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NRIs, Big Brother Will Be Watching

Featured Author:

N. Vasuki Rao

N. Vasuki Rao, in a journalism career spanning nearly four decades, has worked for the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore in different capacities including Special Correspondent, Senior Assistant Editor and Business Editor. He has also worked for US and UK publications such as the Journal of Commerce, Fairchild Publications, McGraw Hill publications, and Agra Europe London as their South Asia and India correspondent for over 15 years. He is now based in Bangalore.

You can read Vasuki’s Blog here

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The only way bureaucracy, in India or elsewhere, can survive is to create more work for itself. After 9/11, paranoid governments have begun introducing more and more security measures that increase travel hassles. The latest in this list is Britain, which has begun fingerprinting all visitors. When all this is happening, can India be left behind?

A report in The New Indian Express on Thursday says that the Indian government plans to monitor the movement of non-resident Indians (NRIs) visiting India, and Indians going overseas. NRIs coming to India will have to give full details of their itinerary and purpose of visit in a new disembarkation form at airports. Similarly, Indians going overseas - whether for business or pleasure – will be asked to provide details about the places they intend to visit. A decision to introduce new forms is reported to have been taken at a recent meeting of the central ministries of home, tourism and overseas Indian affairs. The home ministry expects to develop a huge data bank of overseas visitors, which it hopes will enable it to keep a watch on suspicious NRIs.

This may sound good on paper, but will it work in practice? It is true that in the past many visiting Pakistanis have simply disappeared after arrival in India. It is particularly easy for Pakistanis as they generally look like Indians. However, monitoring the large number of NRIs visiting this country will not be easy. Part of the problem is that police computer networking in India – and other government departments—is still way behind that of the West, making information sharing difficult among states. What will happen is that immigration desks at airports will end up with loads of information, which will be useless unless it is entered into a national data bank. Does the immigration department have enough manpower to undertake the task? As it is, the government is unable to provide sufficient manpower at immigration desks in international airports, which slows down clearance.

The move to seek more information from outgoing Indians is especially idiotic. The present embarkation card already has a column to state where the person is headed. How will it help the Indian authorities if the citizen is asked to give a detailed itinerary? It is also puzzling how the tourism ministry has come into the picture. The information gathered from NRIs about their itinerary will help the ministry know which tourist spots they are visiting, said one official. How will the government use this information? Will it improve tourist facilities? Get real, Big Brother.