Parliament Question: Know India Programme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4401 ANSWERED ON - 02/04/2026 KNOW INDIA PROGRAMME #4401. SHRI NEERAJ DANGI

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has undertaken any assessment to evaluate the impact of Know India Programme (KIP) in strengthening the cultural, emotional, and developmental engagement of overseas Indian youth with India;

(b) the number of participants who have benefited from the programme during the last five years, country-wise; and

(c) whether Government proposes to expand the programme in terms of participant capacity, number of editions conducted annually or coverage of countries in view of the growing global Indian diaspora and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) This Ministry constantly monitors and evaluates the impact of the ‘Know India Programme (KIP)’ in strengthening the cultural, emotional and developmental engagement of overseas Indian youth with India. It secures feedback from the participants, scrutinises them and incorporates the suggestions in the next editions of the Programme with the view to enhancing its impact and effectiveness. Ministry also factors in the comments/suggestions from Indian Missions/Posts abroad based on the debriefing by the participants of the Program upon their return.

The feedback of the KIP participants has been encouraging on account of Ministry’s continuous efforts to enhance the robustness and efficiency of this Programme. KIP participants have posted positive remarks of their experiences during the Programme on their social media handles and have strongly recommended their friends and acquaintances to participate in it.

(b) The number of participants of the Know India Programme, country-wise, during the last five years is attached at Annexure-I.

(c) Ministry has adopted a multi-pronged approach including effective and strategic utilization of the social media and digital platforms to expand awareness and outreach of the Know India Programme amongst the youth members of the Indian diaspora overseas. It has also worked towards creating engaging and attractive content, such as videos, infographics, and interactive quizzes, to attract their attention and to share information with the latter in a more robust and dynamic manner. Indian Missions/ 1Posts abroad, through their focussed and targeted outreach, have also disseminated the unique opportunities offered by this Programme.

The response of the young diaspora members has been overwhelming demonstrated by their oversubscription for every edition of the Program over and above the current limit of 40 participants per batch. KIP participants are selected to represent the widest possible geographical spread of the Indian diaspora.

2Annexure-I Number of KIP Participants, year-wise, during the last five years Total Participan ts S.No. Country 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 1 Argentina 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 Armenia 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 Australia 0 0 1 0 3 4 4 Austria 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 Belgium 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 Canada 0 0 2 0 3 5 7 Chile 0 1 0 0 0 1 8 Colombia 0 0 1 0 0 1 9 Denmark 0 1 0 1 0 2 10 Fiji 0 33 83 49 22 187 11 France 0 3 4 3 12 22 12 Germany 0 0 0 0 1 1 13 Guyana 0 31 35 16 17 99 14 Indonesia 0 0 0 1 0 1 15 Israel 0 4 2 2 5 13 16 Italy 0 0 0 1 2 3 17 Jamaica 0 0 1 0 2 3 18 Kenya 0 0 1 2 1 4 19 Madagascar 0 0 0 0 1 1 20 Malawi 0 0 0 0 1 1 21 Malaysia 0 7 23 11 8 49 22 Mauritius 0 51 89 51 23 214 23 Myanmar 0 19 30 29 18 96 24 Netherlands 0 3 1 0 3 7 25 New Zealand 0 1 4 4 1 10 26 Panama 0 0 0 0 2 2 27 Paraguay 0 0 0 0 1 1 328 Portugal 0 1 0 0 1 2 29 Russia 0 0 1 0 0 1 30 Singapore 0 0 0 1 2 3 31 South Africa 0 17 21 20 18 76 32 Sri Lanka 0 11 3 13 7 34 33 Suriname 0 30 28 19 13 90 34 Switzerland 0 0 0 0 1 1 35 Tanzania 0 0 0 6 0 6 36 Thailand 0 1 0 0 0 1 Trinidad and 0 37 Tobago 14 41 24 16 95 38 United Kingdom 0 0 0 0 1 1 United States of 0 39 America 4 0 3 9 16 40 Venezuela 0 0 1 0 0 1 41 Zimbabwe 0 0 1 1 0 2 Grand Total 0 235 374 257 194 1060 ***** 4