Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is the big NRI show. For just $250,
the price of a family dinner in the US, NRIs can come real close to
the top leaders of India. They can get to know their thoughts on
NRIs and enjoy the compliments. They also voice their concerns and
extract promises from the government to look into them. They come to
say: "I love my India!" And PBD tells them: "India cares!"
Basking in the achievement of successfully lobbying for the Indo-US
nuclear deal, the highest number among the 1,200 delegates came from
the US. And among the 15 NRI Awards by the Indian government, the
highest number also went to the US. The Indian Americans were
heartily congratulated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his
inaugural speech.
The four million Gulf NRIs had also something to cheer about. They
send back almost half of all the $23 billion in remittances annually
and so they need much more attention. Minister for Overseas Indian
Vyalar Ravi, who hails from Kerala, the state that has sent a good
number of its citizens to the Gulf, has given them the attention
they have been clamouring for so long.
It was announced that a labour pact has been signed with the United
Arab Emirates for the protection and welfare for Indian workers and
similar pacts are expected with Kuwait, Bahrain and other Middle
East countries besides Malaysia.
The labour pact will ease some major problems of NRI workers who go
to the Gulf after paying hefty sums to recruiting 'agents'. On
arrival, their sponsors, who obtain their visas, often take away
their passports and they are told to sign some papers in Arabic that
they cannot read. Now the NRIs are at the mercy of their sponsors
for wages and salaries, living conditions, healthcare and leave.
This pact will ease these hardships.
The other major problem of Gulf NRIs is the high airfares. When an
NRI, his wife and two children come for a holiday in India, they
spend a very big part of their earnings. With the current 'open
skies' policies favoured by India, these airfares should come down
significantly but they haven't. This demand is on the minister's
priority list.
NRIs in Europe also benefited as India has signed a Social Security
Agreement exempting Indians working in Belgium on a contract of up
to 60 months from making contributions in the host country. Similar
agreements are proposed for the Netherlands, France, Sweden and
Norway. All of them have significant Indian population to ensure
protection of their interests.
To help NRIs move up the ladder from unskilled and semi-skilled to
qualified workers, the Central Council for Promotion of Overseas
Employment was announced to promote overseas employment. From this
year onwards, it would aim to train 50,000 workers in different
trades every year who want to go abroad for employment. An NRI
centre has been established in Dubai to work in tandem with the
Indian missions. A similar centre called the Overseas Indian
Facilitation Centre is due to be set up in New Delhi to cater for
all NRIs.
The PBD saw a few benefits announced for the 90,000-odd NRIs who
hold Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI). The three new benefits
are: parity with Indians on inter-country adoption, parity in
domestic air fares and parity in entry fees for national parks and
wildlife sanctuaries. The Indian Government is also considering NRI
doctors to practice in India and setting up a university for NRIs
especially for engineering and management studies. India would amend
laws to allow Indian passport holders living overseas the right to
vote. Currently, only passport holders resident in India can vote.
NRIs want admissions for medicine, engineering and management
courses. One solution is to provide more seats and to charge them
higher fees than Indians but the NRIs cannot afford these high fees
of up to Rs.3-4 million. So an NRI University has been proposed and
accepted in principle by the Indian government. Now its location and
other logistics are being worked out.
After PBD, many participants moved to their home states for local
NRI meetings as in Gujarat and Bihar. When they return home, these
delegates will talk about how they listened to almost all the top
national leaders of India, interacted with top Indian CEOs and
enjoyed cultural events by India's outstanding artistes. These
face-to-face encounters become their fondest memories demonstrating
that India does care.
(A media consultant to a UN
Agency, Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad as a newspaper editor
and has travelled to over 55 countries. He lives in New Delhi and
can be contacted at
kulbhushan2038@gmail.com)
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