Diaspora in Humanitarian Action: Analysing the Indian Diaspora’s Humanitarian Potential and Efforts for ‘Mother India’

Introduction

Humanitarian action takes place in a variety of hostile environments, where reducing pain and misery and lifesaving activities and efforts remain critical. Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that 2020 would be a year of humanitarian crisis. According to Mark Lowcock, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ‘168 million individuals globally will require humanistic support and protection in 2020’. This equates to about 1 in every 45 individuals around the globe. COVID-19 has worsened already existing inequalities faced by individuals and many disadvantaged communities. As the United Nations observes, the COVID-19 pandemic is more than a health crisis, it is an economic, humanitarian, security and human rights crisis.

When we hear the word ‘humanitarian’, we usually think of taglines and eyecatching icons from organisations like the Red Crescent and Red Cross, as well as white land rovers and endorsed umbrellas from significantly bigger UN agencies like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme (WFP). In 2020, WFP received the Nobel Prize for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. The WFP has a distinct identity as a worldwide brand, with standardised operating methods that are quickly understood, appear transparent and can be controlled. However, because it is bound by signed agreements, it might take time to deploy assistance during crises, similar to many other international humanitarian organisations. Different new humanitarian actors often referred to as ‘new’ or ‘emergent’ humanitarians, perform a variety of functions in the shadow of these conventional and international actors. These actors differ from established international bodies in that they mobilise quickly and are more adaptable in times of crisis. Largely overlooked, this diaspora is a collection of geographically scattered migrants, displaced people and their descendants, and is one of the new players. It organises either individually or collectively to help home countries during a humanitarian crisis. These diaspora are not subject to any enforceable agreements or legal obligations. Family ties and a feeling of moral and religious duty serve as their main sources of inspiration. As a result, these organisations frequently bridge the gap between shortterm, urgent help and long-term development of their native countries. These organisations step up to support their home countries by offering relief, protection and advocacy during humanitarian crises. However, even though diaspora actors possess direct connections, legitimation and capabilities in emergencies created by either natural disasters or any pandemic, they still are not viewed as equals by conventional humanitarian actors, who recognise only themselves as the flag bearers and thus neglect the role of new actors in the humanitarian frameworks (Sezgin & Dijkzeul, 2016, pp. 214–215).

We argue that the importance of diaspora humanitarianism has yet to be thoroughly investigated in published literature, and it remains largely ‘unnoticeable and unnoticed in aid policies and practices’. Even if attention was paid, it was still restricted to refugee or conflict crisis scenarios, economic developments and investments while the role of diasporas in the humanitarian crisis created by natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be discussed. Hence, this article presents an empirical study of the significance of the diaspora in humanitarian action based on a review of the academic literature on diaspora engagement and humanitarianism. There are many channels for the diaspora to aid their homelands in conflict zones but in the case of India, we believe that diaspora remittances and organisations are significant. We examine how diaspora remittances and organisations have appeared as significant humanitarian aid potential for India during a humanitarian crisis, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we have discussed the role of some important Indian diaspora organisations based in the United States like Sewa International, Indiaspora, American Indian Foundation (AIF), Association for India’s Development (AID) and others.

In general, this article addresses the potential and status of the large Indian diaspora by emphasising its contribution to the COVID-19 epidemic. From a more specific perspective, this study examines the Indian American community’s potential and humanitarian activities in India. While analysing the humanitarian efforts of the Indian diaspora during natural disasters, the cases of the Gujarat earthquake (2001) and the Kerala floods (2018) are examined using both available material and interviews with the heads of diaspora organisations and other experts. While in the case of their COVID-19 initiatives, the data were mostly gathered through in-person visits to the recipients of aid as well as online and in-person interviews with diasporas and their organisations. Additionally, the study incorporated information from a few well-known Indian diaspora organisations as well as several significant studies released by different governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). There is no question that the Indian diaspora is widespread around the world, but when we talk about its humanitarian work, it is primarily located in the United States. According to the study’s hypothesis, the Indian diaspora contributed significantly to the COVID-19 epidemic by ‘giving back’ home in the form of remittances, food and medical supplies through its organisations.

