“There’s some corner of a foreign land / that’s forever India” (Courtesy: Rupert Brooke) ==================================================================== It has been a while since one of the members here had an interesting post citing some factoids concerning illegal Indian immigrants living in the US. Finally, I had some time to provide my two cents on the matter (oh the blessed week-end!). It would only be appropriate to expand upon those purported claims; only a bit deeper this time perhaps. >Immigration in the US: a. Let’s start with numbers. According to the most recent estimate, there are approximately eleven million illegal/ undocumented immigrants in the US (total population 350 million). So these aliens constitute ~3.5% of the total US population. However, the current US president proposed some measures to bring 5 million illegal within some form of legal fold (mind you there is NO provisions for path to citizenship and they have to pay back taxes). But both the lower and upper house in US congress have decided to oppose this and are preparing to sue the president over this! “Sue the president over this”. It tells volumes about the level of mistrust legal citizens have for this type of measures. Should India propose something along these lines – like claiming back taxes from non-citizens or estimating their exact number - since no data have been made public yet- would you support that Nilim? >Indians Living Aboard are Not Patriotic Enough: a. Now there was specific innuendo questioning the patriotism of the Indian Diaspora. Please answer/respond to the following questions – i. Was Rash Behari Bose (Founder of INA) a traitor? – Should we consider Manobendro Nath Roy, Subhas Chandra Bose or Gandhi as less patriotic; since all of them spent quite some time outside India? What about those NRI Indians who financed the INA at Singapore? Were they fake too? b. What are the inclusion criteria for this coveted group :D ? i. Judging by your post, apparently some people also ascribe to that notion as well. Here is the counter – the people who are living in various states within India other than their birthplace surely should fall into this category as well. They are most certainly not staying there for the local floral and faunal diversity. How is it any different from the people who are living in other countries legally? c. Now for those few ‘paltry dollars” more - i. The remittance money they send back home helps building India’s FOREX reserve and also goes to Indian economy and welfare system helping even those who are not citizens. ii. The diplomatic and cultural ties they build overseas help shape India’s image internationally. iii. And a lot of them re-invest as well as do lot of charity works. True charity is like supplication and there is a silent majority who do so without advertising but in your awesomeness you might’ve forgotten that already. d. How do you think factories in China, BD or Vietnam, the foreign aids for Africa, and South Asia, or India’s’ IT-based economic powerhouse earn their living? Do they receive rainbow farts out of leprechauns’ ... Nilim? >Subtle Anti Indian Bias and Contempt: a. There was a palpable contempt and ecstasy your post while stating your facts about the Illegal Indians as if there is something to jeer about– None but only a turncoat can gloat at the plight of his fellow countrymen. Do you see any other national doing that Nilim? b. You mentioned “Bhakt” as a sly rejoinder – but do you know how many Indian soldiers have shed their lives for Independent Bangladesh, aided in flood relief of PoK or died in Sri Lanka- they came from all over India to help? I suspect for a long, long time you and your ilk had a monopoly over information flow – controlling what goes out to the public and manipulating the ordinary people as you please (propaganda?). So instead of honest discussions, you expect blind allegiance without question. Now, I may have higher expectations from you but you can prove me wrong by sticking to the topic without engaging in any smear campaign – and if you need any primer on proper debating techniques...just ask :-) Btw, my humble answer was the very title of this piece. Now it’s your turn
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 09:45:41 +0000
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