Diaspora engagement which familiarizes Indian-origin youth (18-30 years) with their Indian roots and contemporary India.
• Under Minimum Referral Wages (MRW), applicable to Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries, India has increased the minimum wages of Indian workers employed as industrial workers, domestic servants, cleaners and labourers.
• E-migrate system requires all foreign employers to register in the database. It ensures the welfare and check on exploitation met to emigrants.
• Indian government has also started Madad Portal to take timely and speedy action on grievances addressed by people living abroad.
• In words of our prime minister, Indian diaspora are our 'Rashtradoots'. He addressed Indian diaspora in different parts of the world from Madison Square, New York to Kigali, Rawanda.
• The Government of India has given several incentives to NRIs for investing their funds in India. They are exempt from several taxes and other charges. NRI seats are reserved in all the medical, engineering and other professional colleges.
• The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2017 the provision would help non-resident Indians (NRIs) to participate in the electoral process. It extends the facility of 'proxy voting' to overseas Indians, on the lines of service voters.
• Rising incidence of hate speech and crimes against Indian Diaspora by the locals due to racism, communalism emboldened by coming of nationalist and ultra nationalist governments to power in many countries.
• Increasing anti globalization: Fear of losing jobs and educational opportunities to outsiders has resulted in stricter visa rules in many countries including USA, Australia etc.
• Sectarian crisis, increasing terrorist activities and war in the Middle East countries (Yemen, Oman, Libya, Syria etc) leave our diaspora vulnerable to attacks.
• Adverse local laws to encourage more employment from locals such as Nitaqat Law of Saudi Arabia (mandates one local to be hired in place of 10 migrants) has adversely affected prospects of the Indian working class in Saudi Arabia.
• Out Migration results in substantial drop in the supply of professionals for running institutions and organisations in India.
• Remittances are not always used for beneficial purposes. For instance, India faced problems due to foreign funding for extremist movements like the Khalistan movement.
• The NRIs are not allowed to set up their firms directly in India due to which India is not able to take the advantage of their entrepreneurial skills.
• E-Migrate system and the Minimum Referral Wages policy have been detrimental to India as companies now find it easier to hire labour from countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• Poor schemes coupled with ineffectual implementation hinder the Diasporas’ contribution towards the growth of India.

Way Forward

• India should formalise a rotation program wherein top NRI scientists, engineers, doctors, managers and professionals serve Indian public sector organizations for a brief period, lending their expertise, similar to VAJRA Scheme.
• India should aggressively court NRIs to invest in India — especially for projects which focus on rural development — by offering attractive interest rates on deposits.
• India can open a separate Minister-of-State level department for NRI administration - similar to the Veterans’ Administration in the US.
• Social media tools have made it easy and inexpensive for Indian Diaspora to stay in touch with family and friends back home, and their link to India has never been stronger. It is time that the Indian government leveraged this strong bond for the greater good of the nation.

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Cambodia’s Transnational Repression Will Continue Until the World Takes Action

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The government insists that Western countries keep out of its affairs. At the same time, it freely breaches their sovereignty in pursuit of outspoken critics.

An aerial view of the downtown district of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Proposed legislation in the U.S. seeking to combat transnational repression is a step forward in combatting the activities of regimes such as Cambodia’s, which routinely try to intimidate members of their diasporas.

The Transnational Repression Policy Act, introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley, would establish a transnational repression task force in the Department of Homeland Security to monitor intimidation by foreign governments of people in the U.S. and report annually to Congress. The bill needs to be combined with a comprehensive program of personal sanctions on those responsible for transnational repression, including asset freezes, to have the maximum effect.

Cambodia has a long and well-documented record of transnational repression. Critics of the Hun family regime who have escaped to Thailand have been tracked down and beaten . As prime minister in 2018, Hun Sen made open threats of violence against Cambodians living in Australia. The widow of government critic Kem Ley, who was assassinated in broad daylight in Phnom Penh in July 2016, fled to Australia with their five children, and is among the Cambodians to have received death threats there.

