In 2022, 225,000 people gave up their Indian passports. Since 2011, more than 1.6 million people have taken another country’s citizenship, forcing them to give up their Indian nationality. When we look deeper at where these former Indians are going, they are primarily going to the US, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. —some of the world’s most developed nations. I strongly believe that if India allows its citizens to hold dual citizenship, the rate at which Indians are renouncing their passports will slow down tremendously. This article will explore the main reasons why Indians are relinquishing their Indian citizenship, what India as a nation itself can do to reduce that number per year, and my proposed solution. 

First, it must be understood that people do not choose to leave their home country and move abroad unless there is a significant enough push or pull factor that makes their home country seem undesirable or the foreign country preferable. In India’s scenario, it’s usually an equal combination of the two. However, even then, it’s not easy, let alone quick, to just become a citizen of another country. It takes a lot of planning and investment in time, money, and stress. 

So, what is one of the reasons the people of India are leaving? This phenomenon is affectionately coined the name “The Great Indian Brain Drain.” Merriam-Webster defines brain drain as: “the departure of educated or professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another, usually for better pay or living conditions.” So, “The Great Indian Brain Drain” is just a substantial number of educated Indian citizens moving abroad in hopes for better opportunities and lives. Even though India is rapidly developing as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, it is still categorized as a third-world country. 

While noticeable improvements have been made in the past couple of decades towards reducing poverty, improving healthcare and the overall health of citizens, lowering the high crime rates, improving air quality, and reducing gender discrimination, India still has a long way to go before being considered a fully developed nation. Moreover, childhood malnutrition is still at a high. This, along with all the other factors that make living conditions less than favorable, are several different ‘push’ factors convincing Indians to leave. When looking closely at the immigrants, we are starting to notice a pattern in that it is the second generation that is leaving, which means that India is becoming a country consisting of older generations. This also leads to India not  being able to become a progressive nation as quickly as it could be. 

In India’s case, the push is the unfavorable living conditions, and the pull towards other countries is more work opportunities and better living conditions. But, it is possible to maintain the same quality of life in India as one can while abroad, but in India one needs to be wealthy in order to do so. However, for every push factor I mentioned before, the government of India can play a role in speeding up the act of improving those issues, and that can reduce one of the main problems that persuades citizens to leave. 

When looking deeper into where other people are leaving from in mass groups and how many people are leaving, I found that India is holding that top spot with a total of 17.9 million natives living abroad, with Mexico in second with 11.1 million, Russia in third with 10.8, and China in fourth with 10.5 million people. This puzzled me when I found this out because I wondered if there was a common push/pull factor. What I learned was that fear was the driving reason —fear of living and/or raising their kids in a place with these unsafe living conditions and fear of the corrupt government in some cases. Now I have a question for you. Do you want India to continue to go on like this, where the fear of living in the beautiful country it is, is also what is driving its citizens away?

I truly believe that if India was able to speed up the process of improving the living conditions, it would eliminate the major push factor that compels Indians to leave. What also needs to be understood by the Indian government is that many people do not want to give up their nationality but want to be able to vote for their country and have a say in politics, but for the ease of travel and work, when given the opportunity they are forced to take foreign citizenship. It’s not fair to make people choose between two nationalities only because India has such harsh ideas of nationalism that forces citizens to choose either. 

Now think of it this way, when Abhijit Banerjee won the Nobel Prize for economics, this would’ve been a huge sense of pride for India had he been allowed to take dual citizenship. The Indian passport is one of the least powerful passports in the world, only allowing citizens to enter 60 countries without a visa, while the U.S. passport gives access to over 180. Mr. Abhijit Banerjee is very much an Indian but took American citizenship solely for the ease of travel. But because of India’s flawed views on nationalism and the idea that one can only be loyal to one country, they could not call Mr. Abhijit Banerjee an Indian. 

Now think about the second generation, those who were brought up in India. India is their home, and they do not want to leave but are forced to because of the promise of more opportunity and better lives. When they are allowed to become a citizen of a more developed country, they may do so for more travel opportunities, so that they can be more of a global citizen, or in hopes for their kids to grow up abroad and they can have a better life. And then, there is one last group, the children who were brought to live abroad when they were babies, grew up abroad, and still feel connected to India. They grew up celebrating Indian festivals and culture. But when it comes time to choose which citizenship they want, they can’t. 

In this case, most choose to take foreign citizenship because they believe it would benefit them more in the long run. But if given the choice to keep both, most would ​​without any hesitation.  

At least, I know I would. 

Leading to the next section of this essay. Who am I? Why do I care so much about this issue? When I was eight months old, I came to the U.S. with my parents, who came for work. I’ve lived in the U.S. my whole life and grew up in two cultures. I feel just as Indian as I do American. But in three years, when I am eligible to apply for American citizenship, I don’t want to give up my Indian citizenship —I want to be able to vote for my country, both of them, to move back to India, and to have the choice to one day hold an office in the Indian government. But I also have dreamed of traveling the world my whole life. I want to see everything and experience all the different cultures, and American citizenship makes traveling easier.

I also understand it’s not only in the idea of nationalism India is not allowing dual citizenship. It’s also the belief that it will increase crime rates committed by immigrants. This concern is very understandable, which leads to a solution. Suppose an individual is faced with the choice between their Indian and another foreign citizenship and has a good reason for why they want to keep it. In that case, they go through an interview and application process in which they can present their case as to why they want both. Dual citizenship would be given on a case-by-case basis, and doing it this way would also give the government of India the power to choose who gets dual citizenship, which could prevent the possibility of crime rates increasing. These individuals who go through this process would also have the same rights and protections as anyone with Indian citizenship already. The only difference is that they have two from different countries. Germany has a system in place like this already, and it worked very well. 

As I conclude, I want to point out that India recently took over the G20 Presidency. Of course, we knew this already, what is my point here? Most of the countries in the G20 already allow dual citizenship or have a case-by-case application process in place already. In the G20 global meeting, if this is discussed and the ideas are shared as a global union, then India will be able to find a system that will be beneficial to everyone that also shares the same values we hold as a country. And that, my friends, is the next step in allowing India to grow as a progressive and modern nation of global citizens.