Non-resident Indian Moving On Out PIOs Today Indian Americans

A non-resident Indian (NRI) is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian. Person of Indian Origin (PIO) has also gained usage. The chief difference between NRIs and a PIOs is that NRIs are citizens of India whereas PIOs are literally simply of Indian origin but are not citizens of India.

There is a huge NRI and PIO population across the world, estimated at around 25 million.

1 Moving On Out

The most significant historical emigration from India was to South East Asia. It started as a military expedition by Hindu, and later Buddhist, kings of South India and resulted in the settlers' merging with the local society. The influence of Indian culture is still strongly felt in South East Asia, especially in places like Bali (in Indonesia). However, in such cases, it is not reasonable to apply the label 'PIO' to the descendents of emigrants from several centuries back, especially since intermixture is so great as to negate the value of such nomenclature in this context.

During the nineteenth century and until the end of the Raj, much of the migration that happened was of a forced nature - export of (thinly disguised) slave labor to other colonies under the indenture system. The major destinations, in chronological order, were Mauritius, British Guyana, the West Indies ( Trinidad and Jamaica), Fiji and East AfricaEast Africa is a region generally considered to include the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Madagascar, is also included. Some parts of East Africa have been renowned for their concentrations of wild animals. There was also a small amount of free emigration of skilled laborers and professionals to some of these countries in the twentieth century.

An unrelated system involved recruitment of workers for the tea plantations of the neighboring British colonies of Sri LankaThe Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon before 1972) is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known in ancient times as Lanka Lankadweepa (meaning "Resplendent Land" in Sanskrit), Taprobane an and Burma and the rubber plantations of British Malaya (now MalaysiaThe Federation of Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. It consists of two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea: Peninsular Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula is bordered to the north by Thailand and to the south by Singapore; East Malaysia and SingaporeThe Republic of Singapore ( Chinese , pinyin: Xinjiapo Gonghegu Malay Republik Singapura Tamil , Cingkappur Kudiyarasu , is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, at latitude 1°17'35"N longitude 103°51'20"E, situated on the southern tip of Malay Peninsul).

During the Partition of IndiaThe Partition of India was the division of the Indian subcontinent that occurred following World War II. Very shortly after being awarded of dominion status by the British Empire (independence), on August 15, 1947, the colony of British India was divided, there was a lot of migration between India and PakistanIslami Jamhuria Pakistan ( In Detail) ( In Detail) National motto: Iman, Ittehad, Nazm( Urdu: "Faith, Unity, Discipline" Official Language(s) Urdu, English Capital Islamabad Largest City Karachi President General Pervez Musharraf Prime Minister Shaukat Az, primarily of Muslims relocating to West Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs relocating to India. A similar migration took place on the East side of India in the Bengal region between East Pakistan (since 1971 the nation of Bangladesh) and the Indian state of West Bengal. In total, about 7 million Muslims shifted to Pakistan, 10 million Hindus and Sikhs went to India, and anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million people died in riots and religious strife. Government policy, especially in lieu of India's reaching out to expatriates for investment (and extending, in some cases, offers of dual-citizenship), has refused to recognize Pakistanis and Bangladeshis as, officially, Persons of Indian Origin. This interesting situation is not, of course, a denial of recent history, but a result of the divisive nationalism that exists between India and Pakistan and, to a lesser extent, Bangladesh.

After independence in 1947, the pattern of emigration naturally changed. At first Indians sought better fortune mainly in the United Kingdom, but later North America, especially the USA (with 1.7 million Indians in total), became the favored destination after change in Indian emigration law that made this possible. Some displaced PIOs in Africa (especially under Idi Amin in Uganda) and the Caribbean also reached the UK. Smaller numbers of Indians have also emigrated to the English-speaking countries like Australia.

After the 1970s oil boom in the Middle East, a large number of Indians emigrated to the Gulf countries. However, this was on a contractual basis rather than permanent as in the other cases.

2 PIOs today

2.1 Indian Americans

Indians in the USA are one of the largest among the groups of Indian diaspora, numbering about 1.7 million, and probably the most well off - their median income is 1.5 times that of the host country. They are well represented in all walks of life, but particularly so in academia, information technology and medicine. There were over 4000 PIO professors and 33,000 Indian-born students in American universities in 1997-98. The American Association of the Physicians of Indian Origin boasts a membership of 35,000. In 2000, Fortune magazine estimated the wealth generated by Indian Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at around $250 billion.

There appear to be class differences within the Indian American community, with earlier professional immigrants looking down upon working-class communities who are later first generation immigrants. Gujarati shopkeepers and Punjabi cab drivers are common stereotypes of the latter community.

