In December 2024, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told the Parliament that in 2023, the number of Indians who left the country’s citizenship and settled abroad was 216219, while in 2014 this number was 129328 and in the year 2011 it was 122819.
अपने हुए पराये, भारत की नागरिकता छोड़ने वालों की संख्या लगातार बढ़ रही है
In the words of Prime Minister Modi, India is developed, its economy is the fifth largest economy in the world, there is no dearth of jobs here, the education system is world class, industries from all over the world are coming to India, India’s reputation has increased worldwide – amidst all these claims, the reality is that the number of Indians renouncing the country’s citizenship and settling abroad is increasing year after year, similarly the number of people going abroad for education and employment is also increasing. Our country’s education system is even worse than Bangladesh because during the violent period in Bangladesh, the question of safety of Indian students was raised and the employment situation is such that the youth here are risking their lives by firing weapons even in active war zones. Amidst all this, the government is completely involved in the politics of polarization and in increasing Prime Minister Adani’s business in neighboring countries, which the media is busy describing as the good of the minorities.
In December 2024, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirtivardhan Singh told the Parliament that the number of Indians leaving the country and settling abroad in 2023 was 216219, while this number was 129328 in 2014 and 122819 in 2011. From 2011 to 2014, the average number of Indians leaving India every year was 126119, which reached more than 2 lakh between 2021 and 2023. Prime Minister Modi and his ministers have not only been constantly claiming development but also calling the previous governments failures, in such a situation the biggest question is why people are saying goodbye to the so-called developed India. Another funny aspect of this information is that according to the Ministry of External Affairs, the government does not have state-wise data of those leaving the country. This is ridiculous because in a country where the Prime Minister proudly tells which state the mother of Maharana Pratap’s horse Chetak was from, there is no information about how many people from a particular state are no longer citizens of India.
An example of how the Modi government keeps track of the number of students going abroad to study is found in the statements given in Parliament. In Parliament, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Education give different numbers of students going abroad in the same year. In March 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs told the Parliament that 760073 students went abroad to study in the year 2024, 894783 in 2023 and 752111 Indian students in 2022. Obviously, despite all the claims of improving the education system, opening new IITs, IIMs and AIIMS and opening foreign universities in the country, every year more than 8 lakh students go abroad to study. In December 2024 too, the Ministry of Education had presented the number of students going abroad in Parliament. The Modi government’s jugglery of figures is such that the figures presented by the Ministry of Education were different from the figures of the Ministry of External Affairs. According to the figures presented by the Ministry of Education, 759064 students went abroad to get education in the year 2024, 892989 in 2023 and 750365 in the year 2022.
According to the Modi government, there is no data on employment in the country but there is no shortage of employment either, but the fact is that in the year 2024, 1 crore 85 lakh Indian workers went abroad in search of employment abroad. In the year 1990, this figure was only 66 lakh, that is, between the year 1990 and 2024, the number of Indians looking for employment abroad increased three times. Globally, in 1990, only 4.3 percent of the total people looking for employment abroad were Indian workers, but by the year 2024 this figure reached more than 6 percent.
With such a large number of Indian workers and students going abroad, it is necessary that we also understand their condition and security abroad. On March 20 this year, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs at the Centre, Kirtivardhan Singh, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said that a total of 10152 Indians are in jails in 86 countries of the world. He also clarified that this number is according to the information received in the ministry, most countries do not share information about prisoners – obviously the number of Indian prisoners abroad can be even more than this. According to the information, the highest number of 2633 prisoners are in Saudi Arabia, followed by 2518 in the United Arab Emirates, 1317 in Nepal, 611 in Qatar, 387 in Kuwait, 338 in Malaysia, 288 in the United Kingdom and 266 in Pakistan.
In this answer, further information has been given about the death penalty or hanging of Indians abroad. This answer is a sample of how misleading information is given in Parliament. On March 20, the Rajya Sabha was told that 25 Indians have been awarded death penalty in the United Arab Emirates but this order has not been implemented yet, while between the last week of February and the first week of March, at least three Indians were hanged there.
According to this answer, 49 Indians are facing death penalty in 8 countries, the highest number of which is 25 in the United Arab Emirates, 11 in Saudi Arabia and 6 in Malaysia. Between the year 2020 and 2024, 47 Indians were hanged in 6 countries, but surprisingly, according to the answer, not a single death penalty was given in the United Arab Emirates. Out of the 47 Indians who were put to death, 25 Indians were given this punishment in Kuwait alone, followed by 8 in Saudi Arabia and 7 in Zimbabwe.
Earlier, while giving information in Parliament in December 2024, the Foreign Minister said that the death penalty was given to 25 Indians in Kuwait alone, followed by 8 in Saudi Arabia and 7 in Zimbabwe.
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