This is a welcome development of ‘India’ spreading out of territorial bounds. The growth of the diaspora provides an opportunity for a more accurate representation of the India Story abroad and, by extension, of the India Story as a whole.
Sure, the 2021 numbers of new citizens from India don’t match the 2019 figure. There has been a drop of 15% since 2019. Whether this is a post-Covid-19 response or a change in perception of opportunities in India is unclear. But India radiating across the globe remains a welcome momentum.
The US, Australia and Canada continue to be the primary destinations, a move away from Britain even a generation ago. However, Indians are also opting for non-English-speaking countries, and that number remained stable between 2019 and 2021 at around 30,000. The India Report Card 2022 of Duolingo reported Korean, Spanish and French as being among the most popular languages among Indians. That’s the next frontier.
OECD’s report throws up interesting questions: what is the gender composition of new immigrants from India, their educational attainments and professions, economic status and the states they are moving out of? These can provide reasons behind the outflow and develop ways to continue India’s engagement with future NRIs and PIOs as the ‘mothership’ charts its journey as an emerging global power. Interestingly, Indians are finding new homes in an age where immigration is a hot-button political issue. While there are many who see the outflow of precious human resource as a negative development for India, the truth is, this movement is taking a bit of India across the world, adding to a growing Maha Akhand Bharat.
