From the Editor’s Desk
Hello Dear Readers,
Welcome to the September 2025 edition of The WFY – World For You. It gives me immense pleasure to share this issue with you – one full of stories that matter, insights that provoke, and cultures that bind us. As the world spins faster and borders shift in both map and in mind, our community of Indians spread across continents has never needed clarity more. This issue attempts to offer just that.
Setting the Scene
As you open this edition, you will find the cover story titled “Why Is Onam So Special To The Malayalees World Over?” Onam is not just a festival: it’s identity, history, migration, and home. For Malayalees wherever they are – in Dubai, the USA, Singapore or Melbourne – Onam carries a piece of Kerala with it. It reminds us that festivals are not merely rituals; they are anchors.
Likewise, our World Politics section deep dives into pressing challenges: what it means to be Indian in a world uneasy with migration, with race, with inclusion. From “Why The World Suddenly Started To Hate Indian Migrants” to “Daring PM Speaks Out: Protect People From Racism And Hate”, and “Painful Betrayal: Qatar Now Finds It Out The Hard Way”, we chart stories of belonging, migration policy, exile, and hope.
At the same time, economy and business pieces like “This Is How Countries Are Now Luring Wealthy Indians”and “Dubai Indian Gold Tycoons In A Sticky Wicket Now” reflect shifting financial tides. Science & Technology and Lifestyle carry optimism: from hydrogen trains to art fairs, from teens guided without punishment to new trends in marriage and family.
What’s Changing, and Why It’s Important
1. Migration & Identity Under Pressure
In recent months, there have been very visible policies and incidents that affect Indians abroad. Several Western nations are tightening immigration controls. There are heightened tensions about overstaying visas, uncertainties over work permits, and debates in host societies about migrant contributions. Our article “UK Warning: It’s Better Not To Overstay For International Students” comes at a crucial moment. When tens of thousands are being contacted about visa expiry, when post-study work policies are shrinking, this is not academic—it is a lived reality for many Indian students and families.
In the United Kingdom, for example, asylum applications have reached record levels in the last year. Of those, a notable share is associated with people who first held student visas. This makes the issue of overstaying part of a larger conversation: legality, equity, moral obligations, and the sense of belonging. Indian migrants are often in the middle of this storm.
2. Opportunity & Choice
But it is not all challenge. One of the hopeful threads in this edition is that “Indian Students Now Have Better Choices In The World”. With rising global mobility, more branch campuses, cheaper tuition, varied immigration options, and improved scholarship access, students have greater agency. Germany, for example, continues to attract large numbers of international students through low or no tuition public universities. India’s young people are asking not just “Where can I study?” but “Where can I thrive legally, economically, and socially?”
Economically powerful individuals of Indian origin are also impacting this landscape. Countries now compete for investment and high net-worth individuals. Our articles show how nations are adjusting visa, tax and residence norms to attract wealthy Indians. That opens possibilities but also new types of uncertainty: regulatory risks, inflation, property market instability, and political shifts.
3. Economics, Business & Global Sanctions
Global business does not pause for migration debates. Rising tariffs, geopolitical sanctions, trade wars, and global supply chain stresses are affecting how Indian businesses and diasporic entrepreneurs operate. For instance, “Supreme Court To Be Now Deciding On Trump’s Tariffs” speaks not just to one country’s internal politics but to the interconnected trade environment Indian exporters or businesses may enter or face competition from.
Similarly, “Tesla Now On A Pursuit To Be $8.5 Trillion Company” might seem far-flung, but technology valuations and innovation pipelines shape how Indian tech people think about careers, investments, and risks. When giants pivot, so do expectations in start-ups, engineering colleges, and investor sentiment back home.
4. Culture, Wellness & Lifestyle as Self-Preservation
Beyond migration and politics, I see an important current in this issue: personal well-being as cultural survival. Pieces such as “Better Eye Care To Overcome Bags And Dark Circles”, “Heart Attack Advice: Look For These Warning Signs While Exercising”, and “Hope: Powerful Tulsi Calms Your Mind And Improves Life” are more than beauty or health tips. They signify awareness among diaspora communities that health, habits, and identity are intertwined. The health of diaspora Indians isn’t just physical but also emotional, mental, and cultural.
