Ashok Mitra not only writes poorly, he is poorly informed too. Indians in the Gulf can ONLY HAVE INDIAN PASSPORTS, because their host countries would only issue them renewable work visas, as opposed to the "white" countries that allow Indians to settle down and become citizens. that's why the question of Dual citizenship for Gulf Citizens does not arise. I don't think AM did any research on this at all.
No amount of ranting can disprove the fact that many Indians loved Kalpana Chawla dearly and held her in very high regard. As for your MIG pilots, old airplanes, poor skills, shortage of spare parts and bad maintenance are the more likely reasons. So according to AM, mourning IAF's mismanagement of fleet and wastage of taxpayer's money is more appropriate. How ridicuous is that?
Why you guys don't understand the principle of investment? Forget about Foreign/NRI investment. Many Resident Indian Peole are getting lot of money within months getting into politics. Do they invest in any infrastructure in India? No, they will again and again invest only in politics, because that pays back. Even poor Resident Indians are ready to invest in "Five star" finance companies and loosing their mony. Not because of patriotism, but because they think that they will get heigher interest. So, this government's step is in right direction. This should be followed by more liberal economic programs, otherwise as usual you guys will go into NRI bashing. MIG crashes almost once in 2 months. Many deths happens because of road accidents. Reason for the visibility of Shuttle accident is, because it's just 2nd in history and one of them killed was an Indian origin. What's your problem in this? It looks like you might have been happier, if she would have stayed in India and kept Indian citeship and dooing some cooking work in a house. In America citizenship matters only for voting and President. In Gulf countries, it's huge security issue. Also this dual citizenship is for making India richer by attracting investment. How do you expect equal foreign policies with respect to all countries of the world??
This writer is mocking the sincere grief we Indians felt at the death of Kalpana Chawla, she was born in India and lived here for 20 long years. Is pathetic to mourn her even if she choose some other country as her home. We grieve for the young pilots who die, we also mourn for self pitying communist journalists such as this one for they have lost all sense of proportion or reason.
I think the writer needs to get his facts straight before writing articles like this. What does he mean by:
"The highlight of the proceedings was the prime minister's announcement conferring dual citizenship on those NRIs who are settled in 'white' countries, such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and so on and a smattering of other non-Islamic lands. NRIs living, for example, in the Gulf countries are not to be granted that prerogative. The blatantly sectarian character of the gesture will perhaps do India more harm than good." ???
Doesn't he know that none of the Gulf countries give citizenships by naturalisation? Maybe a haldful of rich and powerful Indians have managed it in the past, but to my knowledge, no one has received a passport in these countries by Naturalization. So where is the question of "Dual citizenship?" Even if you have lived all your life in UAE, Saudi Arabia or any of the Middle East countries as an Indian Citizen, you are not eligible for a passport from that country.
Dual Citizenship is a reciprocal arrangement. There is no point in giving Dual Citizenship opportunities to Indian Origin citizens of countries where dual citizinship is not legal.
The author is irresponsible in writing the governments should not mourn the Indian-American Astronaut. It typifies the Indian mentality where one tries to pull down another when one cannot raise him(her)self. So what's so wrong about mourning an individual who has aspired and achieved great heights in her quest to pursue her dreams irrespective of the nationality. It is certainly not true that the other sacrifices made by the defense personnel are not appreciated, it is just that's how the press and everyone else portrays some of the government's actions. If any, what has the author done to bring to the public's attention the thousands of people (Indian and non-Indian) who die every year in Kashmir and other parts. So who is going ga-ga about mourning Ms. Chawla and who is ignoring the average Indian who struggles generation after generation in abject poverty and even at times, facing the grim reality of dying for one's country in a war. This is the fundamental flaw in the Indian psyche. With distances shrinking and boarders falling, one is getting more and more a sense of being the global citizen.
This article only goes to show how perverted and narrow-minded the individual's views have been and it is not worthy of being published.
