Indians in the UK
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“The third largest number granted went to US nationals, who comprised less than 7%,“ an ONS statement said. Indians are also among the top three nationalities to be granted study visas by the United Kingdom. | “The third largest number granted went to US nationals, who comprised less than 7%,“ an ONS statement said. Indians are also among the top three nationalities to be granted study visas by the United Kingdom. | ||
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Revision as of 23:06, 5 November 2016
The first Indians, and other firsts
Britain’s first desi was a Bengali boy
The first woman to study law at Oxford was an Indian, and so was the man behind Britain’s first spa. A new book tells the story of Indian immigrants in the UK
Monica Bathija
A recorded presence since 1614
In 1793, Sake Dean Mohamed, born in Bihar in 1759 and having worked his way up in the East India Company, moved to Cork, Ireland where he wrote the first known Indian travel narrative in English. That’s not the only first to his credit — a shrewd entrepreneur, Mohamed migrated to London in 1808 with his wife Jane and children and opened the first Indian coffee house there. Then, when that business began to fail, he moved to Brighton, reinvented himself, and in 1821 revived the town’s spa culture by opening ‘Vapour Baths’. He went on to become the official ‘shampooing surgeon’ of George IV.
If the predominant myth about Britain’s contemporary South Asian population is that they arrived after the end of World War II, mostly cheap labour from the subcontinent being sought to rebuild a war-torn Britain, Susheila Nasta and Florian Stadtler’s new book Asian Britain: A Photographic History, dispels the notion. The Asian presence in Britain dates back to over 400 years ago when a small population had arrived as early as the formation of the East India Company in 1600.
“One of the first recorded presences of an Indian in Britain was in 1614 when Patrick Copland, a chaplain in the East India Company, returned to England with a Bengali boy,” says Nasta, literary critic and editor of Wasafiri, a literary magazine. The boy was christened Petrus Papa or Peter Pope and brought up as a Christian.
The book explores the interconnections between Britain and India from the period of the so-called ‘Raj’ to the present, directing the lens, so to speak, in the direction of Indians in Britain rather than the other way round. A lot of the focus on Raj history has largely been on the British in India, so the book, says Nasta, “looks, if you like, at the other side of this story, the obvious fact that due to the long trading and political connections between both countries, the traffic was two way.”
Some firsts
Through pictures, the book tells the stories of Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to read law at Oxford way back in 1892, and suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh who, exploiting her public profile as Queen Victoria’s god-daughter, drew attention to her fight for women’s rights and was often seen selling The Suffragette outside Hampton Court Palace. And though Keith Vaz’s election in 1987 was an important symbolic moment — Vaz was the first Asian MP in Britain since 1929 — the photographs remind us that it was actually Dadabhai Naoroji who was Britain’s first Asian MP in 1892, his concerns ranging from the housing conditions of his Finchley constituents to the imperial drain on India’s resources brought about by empire.
The interconnectedness of the two countries is also a story that moves from the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition where Indians were featured as living exhibits to the over 1.4 million troops that fought alongside British soldiers in the trenches during World War 1. It’s a story about the RAF recruits that flew planes in the Battle of Britain and sari-clad Indian volunteers who helped during air raids. There were also lascars or seamen who ‘stoked the engine of Empire on British steamships’ and were forced by the arduous conditions on board to find more lucrative sources of employment as well as ayahs who worked as nannies for English families on the long sea voyage home and were left to fend for themselves soon after arrival. Not to mention the interesting story where around the time Mohandas Gandhi made his way to Britain to study law, Abdul Karim, who went on to become the Queen’s closest political advisor, first arrived in the royal household as an ordinary waiter.
The elites and the common man all form a part of the narrative. ‘’We wanted to highlight the long history of Asian contribution to Britain but to not try to hide the troubled times or the racism or the difficulties that have been experienced,’’ says Nasta, who has also directed two research projects looking at the early migrant histories of South Asians in Britain.
Migration is, at the best of times, a fraught issue and when you throw colonialism into the mix, it makes for a history that is complicated and intriguing. ‘’There is always a doublespeak going on as is evident from India’s involvement in WW2 which was welcomed and then there was failure to acknowledge this after Independence. Following the migrations of the 1960s, Asians were viewed as strangers flooding Britain’s shores,’’ says Nasta. ‘’And the point about all the pictures is not only what they say but what they don’t say, and the thoughts they provoke about their subject’s different lives in Britain.’