When he visited Brussels in 2022, Hun Sen ordered his henchmen to take photos of protestors and put them on display at Phnom Penh International Airport. The families of the protestors could expect visits from the authorities, Hun Sen said. In the U.S., Cambodian journalist Taing Sarada is among those who have regularly received death threats .

Hun Sen stood down as prime minister in August 2023 and was replaced by his son Hun Manet. The change is purely cosmetic. Hun Sen still holds effective power as leader of the Senate and head of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). The pattern of intimidation inside and outside Cambodia has continued relentlessly under Hun Manet.

My own case highlights the way in which transnational repression is used by the regime. I was a supporter of the Sam Rainsy Party in Cambodia since 2002. The party merged with the Human Rights Party, led by Kem Sokha, in 2012 to establish Cambodia’s first united democratic opposition, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

The CNRP won around 45 percent of the vote in both the national election of 2013 and the local election of 2017. The result in 2017 was in fact an improvement as the opposition had usually performed better in national than in local elections. The threat to the government that it would be defeated in the 2018 national election was clear. That led to the dissolution of the CNRP by the country’s politically controlled Supreme Court in November 2017.

By then, Kem Sokha had become leader of the CNRP and had been arrested two months prior. He is now serving a 27-year sentence having been convicted on a trumped-up charge of treason. Kem Sokha is detained at his home, unable to meet with even his medical doctors or lawyers without official approval.

I fled Cambodia in the wake of Kem Sokha’s arrest in 2017. I have no doubt that had I remained in Cambodia, I would have been either jailed or killed. Today, I live in Lyon, France, where I have been granted political asylum. I continue to criticize the regime through videos on my Facebook page, one of the few ways for Cambodians to openly discuss politics. My page has over 200,000 followers. The Khmer language media in Cambodia is overwhelmingly controlled by the government.

Even this kind of dissent in a far-off foreign country is possible only at a high price. My father is a military general, and supports the CPP. I have been disowned by my family. Hun Sen has publicly said that my family members may lose their jobs if I don’t keep quiet.

Such tactics show the basic cowardice of the regime, its refusal to engage in open, frank debate or even to allow dissenting voices to exist. Yet, due to the existence of the global Cambodian diaspora which in large part resulted from the horror of the Khmer Rouge years in the 1970s, those voices will always exist. The regime’s aim of zero dissent is strictly impossible to achieve. The Cambodian diaspora will always be grateful to countries worldwide that have hosted our nationals.

Yet those countries must not lose sight of the reality of the regime they are dealing with. The Cambodian government puts great emphasis on its national sovereignty and stresses that there should be no foreign political interference. Yet its transnational repression, which mimics the tactics of other repressive regimes such as China and Iran, undermines democratic sovereignty in free countries.

It’s urgent to do more to protect the freedoms of diasporas from authoritarian regimes that other citizens take for granted. A regime such as that in Cambodia which routinely seeks to intimidate members of its diaspora should be denied international legitimacy. Respect for dissenting voices outside and inside the country should be the minimum ticket for admission to the international fold.

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IMMIGRATION AND ESTRANGEMENT IN INDIAN DIASPORA LITERATURE A CRITICAL STUDY

2019, AABS Publishing House, Kolkata

The anthology Immigration and Estrangement in Indian Diaspora Literature: A Critical Study attempts to study diasporic sensibilities in writings of Indian Diaspora writers. The book mainly focuses its study on the sense of displacement and dislocation rising due to immigration from homeland to hostland as found in writings of Indian Diaspora writers. Authors have tried to give their best outputs to reach this anthology to its intended goal. Hopefully this book will be helpful to both students and scholars alike.

