60,000 professionals return to India annually: Study

Chandigarh, September 20
India is among top few countries that have been witnessing strong “return migration”. While a study revealed that nearly 60,000 top professionals are returning to India every year for the past three years, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs puts the number of returning professionals at a lakh a year.
“It is because of the booming Indian economy that has been witnessing 7 to 8 per cent annual growth against some of the European or advanced countries staggering at below 1 per cent growth,” says A. Didar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
Most of those returning are IT specialists, finance experts, besides those from service areas, including health care, hospitality and other areas.
A Didar Singh was here to release the Study of Indian Diaspora with particular reference to development and migration from the State of Punjab. The study was conducted by a team of Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here. The study team was headed by a retired diplomat, Paramjit Singh Sahai, and included Dr Krishan Chand, Pawan Kumar and Tania Sahai.
The Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs will ink another MoU with CRRID to make the Institute a research partner on issues facing Indian diaspora. At present, the Ministry has agreements with four research institutes in India besides an equal number of partners in overseas organisations.
Didar Singh held that though India’s avowed policy was not to encourage migration from its shores but at the same time it was signing agreements and going for human resources mobility partnership with various countries to ensure well-being of Indian workers, especially skilled workers.
Migration, he said, was linked to global development. It was why the migrant force moves to areas of opportunities. Besides enhancing skills that is the key in migration, the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs is also in the process of standardising and certifying these skills.
He also clarified that anyone holding an Indian passport, whether living in India or abroad, was entitled to hold agricultural land and plantation in the country. The same facility was not available to the People of Indian Origin or those holding Overseas Citizen of India card.
While talking about the voting rights, he said even those born outside India but holding an Indian passport can get themselves registered as voters at the address of their parents or the last address of the family in India on which passports have been issued to them.
Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal said primary tasks before the government was to prepare people for legal migration and ensure that laws concerning NRIs about their property and also those relating to matrimonial affairs were in place to minimise their hardships.
Earlier, Sucha Singh Gill, Director-General , CRRID, talked about the study undertaken by the Institute while Rashpal Malhotra, Executive Vice-Chairman, CRRID, highlighted various projects undertaken by CRRID for preparing a data bank of the NRIs.