India, being a less developed country struggling with the burden of population, has the third largest number of immigrants in the world after China. At one time, English people also went from England to Australia and Canada because of the vastness of those countries and later England occupied those countries and after a long time those countries became independent again. In 1960 and after that, England itself invited technical experts and qualified people in various professions from all over the world to England.
After the year 1970, the Central Government of India opened a department for employment abroad in which teachers were invited from African countries. Perhaps other capable people were also invited, but I remember the teachers’ department. At that time, I was teaching in Khalsa College Amritsar and I also applied under this scheme and was called for an interview. Nowadays, India invites companies from other developed countries to set up factories in its country. They are not social service organizations but come to earn profit.
How did the trend of going abroad start
The process of migration from India to foreign countries started when our country was a slave of the British rulers. At that time, slavery was practiced and the British government used to forcibly take people from the slave countries under its control for their work. In 1833, the British government stopped the slavery system but found a new way to take slaves and started sending Indians as bonded laborers to Britain or other countries under its control as per their needs. Apart from this, some rich people of those times also used to send their children to study abroad. Gradually, people started migrating abroad through various methods, in which currently the legal way of going abroad has become study visa, work permit, PR, business visa etc., while people are also migrating to European countries and America illegally. Every year, lakhs of youth from India and especially Punjab are going abroad.
Importance of Pravasi Bharti Divas
Pravasi Bharti Divas is celebrated every year on January 9. This day was chosen to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa in 1915. This day is celebrated to honor the contribution of Indians (immigrants) living abroad. It is organized by the Government of India to strengthen relations with the NRIs and share their experiences. Pravasi Bharti Divas is important because it not only connects NRIs with their origins but also recognizes their achievements. This day also recognizes the challenges faced by Indian migrants working in other countries.
Illegal Migration
Illegal migration may not be right, but the manner in which the US government brought 104 migrants on February 5, under the guidance of soldiers, in a military plane at Amritsar airport, after a 26-hour arduous journey with their hands and feet shackled, is highly condemnable. During this, human rights were not taken into account at all, nor was the mental state of those migrants, who, under some compulsion, had crossed forests, roads and rivers through different countries, risking their lives, to work and not for any smuggling or illegal business. That inhumane behavior should be condemned by the entire world. Among these 104 passengers, 30 were from Punjab, while 33/33 were from Gujarat and Haryana. Illegal Indian immigrants have been returning from America and other countries before. They had never been sent like this. While migrating illegally, each of them had faced difficult situations and even spent time in prison. It is necessary to feel the mental state of those people who are at great risk, which becomes the reason for their sympathy. When these young people from simple homes do not get a job in their own country, which they are eligible for, instead of being a support to their parents, they become a burden on them. The young people who have gone to other parts of their region become an example of a bright future before them, for which they are ready to sell their remaining land and property first by every legal means and then take such a risk. Such legal migration has been happening for many decades. The immigrants brought here that day were not given a single notice to leave America, otherwise they cannot stay in any country by force.
Malta Boat Incident
Around 1980, the Malta Boat Incident took place, in which 265 migrants who were going to Europe illegally were killed when their boat capsized near the island of Malta near Italy. Balwant Singh Khera, a resident of Hoshiar, took up the case. Not only India, migrants from other underdeveloped countries of the world also face such situations. In that incident, there were about 550 people from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who were trapped in the clutches of big international agents. In order to save money by getting those passengers on small ships from different countries, the agents got them on a big ship. After getting them on the ship, they wanted to land on the shores of a safe country, but they could not find any safe place. Those passengers kept wandering around in the sea for not just a week, but for several weeks. Another problem they had was that a large ship could not navigate in shallow water. So they had to transfer the passengers to boats to be landed on a beach.
The ship reached the Italian coast on December 25. Taking advantage of the Christmas holiday on December 25, they ordered boats. The boat could carry about 125 people, but after being at sea for several weeks, the passengers were exhausted. As they approached the boat, everyone started jumping over each other. About 300 of us boarded the boat. Naturally, a storm came at that time. The boat started sinking due to the weight. Some people jumped and swam to the shore. Some then grabbed the chains and reached the last ship, and the remaining 265 drowned, in which there were people from all those countries. It was the courage of Balwant Singh Khera that he got the sympathy of the governments of those countries for those people. The houses of those deceased were surrounded by various kinds of troubles because no one’s body was found. Then, no record of them was found from where they had gone illegally. Their death certificates were not available. There were many other difficulties for their widows. Then, under the leadership of Kheda Sahab, cases were fought in the courts and they got death certificates and more help was provided by the government. Many other incidents, such as deaths in the forest, in the seas and while crossing the border, etc., keep coming up in many news.
Ghattians flocked to the country to start the Ghadar movement
Many youths, escaping from the pitiful conditions of being slaves during the British rule, headed towards foreign countries. Most of the youth migrated to America and Canada. Many of them, seeing the living conditions and good life there, compared it with the poor living conditions of the Indian people and a sense of patriotism was awakened in them, so they started a struggle against the British rulers to free the country from the chains of slavery of the British rule, which was named the Ghadar Movement. Thus, in the beginning of the 20th century, the Ghadar Party was formed in February 1913 and the patriots who joined it were named Ghadri Babas. These Ghadri Babas traveled to the country with the aim of starting the Ghadar Movement to directly confront the British rulers to liberate India.
How difficult it is to leave home and go abroad
Although illegal migration cannot be justified, it has never been considered in depth that if those nearly 3 million Punjabi youth who are working hard abroad and filling India’s foreign exchange reserves were in Punjab itself on the list of those seeking jobs? The situation is similar in other states. Then why has this situation arisen? It has never been considered that how difficult it is to leave one’s home and family abroad. In India itself, one does not feel like leaving one’s children in another city or province, but for those who are forced to go to the states to earn a living, can this situation be okay?