Related Papers

Research Guru: Online Journal of Multidisciplinary Subjects (Peer Reviewed)

Dr. Jaydeepsingh G Rao

Displacement from the motherland, nostalgia, craving for acceptance, and establishment in foreign land are characteristics of a diasporic dilemma. Migration from one place to another, from one land to another is always unpleasant situation and nostalgic. If harassment persists there on the new soil, the immigrant becomes nostalgic and craves for the homeland. Migration may be due to economic necessities, geographical hardships, and socio-political reasons. In the present context, it has become very common for people to settle on the new soil. On account of the issues like homeland, identity and race have become topic for discussion. Literature truly mirrors the change in the society because of immigrant and identity crisis. The Indian women novelists of nineties have depicted the change in migration and mobility. Women writers like Shobha De, Githa Hariharan, Manju Kapur and others have delineated the theme of immigration and identity crises in their novels. Shahi Despandey primarily focuses on the struggle of women to search their identity in the context of Indian Society. Manju Kapur`s „The Immigrant‟ about migration the complications arise in setting on the new soil. The novelist depicts the sense of drift and identity crisis during her stay in Canada.

Surinder Kaur

Indian diaspora pertains to Indian migration, their socioeconomic and cultural experiences, experiences of adaptation and assimilation in the host societies. Literature written by these diasporic writers is clearly inspired by their personal experiences. The pain of migration and displacement felt by these writers flows in their narratives too. Novels and stories are the tales of deep anguish, nostalgia and of rootlessness where characters feel more emotionally and mentally tortured than physical fatigue. Predicament of dual identities i.e of their homelands and of nations they migrated to, corrodes their psyche. In a cosmopolitan world one cannot be a cultural and social outsider in a foreign land for long. Sunetra Gupta in her novels like Memories of Rain and A Sin of Colour presents the intercultural relationships. Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies too pins the Indian migration to US.

Anjana Warren

Immigrants undergo displacement in their lives geographically as well as culturally. Diaspora literature talks about the stories of these individuals who are victims of multiple dislocations. It also throws light on the complexity of identity, the hybrid and hyphenated identities as well asthe difficulty in finding a sense of belonging. This paper gives an overview of Diaspora literature and the theme of Multiple Dislocation as seen in the lives of immigrants. The immigrant experiences portrayed by the first generation South Asian-American Diaspora writers Bharati Mukherjee and Meena Alexander are analyzed. It becomes evident that the experiences of the writers influenced their writings about diaspora experiences; the fissures and displacements further accentuated by their poignant styles of writing.The literature of diaspora becomes the collective expression of the nuances of the immigrant psyche.

SMART M O V E S J O U R N A L IJELLH

Indian writers have been making a significant contribution to world literature since independence. The past few years have seen a massive flourishing of Indian fiction in the global market. However, there is a great deal of Indian writers with few themes that usually link them together. The issues of identity and language, the themes of exile and diaspora have become the themes of prime concern of the Indian fiction. The Immigrants’ experience, the question of identity and the expatriate experience continue to furnish remarkable material for fiction. Keywords: Indo-anglian, diaspora, identity crisis, alieanation, immigration, nostalgia for

Amit Shankar Saha

The essay takes a holistic view of the word “exile ” to encompass a range of displaced existence. It illustrates through John Simpson’s The Oxford Book of Exile the various forms of exiles. The essay then goes on to show that diasporic Indian writing is in some sense also a part of exile literature. By exemplifying writers both from the old Indian diaspora of indentured labourers and the modern Indian diaspora of IT technocrats, it shows that despite peculiarities there is an inherent exilic state in all dislocated lives whether it be voluntary or involuntary migration. More importantly, a broad survey of the contributions of the second generation of the modern Indian diaspora in the field of Indian writing in English depict certain shift in concerns in comparison to the previous generation and thereby it widens the field of exile literature. Displacement, whether forced or self-imposed, is in many ways a calamity. Yet, a peculiar but a potent point to note is that writers in their ...

Edited Book published from Vernon Press

Joydev Maity

This edited volume is a detailed and critical study of Indian diaspora writings and its diverse themes. It focuses on dynamics and contemporary perspectives of Indian diaspora writings and analyzes emerging themes of this field like the experience of the Bihari diaspora, migration to Gulf countries, the relation between diasporic experience and self-translation, uprootedness and resistance discourse through ecocritical praxis and many more. With the aid of a subtle theoretical framework, the volume closely examines some of the key texts such as 'Goat Days, Baumgartner's Bombay, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, The Circle of Reason', and authors including Shauna Singh Baldwin, M.G. Vassanji, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, V.S. Naipaul and others. The book also explores diaspora literature written in regional language and later translated into English and how they align with the fundamental Indian diaspora writings. A significant contribution to Indian diaspora writings; this volume will be of great importance to scholars and researchers of diaspora literature, migration and border studies, cultural, memory, and translation studies.

Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in …

Vernon Press, US and Spain

Dr. Sayan Dey

This volume, edited by Joydev Maity and a 'Foreword' written by Dr. Sayan Dey is a detailed and critical study of Indian diaspora writings and their diverse themes. It focuses on dynamics and contemporary perspectives of Indian diaspora writings and analyzes emerging themes of this field like the experience of the Bihari diaspora, migration to Gulf countries, the relation between diasporic experience and self-translation, uprootedness and resistance discourse through ecocritical praxis and many more. With the aid of a subtle theoretical framework, the volume closely examines some of the key texts such as 'Goat Days, Baumgartner's Bombay, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, The Circle of Reason', and authors including Shauna Singh Baldwin, M.G. Vassanji, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, V.S. Naipaul, and others. The book also explores diaspora literature written in regional language and later translated into English and how they align with the fundamental Indian diaspora writings. A significant contribution to Indian diaspora writings; this volume will be of great importance to scholars and researchers of diaspora literature, migration and border studies, cultural, memory, and translation studies.

Javeed Ahmad Raina

The word, ‘diaspora’ means ‘to disperse’ in its original Greek context. Ashcroft, Griffith’s and Tiffin define it as the voluntary or forcible movement of peoples from their homelands into new regions... Cohen describes diaspora as the communities of peoples living together in one country who acknowledge that the old country – a nation often buried deep in language, religion, custom or folklorealways has some claim on their loyalty and emotions. (K. Rupinder qtd. in CDL).The literature of diaspora refers to the works written by those who live outside their native land. There are various types and kinds of diaspora literatures-African, Australian, Arab diaspora, and so on. Among these, Indian diasporic literature has caught ‘fancy of writers, literati, historians and sociologists. Since, foreign land offers many fold challenges in terms of adaptation and assimilation of various socio-cultural values, this paper, as such is an attempt to theorize some of the common issues reflected in...

RADHIKA S . MUKHERJEE

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GATE 2025 exam date to be out soon. Details here

Iit roorkee will announce the gate 2025 date anytime soon on the official website. check the eligibility criteria, paper pattern, and other important details..

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The much-awaited Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE 2025) examination date will be announced soon by IIT Roorkee. All the candidates are advised to keep a close check on the official website of GATE 2025, the link for which is gate2025.iitr.ac.in for all the latest updates.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

How to apply for gate 2025: a step-by-step guide.

1. Visit the official website: Go to the official GATE 2025 website.

• Click on the "Register" button
• Enter your name, email address, and mobile number
• Create a password and complete the registration process
• You will receive an email with your enrollment ID.
• Use your enrollment ID and password to log in to the application portal
• Provide your details, such as name, date of birth, nationality, and category
• Enter your academic qualifications and degree details
• Select the GATE papers you wish to appear for and choose the exam centres.
• Upload a recent passport-sized photograph and signature as per the specified format
• Upload scanned copies of your valid photo ID, degree certificate/marksheets, and category certificate (if applicable).
• Review the application form carefully to ensure all the details are correct
• Make any necessary corrections before the final submission.
• Pay the application fee online through net banking, credit card, or debit card
• Keep a copy of the payment receipt for future reference.
• After successful payment, submit the application form
• You will receive a confirmation message on the screen and an email.
• Download and print a copy of the submitted application form for your records.

QUESTION PAPER PATTERN

• Mode of Examination: The test papers will be in English. Computer Based Test (CBT) -- will be conducted at select centers in select cities.
• Duration: 3 hours
• Number of Subjects (Papers): 30
• Sections: General Aptitude (GA) + Candidate's Selected Subjects
• Marking Scheme: Questions carry 1 mark or 2 marks