[NRI News]
Latest Information, News, Updates for Non Resident Indians Living AbroadNRIs Launch $7mn Investment Fund
2007-05-30
According to the Andhra Pradesh Investment Fund, a new angel investment company with a corpus of $7 million is investing and targeting companies in the state.
Venkatesh, CEO of Andhra Pradesh Investment Fund, told journalists that the fund was being financed by philanthropic NRI investors who want to give back to their state and country.
He said the fund would be created in two phases. While $2 million would be raised by the end of the current year, $5 million would be raised next year. The funds would be raised through an 'investment club' where investors can invest amounts ranging from $25,000 to $100,000.
"The fund is a means to help Indian talent get a chance to demonstrate its potential and achievements on a world stage and derive the utmost financial advantage," Venkatesh said.
Besides funding, the budding entrepreneurs will get the necessary assistance - from concept to commercialisation. The fund has set up an office in Hyderabad to receive the proposals, which will be cleared by an investment review committee in the US.
According to Venkatesh, $350,000 had already been raised and four proposals for funding have been received. Minister for IT and Communications R. Damodar Reddy, who launched the fund, said it would go a long way in helping small and medium enterprises and contribute to the state government's plans to create large scale employment opportunities.
Venkatesh has promoted a couple of start-ups, including Solivar Inc, a Hyderabad-based IT company, while Pradeep is an engineer and alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
Source: dnaindia
Kerala To Benefit From NRI Community
2007-05-28
Kerala government had set up a joint working group with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to streamline investments and NRI Deposit in Kerala touches the heights of sky. An organisation of expatriate Keralites in Qatar is planning to extend its activities to its core area of interest in Thrissur, Kerala.
The Thrissur Jilla Souhrida Vedi (TJSV) will open its office in Thrissur town on July 15, which will be followed by a medical camp.
A report in the Gulf Times newspaper quoted TJSV secretary C.K. Menon as saying that 80 medical professionals, including cardiologists, paediatricians, gynaecologists, ENT and general medicine practitioners, will offer their services to members and their families in the medical camp to be held on July 22.
Menon, a recipient of the Indian government's Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award, said Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi will inaugurate a family gathering and community feast on July 23.
As part of its charity activities, TJSV is also organising marriages for 25 handicapped women this month.
There are around two million Keralites residing in the Gulf region. They send home Rs.70 billion ($1.5 billion) annually, contributing to almost 22 percent of the state's gross domestic product.
NRI Docs Lose Battle Over Flawed UK Job Application System
2007-05-24
Junior doctors in the UK, including NRIs, have lost their high court battle to get a controversial job application system scrapped and declared an "abuse of power."
However, justice Goldring admitted that the premature introduction of the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) by the government had "disastrous consequences" for junior doctors.
The introduction of the system allocating specialist training posts had sparked angry protests from doctors and led to calls for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to resign.
In his judgement, justice Goldring said "The fact that the claimant has failed in what was accepted to be an unprecedented application... Does not mean that many junior doctors do not have an entirely justifiable sense of grievance."
Indicating that the system was flawed, the judge said junior doctors could have good grounds to appeal regarding the jobs that were allocated to them - or to take their cases before an employment tribunal.
The dispute over MTAS is focused on the failure of a computer-based system, which is now abandoned, to produce fair and appropriate shortlists of applicants for training posts. More than 34,000 doctors are competing for 18,500 posts,
leading to anger over apparent injustices.
Remedy UK, the doctors group set up to campaign against MTAS and which demanded the system be declared "an abuse of power," said: "This is a sad day for doctors and the NHS. The judge has recognised that we have challenged an inherently unfair system, but at this late stage he is powerless to act. We are bitterly disappointed."
Remedy UK said the judgement "Accepts that the careers and lives of thousands of talented doctors in this country may be harmed. Had we won, they could have won the right to be appointed under a better system, where they could have demonstrated their true excellence."
There would be no appeal against the judgement "As the lives of 34,000 doctors have been subject to enough uncertainty in recent months," it said.
