return-of-the-native-reverse-migration-from-foreign-lands

While tens of thousands of youth aspire to move abroad, there are many others settled abroad keen to come back. Some have already returned. 

 

There are multiple reasons for this ‘reverse’ migration, although it may not be precisely termed as such. The number of those returning permanently or keen to return is far too less than those wanting to settle abroad. 

 

Life may seem very “luxurious” on foreign shores, but it is not like that. Barring rare exceptions, who have done too big there, their number may be in a few hundred only, many are living an ordinary life there. 

 

Once such people start comparing their ‘standard’ of life back home in India, particularly in Punjab, they start feeling nostalgic. 

 

From doing household chores every day to paying huge taxes, the absence of proper medical care and loneliness are major reasons attributed to the trend of reverse migration. 

 

In a country like Canada, unless it is an emergency, getting a physician’s appointment takes weeks. 

 

For each first-generation Non-Resident Indian (NRI) who makes it big on foreign shores, it is a story of prolonged struggle, sacrifice and at times, suffering as well. 

 

The dream that is realised has to pass through many nightmares. Rachhpal Singh (not his actual name), who has done well in North America, did not see his family, including his two kids and wife, for ten ‘long’ years. Although he had a valid visitor’s visa for ten years, he could not travel in between. 

 

Although everything has “normalised” for him in the new country, he has started asking himself, whether all that “trouble and trauma” was worth it. 

 

Probably because at the time when Rachhpal had moved out of India, the resources were limited and the situation now is better than it was 20 years ago. Compared to that, life has become very difficult and expensive in both the United States and Canada.  

 

The pursuit for a better life in a foreign country, as is widely believed here in Punjab, prompts almost every family to send at least one of its kids abroad, first on a study visa with the hope of a work visa and permanent residency. In the process, most of the families end up selling their family silver and not all of them are lucky enough to get it redeemed. Some end up in penury and misery.

 

This time of the year, during the winters and amidst the peak wedding season, almost in all cities the NRIs get noticed in the way they dress up or talk. Hotels remain sold out. 

 

Even getting a cab is difficult these days due to the NRI rush. 

 

The apparent charm and joy on their faces hides a long story of struggle, sacrifice and in many cases suffering as well. Several NRIs this reporter interacted with have one common advice for every parent not to sell their family silver or take loans for sending off their wards abroad. 

 

They say that the “quantum of money” spent on sending wards abroad, if invested here properly may fetch a better life. 

 

There is a rising trend of the ‘NRIs’, particularly those having citizenship of foreign countries like Canada, the US, Australia, and various European countries to spend most of their time in India. 

 

While a substantial number of such people already own ancestral properties in India, those who do not have been buying residences here. Most of them are buying apartments in residential societies where they feel safe and their property also remains safe while they go abroad. 

 

Krishan Kumar, who spent a good thirty years in Canada and holds Canadian citizenship, has decided to spend most of his time in India now. He said the amount of taxes people pay in those countries is disproportionate to the facilities they get there. He said and hoped that if people in India also started paying taxes like there, India would be a far better country than the West. 

 

He said everything here comes at a far lower price than it is available in the “developed” West. Medical facilities, he said, were one of the best things India has which most Indians take for granted. Besides, he added, it is a fake narrative that the “quality of life” there is much better than what it is in India. He said, even if it is so, it comes at a heavy cost.