The quality of the diaspora in Singapore is amazing, says outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, H.E. P Kumaran, in an exclusive interview with Connected to India, adding that he, his wife Ritu Kumaran and sons Aditya and Mayank, have thoroughly enjoyed their stay at India House.
The diplomat, who will be returning to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi as a Secretary on July 22, 2023, has had an eventful and “unusual” three-year stint as High Commissioner. India and Singapore share a long-standing relationship, with over 500,000 people of Indian origin living in the Lion City.
Singapore and India’s partnership has a history rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links. In 2021-22, bilateral trade was worth USD 30.11 billion; Singapore is the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India, with FDI inflows of USD 17.42 billion in 2020-21; total remittance from Singapore to India in the same year stood at USD 5.08 billion, the fourth-highest of any country.
H.E. Kumaran began his term in July 2020 during the height of the first COVID lockdown, which, he said, “slowed us down significantly and limited us to mostly online platforms”.
“In a normal posting, one of the first things I would have done is reach out to all community associations. You go and visit all your colleagues in various embassies. I did get to do that, but at a much slower pace than I would have liked. I would have liked to reach out in a much bigger way,” he added.
The High Commissioner further stated that when he first joined, they didn't have access to vaccines, and were not sure they understood the disease or the risks of going out and meeting people. They were all trying to be extra-cautious which slowed them down significantly.
Starting from late 2021, however, the high commission went into overdrive and made up for a lot of things that could not be done earlier. They organised special events and had an increased number of ministerial visits during the G20 presidency of Indonesia. They also managed a lot of activities under the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' banner, celebrating 75 years of Indian independence.
“I got to follow up on some of the issues that were ongoing with Singapore. It's not easy to get time with senior dignitaries, ministers, et cetera, in Delhi. We could not even have the National Day celebrations or Republic Day reception for two years. But this January we had a good one that compensated for the two previous years,” H.E. Kumaran said. He also pointed out that the slowdown was something that was not unique to Singapore and that colleagues and embassies in various countries had their own difficulties to deal with.
H.E. Kumaran, a 1992-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, has served in embassies, consulates and high commissions all over the globe. His first stint as envoy was as the Ambassador to Qatar from October 2016 to July 2020.
He is uniquely qualified to comment on the expansion and growth of the Indian diaspora globally over the past three decades.
The high commissioner, the Indian diaspora as well as the nation have shared an interesting symbiotic relationship all these years. Over the past 30 years, the engagement with Indians abroad has significantly increased, H.E. Kumaran said.
“If the diaspora does well, the country feels proud. And if the country does well, the diaspora feels proud. And in a very interesting way, both have come together at the same time. So that sense of belonging and pride in each other have strengthened in recent years. The kind of growth rates we're seeing today, the kind of achievements that we're recording today, the kind of pride that these achievements create, not only for India but also for the Indian diaspora, gives oxygen to this relationship,” he said.
He also stated that the Indian government’s active involvement and enthusiasm in diaspora interactions and sensitivity with which the government responded to issues such as consular requirements and OCI card related requirements have inculcated a sense of belonging among the diaspora to India.
“After Modiji became Prime Minister, his earlier cabinet with Sushmaji took a lot of interest in diaspora affairs and consular affairs. And PM Modi has made distinct efforts to try and engage large sections of the diaspora in all of his visits. He makes it a point to talk to Indian community representatives, Indian businesses, and also interact with communities on a large-scale format. It is something that has helped strengthen bonds with the diaspora,” HE Kumaran added.
According to the High Commissioner, diaspora affairs and interactions were one of the major turning points during his three years in the Lion City. The Indian diaspora plays a significantly important role in the multicultural Singapore framework.
He praised the Indian-origin community, stating that “in Singapore we have some of our best qualified professionals”. He also said that he appreciated interacting with people who were experts in various fields during his term.
Singapore has about 4,000 IIT alumni and about 1,500 IIM alumni, the largest concentration of IIT and IIM graduates in any one city across the globe.
“If you are going to look at one city, I don't think there is any bigger concentration of highly qualified Indian professionals,” H.E. Kumaran said. “We also have, of course, the older diaspora, which is very well established over the years in politics and bureaucracy, businesses and the judiciary; you have the Chief Justice who's an Indian origin person. You have the MAS Managing Director, who's of Indian origin. So we are a diaspora that has done well for itself. It has many achievements that we can be proud of.”
The outgoing Indian envoy elaborated on two separate incidents related to Indian migrant workers which, he said, highlighted the sensitivity of the Indian community in Singapore. According to Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower, the foreign workforce is over 1.4 million, with around 750,000 employed in the construction, marine shipyard, process and domestic sectors.
The first incident concerned the living conditions for migrant workers during the pandemic lockdown. They had been confined to their dorms for months and were feeling constrained and gloomy.
H.E. Kumaran recalled that the pan-IIM Alumni Association organised a few buses to drive the workers around the city and association members sat and interacted with these workers during the drive. “They got me into one of those buses, and I had a conversation with a group of youngsters who were Tamil-speaking. And we had a good conversation. Some of them were very grateful that not only did they get a drive around the city, they also got a chance to speak to the high commissioner,” he stated.
The second incident that impressed him concerned the Indian community’s response to organising comprehensive insurance coverage for blue collar workers, beyond coverage at their place of work. Most insurance policies covered deaths and accidents, disability and the like only at the workplace.
The High Commissioner said he saw a few cases where the family of a worker who had been in a mishap received no compensation because of lack of insurance coverage and wanted to provide a structured solution such as a top-up insurance policy that covers these eventualities. He said he saw a very enthusiastic positive response from Indian community organisations.
“People came out and said, look, you just get the policy, we will arrange for the premiums. We'll get a group insurance scheme and if the worker is finding it difficult to pay the premiums, you just tell us, thousand workers, this is the premium amount, and we will get it done. Several community associations came forward and said they're happy to do it,” H.E. Kumaran said.
The High Commissioner said he later discovered that there is an existing insurance policy in place called the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana which covers Indian workers employed abroad, but it had to be subscribed to before the worker left India.
“In Singapore, that doesn't seem to be happening. We only come to know of worker interest after they arrive here. So I'm trying to get a little amendment done to our policy where even after the worker reaches here, they should be able to subscribe online to this PBBY and get themselves covered,” he added. He also said he was confident they would find a solution.
Touching upon the bilateral India-Singapore relationship, the High Commissioner said that it had grown into a broad-based reciprocal one where both countries were benefiting a lot from each other and Singapore becoming a very important partner for India.
“We work together on a number of areas such as digitalisation for example. We just had the UPI PayNow link and there are many other further projects that I have expected to take off. We're also looking at collaborations in the green economy, carbon credit exchanges and working together as a part of the International Solar Alliance. Singapore is a very important partner for us for skill development, urban solutions, smart cities, waste management etc. Singapore wants to work with India on food security as a large producer of food products. So there are a lot of interesting areas,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of the tourism industry and traffic between the two nations, he said the relationship and the familiarity between India and Singapore goes back many centuries.
He added that tourism will always be a high priority for all envoys and that plans are in place to incorporate a specialised tourism office into the new High Commission building, which is set to be constructed in the next three years.
He also signed off with high praise for Singapore and its culture.
“We are going with warm memories here. It is a fantastically well organised country, systems work. There are a lot of lessons that can be taken back, notwithstanding the differences in scale at which we operate, but surely some of the ideas that have helped Singapore organise itself well can be taken back and incorporated into our own systems (in India),” he said.