(08/01/2015)
PM announces freeing expatriate Indians from regulations on arrival to and movement in India
| GANDHI NAGAR (Gujarat), PM Narendra Modi, today announced a string of facilities for expatriate Indians that seek to free them of regulations on their arrival to India and within the country. Inaugurating the 13th Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas (PBD), organized by the Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the Ministry
of Youth Affairs & Sports and the Government of Gujarat, the Prime
Minister said life time visa will now be granted to PIO cardholders and
as a mark of respect to them, the regulation requiring them to visit a
police station to verify their credentials once
every week, has been scrapped.
Modi said
while
the PIO and OCI cards have been merged, allowing similar facilities to
either cardholder, electronic authorization of visa has commenced, apart
from extending the facility of visa
on arrival from 43 countries. In addition, the Pravasi Bharatiya Centre
will be operational in Delhi soon. The Prime Minister said engaging
with the pravasis was not a one-way street; not everything should be
seen in terms of pounds or dollar he said, adding
that overseas Indians need to be given unstinted support so that they
feel enthusiastic in contributing to Indias development.
Prime Minister suggested that an online quiz competition could be started from the PBD platform on Bharat ko Jano for teams of young people worldwide. This would help project Indias development effort in the right perspective. The competition, he said, could be conducted round the year so that the campaign for knowing India becomes a global movement.
Modi urged
the
pravasis to actively participate in the governments ambitious Clean
Ganga initiative by sharing their expertise in technology, innovations,
ideas and resources. There are opportunities
for all along the river in agriculture, water transport, city
development and village rejuvenation and even adventure sports, the
Prime Minister said.
On the occasion of the centenary of Mahatma Gandhis return to India from South Africa, the Prime Minister released Rs 25 and Rs 5 commemorative stamps and Rs 100 and Rs 10 coins.
Chief Guest at the PBD, Mr. Donald R. Ramotar, President of the Republic of Guyana, said
Indias has seen a transformational change in recent years. The time
has come arrived for India to demonstrate its mature political
leadership to guide other developing countries, participate more
actively in internal forums, look outwards for channelizing
investments to other countries and strengthen air and maritime links
with the rest of the world.
He assured Guyanas commitment to Indias pursuit of reform of the UN Security Council and expressed total support for Indias candidature for a permanent seat in an expanded Security Council.
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Republic of South Africa, the Guest of Honour, pointed out that the political, economic and cultural bonds between South Africa and India were strong. These were cemented by the community of Indians in South Africa, the second largest outside India. The bonds must be further strengthened by addressing the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and under-development.
She stressed the need for closer cooperation between the two countries in the fields of IT, healthcare and renewable energy and expressed confidence that India would support South Africa in its development efforts.
Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs, emphasized that successful and politically influential diaspora is an asset to India. She called upon the diaspora to pursue a mutually rewarding participation in developing India.
Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat, said that the new economic and social initiatives launched by the Central Government have unleashed a new wave of enthusiasm among the people. The pravasis with the sincere hard work had raised Indias image internationally, while keeping the links with the land of their origin alive.
The
Vote of Thanks was given by General V K Singh, Minister of State for
Statistics & Programme Implementation (Independent Charge), External
Affairs and
Overseas Indian Affairs, the dignitaries at the inaugural session were
felicitated by Mr. Sunil Soni, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs. |
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