Earlier Non Resident Indian (NRI) men was regarded with high esteem by the government of India as the country has been able to increase its foreign exchange reserves mainly due to the export of manpower and technical expertise, says Priyan Govindankutty in an online press release.

But the status of NRI’s are fast changing and it is evident with the recent remark by India’s minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi that, he tells people back home “don’t marry Indians in America, including Canada” (press release at http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/20nri.htm).

The National Commission for Women is also proposing to the government of India to have specific laws related for NRI’s. (http://ncw.nic.in/Book-NRI_ Marriage.pdf). If this law is implemented, it is going to have a lot of hardship for NRI men. Some of the provisions of this law include that prior to getting married a NRI man should disclose his salary, employment and all other details to the prospective bride and her family which means that an NRI should make public all his confidential details. Normally a wife can claim a share in the husband’s property, but by this enactment, a NRI wife can claim share in NRI man’s parents’ property which is not the case with men residing in India. Further it also tells that no marriage between a NRI and an Indian woman which has taken place in India may be annulled by a foreign court.

The divorce rates among Indians are fast increasing and this is more in the case of marriages with educated wives mainly due to the women empowerment programmes and the related gender biased laws in India wherein wives are misusing many laws including filing false complaints of harassment against the husband and his relatives, domestic violence and child custody laws which have been framed with a view to protect Indian women.

Different women’s groups in India are lobbying for biased laws favouring wives and due to this already many husbands are suffering in India and abroad. There has been an increase in false complaints filed by the wives as it is easy for a wife to lodge a complaint against the husband and his family under the category of non-bailable and cognizable offence and many husbands have lost their jobs and the husband and their family are being legally harassed due to this. It is also interesting to note that when a wife files a complaint against the husband and his family, the authorities seldom listen to the women in the husband’s family including his mother and sisters.

In such a situation wherein the current gender baised laws in India are being increasingly misused which is one of the main reason for the increase in divorce rate, the proposed amendments directed against NRI men are more worrying.

Many NRI men have started raising concerns about the proposed change in law. They say that it is not only the men who work abroad and there are a lot of women also working abroad including their wives and why is the proposed law not applicable to NRI women? NRI men see this as a biased law proposed by the National Commission of Women which is directed against NRI men. Some have even commented that NRIs are today suffering abroad from tough immigration laws and now in the homeland by gender biased laws and becoming an NRI has become a curse and not a privilege and it is better to change citizenship to counter these Indian laws. But this is not easy for the huge NRI men working in the Middle East and other gulf countries.