Remedy UK had argued that an attempt to offer all candidates an interview in the second round of applications was inadequate. The majority of posts, it said, would be filled in the first round.
Remedy UK`s claim related to changes to the system made by the review group after MTAS broke down, saying they were made "without proper consultation" and were "conspicuously unfair and amount to an abuse of power". The grounds included a claim that MTAS applicants had a legitimate expectation that they would be able to express four preferences for jobs, while the modified system limited them to one interview and that there had been inequality of treatment of applicants.
The judge said that the review group was not in breach of any duty to consult.
Justice Goldring said that lawyers for Hewitt had repeated in court "How sorry she is for the uncertainty and anxiety" caused to junior doctors. "It does seem to me that she might want to bear in mind what she said on March 13 - that a large number of posts will not be filled in the first round; that only candidates in respect of whom the deaneries are absolutely satisfied will be appointed."
Via: Zeenews
NRI Scholar From Bihar Conferred With Glory of India Award
2007-05-24
Noted scholar and linguist from Bihar M J Warsi has been selected for the prestigious 'Glory of India' award for this year by the London based India International Friendship Society (IIFS).
Hailing from Darbhanga district in north Bihar, Dr Warsi migrated to the US a few years ago. Presently he teaches in the department of Asian and Eastern language and literatures in Washington University. Known for his extraordinary knowledge on the basis of many languages in the world, Dr Warsi has also written a number of books on language and communications.
Among the previous receipients of the coveted global award include Mother Teresa, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, former CBI Director Joginder Singh and film personality Dev Anand in recognition of their 'unmatched contribution' in respective fields.
Source Via: Newkerala.com
THE NR EYE: Indian Mutual Funds Set For Huge Growth
2007-05-21
The Indian government's decision to allow the ‘big boy' public sector units to invest in mutual funds and its invitation of pension fund managers to administer a new pension scheme for its employees are sure to bring further cheer to the robust mutual funds sector and, indeed, the promise of better returns to small investors as well.
A few days back, the government announced another important decision - to allow public sector units to invest in mutual funds after a gap of eight years. According to industry estimates, even if 10 per cent (around Rs 30,000 crore) of the cash lying with the PSUs comes to the MFs, the total asset size of the industry would near Rs 4 trillion. At present, the industry's assets under management (AUM) is Rs 3,50,000 crore (Rs 3.5 trillion) and has grown 51 per cent since the last one year.
Industry watchers feel the passage of the Pension Bill, which has been hanging fire for long, could accelerate the next phase of growth in the fund management business in India. The US MF industry owes its growth mainly to the introduction of the 401(k) plan - a retirement mutual fund plan - 25 years ago. The 401(k) plan (pension) allows individuals to set aside a portion of their salary (pre-determined by them) for investment in mutual funds (pre-determined by them in association with their employers). So mutual fund-based investment activity is a lot more purposeful.
Currently, 60 per cent of MF industry's corpus comes from the fixed income schemes which invest in stable returns-giving instruments such as government securities and bonds. Industry sources also indicate that with this decision, the industry might see big inflows into the fixed income schemes, as corporates prefer to invest in secured return-giving instruments.
We see thus that the Indian mutual funds industry is booming as the number of players is on the rise and products are being rolled out by the dozen.
Indian mutual funds have rewarded their investors better than any other funds in world. According to a report by Lipper, a leading market research agency, Indian funds have grabbed eight of the top 10 ranks over a 10-year period. If one takes the last five years, they account for seven of the top 10 and over a 3-year period, six of the 10 best performing mutual funds are from India.
Five leading global asset management companies are planning to enter India's mutual fund industry in the face of the spectacular growth in 2006. American International Group (AIG), JP Morgan, AXA Investment, Korean financial services major Mirage Asset Group and a Japanese company are planning to foray into the MF business in India in 2007. Existing foreign funds like Franklin Templeton, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity and HSBC made good returns in 2006. Out of 30 AMCs in the country now, nine are predominantly controlled by global players.
