India removes 312 Sikh foreign nationals from 'adverse list'

India has removed 312 foreign nationals from the Sikh community from its central "adverse list" and now these people can get a visa to visit India and even get an Overseas Citizen of India or OCI card. The list now only has two people on the list.

A government source said, "Government reviewed adverse list containing Sikh foreign nationals...review is a continuous and dynamic process and is a part of a regular exercise."

Explaining the benefit, the source added, "These Sikh foreign nationals would now be eligible to avail Indian visa services to reconnect to their roots and visit their families in India."

The people will now become eligible for issuance of long term Indian visas and become eligible for (OCI) card. They will be granted OCI card after holding normal visas for a period of two years.

Most of the Sikh Indian nationals on the list had left India to escape the authorities in the early 1980s in the aftermath of turmoil following operation Blue Star to flush out Khalistani terrorist occupying the holiest shrine in Sikhism - The Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. 

The Indian missions abroad have also done away with the maintenance of "local adverse lists". The missions will now grant an appropriate visa to all categories of asylees or people whose names have been removed from the central adverse list & derivative asylees or families of such foreign citizens.