Indian Diaspora

The first thing that has to be addressed is the question of who exactly makes up the Indian diaspora. According to Butalia, the term ‘Indian diaspora refers to those millions of Indians who today live outside of the subcontinent’ (Butalia, 2003, Niumai, 2011, p. 5). The term ‘Indian diaspora refers to both “Persons of Indian Origin” (PIO) and “Non-Resident Indians” (NRI), who are originally from India but now live in other countries’. NRIs are Indian nationals who have been living outside of India for more than six months for work, education, family or any other reason. On the other hand, a person of Indian ancestry or descent who is a citizen of another country is referred to as a PIO (Wirsing & Azizian, 2007, Niumai, 2011, p. 79).

The Ministry of External Affairs estimates that 32 million Indians are living abroad, spread over 130 nations. The diaspora’s diversity emerged during several centuries of migration in various waves as a result of several factors, including mercantilism, colonialism and globalisation. Some of them have achieved notable success in the social, economic and political sectors on a worldwide scale, for example, Lakshmi Mittal, Mira Nair, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Har Gobind Khorana, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, etc.

A High-Level Committee (HLC) on the Indian diaspora was formed by the Indian government in September 2000. Dr L. M. Singhvi, a former high commissioner for India to the UK and a prominent lawyer served as the committee’s founding chairman. While submitting its report in 2004, the HLC acknowledged that members of the Indian diaspora have been returning to India to discover their roots and investigate new opportunities and industries for collaboration that would be mutually beneficial, ranging from business ventures to philanthropy and charitable endeavours. Regarding donations and charities, HLC discovered that many individuals from the diaspora and diaspora organisations attempted to send donations to India but redirected their investments to other countries due to the myriad rules and regulations, indifference and even hostility of the government apparatus. As a result, the committee offered some solutions to address this issue. The establishment of foundations to collect charity and philanthropic gifts on a national and state level, as well as the exemption of customs duty and income tax on all donated supplies, particularly during national emergencies, were some of the most significant ones (High-level Committee Report, page 25–26). Therefore, a government’s role and connection with its diaspora are crucial in the event of humanitarian action.

In keeping with a long tradition of utilising their financial resources and patriotic zeal, India is not afraid to ask the Indian diaspora for assistance. After India was sanctioned by the US and other countries for conducting nuclear tests in 1998, Indian officials asked NRIs to invest in their country by purchasing government bonds. Similarly, Indian Americans helped reconstruct Gujarat in 2001 after a devastating earthquake that claimed thousands of lives. Currently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the Indian diaspora to support his sanitation and other efforts in India with money and skills. The Indian diaspora, especially those from the United States, contributed significantly to its homeland during the COVID-19 period. This article goes into detail on the Indian diaspora’s contribution during the COVID-19 crisis.

Concept of Diaspora Humanitarianism

Humanitarian action is typically assumed to involve two types of actors-international and local. International actors include NGOs, governmental and non- governmental organisations, as well as other operational organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN humanitarian agencies. While actors that primarily practice within national boundaries are referred to as locals (Sezgin & Dijkzeul, 2016, p. 212). This depiction ignores a third humanitarian domain: transnational humanitarianism by diaspora individuals and organisations during man-made and natural calamities. There are a variety of circumstances where the diaspora has an advantage in humanitarian action, but access to places and tight ties to the government are more crucial. Nations view foreign actors as a danger to their internal sovereignty and security, and the interaction between international actors and states is constrained by government laws, which further delays their aid. The relationship of international actors is limited to states as they considered them as a mere threat to internal sovereignty and security and are bounded by government rules and regulations Additionally, international actors are neutral and have less flexible roles in humanitarian crises that further limit their access to such situations. In contrast to international and local actors, the diaspora mandate is not subject to established laws or signed agreements. They are mostly influenced by links to family and a feeling of moral and religious commitments which other conventional actors lack.

Diaspora humanitarianism is distinguished by quick mobilisation and participation based on social networks, emotional motives, informal delivery and accountability procedures. It develops as a result of transnational relationships that bind diaspora populations to their families and homelands. This social and emotional dimension allows timely mobilisation and humanitarian service to inaccessible places to which other actors have no access. Diaspora humanitarianism, which ranges from programmes organised by NGOs to smaller community groups and ad hoc individual help, is part of a larger pattern of transnational practise that connects diaspora communities with their relatives and homelands, particularly in the aftermath of a humanitarian catastrophe. Such traditions support daily living, development efforts, or humanitarian aid methods, demonstrating that diaspora humanitarian help may be useful. Diasporas have not only supported their homelands but also their host countries, as evidenced by the fact that Indian Tamil doctors living in Europe spend their vacations treating patients and supporting their colleagues in Sri Lanka (Sezgin & Dijkzeul, 2016, p. 213). These transnational engagements, which involve the movement of people, goods and money, alter the operating environment for international humanitarian actors and may have significant secondary effects on other aid providers.