The non-resident Indians (NRIs) have also increased their exposure in the Indian mutual fund industry by 30 times in the past four years. While the NRI share in total AUM in January 2003 stood at $102 m, in January 2007, the figure rose to $3.1 bn, according to industry estimates. In percentage terms, the NRI share has risen from 0.5 per cent to more than four per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hiked the investment limit of mutual funds in foreign equity and debt instruments from the current $ 2 bn to $ 3 bn. This is a reform step. Domestic mutual funds are yet to even come near the existing limit of $ 2 bn as the Indian markets currently look to be more attractive.
As for the tax implications, NRIs are now exempt from paying any long term capital gains tax. This is, however, applicable only in such cases where NRI's have bought equity funds from October 2004 onwards. Hence, in such cases, all remittances made by mutual funds to NRI's to their NRE/NRO NRI accounts have to be made by the respective funds without any tax deduction in case of equity schemes.
Via: Thepeninsulaqatar
Cells for Non Reliable Indian husbands soon
2007-05-18
Government proposes to set up cells to redress the plight of Indian women deserted by
their NRI husbands, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said the government is considering setting up of general cells to address the issue.
The Ministry has recently initiated various measures to create awareness on the issue, he said.
The Committee on Rural Infrastructure constituted under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister is monitoring the progress of all Bharat Nirman programme components, Minister of State in the Ministry of Planning M.V. Rajasekharan told Congress member Prema Cariappa and media personality Shobhana Bhartia in a written reply.
He said Bharat Nirman remains the cornerstone of the government policy and the budgetary al for it has been increased by 31.6 per cent during 2007-08.
Source: http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/Articles.aspx?NewsId=75597
Gulf Investors Keen on Kerala, Says Minister
2007-05-15
The Kerala government will set up a joint working group with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to streamline investments, Kerala's Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said here.
Industries Principal Secretary T Balakrishnan and former chief secretary and Infrastructure Kerala Limited (InKel) managing director John Mathai will represent the state in the working group.
"The UAE is expected to announce their nominees soon," Kareem, who is back from an extensive tour of the Gulf countries with a high-level team, told reporters here.
The minister, who also held talks with Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Oman's minister of commerce and industry, said several companies in the Sultanate were keen to invest in oil refinery, port, petrochemicals and ship and boat building sectors in Kerala. The Chancellor watch manufacturers in Bahrain has shown interest in setting up a watch manufacturing unit in the state.
Kareem said he had extensive talks on the proposed joint investment group with UAE Minister of State for Finance and Industry Dr Mohamed Khalfan bin Khirbash and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority officials.
The UAE authorities have shown interest in investing in petrochemical and power projects. Investors from Oman and Kuwait too are keen on the proposed petrochemical complex in Kasaragod with an estimated outlay in excess of Rs20bn.
The minister said the state government had showcased the Kannur power project for possible investment from the Gulf. The government decided to revive the nine-year old project as it would have the crucial LNG terminal that is expected to be commissioned in 2009.
Kareem, who also held discussions with the Emirates Investment Group (EIG) chairman Sheikh Tariq bin Faisal al-Qassimi who is also chairman of the Emirates Global Islamic Bank Limited (EGIBL), said the EIG was also enthusiastic about the investment opportunities in Kerala.
The UAE's major investment group is interested in the tourism, property and other commercial sectors. The government would identify viable projects in these sectors and submit them to the group for consideration, Kareem said.
The minister said the delegation was able to convince the investors about the attractive investment climate in the state during the 11-day tour that took them to Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
"Both non-resident Indians, individual investors and governments appreciated the investment climate here. That's an important achievement," the minister, who completes his first year in office this week, said.
Indian expatriates have offered to invest Rs1.42bn in the Inkel. The government had already paid up its share of Rs260mn to the company that has an authorised capital of Rs1bn.
"The offer will be open till May 31. We will give preference to the small investors; the bulk investors who have applied for more that 50 shares with a face value of Rs10,000 would be considered only after that," the minister said.
