'Governments need to follow, not lead, young people who want travel liberalized in South Asia'
Whether you want to visit family, get medical treatment, or do business across the border, your plans are at the mercy of an immigration officer who has heard it all before.
File photo: India’s High Commissioner in Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami <strong>Focus Bangla</strong>
Publish : 15 Oct 2021, 11:53 PMUpdate : 21 Jan 2025, 10:22 PM
Applying for a visa is a humbling process. No more so than in South Asia.
Whether you want to visit family, get medical treatment, or do business across the border, your plans are at the mercy of an immigration officer who has heard it all before.
It's almost taboo to talk about the ways travel could become easier in South Asia. And yet, this is exactly what some young people are starting to do.
Earlier this year, Rushali Saha, an India-based researcher, wrote that "India's Visa Policy Can Better Reflect Neighborhood First" in South Asian Voices.
She had a good point.
The high commissioner says he is doing everything he can to help Bangladeshis who need to travel to India. I believe him. And when I read between the lines, I think it looks like he doesn't have the political support he, and others like him, need to take it further and integrate South Asia.
DT: Smart young people are starting to look at South Asia differently. They value freedom of movement. They see their opportunities clearly. And they want liberalized visa regimes. It makes economic sense. What needs to happen to make it a reality?
Doraiswami: I am personally very sympathetic to this goal.
The younger generation on both sides has inherited the baggage of the past, but the good news is that they do not necessarily have to carry these burdens on their own backs.
And I think this is the strength of the youth on both sides: they are confident in their identity, and comfortable with it, and they are focused on the future, not fixated on the past.
It is in this context that I'm glad to say thatnearly 1.8 million visas were issued by India for tourism, study, family visits, business and even medical care, in the pre-pandemic period.
As to further liberalization, I am personally hopeful that as our bilateral ties continue to reach newer heights and as people find new and better opportunities to work with each other, we can aim for even further liberalization of travel regulations.
Even in the current pandemic context, we have issued over 300,000 visas in Bangladesh over the past six months, despite lockdowns and the closure of the land border from this side. This has been no small achievement, given the challenges keeping our visa operations running during lockdowns, so that at least emergency and medical services were not stopped.
In point of fact, Bangladesh is already our largest visa operation in the world, which we service through 15 visa application collection centres nationwide, and five diplomatic posts, including our mission in Dhaka.
Looking ahead though, I believe that as our two nations move to an era of comfort with our own respective national identities, and our own sense of nationhood, we will be able to work toward the kind of institutional cooperation between regulatory agencies that can help make travel easier, simpler and more seamless.
On a personal, somewhat philosophical note, I'd like to say that I believe that this is an inevitable, if evolutionary trend, toward which our comparatively young, very Westphalian nations, are already moving.
For now, it is a process that is being driven by economics, and to some extent, the information revolution. But it is being hindered too, by the hesitations of history and the burdens of our shared past.
I believe the younger generation, on both sides, will instinctively work to de-politicize this process and actually provide it an impetus.
This generation, which is less predisposed to carrying the baggage of our complex South Asian modern history, will be best placed to drive this transformation.
And in my personal view again, it would be good for governments to follow in this regard, rather than attempt to lead this process.
'Governments need to follow, not lead, young people who want travel liberalized in South Asia'
Whether you want to visit family, get medical treatment, or do business across the border, your plans are at the mercy of an immigration officer who has heard it all before.
Applying for a visa is a humbling process. No more so than in South Asia.
Whether you want to visit family, get medical treatment, or do business across the border, your plans are at the mercy of an immigration officer who has heard it all before.
It's almost taboo to talk about the ways travel could become easier in South Asia. And yet, this is exactly what some young people are starting to do.
Earlier this year, Rushali Saha, an India-based researcher, wrote that "India's Visa Policy Can Better Reflect Neighborhood First" in South Asian Voices.
She had a good point.
The high commissioner says he is doing everything he can to help Bangladeshis who need to travel to India. I believe him. And when I read between the lines, I think it looks like he doesn't have the political support he, and others like him, need to take it further and integrate South Asia.
DT: Smart young people are starting to look at South Asia differently. They value freedom of movement. They see their opportunities clearly. And they want liberalized visa regimes. It makes economic sense. What needs to happen to make it a reality?
Doraiswami: I am personally very sympathetic to this goal.
The younger generation on both sides has inherited the baggage of the past, but the good news is that they do not necessarily have to carry these burdens on their own backs.
And I think this is the strength of the youth on both sides: they are confident in their identity, and comfortable with it, and they are focused on the future, not fixated on the past.
It is in this context that I'm glad to say that
Even in the current pandemic context, we have issued over 300,000 visas in Bangladesh over the past six months, despite lockdowns and the closure of the land border from this side. This has been no small achievement, given the challenges keeping our visa operations running during lockdowns, so that at least emergency and medical services were not stopped.
In point of fact, Bangladesh is already our largest visa operation in the world, which we service through 15 visa application collection centres nationwide, and five diplomatic posts, including our mission in Dhaka.
Looking ahead though, I believe that as our two nations move to an era of comfort with our own respective national identities,
On a personal, somewhat philosophical note, I'd like to say that I believe that this is an inevitable, if evolutionary trend, toward which our comparatively young, very Westphalian nations,
For now, it is a process that is being driven by economics, and to some extent, the information revolution. But it is being hindered too, by the hesitations of history and the burdens of our shared past.
I believe the younger generation, on both sides, will instinctively work to de-politicize this process and actually provide it an impetus.
This generation, which is less predisposed to carrying the baggage of our complex South Asian modern history, will be best placed to drive this transformation.
And in my personal view again, it would be good for governments to follow in this regard, rather than attempt to lead this process.