In a surprising disclosure, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar , India’s External Affairs Minister revealed that about 87,000 Indians relinquished their citizenship in the first half of 2024. This stimulated several analysts to understand the underlying reasons for this upsurge in renouncement of citizenship.
Dr. Jaishankar in a statement to media revealed that the government is keeping an eye on the growing trend of Indians to leave for abroad in an attempt to understand the fundamental cause of this driving force. Though the government is still working on finding the reasons behind such an upsurge, no firm set of reasons have been disclosed so far. He also emphasized that the government is fully committed to understand the pattern behind such a phenomenon and has come to a conclusion that such a trend is not limited to any particular set of population rather it varies across age, cultures, financial background and gender.
Reasons Cited By People Who Left For Abroad
The External Affairs Minister also expressed his views on the accommodating nature of the global workspace for Indians for the past 2 decades and this is being a considerable reason for for an increasing Indian diaspora. Indians living abroad have also cited other reasons for moving overseas, some expressing their growing concerns for political and social issues in the country, while others choosing abroad for better living standards. Since dual citizenship is not offered by India, Indians planning to settle abroad often have to give up on their Indian citizenship in order to obtain a foreign PR.
Potential Brain Drain
With a startling number of Indian citizens renouncing their citizenship, concerns have also grown over potential brain drain. While India always took pride in its influential diaspora, it is equally important for the government to tap the advantage attached to this upsurge in increasing diaspora. A successful diaspora is advantageous in gaining national reputation and increased remittances with the government increasing its engagement with the Indian emigrants abroad. Some analysts have also concluded that India’s reduced spending on R&D could also be a primary reason for brain drain from India. As per the Economic Survey of 2020-21, the country needs to increase its Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D from 0.7% to over 2% of the GDP. Alienation of Indians to the concept of experimentation could possibly be forcing Indians to move abroad for bigger and better opportunities. The rate at which Indians are leaving for abroad could potentially be a threat to our goal of reaching a $5 trillion economy
Pursuing Studies Abroad: First Essential Step To Give Up Citizenship
Increased globalization has encouraged students to move abroad in search of better work opportunities and global skills. According to the Education ministry, more than 7,70,000 students went abroad for studies in 2022, a figure higher than the previous 6 years. While increased competition among Indian universities and a poor global ranking has prompted Indians to prioritize studies from abroad, on the contrary International education exposes Indians to a multi faceted world open to diverse cultures and opportunities which the Indian universities still struggle to top up.