The government intends to hold the first meeting of the shareholders to appoint the board of directors next month. It will also decide on the projects to be taken up by the company.
The minister said total investment commitments of Rs100bn were received by his department last year. Among them is a 400-acre hi-tech city being built by Sobha Group of NRI businessman P N C Menon.
The hub for new generation industries in Kochi is estimated to bring in investments worth Rs50bn and create 75,000 jobs.
Other projects in the pipeline include Aditya Birla Group's Knowledge Park and an industrial park with Malaysian investments in Kozhikode, the Biotechnology Park and Hardware Park in Kochi and the federally funded Spices Park in Idukki.
Source: Gulftimes
Plan & Invest in Advance To Avoid Shocks On Return
2007-05-14
Anurag Sharma is a 30-year-old Indian IT professional working in the United States. Anurag plans to return to his homeland someday, but before his return, he wants to invest some of his savings in India so that he can lead a comfortable life and secure his family's future.
While planning investment in India, NRIs should keep in mind the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) foreign exchange control regulations and tax implications as per the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act), on income generated from investment in India. But first, it is important to understand the definition of NRI. Broadly, an NRI is a person resident outside India, who is an ‘Indian citizen' or a ‘Person of Indian Origin'.
Permitted areas of investment ‘
An NRI can make investments in areas covered under the automatic route (i.e. areas where no specific approval is required by the Reserve Bank of India) directly through the authorised dealers, such as banks.
Broadly, NRIs can make direct investments in shares of Indian companies (subject to sectoral caps); shares/convertible debentures under the Portfolio Investment Scheme, subject to applicable guidelines; immovable properties, subject to ceilings and repatriation restrictions; and various other securities such as government securities, treasury bills, units of domestic mutual funds, bonds issued by public sector companies in India.
For areas not covered under the automatic route, NRIs can make investments subject to specific approval from RBI/Secretariate of Industrial Assistance and department of industrial policy and promotion. Some of the areas where investments are restricted include agriculture, plantation and construction of farm houses.
Channelling funds in India
NRIs can invest in India, either directly through remittance from abroad, or through a bank account maintained in India for funding investments in India. RBI regulations permit NRIs to open and maintain ‘rupee' or ‘foreign currency' accounts with any recognised authorised dealer in India.
NRI rupee account can either be Non-Resident (External) Rupee Account (NRE), or Non-Resident Ordinary Rupee Account (NRO) whereas foreign currency account is called Foreign Currency (Non-Resident) Account (FCNR). NRIs can also open an NRE account and remit funds in permitted foreign currency into this account, for investment in India. Joint ownership with another NRI is allowed, and local residents can also be authorised to operate the account.
And the tax implications
Once you have decided the areas where you wish to invest, it may be prudent to be aware of the taxability of income from such investments to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Typically, income earned by NRIs from investment in India is liable to tax in India. The scope of ‘taxable income' in the hands of NRIs normally depends upon the residency status in India, i.e., whether an NRI/PIO is a Non-Resident (NR), or Resident but Not-Ordinarily-Resident (RNOR) or Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR).
Briefly, the residency status of a person is determined by his/her period of stay in India. In case of non-resident, only income received in India, or accrued in India, or income deemed to accrue or arise or receive in India, is subject to tax in India.
In case of RNOR, taxable income includes all income subject to tax, as in case of non-resident, including income of overseas business controlled or profession setup in India. In case of ROR, worldwide income is liable to tax in India.
Based on the residential status of an NRI, taxable income may be classified into various taxable categories like income from house property, capital gains, income from other sources, etc.
Taxability of each category is based on detailed provisions laid out in the Act. It is also worthwhile to note that in order to promote investment in India by NRIs, Indian government has initiated various tax-friendly schemes like NRI Bonds, Millennium Deposits, etc., where the interest income earned is tax exempt. So, if you or any member of your family is a non-resident Indian and want to invest in India, be mindful of the above before making your investment decisions!
