In the last 9 years, whenever I wrote or talked anything appreciative or critical of India or the system in India, there were some lunatics who never missed a chance to label me a greedy traitor who fled India and have no moral stance to comment, patronize or sermonize India. My accepting Canadian citizenship a couple of years back only aggravated the narrative.
While I don't intend to generalize the entire nation of people, this article is intended to those resident Indians who conferred upon themselves the moral policing prerogative to decide who is a patriot and who is not. For others, these are just thoughts of a random Non Resident INDIAN.
While I don't intend to generalize the entire nation of people, this article is intended to those resident Indians who conferred upon themselves the moral policing prerogative to decide who is a patriot and who is not. For others, these are just thoughts of a random Non Resident INDIAN.
- Anybody who googles will know that the percentage of Indian population which pay taxes is around 1%. Yes, you read it right. Only one percent of Indian residents pay their income taxes thanks to government exemptions, tax evasion and defaulters. That means 99% of those who live in India are utilizing, exploiting resources, infrastructure, public machinery without contributing anything.
- Most of the income tax amount comes from the workforce in IT, ITES and related services. But the services they provide would invariably benefit United States and other G8 countries but NOT India. That's an 'under-the-carpet' brain-drain many seldom have problem with. So dear software folks, you don't contribute to India as much as you do to other countries.
- With changing times and aspirations, people in remote villages started moving to towns for livelihood; those in towns to cities and those in cities to sprawling metropolitan agglomerations. This migration is natural, inevitable for those who want to provide their children a superior quality of life, education, healthcare and other amenities. But the debate around these migrants being traitors to their hometowns and occupations didn't bother as much as those who left the country for greener pastures.
- It will be an interesting observation to analyze how many of those who decry NRIs are those who themselves never got an opportunity or those who would jump at the first chance to migrate
As mentioned earlier, this article is not aimed to denounce anybody but to throw some light on the fact that very person who lives in India is not an assets to the country but can be more of a liability, with some exceptions. In the same breath, I also admit that not every NRI is patriotic or more valuable. Not at all, but again there are some exceptions here too.
Regardless of how patriotic NRIs are, their contribution to Indian economy and society is irreplaceable.
- India happens to one of the biggest beneficiaries of remittances and FDI by its diaspora. NRIs bring in almost $70 billion every year which is roughly 75% of Indian government's planned yearly expenditure. This is Indian government's biggest ace to neutralize black money stashed in Swiss and other tax havens. Banks where NRIs deposit their money, invest in Government and other major infrastructure projects which NRIs don't regularly utilize.
- Numerous NGOs and private welfare organizations which seemingly work towards the benefit of society get large chunks of its donations, operational expenses and assets mostly from unsuspecting NRIs. Yearly foreign funds to Indian NGOs crossed Rs 10,000 crore last year which speaks volumes.
- Another major contribution is steady influx of USD which is a lifeline for RBI to control inflation, price-rise etc. This is a huge topic which deserves another blog post sometime later
- In addition, NRIs influence in foreign relations, cultural exchange is often under-estimated.
These were some generic NRI contributions but I don't claim to have any stake personally.
For me, being Indian is more of an emotional connect than just a name on passport, skin tone, ethnicity or a few dollar bills I could remit. Like many other members of Indian diaspora, I take pride in being Indian as my identity. The first thing my eyes would glance in a world map would always be India. Current affairs for me are always Indian news; festivals, cuisines, celebrations would subconsciously refer to Indian. India is embedded, ingrained and injected into the psyche and persona regardless of where I live and I'm too proud of my Indian-ness to let anybody jeer or question my patriotism or identity.
I may not follow all religious rituals, but that doesn't take a Hindu out of me. I may not hold an Indian passport, but that doesn't take an Indian out of me. Happy Independence Day. Jai Hind
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