Significant worldwide technical, economic and social advancements over the past 30 years have drastically changed the possibilities for diaspora people to influence the political, social and economic systems of their home countries, even when they choose to have a long-term commitment there. Academics and politicians have been more aware over the past 20 years of the aspects in which these globalisation traits make overseas communities and organisations important to the socio-economic advancements of their home nations (Basch et al., 1994; Schiller, 2007). Many have already focused on diaspora political contributions, particularly concerning conflict and peacebuilding (Horst, 2013; Shain, 2007; Smith & Stares, 2007) or had shown more interest in refugee crises or war-affected populations. The fact that this emerging scholarship has concentrated more on development contributions in stable or stabilising contexts than on humanitarian relief and reconstruction during natural disasters and pandemic-like crises.

The study of migration, diaspora and charitable giving, however, has taken centre stage as a result of COVID-19. The new successful and knowledgeable diaspora (such as the Indian-American diaspora) places a much higher value on giving back; they want to support their people in their home country during times of need and would want to see some real change equivalent to what they see in their host nation (Sahoo, 2021). However, a more systematic discussion of diasporas as central humanitarian actors is missing. To fill this gap, we evaluate the efforts of diaspora organisations, remittance and migrant professionals during natural catastrophes and the prevailing global epidemic that has disrupted the world, to demonstrate the significance and invisibility of diasporas as a central humanitarian actor. However, it’s very challenging to measure the role of diaspora humanitarian, but recent contributions by the Indian diaspora through its ‘remittances’ and ‘organisations’ has provided some scope to study. We measure the role of diaspora humanitarianism through two important ‘giving back’ fundamentals such as diaspora remittances and their organisations in the context of India.

Indian American Diaspora and Its Humanitarian Potential

Many academics contend that the Indian American diaspora’s movement may be traced back more than a century. Looking into their past, Lal (1999) claims that Punjabi peasants first arrived on the west coast in search of employment in the timber mills of Washington and California’s enormous agricultural fields. He claims that Indian pupils followed the Punjabi pioneers’ example. The arrival of political dissidents who openly supported Indian independence strength- ened them, and in 1913 the Ghadr (revolutionary) Party was established in San Francisco. However, Lal (1999) argues that America’s entry into the conflict in 1917 effectively put an end to the Ghadrite movement. Trying to act under British pressure, the US Government brought a vigorous case against the Ghadrites for illegally conspiring with the Germans to deny the British monarchy sovereignty over India. The 1917 Immigration Act, which effectively prohibited any Asians from entering America, hampered the political aspirations of the Indian diaspora (Lal, 1999, p. 44).

According to Lal (1999), the Alien Property Law (1913, revised in 1920–1921), which forbade non-citizens from owning and leasing land in the USA, also applied to Indians. In the 1940s, the census revealed that there were only 1,476 Indians in California as the Indian population started to fall. The India Welfare League and the India League of America both redoubled their efforts in the late 1930s to win citizenship for Indians. They also sought to raise awareness of Indian desires for independence from British control. The Naturalization Act of 1946, which was approved by Congress on July 2nd, gave Indians the right to naturalisation as well as the ability to immigrate to the United States on a limited basis each year, excluding immigrants who were not subject to quotas (such as spouses and minor children of citizens) (Lal, 1999, p. 45).

According to Sharma (2016), the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, which established a quota of 20,000 immigrants from each nation, marked the beginning of the present era of the political history of Asian Indians in the U.S. There were well over 175,000 Asian Indians in the country by 1975 of which Indian Americans where 14,939. When the US Census Bureau decided to reclassify immigrants from India as ‘Asian Indians’, attempts to protect the minority status of Indians began to pay off. Indian Americans saw a 103% growth rate between 1980 and 1990. In 1997, there were 1.21 million Indian Americans, making them the third-largest Asian-American ethnic community in the United States. The Indian American population increased about twofold between 1990 and 2000. The migration of H-1B visa holders and their families is a major contributor to the expanding population of the Indian-American community. The number of Indians granted H-1B visas increased from 2,697 in 1990 to 55,047 in 2000. This substantial increase in H-1B visa holders spurred the demographic expansion of the Indian-American community (Sharma, 2016, pp. 49–53).

