Why is dual citizenship not appreciated in India where a largely migratory global labour market exists?

The above question came to me via an online forum that raises an interesting question: Should India allow Dual Citizenship? My response:

Some of us might think of immigration as a simple, linear movement of people from one country to another. And those of us who muse about ‘dual citizenship’ probably don’t appreciate the complexities of politics and policy issues involved.

Issue 1: Politics and regionalism: Indian subcontinent is highly divided and parochial. Some of the regionalism is a legacy of ‘divide and conquor’ left behind by British rulers, which the country hasn’t been able to move ahead from. Political leaders across states continue to nurture this mindset. Examples - Mumbai for Mumbaikars || 2008 attacks on Uttar Pradeshi and Bihari migrants in Maharashtra|| Andhra passes Bill giving 75% job reservation for locals || Migrant labourers targeted in Kodagu

• The concept of “largely migratory global labour market” exists only in pockets. Many migrants who move overseas often return back ‘home’ during a downturn
• Some states like Kerala are already struggling to accommodate returning NRIs “The Kerala government has sought special grants to the tune of around Rs 50 billion from the 15th Finance Commission. The state government said it has raised claims for grant funds, including Rs 15 billion for rehabilitation of Keralites who are returning from Gulf countries following the crisis there.” (ref: article)

Given this political context, imagine this problem: how and where would a India accommodate a diaspora of 15.6 million IFF they suddenly decide to ‘return home’ en masse? Would an NRI of Bihari origin be easily assimilated in Kashmir or a North Eastern State? Should such folks be allowed to vote? What would happen to the local vote banks? It is probably easier for Indian policy makers to restrict those who acquire foreign citizenship from holding an Indian passport.

One of the keynote speakers at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in 2017 that I attended was the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa who proudly showed his OCI card to the audience

Issue 2: Complexities of Policies - At the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the policy discussions around citizenship were front and center.

• Imagine this scenario: If India offered dual citizenship, folks like António Costa could migrate back to Goa and run for elections there too. What would Goanese feel about this?
• Descendants of Indian colonial slave workers to get OCI cards - As a policy maker, imagine if all such ‘descendants’ of Indian origin living in Fiji, Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, Singapore, and even Sri Lanka begin asking for Indian Citizenship?
• What about 2nd or 3rd generation ‘people of Indian origin’ living in Burma, Bangladesh and Pakistan? Should they also be offered a dual/Indian citizenship, especially if some of their siblings or other relatives migrated over to India generations ago?
• Check out the report “Assessing India's PIO and OCI Schemes - The Ministry of External Affairs” that highlights some of the issues and challenges

As a policy maker, one would aim to be fair and equitable to the entire class of eligible people. But as a class of people, the millions of Indian diaspora doesn’t fall into a neat little pattern. ‘Dual citizenship’ would raise more issues than one can fathom.

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Bottomline: The current OCI policy is more than a simple compromise towards dual-citizenship. It gives a practical option for people like me who want the ability to stay connected with their motherland. Check out my blog post What’s it like to give up your Indian citizenship and accept American citizenship?

Citizenship, Dual Citizenship and Indian-Americans

Foreign Citizenship and Naturalization is a complicated issue, even at best of times and stirs heated debate, especially when there is a crisis. An example is that of Roxana Saberi, a naturalized Iranian American who shot to fame after she was arrested by Iranian government on charges of espionage. (NYT Blog) Roxana’s story has many dimensions, including questions on allegiance of those who hold dual-citizenship. For example, Federale blogs "It is clear from her behavior however, that her loyalties remain with Iran, and her American passport is just for convenience and protection. She, like many other immigrants, use their American citizenship and passport as protection, while their true loyalties lie in their nation of origin and not with the U.S."

Last week I caught up with an old friend and classmate of mine, Ajay, who is now settled in Phoenix, Arizona. The topics wandered to residency and Ajay mentioned that he naturalized as an American citizen last year. By naturalizing, Ajay joined the new wave of Indian Americans: Indian Techies, programmers and hi-tech workers who moved to the US on H1 visas during the late nineties and early part of this century, waited in line to get their Green Card and five years after that were eligible to apply to become US Citizen, moving them the permanent ranks of Indian Americans, at least at a level to the likes of Indra Nooyi, , Vinod Khosla , Noureen Dewulf , Fareed Zakaria , Norah Jones , Kal Penn , Kalpana Chawla , M. Night Shyamalan.

During our conversation, it was evident that my friend found himself becoming an “American” purely for administrative convenience: he still had his strong Indian accent; and though he spoke fluent English, he was more comfortable switching to Tamil or Hindi when convenient. And like many middle-class Indians, he continued to be fiscally prudent. Ajay wasn’t hit hard by the current downturn since he could roll up his sleeves and do what he was skilled at: write software programs. He hadn’t invested a lot on stocks and most interestingly, hadn’t bought a house during the recent boom. He still rented an apartment in a nice neighborhood.

While many of people of Indian origin were earlier hesitant to acquire citizenship of their adopted homelands, Indian government’s move a few years ago introducing the concept of Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards eased that transition.

The vast majority of people who migrate to foreign lands manage to find they around the maze of laws, bylaws and regulations to ensure they have the right paperwork.

Even acquiring a foreign citizenship is not really the end of the road for most newer immigrants. Case in point is the reverse brain drain, or Return to India wave that the media is talking about, a topic that warrants a blog entry in itself. In the meantime, check out Shobha Narayanan’s fascinating essay on the topic.
If this blog entry has a confusing message, it is perhaps intentional: the new generation of dual citizen and immigrants is equally confused about their allegiance shifting loyalties; made more nebulous by the meltdown in the globalized economy.