Indians:largest foreign voter group in UK
Jan 30 2015, Kounteya Sinha
6.15L: Indians form largest foreign voter group in UK
Almost 4 million voters about one in 10 of the entire electorate in England and Wales have been found to be born abroad. Indians have emerged the largest chunk in this foreign born electorate.
As many as 615,000 Indians will vote in the upcoming election. The second largest chunk of foreign voters will be Pakistanis 431,000.
Records show the Commonwealth migrant communities (in particular from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and South Africa) along with the Irish Republic will have the highest numbers of potential voters in May 2015. EU nationals despite their large and growing presence in the UK will be heavily under-represented in May 2015 as a large majority of them have not acquired British citizenship yet.
The migrant electorate is heavily concentrated in London 19 of the 20 seats with the largest migrant voter shares are in Greater London.
The migrant electorate could have decisive power in at least 70 seats.
Property in Mayfair
The Times of India Feb 24 2015
Kounteya Sinha
Indians have overtaken Russians to become the wealthiest landlords in Britain’s most expensive commercial district — Mayfair in London. Indian purchasers are now the largest group of overseas buyers in Mayfair comprising 25% of all purchasers and well ahead of other Asian and European buyers (19% of all purchasers) and Russians and Middle Eastern buyers who now comprise just 13% each. Indian billionaires have invested as much as £881million ($1.5 billon) in central London properties in past 18 months. Up to £440 million ($750m) was spent between wealthy home owners across 221 capital homes in 2013 with Mayfair and Belgravia being the most popular locations. Renowned Mayfair estate agency Wetherell estimate that at the height of each British summer some 3,000 ultrahigh net worth (UHNW) Indian families make Mayfair their address, living in London homes, renting property or staying in luxury hotels.
Figures from the land registry show that overseas based Indian buyers spent almost £450 million purchasing some 221 residential properties in prime central London with the top three most popular locations being Mayfair, St Johns Wood and Belgravia.
Indians have also accounted for more than one in four purchases in central London during the same period. That is second only to Britons, with Russians and Middle Eastern buyers together adding up to 13%.
Wetherell said, “Russians have long ranked first among foreign buyers in terms of their spending power. There’s a new nationality encroaching on their prime property turf — Indians. Indian buyers will typically spend anything from £1million to £20 million on purchasing a home in Mayfair, with 70% buying an apartment or penthouse and the balance acquiring a mansion.” Wetherell highlight that super-prime developers owned by UK or overseas based UHNW Indian families are al so set to undertake over £500 million of new residential development in Mayfair over the next five years.
Examples include the Lodha Group, which recently purchased the Canadian embassy building in Grosvenor Square for £306 million. They plan to turn the 135,000sqft property into a scheme of over 40 luxury residences.
Another luxury developer Luxlo has undertaken a series of residential developments in Mayfair, including penthouses in Park Lane, which have sold for over £4,000 a sqft and Aion, whose ultra-prime apartment at 18 Grosvenor Square is priced at a record £5,130 per sqft.
Divorce granted by a foreign court is invalid
Smriti Singh TNN
The Times of India, Oct 9, 2011
NRI divorce: Order by UK court ‘invalid’
Divorce granted by a foreign court to a non-resident Indian (NRI) is invalid where the estranged spouse doesn’t have the means to go to that country and contest the proceedings. A trial court has held this view while hearing the case of a UK-based NRI couple.
The NRI man had obtained divorce decree from an Ilford county court even as his wife had returned to India and not “submitted to the jurisdiction of a foreign court”. The trial court held that the decree granted by the UK court cannot be recognized.
“The fact that the petitioner has been residing in India since December 2009 and did not have the wherewithal to contest the proceedings on merit in the UK court not only created an imbalance and an inequitable situation, but clearly points out that she had not submitted to the jurisdiction of that court,” additional district judge Ina Malhotra said.
The woman (petitioner) had moved the trial court, seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Her husband, however, submitted that their marriage had already been dissolved by a court in UK and had attained finality, and therefore, the application was infructuous. Also, since both the parties were UK residents, the decree was valid, he said.
But the woman’s counsel, Prashant Mendiratta, argued that since she had never subjected herself to the jurisdiction of the UK court adjudicating on the divorce, the decree passed by that court would not be binding on her. Citing various judgments by the Supreme Court on the issue, Mendiratta said that in any case the proper law for dissolution of a marriage solemnized by Hindu rites and ceremonies between two Hindus would be the personal law of the parties, which is the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — a law not applicable in the UK.