The Indian American diaspora, numbering around 4.6 million (including both PIOs and NRIs), has acquired the distinction of being a model community among Asian Americans (Pew Research, 2019). ³ The term ‘model minority’ was used to describe Indians, who were seen as one of the most successful immigrant groups in the USA. They have a median income of US$199,000 nearly double the median income of all American families. Indian Americans have become a productive section of US society and a high level of education (40.6% of Indian Americans have a bachelor’s degree) has significantly helped the Indian American community to achieve this status (Sharma, 2016, p. 62).

About 35,000 Indian American Physicians are working in the USA, nearly 300,000 of the American Indian diasporas work in high-tech industries, of which 15% were in Silicon Valley start-up firms as owners, and more than 5,000 Indians were faculty in various American Universities (Wirsing & Azizian, 2007, Niumai, 2011). These professional Indian migrants had historically made a strong contribution to their host and home countries. Surveys had shown that nearly 95% of overseas Indians send money to their families or close friends to support education, health, or other personal concerns in the homeland (Niumai, 2011).

This expanding economic position of Indian Americans and other Indian diasporas (such as Indians in the UAE, Singapore and Canada, among others) has made India a beneficiary of remittances even though their host nation was in turmoil. However, the expatriate population of Indian Americans supported India during COVID-19 due to their superior professional positions and economic standing. India, which received the most aid, was predicted to be among the most hit (projected fall of 23%) because its host nation basket was susceptible to the dual effects of an economic downturn and a drop in oil prices. However, despite early predictions, India remained the biggest receiver nation, accounting for 12% of all worldwide remittances totalling $100 billion, registering a slight fall of 0.2% in 2020 and an increase of 8% in 2021. Most of these remittances were received from Indian Americans accounting for a total of 23% in 2022 followed by UAE with 18% (RBI Bulletin, 2022).

In addition to remittances, many organisations created and founded by the Indian American diaspora who are primarily supportive during the humanitarian and socio-economic crisis in India such as Indiaspora, Akansha Education Fund, Sewa International, AIF, Pratham USA, etc. Furthermore, pan-Indian and regional organisations such as the Association of Indians in America, the National Federation of Indians in America, the Maharashtra Mandal of New York, the Kerala Samajam of New York, the Telugu Literary and Cultural Society, the Gujarat Samaj of New York, the Sindhi Association of America and some others mobilises charity appeals during famines, floods and other natural disasters in India. Several such organisations are primarily minority ethnic associations, essential local regional or national in their outlook (Niumai, 2011, p. 103).

The increasing economic value of the Indian diaspora has developed a positive attitude towards the Indian government vis-à-vis the diasporic population. The Indian diasporic population’s economic potential will be of immense help to India and the periodic remittances and investment are largely helpful for India’s economic development (Khadaria, 2007). Now the government of India started looking upon its diaspora reflected in HLC Report, giving huge concessions to the Indian diaspora like full convertibility of deposit schemes for the NRIs. The current profits of NRIs in India, such as rent, dividends, pensions and interest, maybe repatriated in foreign currency without restriction. With the expanding tendencies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation in India, monetary transfers from the Indian diaspora, also known as remittances and other expertise, are seen as a major source of revenue for India particularly during the humanitarian crisis.

Indian Diaspora’s Humanitarian Efforts

One of the significant ways that the Indian diaspora contributes to humanitarian action is through philanthropic engagements. Historically, natural catastrophes in India have not only displaced many people but also stalled development efforts in such areas. From the Gujrat Earthquake in 2001 to the Kerala floods in 2018, as well as the disasters caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020–2021, the Indian diaspora has always been at the forefront of humanitarian help, mostly through charitable organisations founded and supported by the Indian diaspora. The 2001 Gujarat earthquake was one of the first humanitarian actions by Indian diasporas. At least 20 thousand people were killed, 300 thousand were wounded and also more than a million buildings were destroyed. Once the quakes stopped, the Indian diaspora, notably in the US, provided quick financial and material aid to Gujarat earthquake victims. After the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the AIF was founded in the US by Indian Americans. By mid-2002, AIF had allocated $2.2 million for Gujarat-related developments, with proposals for another $4.7 million in aid from voluntary organisations and about $150,000 from special events (Sidel, 2004, pp. 231–232).

