Other side of the ‘shining’ coin" Status & recognition of service to

Many foreigners have rendered utmost service to India by making her their
home and settling down in India in search of the values inspired by the
eternal Dharma that they expected to find in India. These are our FRIs:
Foreigners Resident in India. They have served the Indian national interest,
promoted native Dharma and culture, and sacrificed a material life style
they would get in their own country. Having sacrificed the material wealth,
unlike the Non-Resident-Indians, they do not constitute a monetary resource.
Have we given them Indian and/or Dual citizenship? Permanent resident
status, as green card holders have in US? Have we recognised their
contributions even as we have benefited from them?

I hope authorities are sensitive to the needs of FRIs who have enriched
India immensely, while RNIs (Resident Non-Indians, as Arvind Lavakare refers
to them) sell India and abandon Indian culture and values.

Claude's experience and anguish in the article below, I hope, serves to be
an
eye opener!

- Pranawa C. Deshmukh
------------------------------------

The New Indian Express

The other side of the ‘shining’ coin
Thursday March 17 2005 16:22 IST

Claude Arpi



A few weeks ago, I celebrated a very happy anniversary. Thirty years ago, I
left France, my native country, to permanently settle in India. Thirty years
is
a long time not only in the life of an individual, but also a nation. In
1974,
with my newcomer naivety, I had assumed that the India that I was adopting
as
my new motherland was the ‘eternal India’ of the ages. I soon discovered the
discrepancies between her outer forms and her ‘eternity’.

Of course India was said the largest democracy in the world (Is it still
true
today?). In 1976, the Indian Parliament had even voted the Constitution’s
42nd
Amendment which redefined India as a ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic
Republic’. But frankly speaking, I never cared for this ‘socialist
secularism’
as my interest was deeper.

Before coming to India, I had read countless books on this ancient nation
and
had heard a great deal about the ‘sanatan dharma’ propounded by her sages.
To
me, it seemed to be the only solution for India. The voice heard by Sri
Aurobindo in 1909 after a year spent in His Gracious Majesty’s gaol was a
constant inspiration: “…it is this that I have perfected and developed
through
the Rishis, Saints and Avatars... When therefore it is said that India shall
rise, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall rise. When it is said that India
shall be great, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall be great …It is for the
Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists...”

Or again: “… But it is not circumscribed by the confines of a single
country,
it does not belong peculiarly and for ever to a bounded part of the world.
It
is really the eternal religion, because it is the universal religion which
embraces all others. If a religion is not universal, it cannot be eternal.”

The ‘human’ concept of secularism has come and it may go, but my thirty year
old question remains: Does the ‘eternal dharma’ still sustain the land of
India
today?

In the 70’s, materially nothing worked. I remember that during the first
months
of my stay, some young friends had enacted a small drama. The main character
was a foreign kid: Whatever he touched would break and each time he would
shout
‘Made in India!’. The spectators roared with laughter. This was a fact of
daily
life: India was synonymous with ‘bad quality’ to say the least.

Materially many things have changed for the better now, but it is still not
easy to catch glimpses of ‘eternal India’.

Long before independence, Sri Aurobindo had told a disciple: “The question
is
what is India going to do with her Independence... The above kind of affair
(communal riots)? Bolshevism? Goonda-raj? Things look ominous.” It appears
that
India has to go through it all.

In many ways, it is true that India is shining. To give an example a few
days
back I read on a French website that Narain Karthikeyan was offered a F1 car
to
drive because the Tatas had given their name to the project. Thirty years
ago,
who could have imagined that it would be enough for an Indian company to
lend
its name (and money) to such a venture, to have an Indian driving a F1 car?

Obviously, the IT boom and the role played by the NRIs have done more than
Indian diplomacy (with its boring non-alignment policy) to force the world
to
recognise that India is not a third world nation any more. That is one side
of
the coin.

However, many things still look ominous. I have to admit that when I read my
morning newspapers my (French) blood starts invariably to boil. To cite an
example, a newspaper mentioned a few days back: “the rate of registration of
births in Bihar fell from 23 percent in 1996 to just 0.8 percent in 2003
while
Uttar Pradesh has not sent records of birth and death registration to the
Centre for the last eight years because of lack of forms.” Everybody in
India
can easily believe it. I myself struggled for a year to get an Indian birth
certificate for my daughter. A similar certificate took only 15 minutes from
the French Consulate. Everyday, one could find hundreds of such stories. It
is
probably why Mr. Advani has now realised that the campaign ‘India Shining’
was
only one part of the truth.

One fact bothers me more than anything else: While becoming shining, India
has
also become mercantile. In her rage to imitate the West (there is certainly
a
good side to it, especially when you need a birth certificate), India often
forgets her own traditions.

One issue which shows this mercantilism is the Pravasi Bharatya Divas yearly
encounter. A few years ago, when India suddenly discovered that the NRIs
were
doing well and could be a regular ‘Indian’ source for the badly-needed
foreign
investments, a double citizenship scheme was quickly devised. Its purpose
was
to make the life of the potential investors easier. It rightly received a
tremendous response from the NRI community.

But what I found terribly unfair is that the universally accepted concept of
reciprocity was not even considered. A FRI (Foreigner Resident in India),
even
if he has given all his life to India (what many NRIs have not done), cannot
be
considered and offered dual citizenship. I know of many FRIs who have spent
30,
40 or 50 years in India, served India and who have loved to be offered dual
citizenship. Unfortunately they do not represent ‘investment potential’ and
they still have to struggle every year with the renewal of their Residential
Permit. An eminent FRI, recently awarded the Padma Bhushan, who was born in
India and has lived most of his life here, finds himself in a similar
position.
The least India could do is to introduce a Green Card system for those who
have
made India their home.

Even a China which totally unaware of the meaning of the words ‘democracy’
or
‘human rights’ has in 2004 opened a bureau for the Regulations on
Examination
and Approval of Permanent Residence of Aliens responsible for the
implementation of China’s Green Card scheme.

When recently a Canadian NRI applied for Canadian citizenship, she was given
a
beautiful certificate by the Premier of the Province of British Columbia
where
she lived. On this certificate was printed a welcome letter which amongst
other
things mentioned: “It is our earnest hope that British Columbia will be
enriched by your cultural heritage and that you will enjoy life to the
fullest
in our beautiful province.”

For those who despite all appearances have never doubted about the ‘eternal
aspect’ of Mother India, it would be only fair if they could one day be
treated
at par with NRIs who immigrated to the West.

Probably the Government of India thinks that FRI’s have done enough Nishkama
Yoga to not be attached to a small booklet. Some may still be!



---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!