Global issue of racial bias against NRIs and Indians abroad
Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
This letter is on behalf of the social commentary site ‘The Indians Abroad’ based out of USA. The letter is prompted by the current incidents of racial attacks against Indians in Melbourne, Australia. However, this long overdue request and suggestion is more towards the need of general awareness of negative bias against Indians abroad, and finding ways to minimize it.
Most of us go abroad for the main reasons of education or for finding better opportunities for ourselves and our families. The challenges of adapting to the foreign culture and the social issues of minority status are part of our daily living. These issues are often discussed and well understood by most of the Indian communities. The recent incidents of violence against Indians in Australia have exposed the tip of this iceberg – the often ignored racial biases against Indian immigrants that exist in most of the Western society.
The racial violence is not-so-common in the developed countries in this day and age; however, the related discrimination is everywhere. The social perception of Indians in the Western society is pretty negative. A large number of NRIs settled abroad are highly skilled professionals – doctors, engineers, scientists and so on…., but the overall view of the Indian community abroad is that of a low class society.
While Indian Govt. is looking into a possible policy to address racial violence abroad, a similar policy or steps are needed to address ever so prevalent racial biases and discriminations.
An average human being – white or brown or black- is decent and caring in general. Many of these biases in foreign countries are merely a result of misguided assumptions about India. As an example, some of the Western population often consider Indians as Middle-Eastern.
A lot of this ill-conceived notion about NRIs and Indians is a lack of knowledge on behalf of the host countries; but we –the Indians – end up paying the price for someone else’s ignorance. An initiative to raise awareness among foreign cultures about Indians could go a long way. Your counsel and advisory team may have even better ideas to address this issue.
In summary, on behalf of Indians abroad and NRIs, the sole purpose of this letter is to request you to seriously consider a global plan or a policy of finding ways to minimize the racial biases against Indians in foreign countries. Implementing such a policy is very important, so that we don’t have to fear the repeat of the Melbourne incidents in other parts of the world.
Sincerely with respect,
The Indians Abroad
June 12, 2009
..
Trackback: Authentic Leadership