Individually, Indian doctors from New York to California planned to offer band-aids and medications on Air India flights, while a hundred trauma doctors went straight to locations where help was needed. The majority of people who have family members in the earthquake-prone area transfer cash to them immediately or via a variety of Gujarati civic and religious organisations. Worshipers at temples of the Swami Narayan, a predominantly Gujarati Hindu sect, in Flushing, Queens and Edison, New Jersey, as well as cities all over Africa and Europe, approached their sister holy sites to transfer dollars and other relief assistance to Gujrat (Sengupta, 2001).

During the 2018 floods in Karnataka and Kerala, the contributions of the Indian diaspora were recognised and valued by governmental bodies. Kerala experienced its worst rainy season, which resulted in blink landslides, killed approximately 500 people, dislocated over one million people and impacted almost a sixth of the population of the state. As per the Kerala Migration Survey 2018, which has been executed by the Centre for Development Studies in Kerala, approximately ₹850 billion in remittances received in Kerala have been used for house buildings and social development (Rajan, 2018).

Indian Diaspora’s Humanitarian Efforts during COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, is the most notable pandemic to threaten human existence around the globe. The very first case was reported in China in December 2019, and the graph has steadily risen ever since. The epidemic had spread around the globe, with its epicentre established in Europe and the USA in the early stages. Nonetheless, with citizen support, the condition in India has been kept in check during the first phase. According to the Indian government, the entire nation is in quarantine till May 31st to prevent the diseases from spreading further, and fellow citizens are up to the task of defeating the ghost virus. ⁵ The COVID-19 pandemic’s second wave has wreaked havoc on India. It has had a significant impact on India’s health sector, as well as the nation’s economy following the 2020 rise. Being the second-most populous country in the world, it become impossible to curb the second wave of coronavirus in India, with a result, India witnessed the highest number of deaths in the world. As per Worldometer from January 2020, India alone witnessed 44,682,104 confirmed cases of which 530,737 persons died and 44,149,346 were recovered till December 2022. ⁴

The second wave has affected every aspect of life in society. Numerous issues and flaws have been identified, emphasising unpreparedness to successfully deal with complex and ambiguous situations. COVID-19 had implications both for urban and rural families in India. Many individuals slept on an empty stomach, and many faced the problem of hospital beds being unavailable since they were already filled. Speaking with a Delhi respondent who lost his father as a result of COVID-19, the respondent stated, ‘We carried our father to virtually every hospital in Delhi for admission as he was unable to breathe but sadly there was no bed available and we had to wait outside for hours and ultimately my father breathed the last breath in hospital park even without doctor’s check-up’ (Personal interview). When the government declared a nationwide lockdown, a Maharashtrian immigrant working in Delhi recalled how his entire family slept on an empty stomach since there was nothing to eat at home (personal interview). Even though India has a progressive economy, a substantial number of people are still suffering from hunger, and COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation.

The rise in COVID-19 illnesses and lives lost in India has had an international impact, particularly within and between India’s 32 million diaspora people. They are mobilised to send funds and assist in the procurement of medical aid and assistance for their family members, relatives and communities in India, despite their struggles to live with the worldwide epidemic’s social, economic and medical consequences. For instance, during the COVID-19 phase from 2019 to 2022, India received nearly $361 billion in remittances having the lowest in 2019 ($83 billion) and the highest in 2022 ($100 billion). According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) survey 2021, the main purpose for these remittances was family maintenance accounting for 43.6% of directly transferred to households for consumption purposes (RBI Bulletin, 2022, pp. 145–150). We believe that this increase in remittances to India, despite the World Bank’s projection of a decline, was primarily caused by the humanitarian support of India’s largest diaspora community towards India because a rise in remittances was also observed during the Gujrat earthquake (2001) and Kerala floods (2018). Additionally, according to RBI’s ‘Fifth Round of the Survey on Remittances’ for the reference period 2020–2021, Maharashtra and Delhi, which has a significant number of COVID-19 cases in India, to become the top recipient states of remittances, beating out traditional recipients Kerala and Tamil Nadu, whose remittances gradually declined during the COVID-19 period. (RBI Bulletin, 2022, p. 146). These remittances have been essential for ensuring long-term survival as well as permitting survival and growth throughout the humanitarian crisis.

