New Delhi: There is almost an increase of 92 per cent in Indians who gave up their citizenship in 2021 as compared to 2020; the centre informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. In his written answer in the Lower House, MoS Home Nityanad Rai mentioned that a total of 1,63,370 Indians relinquished Indian Citizenship last year and received citizenship from other countries.
Moreover, over 3.92 lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in the last three years- 1,44,017 in 2019, 85,256 in 2020 and 1,63,370 in 2021. The United States of America tops the list where a total of 1,70,795 Indians took USA citizenship. Other than that, 64,071 Indians took Canadian citizenship in the last three years, 46,391 Indians took Australian citizenship, and 35, 435 Indians took citizenship in the United Kingdom in the past three years.
The list presented by the Government of India also mentioned, that 12,131 Indians received citizenship from Italy, 8,882 from New Zealand, 4,128 Indians took citizenship from the Netherlands, 7,046 Indians took citizenship from Singapore, and 3,754 took Swedish citizenship in the last three years.
Nityanand Rai replied to a question of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Haji Fazlur Rehman who asked whether the Minister of Home Affairs will be pleased to state the details and the number of persons who have relinquished Indian citizenship till the current year since 2019. The minister further cited details provided by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in respect of the number of Indians, who relinquished Indian citizenship and the countries from which they have received citizenship. The government also clarified that "individuals renounced Indian citizenship for reasons personal to them".
However, the opposition made a scathing on the incumbent government at the centre and claimed as the people do not feel safe and conducive under the ruling regime in past years, whether in terms of doing business or in health or education, thousands of families fled from India post-2014.
Senior politician and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal told the Millennium Post, " The government should find out the exact reason for renouncing Indian Citizenship. They cannot answer in a vague way. If you talk about the livinghood here, the current environment is not at all conducive to doing business in India, having interference of agencies."
While, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed, "We know the statistics say that thousand of well-to-do families relinquished the Indian Citizenship and took the citizenship of other countries. They have gone to many parts of Europe, UAE, USA, and some of them have gone to Australia. Because the environment in India is not suitable and the economic condition is declining day by day here and going to worsen in the coming days. If you go back to history, the country witnessed such exodus in hundred years back, and now due to these hurdles people are forced to leave the country."
Congress Lok Sabha MP Jyoti Mani also claimed that the current situation of India is 'pathetic' as the worsening economic condition, hate speeches, communal tension in many parts of the country, people do not feel safe to stay here and hence they are taking other countries' citizenship, relinquishing the Indian Citizenship.
Other countries included Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland and Portugal.
Qatar, Ireland, Reunion Island, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, USA, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe are among other countries in the list.
Earlier another report mentioned that rich Indians are leaving country. The government could look at increasing the cut-off days for non-resident Indians (NRIs) to determine their residency status and tax their global income domestically in a bid to stop the flow of rich Indians to other countries, reports suggested. The cut-off was reduced to 120 days from 183 days earlier to determine their residency status. In 2019, India was second only to China when it came to high net worth individuals (HNIs) leaving the country, according to a Global Wealth Migration Review report.