Exclusive department solve NRIs’ problems

An officer has been appointed for the department and the functions and responsibilities of this division are at present being worked out, according to the second report of the 42-member committee headed by Krishna Bose.

"The newly-created division would improve coordination among various ministries and departments to optimise the benefits of the policies of the Government directed towards the NRIs, as well as the PIOs," it said.

In its report, tabled in the Lok Sabha earlier this week, the committee regretted the Government’s "lack of sensitivity and short-sightedness" in its approach towards NRIs and PIOs and asked the Ministry to create a meaningful data-base on them.

"The Government has so far shown a lack of sensitivity and short-sightedness in their approach towards them, which is evident from the fact that there is total death of data on their economic strength, their cultural concerns, their potentialities and contributions towards their motherland and on many other related issues," it said.

The report said the Ministry should create a meaningful database to formulate an acceptable blueprint of ideas dealing with this issue.

"Moreover, a comprehensive holistic approach, greater sensitivity and political will is required to effectively deal with NRIs and PIOs for the country’s benefit," it said.

Terming NRIs and PIOs as "extremely valuable" for the country, the report was also critical of lack of coordination among various ministries and departments and also complexities in the procedure dealing with the problems of NRIs and PIOs.

The committee, however, hoped that the department being created by the Ministry to exclusively deal with the problems of NRIs and PIOs would adequately be equipped to improve the coordination among various ministries and departments to derive optimal benefits of the Government’s policies towards them and deal with their problems in an integrated manner.

It felt that the Ministry should explore the possibilities of setting up information centres or public relations offices at each of the important missions, particularly in the Gulf countries.

This was so because Gulf countries had a large concentration of Indian workers to provide them all possible assistance in times of distress, specially in terms of providing shelters for the hapless workers who are forced to flee due to ill-treatment of their employers.

The Ministry said that recognising the significant role played by NRIs and PIOs in shaping the country’s destiny, the Government last year launched the PIO Card scheme. All preparations have been completed for the issue of PIO cards from missions and posts abroad.

On whether the Ministry had ever considered conferring dual citizenship to NRIs and PIOs, Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh informed the committee that the issue of granting dual citizenship to NRIs and particularly PIOs was "complex and very sensitive".

He said PIOs were citizens of another country and to rush to give them Indian citizenship without considering their own position in their respective countries would not be advisable.

Explaining the technical difficulties in providing dual citizenship, Mansingh said that before considering dual nationality, "we have to consider first a definition of those who are eligible for it. It will probably make millions of persons of neighbouring countries eligible for our nationality and for free access to India, which will be a security threat".