Other countries also erect similar hurdles. The US demands voluminous documentation, including income tax returns and bank statements for three years. Those European Union countries that are signatories to the Schengen pact are reluctant to issue anything other than very short-term tourist visas. South Africa requires an invitation or sponsorship by a resident. Even Bangladesh and Tanzania appear to have strong reservations about Indian visitors, judging by their cumbersome visa procedures. Indian travellers who decide to add a country to the itinerary while already abroad are told to go back to India and apply to the local consulate.
The reasons for such actions are not hard to discern: first, the history of some Indians abusing the terms of their visa and overstaying, and second, the near-certainty that the Indian visitors' need or desire to go abroad being so overwhelming as to make them comply with the most stringent and often humiliating conditions. All that India has done in response to this latest hindrance is to register its protest, which has obviously had not much effect. Arguments that all Indian travellers should not feel the need to prove they are high-risk - and that Indian migrants in any case have made rich contributions to their host countries - have so far proved fruitless. It is perhaps time, therefore, that India realised that foreign travel is two-way traffic. True, some of the obstacles - of paperwork, in particular - are already in place in Indian consulates. But business travellers to India have it easier than tourists. If India were to impose greater hurdles for such travellers, it would lead to quite a hue and cry. But reciprocity, as a principle, is unassailable and must apply to all aspects of visa protocol, such as fees, classifications, durations and restrictions. The privilege of visas on arrival, for example, must be restricted to citizens of only those countries that treat Indians in a like manner. The folly of erecting barriers in a flat world will not hit home unless the boot on the other foot pinches just as hard.