With my informal discussion and interactions with Indians living overseas, it is clear to me that they want a genuine dual citizenship. Anything less is not going to satisfy their demands.

I know Indian Govt is working on a Bill, which will be introduced in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) soon, after having already been passed by Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian Parliament), to replace PIO and OCI cards with a single card, named “Overseas Indian Card”.https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinions/30048500.cms

My suggestion is that they should stop this process, and let the new Govt, after soon to be held Lok Sabha election, have a fresh look at this matter.

Just in case you have some confusion as to who is NRI (Non-Resident Indian), PIO (Person of Indian Origin) and OCI Overseas Citizen of Indian) is, please see the link below. https://mha1.nic.in/pdfs/oci-chart.pdf

I can see that replacing PIO and OCI cards with a single “Overseas Indian Card” may be a good idea, provided,

But I do not believe it is enough. It’s no point to make a half-hearted effort!

What Overseas Indians need is a genuine dual citizenship of India, with full political and economic rights. India’s reluctance to offer Overseas Indians a true “Dual Citizenship” is difficult to understand.

India keeps forgetting that overseas Indians are no less patriotic than Indians living in India,

Overseas Indians, whether they hold Indian Passports or have Overseas Passports, love India. They have an emotional bond with India. This is true for a great majority of people with Indian heritage.

If India is really serious in looking after Overseas Indians, and wishes to tap into this network for variety of purposes, it should consider;

In regards to NRIs (Indians living overseas but holding Indian passports), I am aware that Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is in favor of granting convenient voting rights to them via postal, online or voting at the Consulate/Embassies/High Commissions, and has already submitted a memorandum to Election Commission of India in January 2014. https://tinyurl.com/mz7ap46

This is a good beginning, but this too is not sufficient. BJP needs to move towards agreeing to support genuine dual citizenship for overseas Indians. BJP should take this matter with full force and sincerity.

Many countries allow dual-citizenships. India will not be the only one. This link https://www.dlgimmigration.com/united-states-citizenship/list-of-countries-that-allow-or-disallow-dual-citizenship will tell you which country allows dual-citizenship, and which doesn’t. Many of the developed countries like UK, Australia, USA, Switzerland, Finland and France see no issue in dual-citizenship, and these countries are no less security-conscious, if that was the reason why India is reluctant to offer dual-citizenship.

Nobody can argue against India’ right to reject applications for Indian Passports (dual-citizenship) to Overseas citizens of Indian heritage if they have security issues or are associated with terrorist/separatist anti-India groups. Nobody can deny this right to India, but why to deny dual-citizenship to huge majority of patriotic Indians living overseas, just because a small minority of overseas Indians involve themselves in anti-India activities or terrorism.

Making things simpler for Indians living overseas will be a smart move. Currently, NRIs must register their names in the voter lists at their place of residence in India, before they left India, and be physically present there to vote, which is practically very inconvenient, and financially prohibitive.

Indian constitution allows NRIs to vote in theory, but Govt has not done anything to make it convenient for >10 million (>1 crore) NRIs, despite its lofty claims!

I do not know how many PIOs/OCIs are there in the world, but it will be safe to assume there will be at least 10 million PIOs/OCIs.

Looking after 20 million overseas Indians (NRIs, PIOs and OCIs), with decent, practical and helpful policies, will be a smart thing for India!

Dr Yadu Singh/Sydney/4th March, 2014

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