India agrees to migration pact

BRITAIN and India on Tuesday (4) signed an accord on migration and mobility, an Indian foreign ministry official said, as they look to deepen economic and cultural ties following the UK’s departure from the European Union.

The pact will provide enhanced employment opportunities for 3,000 young Indian professionals annually, in return for India agreeing to take back any of its citizens who are living illegally in the UK, Sandeep Chakravorty said.

“It is our solemn duty that Indian nationals who are undocumented, or are in distress abroad and not being given nationality or residence permits, have to be taken back,” Chakravorty said.

The Home Office said the deal aimed to attract “the best and brightest, and supporting people coming to the UK through legal routes, while stopping the abuse of the system and speeding up the removal of those who have no right to be in the UK”.

Migration has long been a source of friction between the two countries, with a similar proposal collapsing in 2018 due to disagreements.

Earlier on Tuesday, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi pressed his British counterpart Boris Johnson over the status of two Indian fugitive tycoons, Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, who are wanted on fraud charges and are in the UK.

Johnson said he faced some “legal hurdles” but was committed to extraditing them to India, Chakravorty added.

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