Likewise in Culture & Art: “Edinburgh Art Fair: The Best Art Now On Display”, “Flower Of Life”, and youth stories like “Amazing Girl Tejasvi, Named TIME’s ‘Kid Of The Year’”are reminders that creativity persists, identity sustains, and achievement spans beyond geography.
Statistics & Realities You Should Know
To anchor our conversations in reality:
- Indian students comprised over 140,000 of the international student population in the UK as of 2023-24, making India one of the largest contributor countries.
- According to UK immigration statistics for the year to June 2025, asylum applications from visa holders (which include student visas) numbered over 41,000, compared with about 43,600 from small-boat irregular entries.
- Post-study work visa durations are being trimmed—many students now find themselves with only 18 months instead of two years to apply for or switch to work visas after graduation.
- On the economic front, remittances from the Indian diaspora remain among the largest in the world. The World Bank figures show India received around US$100-110 billion in remittances in recent years, placing it in the top three recipient nations. That flow both sustains families and shapes investment trends abroad.
- Meanwhile, global inflation, visa fee hikes, the cost of living in Western and Gulf countries, rising air travel costs, and geopolitical uncertainty (sanctions, trade wars) combine to increase the cost of living and studying abroad by a margin often over 20-30% year-on-year in certain cities.
What This Means For You, Our Reader
If you are an Indian student, a young professional abroad, a parent planning for overseas education, or simply someone tracking global Indian identity, here is my message:
- Be informed, not anxious. Regulations are changing, but knowledge of them gives you power. Knowing visa expiry dates, work permit rules, and legal requirements – these are not side details but essential survival tools.
- Plan for contingency. Whether it’s having backup destinations, alternative pathways for work, or a financial cushion, flexibility helps. The world is less about plans that stay static and more about adapting with agility.
- Take pride but stay engaged. Our culture, festivals, arts, food, and language matter. Onam, for instance, reminds many Malayalees abroad not only of harvest and home but also of continuity across oceans. When we preserve culture, we preserve identity.
- Health and wellness can’t wait. Habits like taking breaks, managing stress, mental health check-ins, and physical self-care are not optional. When you perform, lead, or represent abroad, your well-being is part of your success.
- Be a connector. Between generations, between home country and adopted country, and between professions and cultures. When you share your story, your challenges, and your learnings, you help build a stronger, more understood diaspora.
A Few Reflections on the World Right Now
As we publish this edition, several global developments are shaping the way Indian diasporic lives are lived:
- The conflict in the Middle East continues to affect Indian workers there. Travel advisories, evacuation plans, reductions in jobs in volatile zones—these are all part of the lived experience.
- Global trade tensions (tariffs, sanctions) are making international business more unpredictable. Companies of Indian origin are watching how laws in the United States, the European Union, and East Asia respond to supply-chain risk and regulation shifts.
- Climate change is no longer a distant worry. Floods, heatwaves, and power shortages take their toll both in India and abroad. Diasporic communities are increasingly investing in sustainable homes, renewable energy, and reform activism even in lands far from home.
- Technology, especially AI, 5G infrastructure, green hydrogen, and biotechnology, is offering both promise and risk. Countries launching hydrogen train trials, new smartphones with advanced connectivity, and green-tech policies are creating jobs, but also raising concerns about privacy, regulation, and the digital divide.
- Finally, political polarization and rising nationalism wherever one looks—be it labour migration debates in Europe, border politics in Asia, or elections where migration becomes a wedge issue—affects how safe, welcome, and valued Indians abroad feel.
Looking Forward
This September issue of The WFY invites you to sit with these tensions, celebrate the joys, and prepare for what matters. As Editor, I want you to leave these pages with two things: curiosity and courage.
- Curiosity, so you ask questions: about which country offers the best pathways, which professions are sustainable, which cultural ties you want to nurture.
- Courage, so you make decisions not out of fear but informed choice: whether it’s about where to study, where to live, or how to engage with your identity.
I believe this issue does justice to those goals. It brings you stories that are grounded in data, alive with human experience, and hopeful in spite of challenge.
Thank you for being part of the WFY family. Share these pages, discuss over coffee, debate with friends, challenge assumptions, and extend kindness across continents.
Until next month—stay strong, stay curious, stay connected.
Warm regards,
Melwyn Williams
Editor, The WFY
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