Revision as of 22:43, 14 September 2017

British royalty in India; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

Extradition

1993-2016: No actual extraditions from the UK

The Times of India

Neeraj Chauhan | TNN | May 12, 2016

Pact signed in 1993, but not a single accused handed over by UK

Officials said the reasons cited by British courts and authorities to reject extradition were "insufficient evidence" or "incomplete paperwork".

Ever since India and the UK signed an extradition treaty in 1993, Britain has not handed over a single fugitive wanted by authorities here. The accused, after escaping to the UK, usually take the plea that the Indian government/agencies were biased towards them. This, and the provision of death penalty in India and the European Commission's provisions on human rights pose major hurdles in their extradition.

According to official figures, some 131 extradition requests for persons wanted by India are pending with the UK. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had even taken up the matter with the UK's minister of state for immigration James Brokenshire during his New Delhi visit in February. Officials said the reasons cited by British courts and authorities to reject extradition were "insufficient evidence" or "incomplete paperwork".

"Subsequently, extradition is refused usually after the accused takes a plea there that he/she has been charged due to political reasons or vested interest and that he/she is likely to be deprived of human rights in India and could face torture. So many cases have been denied by the UK on the ground that extradition would deny the person the right to family life (Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights)," said a senior official.

Examples of high profile fugitives whose extradition was rejected by UK courts are Ravi Shankaran, wanted in the naval war room leak case; Tiger Hanif, wanted in connection with two bomb attacks in Gujarat in 1993; and music director Nadeem Saifi, charged and later acquitted in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. The government also made efforts to bring former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi back but failed.

Wide scope for UK-India partnership: Jeremy Corbyn

The Hindu, November 6, 2016

Vidya Ram

UK govt. failing India as true partner: Jeremy Corbyn

The Conservative Government has failed to treat its relationship with India as a true partnership, British Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn said on the eve of Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to India. Corbyn called for the relationship to be imbued with “respect,” and pledged that a Labour government would adopt a very different policy to the Tories on immigration, in a wide-ranging interview with the Hindu on Saturday, that covered topics ranging from his vision of bilateral relations in post Brexit Britain to nuclear weapons and caste discrimination.

Workers rights and environmental protection would also be at the forefront of any future trade deal between India and post-Brexit Britain, he said. “There has to be a clear trade strategy for India. As someone who has had the pleasure of visiting India on a number of occasions, I have been impressed with the high level of practical innovative skill that there is in all Indian towns and villages that no longer exist in Europe. I think Europe can learn a bit from that.”

Here is the full transcript of the interview:

As Ms. May prepares to head to India, what is your message to India, and how do we build things like social justice into that relationship?

My message would be I have been to India a number of times myself and love and respect the country. I lead a party that is proud to be part of a multicultural, multilingual society in Britain and the inner London constituency I represent has university students from all over the world. Only yesterday I was with a group of students very concerned about their future in Britain because of the government’s — in my view — unfair behaviour towards students studying the English language here. I want us to be a welcoming place and think the growing links between our universities is wonderful. The way we make advances in education, and research is by sharing. We should look at India as a partner.

Does the British government treat India as a partner?

They look at India as a place to do business in and that’s fine but I’m not sure they fully appreciate that a partnership is something where you have to work two ways. Encouraging British students to study in India and making sure Indian students can stay here to get work experience before they decide what their next step is. There is a huge contribution of Indian intellectuals to Britain and the Labour Party, even back to the 1920s. We can learn and share a lot. Lets have some respect.

Brexit has unleashed anti-immigrant sentiment. What is the way to tackle this?

It’s utterly disgusting. The only way to deal with that irrational, vile behaviour is to stand up with all communities. What I did a week after the Brexit vote was organise locally a very large meeting of all communities and invited all to speak. I had Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jewish speakers, people of no particular faith. We are one community and we should stand together. I say to the people who think its ok to blame minorities: all you build is hatred, you haven’t built houses, schools or trained any doctors. I want us to work together and recognize the enormous contribution made by people who have made their homes in Britain.

How would your immigration policy differ from the government’s?

I would restore the right of students to undertake work experience. If you become a doctor, architect, lawyer, then you need time to build it up. The other issue is around family reunion: the income level set is often unrealistically high and there is a lot of stress for families. On doctors, the government should recognise that without foreign doctors, the NHS would collapse. I think the contribution that Indian doctors have made to Britain is phenomenal. I want to develop and improve the NHS but the idea that you could somehow survive without foreign doctors is simply untenable. I advise any of those who think it could to visit any hospital and see who is working there.

What lessons does your victory in two Labour Party elections have for left wing movements across the world?

That if we don’t challenge the economic orthodoxy that drives down the welfare state, we disappear as the Left and we disappear as a social democratic force. I think with our two wins we have shown just how strong the feeling is that there has to be a political and economic alternative. Our two victories were completely against the odds with very little support from the media and the establishment yet we got elected and our party membership is going up to 600,000. I think that says something about our appeal.

