Who Celebrates the Resident Indian?

Jayp,

I know of NRIs in the west who deal with banks in millions everyday (esp when I was working in Hong Kong). It's not that they dont have money.

All the foreign baks had NRI cells in HK. Citibank with one room NRI branch (!!!!, a foreign bank opening NRI branch in a foreign country????) does more business than any Indian bank there. I am sure these foreign banks had NRi branches in western countries as well.

The so called jamboree is used to praise successful Indians in the west.

If u remember, there's a crude joke on NRIs in movie called Pardes.

One character says:

'Woh bhi NRI hain (with a smirk), woh Sri Lanka se hain' (sic).

Now u know what I mean abt my criticism on this jamboree.

We all celebrate the Resident Indian every day, our friends, our families who have chosen the harder way. I didn't mean that to rhyme.
I think we all agree our country and our people are incredibly resilient. A part of me will always be a resident Indian, even though I am not wading through the flood waters of monsoonal Mumbai or Kolkata, or fuming in the traffic hold up created by a Gandhi passing by in New Delhi. It doesn't matter that I don't have to wait for a phone line or gas. I can still appreciate the REsident Indian. Where is the argument?

VRV 22,

You are wrong again. The middle east remittances and bond subscriptions are high simply because most indians there do not have families with them and they are there to save some money quickly. Further there is no system of permanent residency, most are employment contracts linked to a specific company and job uncertainty.

In the west the situation is different, the NRI there live there and hence there is no surplus to send to create a nest egg in india, the west is the place they live and many probably die.

Your examples shows only a lack of understanding of the relity and motives that drive the indians.

Forther the gulf NRIs are less educated, they are not "sucessful" in the society they work in, the arabs will always be the bosses, if not the whites who hold higher paying jobs.

In teh west NRIs are better than the average, in most of the west, NRIs have the highest per capita income by ethnic groups, definitely not the case in the middle east.

stuka, and can you think of any reason why that is so? :)

Here is an idea. Announce an "Indian Right" party today, dedicated to promoting "individual rights" and "freedoms" in India. Make sure you don't ask for any responsibilities and duties from anyone (but always from others). Within two weaks, you will have behind you the biggest non-Hindu "Indian Right" party imaginable. In addition, you will get Hindu crooks (Congress party might have to shut down shop).

Now, if you ask for individual responsibilities to go with individual rights, your party will begin and end with stuka.

------------
By the way George Fernandes is a perectly good Hindu :)

--------------------------------

VRV, you have a good point there.

Kaala Chakra, Hari and others,

India indeed has been getting good press. Indians too are going places and getting very successful. So were Chinese.

The first phase of investments in China - which gave a necessary impetus for future FD investments - were by non-resident Chinese. Look at our NRIs. They loathed when India was down. They withdrew monies from India during Gulf War, whihc almost made India bankrupt.

Even now, most of the foreign remittances into India were being made by the middle and blue-collar workers. In fact the Rusurgent India Bonds were undersubscribed in the west but oversubscribed in the Gulf, which makes the point that NRIs in the west are less useful/depandable than the NRis of the Gulf. However when according recognition and respect the westen NRIs get good respect but Gulf NRIs get any.

Even the NRI jamborees reflect the same mindset of the GoI baboons. They respect the western NRIs and ill-treat the Gulf NRIs. The same is the case with airlines and airport staff.

This NRI jamboree is nothing but a farce.

"
My question is why is it the Indian left and the Hindu right? As if there are no other Indians who are rightists? George Fernandes kya centrist hai re? "

Ana

Though you say you are not Indian, you have actually hit upon the basic tragedy of the Indian political scene. There is an Indian left, an Indian left of Center and maybe an Indian Center (Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram hardly build up to a political movement) but there is no Indian Right.

There was once an Indian Right - the Swatantrata Party backed by business and erstwhile royals - but it did not last too long.

The only right we have is a Hindu Right, and unfortunately, that too is more Hindu than Right. The RSS is far from being pro- individual liberty and economic and political freedom. There is no Barry Goldwater like Libertarian movement in India. ergo- It is only the Hindu right and not the Indian right.

bulleya, true, in that the most important people to Iraq are the American soldiers occupying it.

there is no one more important to a piece of land, than the person who actually lives on that piece of land......the importance of non-resident anyone will only exist, as long as a piece of land is poor.....the moment poverty is removed, the non-resident will lost its importance.......

1. NRIs are the new backward class, their achievements are celebrated by the state, they have special quotas for stuff an all.

2. Its a typical Hindu mentality to disparage those who go across the kala-pani. 1857 mutiny happened because some of the hindu regiments were being readied for a foreign deployment. Hindu is insular, inwardly looking and if someone in the family had the misforturne of leaving the Bharatvarsh, Jambudweep, he had to be rtually clensed before he could take part in family pooja etc.

