Over 2 lakh Indians renounced Indian citizenship in 2024: Govt tells Lok Sabha
New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI): More than two lakh Indians renounced their citizenship in 2024, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said this in a written response to queries on the number of individuals who have renounced their Indian citizenship and taken citizenship of other countries during the last five years.
The minister was replying to queries by Congress MP K C Venugopal.
"As per the information available with the Ministry, the number of Indians who gave up their Indian citizenship was 85,256 in 2020, 1,63,370 in 2021, 2,25,620 in 2022, 2,16,219 in 2023 and 2,06,378 in 2024, Singh said.
For reference, such cases were 1,22,819 in 2011, 1,20,923 in 2012, 1,31,405 in 2013 and 1,29,328 in 2014, he added.
The reasons for renouncing Indian citizenship or taking foreign citizenship are personal and known only to the individual, the government said.
"The government recognises the potential of the global workplace in an era of the knowledge economy. It has also brought about a transformational change in its engagement with the Indian diaspora," the MoS said.
A successful, prosperous and influential diaspora is an asset for India, which stands to gain a lot from tapping their networks and productive utilisation of the soft power that comes from having such a flourishing diaspora, he said.
The government's efforts are also aimed at harnessing the diaspora's potential to its fullest including through sharing of knowledge and expertise, he said.
In response to another query, the government shared that according to available inputs, the population of overseas Indians is 3,43,56,193, out of which 1,71,81,071 are Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and 1,71,75,122 are Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
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Pak court grants bail to PM Shehbaz's daughter and her husband in graft case
Lahore (PTI): A Pakistani court on Tuesday granted bail to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's daughter Rabia Imran and her husband Imran Yousaf in a mega corruption and money laundering case.
Judge Ashfaq Ahmed allowed the bail petitions of the couple and restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting them till May 7.
"The special court (central) Lahore granted interim pre-arrest bail to PM Shehbaz's daughter, Rabia Imran and her husband Imran Yousaf till May 7 in a mega corruption and money laundering case as the couple personally appeared before the court along with their counsel after arriving from the UK, where they had gone in 2022 to evade arrest," a court official said.
Last week, an accountability court had suspended the perpetual arrest warrants issued against the couple in the multi-billion corruption case, related to the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.
The accountability court had issued perpetual warrants for their arrest in 2022 during the tenure of the Imran Khan government.
The PM's daughter and her husband had fled to the UK in 2022, and the court subsequently had declared them proclaimed offenders.
Interestingly, the country's anti-graft body -- National Accountability Bureau (NAB) -- that had instituted the multi-billion corruption case against the couple told the accountability court that it has no objection if the court suspends their warrants.
PM Shehbaz was also nominated in this corruption case but has been acquitted because of a lack of evidence.
Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has consistently alleged that the acquittal of PM Shehbaz and other ruling coalition members in various mega corruption cases is the result of a "compromised judiciary" and a "NAB-PMLN nexus" (referring to a perceived alliance between the NAB and the military-backed government).
His party has claimed these acquittals represent the "demise of justice" and has accused the judiciary of acting as a "silent accomplice" to state-backed political terrorism.
Khan was ousted from power in April 2022 through a no-confidence motion. Subsequently, he was arrested in August 2023 and has been in jail in multiple cases since then.