With parliamentary approval for Brexit looking increasingly likely, what will you be pushing for?

Our priorities are one: open market access to Europe; two: the protection of the working time directive and workers rights protections achieved through Europe and three: environmental protection regulations. The court ruling doesn’t necessarily make a big difference to the timetable but does mean Parliament will have to have a say. The genie is out of the bottle and I think there is inevitably going to be a parliamentary discussion on this. We are also building strong and close relations with socialist parties and trade unions across Europe.

As a long-time opponent of nuclear weapons what is your take on current India-Pakistan relations. What is the way forward?

I have spent my life opposing nuclear weapons and have spoken of the need for nuclear disarmament of India and Pakistan. We need the voice of peace from both countries. It does mean reducing tensions. I hope there can be improved relations by the de-escalation of tensions and taking nuclear weapons off the board.

What kind of a deal will Britain want to reach with India post-Brexit?

The traditional EU trade agreements have usually included a human element to it, which we would want and I would want to see environmental protection strengthened. We need to have more respect for workers rights and the environment. There has to be a clear trade strategy for India. As someone who has had the pleasure of visiting India on a number of occasions, I have been impressed with the high level of practical, innovative skill that there is in all Indian towns and villages that no longer exist in Europe. I think Europe can learn a bit from that.

Visa issues

2016-17: India, China receive the bulk

Lubna Kably, 50% of UK's visitor visas given to Chinese, Indians, Sep 14, 2017: The Times of India

Visitor, student and skilled- worker visas issued by the UK to Indians, 2016-17; Lubna Kably, 50% of UK's visitor visas given to Chinese, Indians, Sep 14, 2017: The Times of India

In Student Visas, India Sees Almost 10% Rise

Visitor visas constituted the bulk of total visas granted by the UK to nationalities in non-European Economic Area (EEA) during financial year ended June 30, 2017. Nearly 50% of visitors were from China and India.

Of the total 26.3 lakh visas issued by the UK during this period, 20.38 lakh or 77% were for visitors alone. The aggregate number of visitor visas reflected a rise of 8% over the previous year ended June 30, 2016. Of the 20.38 lakh visitor visas, Chinese were allotted 26% and Indians 20%. The primary visa categories include visitor, work and study .

According to the UK's home office, as many as 4.14 lakh Indians obtained visitor visas, a rise of 10% from the previous corresponding period. By comparison, those granted to the Chinese, excluding from Hong Kong, rose 24% to 5.36 lakh.

Aside from visitor visas, the most common ones granted to non-EEA nationals include study visas (excluding for short-term courses). During the year ended June 2017, 2.13 lakh such visas were granted, a 4% increase over the previous year.

Visas granted to the three largest non-EEA student nationalities saw an increase too. Chinese students were issued 82,200 visas, a rise of 17% from the previous financial year; Americans 14,400 visas, up just 1% and Indians 11,700, an almost 10% rise, states the UK's home office.

The EEA brings together the Europena Union countries and a few others such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland into a single market--allowing for free movement of people.

Thus, the UK home office statistics on visas include only non-EEA countries. The of ficial statement, though, explains that some non-EEA nationalities such as Americans do not normally require a visa to visit the UK. Consequently , the number of visitor visas granted is much lower than the total number of arrivals.

While Brexit may change the scenario, the number of visas issued to skilled workers remained fairly constant during the 12-month period ended June 30, 2017, compared with the corresponding period in the earlier year. There was an insignificant decline of 1.25% to 92,805 from 93,935.

The earlier trend continued, with Indian nationals accounting for nearly 58% (or 53,366) of the total skilled work visas granted. US nationals were the next largest group with 9,144 Tier-II visas granted to them or 10% of the total in this category.

In the previous corresponding year, Indians had obtained 53,548 Tier-II visas or 57% of the total visas in this category , whereas Americans with 10,019 were issued 11% of these visas. Work visas across all categories, which include Tier-I (unskilled), youth mobility and temporary ones saw a marginal decline of 2% from 1.66 lakh visas in June 2016 to 1.63 lakh visas.

The impact of Brexit has shown some signs with EU nationals gradually migrating out of the UK. Latest available figures for a 12month period up to March 2017 show that the net migration or the difference between the number of people entering and leaving the UK, was 2.46 lakh, a decrease of 81,000 from the previous year.

According to a Uniten Kingdon-based immigration counsel, the government's initial aim was to bring the net migration to below one lakh people a year. However, there has been internal discontent on this issue and the industry fears a brain drain should this happen.

“Indian workers are largely in the skilled category. Further, several of them are on company secondments. It is too early to tell what will be the impact of Brexit on them,“ says this expert.

See also

Indians in the UK