After going through the contentions of both the parties, the court held that the objections raised by the woman fell within the purview of the exceptions of Section 13 of Civil Procedure Code (when foreign judgment not conclusive), rendering the foreign court’s decree null and void. “I find that the apex court has clearly opined that where the foreign judgment is in defiance of Indian law, it could not be said to be conclusive in the matter adjudicated and would be unenforceable in this country,” the judge said.
Indian students
Indian students in UK universities
Kounteya Sinha
May 19, 2015
UK sees 50% dip in Indian students since 2010
The number of Indian students traveling to the United Kingdom for studies has fallen by a whopping 50% since 2010, latest statistics have revealed. New research from London First and Price Waterhouse Coopers has found that international students are a boon to the UK, bringing a net benefit of £2.3 billion to the economy from London universities alone.
However, the key areas of concern raised by students include the closure of the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) visa route which is the main reason for Indian students to explore countries like Canada and Australia for higher education besides a very short "grace period" between graduation and expiry of their student visa during which time students would need to find a job offer from an employer that could sponsor them under Tier 2 in order to remain in the UK.
The report says that "since the 2009/10 academic year, the number of international students from India has fallen by 50% whereas the number of international students from China has increased by more than 50%".
This fall saw the number of Indian students in UK in 2013 dipping to as low as 19750 making up only 6% share of total students. Even then, Indians made up the second highest chunk of international students n UK.
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK said that Indian students were being put off by an unwelcome visa regime. "A number of worrying signs remain - not least the continued decline in Indian students - almost by a remarkable 49% between 2010 and 2012," she said.
Interestingly the latest analysis by London Calling dismisses the myth that international students are a burden on public services, such as the NHS.
Instead, they were shown to contribute a total of £2.8 billion through the spending they bring to the country, while only consuming £540 million in public spending.
The report recommends "UK should follow the lead of other countries such as Canada and Australia and stop classifying students as immigrants. They are here for a short time only and by choosing to study in the UK, they are contributing to jobs, growth and cultural understanding in this country. The government should reinstate the automatic option or make it easier for international students to work here for a few years after graduation".
International students in UK universities come from over 190 countries. The UK is just below the US in terms of the total number and diversity of international students in its higher education institutions. Around 30% of international students across all UK HE institutions were of Chinese descent (87,895 out of a total international student population in UK HE institutions of 310,195) with other common nationalities including India (6%), Nigeria (6%), and Malaysia (5%).
In total, during the 2013/14 academic year, international students contributed £1,003 million in fee income to London universities. The report said "We estimate that the direct income from tuition fees contributed £1,317 million to UK GDP; £717 million directly, £183 million via the supply chain and £417 million via the spending of employees.
In addition, the £1,003 million in tuition fee income from international students generated a total of 32,800 jobs. We estimate that, in total, friends and relatives that visit international students in London spent £62 million in 2013/14. This spending will contribute £65 million to UK GDP".
In 2013-14 there were almost 67,500 international students attending London universities - making up 18% of the total student population in the capital, and 22% of the 310,000 international students across the UK. The decline in Indian students choosing to study at UK universities has been flagged up as a worrying trend as a new study said that international students coming here contribute nearly 2.3 billion pounds to the British economy every year.
3rd in generating London's revenue
The Times of India, Oct 22 2015
Kounteya Sinha Indian students 3rd in generating London's revenue
Indian students in London were the third largest revenue generator for the city last year, contributing £130 million. London mayor Boris Johnson's first-of-its-kind analysis has found that Indian students paid £56 million in fees and nearly £74 million in living costs, with the money creating and supporting 1,643 jobs. But the report also confirms a major fall in Indian students in the UK -from 10% of all international students in London in 2010 to around 4% in 2014. While Chinese student numbers have grown by 49% since 2009-10, the Indian numbers have continued to decline, falling by 11% year on year.
“Indian students coming to London and the rest of the UK have approximately halved over the last five years,“ the report says.
“In 200910 London welcomed 9,925 Indian students which fell to 4,790 in 201314.“
Kevin McCarthy , head of Study London, told TOI: “Indian students, like Indian businesses, play an important part in London's economy . Our research shows they are a key contributor to the £3-billion international students make to the economy . The recent fall in Indian students has clearly had a negative impact on their contribution to the UK economy“.