Indian Americans are targets of considerable racism, though it is slowly dissipating. Much of it is invisible, such as the near zero representation on television. Some of it is overt, perhaps the worst example being the New Jersey dot busters - groups of thugs who sought ethnic Indians and mugged them or attacked their property in the late 80s and early 90s, the "dot" referring to the bindi worn traditionally by Hindu women on their forehead. Perhaps the tendency of some Indian Americans to retain a strong cultural identity and socialize within their own community and reluctance to integrate into mainstream society contributed to the problem.

Stereotyping and the lack of awareness of other cultures in America doesn't help. For instance, many Hindus are offended by the negative stereotypes portrayed by the Simpsons character Apu. Calling oneself Indian might easily get one mistaken for native American. The word Hindu was, for a long time, a pejorative for any South Asian in general, regardless of religion. The backlash against Arab Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 has included ethnic Indians, especially Sikhs, in its broad sweep. As Indians are racially distinct from mongoloids, they do not identify as Asian Americans, since that term is usually applied to people of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other Asian, yet non-Southeast Asian origins. Many Indians, in preference to South Asian, refer to themselves as Indian subcontinentals, or simply as "subcontinentals." Because of this, Indian Americans form too small a minority group to effectively influence policy making, and find themselves lacking a platform on which to campaign for their rights.

2.2 Indians in the UK

The Indian emigrant community in the United Kingdom is now in its third generation. As an immigrant group, people of Indian origin have been remarkably successful.

A remarkable collection of the oral history of the British NRIs is available on Britain's leading NRI website [History Talking.com] [1]. It's a web radio where you can listen to some of the leading NRIs living in the UK.

Stereotypes about Indians have now moved from their being bus-conductors, waiters, and small shopkeepers to their being doctors, lawyers, accountants and successful businesspeople. Increasingly, the second and third generation of Indians has started inter-marrying with the rest of the population, to the point where this has in itself become a stereotype.

In a few local areas, ethnic tension has resulted in ill-feeling and racist violence against immigrants, and groups such as the British National Party have exploited this. However, in general, racism towards people of Indian origin has greatly reduced from the early days of mass immigration after Partition and the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians.

Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the UK, to a large extent because of immigrants from the subcontinent. Indian culture has been constantly referenced within wider British culture, at first as an "exotic" influence in films like My Beautiful Laundrette , but now increasingly as a familiar feature in films like Bend It Like Beckham. Indian food is now regarded as part of the British cuisine.

According to the April 2001 UK National Census [2], 4.37% of the population of England and Wales identified themselves as "Asian" or "Asian British", and 0.36% as "Mixed: White and Asian", making a total of 4.73% of the population, or 2.46 million people, identifying themselves as of "Asian" descent. (Note: in the UK context, "Asian" means Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi).

2.3 Indians in Malaysia

Indians migrated to Malaysia as plantation laborers under British rule. They are a significant minority ethnic group, making up 10% of the Malaysian population. Most of these are Tamil but some Malayalam and Telugu speaking people are also present. They have retained their languages and religion -- 80% of ethnic Indians in Malaysia identify as Hindus. Hinduism in Malaysia diverges from mainstream (post- Vedantic) Hinduism: its main feature is Mother-goddess ( Amman) worship; caste deities, tantric rituals, folk beliefs, non- Agamic temples, and animal sacrifice are its other characteristics. Deepavali and Thaipusam are the main festivals.

2.4 Indians in the Middle East

There is a huge population of Indians in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf. Most moved to the Gulf after the oil boom to work as labourers and for clerical jobs. However, a significant minority are either employed in the highest echelons of major banks and corporations or have prospered greatly through conducting business in the region. Indians in the Gulf do not become citizens however. They retain their Indian passports since the countries in the Gulf do not provide citizenship or permanent residency. One of the major reasons Indians still like to work in the Gulf is because of the tax-free income it provides and its proximity to India.

3 Issues

"Brain drain" (The exodus of educated workers and academics).
Foreign exchange inflow (Though the government gets inflow of money, it is not liable)
Cultural exchange (Indian culture is under threat, when NRIs return home they bring other culture)
Identity crisis (Identity is lost--Indians fails to recognize when they return; in foreign they are still considered as Indians)
"X = X + 1 Syndrome" (Syndrome of postponing returning to India every year)
"NRI Syndrome" (Talking ill of India and Indians, once having exposure to other countries)

4 Indian emigration law

Indian emigration law provides easy mechanism for emigrants.

5 Reference

Tai Pucam in Malaysia

6 See also

7 External link

Indian Diaspora: A Brief Overview

*Non-resident Indian

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