Several diaspora professionals helped their home nation directly. Sunil Tolani, CEO of a California hotel and real estate firm, gave $300,000 to help India during the COVID-19 pandemic and pressed the Biden government to enhance funding (Thanawala, 2021). According to Jindal (2023), influential Indian Americans supported India’s COVID-19 second-wave emergency, prompting US officials to declare it an emergency. The Indian-origin CEOs of Google and Microsoft have provided significant financial support to alleviate India’s healthcare shortfall, including additional oxygen and pharmaceuticals. Indian-American lawmakers, Congressmen and political organisations even asked President Joseph Biden to enhance aid to India (Jindal et al., 2023, pp. 96–97).

Individual diaspora members organised food banks, bereavement support and money transfers to family members in India to help those afflicted by the pandemic. We met several Delhi families whose children, parents, or siblings work abroad. However, those whose members worked in the United States had more positive replies than those working in the Gulf nations. Indian Americans’ professional career profiles were linked to this diversity since COVID-19 did not affect them much. COVID-19 made it hard for Gulf workers in low-profile jobs to send money home to their families. Concerning food, the Hungermatoa Campaign sought cash to assist frontline workers in the United States and India. While contacting the Hungermitao team, they stated, ‘We cooperated with the Hindu American Foundation to provide free meals to American first responders, and we provided meals to several orphans in India through the Organisation Akshaya Patra…. We also gathered funding to solve India’s COVID-19 situation’ (Personal interview). Numerous diaspora money was directly contributed through local NGOs like NAMA and the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund), which was established in March 2020 with income tax exemption. (Niumai, 2011). The primary goal of this fund was to undertake and support any type of relief or aid related to a public health disaster or any other type of catastrophe, tragedy or hardship.

In addition to individual remittances and contributions, a huge number of diaspora organisations created and funded by Indians living abroad made substantial contributions to India during the COVID-19 crisis. Diaspora organisations such as Sewa International, Indiaspora, the AIF, the AID, and Giving Compass and others, collaborated with local NGOs, agencies and panchayats to provide food, healthcare services and equipment in India’s rural areas. In 1993, Sewa International was founded as a progression to involve the Indian diaspora around the globe. It urged diaspora people to keep affiliated with their Indian roots by volunteering for humanitarian efforts both indigenously and in India, particularly during natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, pandemics, cyclones and tsunamis, that cause widespread devastation and necessitate massive resources for rehabilitation. During the COVID-19 epidemic in India, Sewa International provided both food and health assistance. During 2020–2021, the organisation claims to have sent PPE kits and N95 masks (more than 1,100), home ration kits (18,800), freshly prepared meal packets (208,800), hygiene Kits (77,455) and over 3,000 high-risk patients got treatment (Sewa International, 2022).

Indiaspora was another significant organisation that partnered with local organisations to give food and healthcare to residents. M.R. Rangaswami established the non-profit organisation the Indiaspora in 2012. Indiaspora cooperated with several small diaspora organisations and individuals to work for India’s support. These small local organisations can be categorised according to the services they offer, with some focusing on medical equipment (such as Antara International, Arogya World, AID, CARE India, The Desai Foundation), others on food relief and financial assistance (such as Aajeevika Bureau, Give India, Parivar Bay Area, etc.) and still others on oxygen concentrators (such as Aarti for Girls, The American India Foundation, Hemkunt Foundation). Along with providing access to food and healthcare, Indiaspora also developed some apps and websites to aid locals in locating places where they may obtain beds, food and other healthcare resources. For instance, ‘the Covid Resource application’ was developed to display where beds, oxygen and other resources are located across India (Indiaspora, 2022).

The AID also responded to the severe phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the AID report, the organisation worked with 30 local organisations in 18 States (Maharashtra, Haryana, Utter Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, etc.) to provide PPE to frontline workers, food necessities, grocery assistance and direct cash transfers to communities that were not covered by the government’s safety net, including migrant workers stranded in large cities and remote villages. AID donated a total of $3.6 million of which awareness includes (400,000), medical and health (1,900,000), livelihood (660,000) and food rations ($700,000). In addition, 75 community workers were trained by public health doctors over 30 zoom sessions. In Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal community workers went door to door to raise awareness about COVID-19 (AID REPORT, 2021). Similarly, the American India Foundation (AIF) launched a crowdfunding effort in 2021, which raised approximately $20 million in less than a week, also with the majority of such funds coming from the Indian diaspora. In India, the funds were used to enlarge healthcare ability and oxygen production (Thanawala, 2021). AIF alone has distributed 5,400 oxygen concentrators, 31,000 pulse oximeters, 2,600 portable hospital beds, 550 oxygen cylinders and almost 127,000 total equipment (AIF, 2022).