International students studying at London universities last year provided a £3 billion boost to the UK economy . China was the biggest contributor (estimated spend: £407 million), followed by the US (£217 million). Money spent in the UK by international students created 37,000 jobs, according to a new report by London & Partners, the mayor of London's official promotional company . Spending by international students increased by 18% compared to four years ago and by 98% when compared to 2005-06.
Students from the US were the highest contributors per capita, spending £33,600 per year on average. In 2014, London had welcomed over 106,000 international students.
Indians in the UK politics
May 26 2015
Kounteya Sinha
Up to a million ethnic minority votes helped put David Cameron back into Downing Street.
Indian-origin voters played kingmaker in UK polls: Survey
In what was a historic swing never seen before in a British parliamentary election, the country's ethnic minority communities including the enormous Indian population played the king maker that saw Cameron become PM for the second time with a clear majorit.
The Conservatives won a majority as a result of one million ethnic minority votes, research by British Future think tank has found.Nearly 6,15,000 Indian-origin voters were expected to vote in the May 7 elections 2015. It found much higher support for the Conservatives among Asian voters this year with 50% in favour of Cameron's party and only 38% supporting Labour. Cameron's visits to Indian temples and promises of giving the country its first PM of Asian origin in the near future reaped rich results. The first post-election analysis reveals that 1 in every 3 of ethnic minority voters supported the Conservatives in 2015, a stronger result than ever before for the party which has historically struggled to appeal to non-white voters.
With 3 million ethnic mi nority voters taking part in the election, the results equate to the Conservatives securing one million ethnic minority votes for the first time in the party's history.
Around 49% of the Hindu votes went to the Conservative Party while 41% went to Labour. Cameron had worked hard in drawing the Hindu vote, visiting the Swaminarayan temple and accorded it the same status as the Stone henge and the Big Ben.
He promised that if he returns as PM, he would pay a visit to the Akshardham temple in Delhi. He also said that Britain needs to take inspiration from Hinduism if it wants to become better.
He had said, “When I look at the Ramayana and my understanding of the Hindu religion, there's so much that you have to say about the importance of family , the importance of community , the importance of voluntary service -these are all the values that our country needs more of. So, as you celebrate your values, let's make them our values, and let's have more of them in Britain“.
The organization British Future said, “When translated into votes, based on an estimated 3 million ethnic minority voters, the results equate to 1.6 million votes for Labour, with the Conservatives securing one million of these votes for the first time.“ EU citizens will not vote in referendum?
Citizens from most EU countries living in the UK will not get a vote in the referendum on Europe. Around 45.3 million people will be eligible to take part in the referendum to decide whether Britain should remain in the European Union. PM David Cameron's office has made it clear that citizens from most EU countries living in the UK will not be included in th e referendum, which keeps almost a million Europeans living in UK banned from voting -a significant boost to Eurosceptic campaigners. Irish citizens and those from two other EU nations -Malta and Cyprus -will be allowed to vote along with others from the Commonwealth countries. This means that Britain's Indian community will play a major role in the results. The UK electoral database puts Indian-born population as the largest foreign-born group in the country.
Indians: second job creators in London
May 20 2015
Kounteya Sinha
In 2012, India created 404 jobs in London followed by 429 in 2013 and 438 in 2014.
With a tally of 504, Indians have become the second biggest job creators in London in 2015. The Americans top the list with 1983 jobs, latest data released by London and Partners on Tuesday show. In comparison, China, which is investing heavily in the UK, created only 277 jobs.
Indian companies have already created 504 new jobs in 2015 in London alone -second only to the Americans who created 1983 jobs. China which is investing heavily in UK created only 277 jobs.
The number of jobs being created by Indian companies for Londoners has been increasing with every passing year. In 2012, India created 404 jobs in London followed by 429 in 2013 and 438 in 2014.
More foreign companies -driven by a surge in tech startups -are expanding or setting up headquarters in London than ever before. A record 270 companies, creating nearly 5,000 jobs, have set up or grown significantly in the last year, according to the Mayor's business and promotional company .
As far as new companies are concerned, 28 new Indian companies set up shop in London in 2015 -four higher than the Chinese and second only to America. Global giants like Pfizer, Greenland Group and Tata Elxsi have all expanded or created new headquarters in London. f A decade ago, just 26 tech t companies came to London s but, last financial year there were a record 108. London and a Partners said, “Companies l from India, China, Japan, Australia, Spain and France are also key investors, creating many jobs in tech, financial and business services and the life science industry.“
Indians: Largest overseas born population in UK
The Times of India, July 3, 2015
Kounteya Sinha
Indians have now become UK's biggest overseas born population.
