09/01/2012

NRIs will get right to vote; pension fund for overseas workers

Manmohan wants them to contribute“much more” to building a modern India

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday called upon the Indian communities living abroad to play a more active role and contribute “much more” to the building of a modern India and promised significant steps to facilitate, encourage and promote their engagement with the country of their origin.

Inaugurating the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here, Dr. Singh also announced the right of franchise to the non-resident Indians who are registered under the Representation of the People Act, 1950. A new pension and life insurance fund for overseas Indian workers, to enable them to voluntarily save for their return and resettlement, has also been introduced.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the chief guest at the three-day festival, which began on Saturday. About 1,900 NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (POIs) are taking part in the flagship event.

The formal inauguration of the annual event at B.M. Birla Auditorium here on Sunday, a day after brainstorming seminars were organised on a variety of subjects, was attended by a battery of distinguished persons, industrial magnates, young entrepreneurs and government functionaries.

Among others, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, acting Rajasthan Governor Shivraj Patil and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot attended the inaugural session. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister C.P. Joshi and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor addressed the subsequent sessions.

Dr. Singh said that while the notifications had been issued to enable Indian residents abroad to participate in the country's election processes, a Bill had been introduced in Parliament to merge and streamline the PIO and Overseas Citizen of India schemes by amending the Citizenship Act. This would provide for an overseas Indian card that would be given to foreign spouses of the holders as well.

The new pension and life insurance scheme, fulfilling a long-pending demand, would enable the overseas Indians to save for their old age after returning to the country, said the Prime Minister. Listing the steps taken for safety and security of the Indians living abroad, particularly in the regions of instability, Dr. Singh said the government was “acutely conscious” of the security needs of over six million Indians staying in the Gulf and West Asia. “We have conveyed to [these] countries that we have a stake in the peace and stability of this region. We expect that they would appropriately look after the interest of Indian communities.”

China will ‘make efforts' to improve relations with India: top official

: A top Chinese diplomat said on Sunday that China would “make concerted efforts” to improve relations with India in 2012. The comments are seen as an attempt to draw a line over recent differences that had strained the ties between the neighbours.

“China hopes that the two sides will support each other and learn from each other, so as to push for better and faster development of the Sino-Indian strategic and cooperative partnership,” said Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin.

The rare remarks by a Chinese official on relations with India were made in an interview with the state-run Xinhua news agency.

His comments came after a string of recent commentaries in more nationalistic party-run media outlets had taken a hard line on India, accusing New Delhi of being part of a U.S.-led “containment” strategy and looking to provoke China into disputes.

Only on Friday, the Communist Party-run Global Times blamed India's Ministry of External Affairs for being “full of narrow nationalism” for issuing an advisory and “hyping” up a trade dispute that saw two Indian traders being detained in the southern city of Yiwu.

Mr. Liu said both countries had maintained a “growing momentum” in developing the relationship, and had “established effective communication and coordination on significant international and regional issues.”

He said exchanges in 2011, which was marked as the “year of exchanges” between the neighbours, had helped “increase mutual understanding,” citing the visit of a 500-member Indian youth delegation to Beijing.

Two-way trade, he said, had reached US$ 67.28 billion in the first 11 months of last year, a 21.8 per cent year-on-year rise. The past year also saw the first meeting of the newly set up strategic and economic dialogue and the annual defence dialogue, which was held in New Delhi last month after an almost two-year hiatus.

Indian officials said on Saturday that a 15-member military delegation from India will leave for China on a four-day visit on Tuesday. India agreed to send a truncated delegation following Chinese objections to issue a visa to an Indian Air Force official from Arunachal Pradesh, who was slated to travel as part of a 30-member group.