SERVICES to NRIs

NRI Welfare Society of India is the premier body of Non Resident Indians, which watches the interest of Non Resident Indians (NRIs) in the country and plays the role of an effective link between the Government and NRIs.

In the last 20 years the Society has played a significant role in bringing NRIs closer to their motherland. NRIs sitting far away from the country are not aware of the policies and programmes of the government. In this direction, society is playing an important role in informing and educating the NRIs about the liberalized policies of the Govt. of India, particularly NRIs.

The Society is organizing one Congress in New Delhi and another Congress outside India, every year and response from the NRIs has been very encouraging. NRIs from different parts of the world participate in the Congress to share their views and suggestions in attracting NRIs investment in the country.

We have already organized Congresses in Bangkok, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, U.S.A., United Kingdom, Bahrain, Dubai and Norway. The Congresses were addressed by national leaders. financial wizards and economic experts.

With our efforts, considerable amount of foreign exchange has been attracted by these Congresses and many influential and moneyed NRIs have come forward to invest in India.

The Society has been playing an effective role in building confidence amongst the NRIs, which was very much lacking.

Various suggestions were forwarded to the Government, on which the government is giving serious thought and liberalized policies beneficial to NRIs.

We are receiving various type of complaints of harassment at various levels, which we are forwarding and drawing attention of the authorities.

The Society is honouring NRIs with ----- 'Hind Rattan Award'.

Men and women from various walks of life, for their outstanding services, achievements and contributions and this is a regular feature in every Congress.

Society is always at the disposal of NRIs to advise them, to suggest them and to help them with the backing of powerful Advisory Committee. To some extent the Society has succeeded in solving various problems of NRIs.

NRI Welfare Society of India is a powerful body in India to take up the causes of NRIs to the right places. Frankly speaking every NRI is having one problem or the other and their problems are not being looked into. The society has taken up various cases and it succeeded in solving the problems to the utmost satisfaction of Non Resident Indians.

DUAL CITIZENSHIP AND VOTING RIGHTS

Though the Government has got the Dual Citizenship Bill passed by Parliament in the just concluded winter session, it is yet to start framing the rules for granting Dual Citizenship to the persons of Indian Origin (PIOs)
The citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2003 provides for overseas citizenship of India to the PIOs in 16 countries who have acquired citizenship in those countries. Among the 16 countries, the United States tops the list with a total estimated PIO population of 16.78 lakhs, the United Kingdom comes next with 12 lakhs and Canada is on the third spot with 8.51 lakh PIOs.
Other countries are: Australia (1.9 lakh), Finland (1,170), Ireland (1,600), Italy (71,500), Netherlands (2,17,000), Israel (45,300), New Zealand (55,000), Cyprus (300), Sweden (11,000), Switzerland (13,500), France (65,000) Greece (7,000) and Portugal (70,000). These countries come under the category of those specified in the Fourth Schedule. The Government may by notification amend the Schedule by way of addition or omission of any entry.

Sources said that an estimated 10 to 25 per cent of the total PlOs population of about 45 lakhs in these 16 countries could apply for overseas citizenship. As the legislation had secured Parliamentary approval, the Government was working to finalise the application form, procedure and the fees to be levied for granting overseas citizenship. The PIO card with steep fees had failed to click about three years ago and the Government would keep "a reasonable fee" structure in mind while framing the rules.

The Bill defines "overseas citizen of India" to mean a person who (i) is of Indian origin being a citizen of a specified country, or (ii) was a citizen of India immediately before becoming a citizen of a specified country and is registered as an overseas citizen of India by the Central Government. An overseas citizen will not be entitled to the rights conferred on a citizen of India and will not have the right to equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, will not have voting rights and also will not be eligible to be a member of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.

Besides overseas citizenship, the Bill has a new Section 14A on the subject of issue of national identity cards, stipulating that the Central Government may compulsorily register every citizen of India and issue the national identity card and the Government may maintain a National Register of Indian Citizens and for that purpose establish a National Registration Authority.

The grant of dual citizenship to the PlOs gained momentum after the Government set up a high-level committee on Indian diaspora under the Chairmanship of Dr. L.M. Singhvi and it made a recommendation to that effect. Dr. Singhvi said before the Standing Committee on Home Affairs that many countries accepted dual citizenship without obliterating the identity of the people. Many countries where PlOs lived did not want dual citizenship, particularly South Africa, where such people were interested only in stronger cultural contacts.

While neighboring countries were not included in the list for obvious reasons, the issue of constant influx of refugees from the neighboring countries due to civil commotion and religious persecution was also raised before the Committee. 

The home ministry allayed the apprehension that all those who entered India due to civil disturbances and political developments in the neighboring countries would be forcibly sent back to their homelands. Refugees who have come to India on or after March 25 1971 due to religious and political reasons would be dealt with under the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946.

Armed with the legislation the government was able to boast that in less than a year's time it has taken steps to simplify the procedure for acquiring citizenship of India by PIOs