Ship India Is Sinking and People Are Fleeing

Indians, especially Indian students, have been leaving India to study abroad at an increasing rate. In 2024, 1.3 million students left India to study abroad. By mid-2025, this number had increased to 1.8 million. A broad estimate suggests that only 20–35% of Indian students return to India after completing their foreign education – a significant majority chooses to settle abroad initially. This number is lower in European countries due to visa requirements, and the more substantial number of students going to countries such as Canada, the USA, and Australia.

A small number have been renouncing their citizenship every year. Between 2004 and 2013, the total number was only 352,900. However, since the BJP government came to power in 2014, the number of Indians renouncing their citizenship has increased fivefold. Over the last 5 years, at least 1 million Indians have renounced their citizenship.

Indians Renouncing Citizenship: 2004–2013 (Previous 10 years)

Year Number of People

2004 13,718

2005 16,196

2006 17,009

2007 20,537

2008 22,219

2009 25,867

2010 27,663

2011 35,435

2012 42,851

2013 1,31,

Total (2004–2013): 352,900

Average per year: ~35,290

Here are the official statistics from the Government of India on how many Indian citizens have voluntarily renounced their Indian citizenship (relinquishments) each calendar year over roughly the past decade:

Year Indians giving up citizenship (annual)

2014 129,328

2015 131,489

2016 141,603

2017 133,049

2018 134,561

2019 144,017

2020 85,256

2021 163,370

2022 225,620 (record high)

2023 216,219

2024 206,378

The 2024 figure (206,378) was confirmed in July 2025 by Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh, based on data up to 2024.

The average annual relinquishments have increased nearly 5-fold from the 2004–2013 decade to the 2014–2024 decade.

The ten-year figure would be close to 13–13.5 lakh.

Key Factors:

1. Economic Opportunity
2. Better jobs and wages: Many leave to earn in stronger currencies or access professional growth that isn’t available at home.
3. Higher standard of living: Healthcare, education, housing, and infrastructure may be more accessible or reliable.
4. Escape from poverty or stagnation: For some, emigration is the only realistic path to financial security.

Example: Indian engineers moving to the US or Canada for tech careers.

2. Education & Career Growth
3. World-class universities, research facilities, and global networks attract students and professionals.

Often, student visas lead to long-term residency, creating a natural pathway for individuals to stay in their host country. Youth unemployment remains a persistent issue, particularly among graduates.

1. Rising inequality: India’s richest 1% now control over 40% of national wealth.

Example: Students from India, Nigeria, or China often remain abroad after graduation.

3. Political & Civil Freedom

People may feel oppressed by their government through censorship, surveillance, corruption, or suppression of dissent.

Journalists, activists, religious minorities, or those facing unfair treatment often seek asylum or emigrate for freedom. Evidence of concern: India’s Press Freedom Index and Democracy Rankings have declined. India is an “electoral autocracy”.

Use of laws like UAPA, sedition, and internet shutdowns has raised concerns over shrinking space for dissent.

Social Insecurity: Communal tensions and polarization have grown in certain areas, especially with incidents involving religious minorities (e.g., mob lynchings, hate crimes).

Recently, on July 28, 2025, Mr. Kavin Selvaganesh, a young gold medalist B.E. graduate working with TES 37 in Chennai, was savagely hacked to death in KTC Nagar, Thoothukudi. He earned two lakhs of rupees per month. His father is a former MLA, and his mother is a teacher. He belonged to a lower class and was going to marry a girl of a higher class. This is an act of violence born from deep-rooted hatred towards an oppressed community’s success and dignity. Events like this are affecting the Indians in diaspora to shun their citizenship.

Critics point to a rise in intolerance and self-censorship due to fear of backlash or trolling. Minorities, dissenters, and some civil society groups report feeling less secure; others feel more empowered culturally.

Conclusion: Civil society actors, journalists, and opposition voices frequently report an increase in political insecurity.

These numbers include only the number of people who have discarded their Indian citizenship, but the number of Indians living in India every year is much larger. There are Indians who are physically in India, but in their mind, they are convinced that this is no longer their country. This is true for many Sikhs in Punjab. As the farmers’ agitation against the central government of India intensifies, more children of farmers from Haryana are also leaving India.

Allama Iqbal, a great poet and philosopher, is known for his famous poem “Our India is better than the whole world.” In the end, he reversed his thinking and wrote another poem, “I feel ashamed calling this country my own” (11/9/1877-4/21/1938). The situation in India today is worse than when he wrote the last poem.

India never was a single country. There is a Hindu India in the middle who wants to dominate the rest of India, and the current BJP government has been very successful in convincing the religious minorities and some other minorities that India is not their country. They do not feel safe in India. The result of this will be the disintegration of India, with the country breaking into many smaller countries.

It is essential for Sikhs in the diaspora to identify those Indians who are renouncing their citizenship and understand the reasons behind it. Even though no statistics are available, my feeling is that most of these Indians feel disenfranchised back home and belong to religious minorities, who are persecuted back home. We need to collaborate with them and make a bigger coalition to end this in India by liberating minorities from Hindutva ideology.