Thus, it will not be wrong to say diasporas are motivated to donate as a result of a combination of traditional concerns about family, kinship, castes and spiritual emotions as well as the desire to help their family members, migrant workers, the destitute and those in need. Whether a contribution is large or little, it expresses the donor’s intention to step in during crises like COVID-19. Many of them donate through NGOs and ethnic organisations. A few people donated money via their skills, recorded videos in several ethnic languages to create awareness of COVID-19, and released it online to re-establish ties with the motherland. According to Prof. Niumai, this support of the Indian diaspora is usually motivated by a combination of traditional concerns about family, kinship, castes, and spiritual emotions as well as the desire to help their family members, migrant workers, the destitute, and those in need (Niumai, 2021, p.117). While the COVID-19 epidemic is going on, some of them even donate to their host nation and frequently pushed their home governments to send pharmaceuticals to the United States several times, as the first phase of COVID-19 was considerably more severe in the United States than in India. As an example of this type of aid, India supplied 50 million hydroxychloroquine pills to the United States at the request of the diaspora and the US government, despite the drug’s ineffectiveness as a preventative measure (Jindal et al., 2023, p. 98). As a result, since the COVID-19 worldwide epidemic began, Indian diaspora organisations and people, notably those from the United States, have shown remarkable support. Their efforts have been and still are quite diverse, spanning several fields and various communities both in India and the United States. There is no doubt that the Indian diaspora is dedicated to the humanitarian effort and would keep giving support till it is no longer required.

In our perspective, transnational actors—like the diaspora and its organisation along with their remittances—play an equally significant role as local and national actors during humanitarian crises. Because of the ease and frequency with which local communities and diaspora organisations communicate, they can be alerted in actual time, and with their ability to collect and distribute funds quickly, they are key actors in unlocking the first response in crises. Due to their local contacts and links, diaspora organisations have a distinct advantage in dangerous locations where access may be a problem. As discussed above there are many events where the diaspora had historically played an important part in a wider humanitarian ecosystem as well as provided great assistance to societies in their homelands and helps to ensure that humanitarian responses are relevant, effective and long-lasting, whether ancestral or hypothetical, one may contend that diasporas have always contributed significantly to improving their homelands. Particularly during humanitarian crises, social networks, familial links, and continued cultural and political attachments with groups and people ‘back home’ have kept funds, supplies and spiritual support flowing.

Conclusion

We have argued that diaspora humanitarianism is significant and shapes the conditions in which international and local humanitarian actors work. As a result, it is critical to analyse not just international and local humanitarian action but also transnational forms of engagement such as diaspora organisations, migrant professionals and remittance senders. At the same time, it is critical to recognise the distinct characteristics between this domain and the local and international ones. Diaspora humanitarianism is centred on cash, skills, and financial and human resources transfers, and it is primarily motivated by a feeling of transnational civic obligation. It is also typically distinguished by more intimately connected ties between helper and helped, as well as a greater political posture within local humanitarian settings. The COVID-19 aid, which is emphasised in this article, offers pandemic-hit India more flexibility and options. It may also be helpful in ways that support and sustain an already devastated economy, such as by enabling people to receive free food, medical supplies, oxygen cylinders, cash, pay for travel expenses or simply by giving them the means to communicate with family. Thus, it is necessary to acknowledge the Indian diaspora, their remittance and organisations as legitimate humanitarian actors particularly when a pandemic has paralysed the country’s health system.

An increasing corpus of research is being done on diaspora donating during humanitarian crises, but its dimensions, traits and effects are still not well understood. Its diversity and range of forms and functions are just now starting to become apparent. Many studies have been conducted on diaspora donating in response to humanitarian crises in several countries, but the vast majority of nations have not been investigated at all. India has the largest diaspora in the world who had historically made various contributions in the field of humanitarianism action was either neglected in this field or unnoticed. Giving to India by diaspora for development and investment has been thoroughly studied, but helping with humanitarian situations was usually ignored. Whether helping to improve or build a new house after earthquakes or floods or sending money to overcome humanitarian crises created by pandemics, the Indian diaspora has always been at the forefront of their homeland. While these distinctions are often distorted, it is important to recognise the humanitarian role of the Indian diaspora because they made various sorts of humanitarian contributions to India.