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NRI News UPDATED Bahrain, Nov. 24, 2006
Non-Resident Indians’ Attitudinal Survey: What Makes You Feel Proud of India? The NRIs have been labeled with various titles , for example, non-returnable Indians, non-reliable Indians, not-required Indians, not-really Indians, non-respectable Indians, non-responding Indians, non- resident investors, Indian Dispora, Overseas Indians, Expartiates etc. Recently, there have been a lot of discussions on NRIs that once they leave India in search of green pastures e.g. to North America and Europe, they start berating India. Influenced from such discussions, Dr. P.L. Joshi, an eminent Professor at the University of Bahrain, has conducted the first of its kind of global survey of NRIs attitudes examining “what make them feel proud of India? Using a convenient random survey technique, 1441 questionnaires were sent by emails to NRIs living in 29 countries. Ten statements , which may make the NRIs to express their proud feeling to India, and five statements, which may hesitate them to do so, were included in the questionnaire after a two-stage Delphi method was used to develop the questionnaire. A total of 162 replies were received, however, only 90 questionnaires were usable. A Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5) and strongly disagree (1) was used to measured the responses. There was some response bias specifically from North America where the maximum number of questionnaires was sent. More than 50% of the respondents were executives and managers and a few businesspersons. Over 50% of responses were received from Middle East and Asia in which over 40% of NRIs population live. Again, over 50% of them have post-graduate qualifications and also over 45% were in the age group of 36 to 54 years who responded to the questionnaires. The respondents offered several comments . The main findings were: 1. On an overall basis, NRIs strongly feel that (1) ‘the history and rich cultural values of India”, (2) ‘India’s third-largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world (technical human resources)”, and (3) ‘technology, software and other developments” are the three main achievements/characteristics of India, which make them feel proud of the contemporary India. All these three variables received more those 80% responses from the respondents in this global survey of NRIs attitudes. It seems that although, India has certainly modernized to some level of most Western countries, most of the NRIs still take pride in Indian customs, traditions and cultural values for the simple reason that perhaps it is the only country in the world with multicultural diversity, immense demographics and ethnic community living in peace. Of course, there were statistical differences in their perceptions when data was analyzed by NRIs living in developed vs under-developed countries, Middle East region vs rest of the world and USA/Canada/UK vs rest of the world. However, the respondents were not impressed with the claims that India has been self –sufficient in agriculture and food grains. However, a few hard comments were also stated in the above context. For example, one respondent from Canada argues, “The investors will come because India is in a selling mood and this will last a long time. I belong to a minority who is concerned with the essentials of culture, which is not the priority of the elites and of the middle class. That is why I view India as a cultural failure”. One respondents from Singapore stated that “India is a country of diverse nature and culture. It has many tourist attractions, such as wild life parks, elegant palaces, pilgrimage centers, hills, historical monuments etc. But, in order to market this, we must improve our infrastructure facilities, cleaning, hygiene, public utility services and awareness among citizens on good manners, and welcome treatment of tourists”.
The respondents also perceived that India has one of the largest entertainment industry in the world and India’s international recognition of economic and military power (e.g. its ability to compete with China and EU) also motivate them to have a positive thinking towards India. Many of them are really Bollywood freaks. Perhaps, the effective promotion campaign by Bollywood film producers and artists and the reach of International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) in several countries might have created a big impact in the mind of the NRIs 2. Among the five statements tested in this survey, NRIs strongly perceived that (1) lack of basic infrastructure, 60 years after independence, (2) . Unscrupulous and hypocritical in the Indian’s way of life (e.g. gross inequities and prejudices that are still prevalent in some of Indian life; big gulf between rich and poor etc.), and (3) corruption is in the governance and administrative system (e.g. look up most corrupt countries index and the reality) are the areas or characteristics which may hesitate them to feel proud of India. Many of them quoted example of China that it has made comprehensive progress on all fronts: poverty reduction, literacy, gender empowerment, food surplus and rapid industrialization because of excellent infrastructure facilities developed over the years. The survey suggests that in order to create more interest and participation of NRIs in Indian affairs, Indian government and its various agencies need to launch more awareness programs through seminars, conferences, cultural exchanges, instituting a number of achievement awards and recognition. Indian media, particularly the Satellite Television Channels should start special programs for NRIs news, views and other affairs in order to generate interest and a feel of pride for this country, so that they can play a more positive role in India like non-resident Chinese have played a major role in economic development of China. One important question needs to be examined in the future survey is whether NRIs can make a difference in India’s politically, socially, economically, and spiritually? They need to explore the need for taking up leadership role in identifying the long-term and short-term projects uniting people and enhancing the economy. Can they form an NRI political party in India to play such a key role as voice of NRIs in Indian political system is absent? Can the NRIs contribute to the achievement of the three visions of the present President Dr. Abdul Kalam: a respect of freedom for others, India’s economic development, and India’s stand up to the world. Acknowledgements: I am thankful to my daughter Sweta Joshi, an Electrical engineering graduate, in assisting me in this study by searching emails of hundreds of NRIs from the Internet. I am also grateful to all NRIs who participated in this survey and offered their valuable comments. Press Release : October 18, 2006 ,Shakhir Bahrain
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