NRI News
NRIs
Favor UPA for Stable Government
Los Angeles, June 26, 2009
Inder Singh
The NRI/PIO population throughout the globe is elated at the outcome
of the recently concluded elections in India. The incumbency factor
has favored Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his truncated United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) -- truncated because UPA members, Lalu
Prasad, leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ram Vilas Paswan,
leader of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), hoping to win more seats
in the Lok Sabha election, chose to form another alliance but
are now regretting their pre-election folly. Congress-led UPA
has emerged as the favorite party, leaving Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) as the distant second. The Left Front which opposed the
Nuclear Deal with the US and withdrew support from the UPA government
suffered the most at the hands of the voters.
In appraising Manmohan Singh’s first term accomplishments,
The Telegraph in its issue of May 17, 2009 wrote, “The two
most momentous decisions of independent India were authored by
the same man — the decision to liberalize the economy and
the one to sign the nuclear deal with the US. The former freed
India from the shackles of the Hindu rate of growth and the latter
gave India entry to sit at the high table of international politics.
It is significant that these steps were taken by the man who is
often scoffed at for being too weak. This criticism revealed that
in Indian politics basic decency and civility are interpreted
as weakness. Manmohan Singh demonstrated his strength through
his actions and not through the power of his lungs.”
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who carry Indian passports do not
have right to vote in an Indian election and had no direct effect
on the outcome of the election. But their indirect support to
UPA won many votes for the UPA coalition. Indo-US nuclear deal
for which the Indian community in the US played a major role in
its passage, was considered as one of the major accomplishments
of the UPA government. And rightfully so, as this landmark deal
ended years of isolation enforced in the wake of the 1974 Pokharan
nuclear tests and restored India’s prestige in the comity
of nations.
The Indo-US nuclear deal was not the only significant accomplishment
of the UPA government. Double-digit growth in the economy during
the major part of Manmohan Singh’s term, rural job guarantee
program, and massive loan waiver for farmers were equally laudable.
The creation of Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry to look after
the issues and concerns of overseas Indians was a commendable
decision. The ministry, since its inception, has established Indian
Facilitation Center, a PIO university, Internship program for
Indian youth, Scholarship program for university education for
PIO children and has also started Overseas Citizenship of India
scheme. There are some more initiatives that the Ministry have
taken benefiting various segments of the NRI/PIO community.
Mr. Manmohan Singh has become well known all over the world,
particularly among the 25 million NRIs/PIOs, as an honest man;
pity though, he has not succeeded in rooting out corruption among
his ministerial colleagues and bureaucrats. He leads a simple
life but could not convince greedy business leaders to “resist
excessive remuneration” to whom he advised in 2007, "In
a country with extreme poverty, industry needs to be moderate
in the emoluments levels it adopts." Incidentally, after
becoming president of the United States, Barack Obama has been
advocating reasonable compensation for industry leaders and has
advocated even salary caps.
As Manmohan Singh and his United Progress Alliance are getting
ready for the second term, people in India have high hopes of
steady economic growth and implementation of a reform agenda which
the Left had blocked during their four years of “conditional”
support of the UPA government. In addition, there are several
urgent issues of concern and interests to the global NRI community.
These include: NRIs being deprived of their right to vote in an
election as India does not have an absentee ballot system. Several
NRIs have inherited properties while many have purchased during
the last few years. Indian tenancy laws are so antiquated that
they help tenants and others grab NRI properties leading to prolonged
lawsuits to recoup “stolen” properties. The Overseas
Indians hope that Manmohan Singh government will initiate and
pass suitable legislation to meet their legitimate demands.
Inder Singh regularly writes and speaks on Indian Diaspora. He
is President of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin
(GOPIO). He was president of National Federation of Indian American
Associations (NFIA) from 1988-92 and chairman from 1992-96. He
was founding president of Federation of Indian Associations in
Southern California. He can be reached at indersingh-usa@hotmail.com