Data released by Office of National Statistics shows that the number of Indians living in UK is four times more than the Chinese and Americans, over three times more than those of Bangladeshi and German origin and two times more than those from Ireland.
The number of Indians have grown by half since 2004 with 7.6 lakh of them living in UK now. India is followed by those of Polish origin (8.88 lakhs), Pakistani (5.16 lakh), Irish (3.78 lakhs), German (2.97 lakhs) and Bangladeshis (2.28 lakhs).
UK is also home to 2.2 lakh people of South African origin, 1.97 lakh who are Americans, 1.91 lakh from China and 1.85 lakhs from Nigeria.
The latest numbers also point to the growing clout Indians enjoy in British society.
The importance of India to UK was reflected with British prime minister visiting India over three times since taking over office in 2010, the only country he has travelled to so many times in his first term in office.
The number of immigrants living in the UK went up by more than 2.6million in a decade and there is now one immigrant for every seven people born in Britain.
In 2004, there were 5,258,000 people living in Britain who were born overseas and 53,907,000 people who were born in Britain.
By 2013, the estimates said, there were 7,921,000 people in Britain who were born abroad, and 55,309,000 born in the UK.
The changing face of British streets also changed the election results during the landmark general election in UK in May.
The House of Commons welcomed the highest number of MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds. As many as 42 MPs are now from ethnic minority backgrounds as against 27 earlier.
Britain is often considered the world's most diverse country.
By 2040, the number of foreign-born and non-white residents in UK is expected to double and account for a third of the population.
One of the world's best experts on demographics - Professor David Coleman from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford recently predicted that by 2070, white Britons may actually become a minority.
Prime minister David Cameron has gone on record saying his party will give Britain its first Asian prime minister.
The longest serving MP of Indian origin Keith Vaz said "I am convinced that in my lifetime a person of Indian origin will become PM of UK. The Indian diaspora is one of the largest and most historical of ethnic groups in the UK, we can already see the influence of this community in politics, and indeed the potential for British-Indian leaders to emerge to the very top positions including the Premiership of the UK".
2014: Number of Indian students in universities 10% lower
The Times of India, Jan 16 2016
Kounteya Sinha
No. of Indians in UK univs fell by 10% in 2014
The number of Indian students at British universities fell by 10% in 2014 in a blow to the country's education sector. According to latest figures released, the US is now sending more students to the UK than India, pushing it down to third slot in the rankings. In 2010, 9,650 American students enrolled in British universities, while 23,970 Indians secured admissions there. The number of American students increased to 10,205 while that of Indians fell to 10,125 four years later.
The British Council has described the dwindling numbers as “alarming“.
The number of Chinese students increased from 44,805 in 2010 to 58,845 in 2014.
The UK's decision to scrap the post-study work visa has been described as one of the reasons for the fall in the number of Indian students. Prime Minister David Cameron has refused to reintroduce the visa.
Scotland has written to Cameron expressing surprise and disappointment over his refusal to reintroduce post-study work visa. Indian students in London alone were third largest revenue generators for the city with £130 million contribution in 2014.
London mayor Boris Johnson's analysis has found Indian students paid £56 million in fees and nearly £74 million in living costs. The money created and supported 1,643 jobs. “Indian students coming to London and the rest of the UK have approximately halved over the last five years,“ he said.
2015-16: Largest skilled workers group
The Times of India, May 27 2016
Indian nationals accounted for the largest number of migrants being granted skilled visas to work in the UK in the last year, latest statistics said.
Indian nationals accounted for 57% of total skilled work visas granted, which adds up to 52,109 of the total 91,833, with Americans the next largest nationality group at 9,981 or 11% of the total, the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) data said.“Trends in visa numbers reflect both changes to the im migration rules and the prevalent economic environment. Asian nationals accounted for 298,231 (56%) of the 531,375 longer-term visas granted in YE March 2016, with China and India accounting for 17% and 16% of the total respectively.
“The third largest number granted went to US nationals, who comprised less than 7%,“ an ONS statement said. Indians are also among the top three nationalities to be granted study visas by the United Kingdom.