There is no dichotomy between RIs and NRIs. We NRIs were not respected in the West until India gained respect. We were generally lumped with the unwashed people of the country from where we came. Our educational qualifications were not well-respected and our degrees were often mocked as "paper degrees". What changed all that was the success of the Indian IT when we started to be looked at as worthy competitors.

Many of us, especially those who left India during the Nehruvian era, did so not because we loved the West but because the land of our birth did not give us enough opportunities to fully use our talents. When we were asked to prepare for some essays for our English courses back in the 50s, even then one of the standard essays used to be "the problem of educated unemployment".

It is wrong to say that the Indian govt. did not respect NRIs before liberalisation. The govt. introduced special NRI bank rules during the 1970s and opened a special NRI branch in the External Affairs. There were special rules for NRIs for the purchase of items of scarcity, such as cars and scooters for their relatives if they paid in foreign currency. As for dual loyalties, Jawahar Lal Nehru, during his visits abroad, always asked people of Indian origin to be loyal to the countries of their residence.

My beef, if any, is not with NRIs or RIs, but with RNIs, i.e., Resident Non-Indians, those who live in India but who do not identify themselves with ordinary Indians.

VRV

Don't you think both jayp and harimau are making good points? We always celebrate the achievements of those with whom we identity. When that identification can actually help us, the cause for celebration is even greater. When people in India do well, NRIs rejoice, and vice versa.

Is that not how the entire world works?

Ref VRV # 13

[I cant make any sense of this Pravasi Diwas. It makes no sense for the PM and the top guyz to take the podium to tomtom the 'achievements' of Indians. What if Italia does the same and invite Sonia to felicitate her on her acheievemnts in India? Sounds ludicrous.]

The reason Italians won't do it is because the Non-Resident Italian was just a nanny who married some guy.

Indians abroad on the other hand made it despite the decks being stacked against them. Nothing wrong with celebrating them, particularly if Manmohan Singh the Neutered thinks that they can bring in investments the way overseas Chinese invest in China.

This article is pathetic, celebrating the NRI, the successful one is the right thing. He is a hero, he has conquered the world, gone to another society and has achieved success there, proving that the indian education and upbringing is universally best and can provide adequate skills and emotional maturity to prosper any where.

Celebration of NRI is the celebration of india and has to be celebrated by every one, mostly by the resident indian. The success of NRI is proof of the greatness of INdia and is more relevant to the RI than the NRI. The NRI lives that success and the RI can live that without leaving India.

Clearly the author is one who did not make in the world outside, could be the taxi driver in toronto.

I cant make any sense of this Pravasi Diwas. It makes no sense for the PM and the top guyz to take the podium to tomtom the 'achievements' of Indians. What if Italia does the same and invite Sonia to felicitate her on her acheievemnts in India? Sounds ludicrous.

To my knowledge, no other country does this kinda jamboree.


NRIs

1. avoid Air-India (I lost my new mobile set, saw in-flight aunties carrying poppadums by hand, fought mosquitos at Bombay airport in transit for 7 hours.....needs imagination to list another dozen complaints of this sort) to fly,

2. Loathe roads. The lack of traffic sense makes u get a good understanding of the word 'anarchy'. Get a half mm of soot on our faces after a day on Indian roads; thanks to Indian vehicular pollution.

3. Pretend to speak English in western accent (I had tough time making the Luftansa girl to speak in chaste Telugu, which she knew but looked around to see if anybody is watching while we speak)

4. Loathe Indian media, for it's too boisterous to stimulate any serious thinking. They make perfect couple to our leaders. Made for each other.

.....many many points to make....stop here perforce.

'We are also told that a good dose of the ideas of Hayek and his contemporary legatees is the need"

Is he father of Salma Hayek ?

On serious note the Nri's specially in the west particularly USA where there is cut throat competition,any immigrant who can have house of his own couple of cars and spendable income with bank accounts are more commendable than most of Resident indians who push files, take bribes, remain apathetic to there surrounding

How are they unpatriotic or less indian they proudly fly the indian flag all over the world

While more millions dollars are spent by poor indians by the lousy foreign affairs ministry for the same job

The Nris came with nothing more than literally shirt on his back b/c back then you could not get more than 8 dollars for outgoing indians ...With no loss to resident India B/c these Indians only made the space (in Housing ) and in Jobs (with limited jobs in India ) to other Indians who BENIFFITED by grabbing the left over space and jobs

Who celebrates the resident Indian?

Not even the resident Indians.

They are all busy celebrating the NRI; the Non-Resident Italian, if you know what I mean and I think you do.