Source: Economictimes
SIB Express Launched For NRIs
2007-05-14
An Indian bank which is now fully online following the completion of a major technological upgradation project has entered into a tie-up with a local money exchange firm to offer its customers in Oman a new facility allowing them to transfer funds instantly to any of its 475 branches across India.
Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) said with the launch of its 'SIB Express' NRIs could transfer money back home in less than 30 minutes through Oman-UAE Exchange. One of the leading privately-owned banks in India, SIB boasts a nine per cent share of NRI remittances. Its total NRE deposits have swelled to Rs. 3,200 crores, including Rs. 258 crores added last year.
A top-level team from the bank, led by Dr. V.A. Joseph, Chairman and CEO, and consisting of G.A. Shenai, Director, K.S.Krishnan, Deputy General Manager, and C.T. Devis, Assistant General Manager, was in Muscat to conclude the deal with Oman-UAE Exchange.
Dr Joseph, who was addressing a news conference after signing the agreement with Tonny George Alexander, Country Head of Oman UAE Exchange, underlined that SIB was the first private sector bank in India to open an exclusive NRI branch in November 1992.
"We now have the distinction of having more branches in Kerala exclusively for NRIs than any other bank," he added. He said an ambitious technological upgradation project titled 'SIBertech', launched by the bank in collaboration with Infosys Technologies, Wipro and HCL with the goal of providing 'anywhere banking' facilities to NRIs, had now been completed.
"100 per cent of the bank's business is now online," Dr Joseph said, adding that the bank had established the largest network of core banking branches in the private sector next only to three other new generation banks, involving an investment of Rs44 crores.
SIB recently won the special award for banking technology excellence in the category of Information Security Policies and Practices from IDRBT, the technical arm of Reserve Bank of India.
Source: Khalejtimes
NRI Financial Issues - Better Deal
2007-05-10
Investments by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in India have increased greatly post liberalisation and the softening of the repatriation norms by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). However, a major concern still remains in respect of the NRI taxation under the Income-Tax laws in India. An NRI’s income is subject to certain hardships and controversies during taxation and is not as simple as it appears. In this article we portray some of the controversies which dampen the spirit of income inflows into India to some extent.
Resident Criteria -
Double taxation avoidance agreement protects a person from the incidence of double taxation in the residence country and source country. To enjoy the benefit of avoidance of double taxation, a person must be a resident of one of the country with whom India has entered into an agreement.
The term “Resident” means a person who is liable to tax therein by virtue of his domicile, citizenship, residence or any other specified criteria. It means there should be a liability for a person to pay tax in his country and if the residence country does not tax a person, then he cannot access the treaty. For NRIs in Gulf , Countries like UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia etc do not tax individuals.
Various contrary decisions have been pronounced on the issue whether resident individuals of above countries can have access to double tax avoidance treaty for beneficial tax regime.
Recently, the government had renegotiated the treaty with UAE and now the term “resident” includes an individual who resides in UAE for at least 183 days and can access the India-UAE double tax avoidance treaty. Such are welcome clarifications and we are of the view that such amendments should be made in other treaties were individuals are not liable to tax.
Business Income vs Capital Gain -
Many NRIs are showing interest in the Indian stock market, which is one of the progressive signs for the nation. But recently issues created on tax treatment on surplus earned on sale of shares have created chaos amongst NRIs.
The draft circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) covers a wide range to treat gains arising form the sale of shares as capital gain vs business income. The criteria is not new but is a result of the past rulings of various courts. Based on this, the scrutiny of assessment of cases has increased significantly for NRIs, which creates the discomfort.
To end the uncertainty, CBDT should provide clear guidelines for the NRI community on treatment of gains arising out of the sale of shares as capital gains or business income.
Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) on ESOP to NRIs -
India is known for specialisation in information technology. It has started competing with companies like Accenture, IBM etc at the global level. As the sector grows, many Indian are deputed on assignments at offshore s for a long duration. Employee Stock Option is considered as the preferred option to retain talent.
Recently, the Finance Minister had brought the stock option granted to employees under the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) regime. He has now clarified that for determining the value of FBT, the fair market value will be calculated as on the date of vesting of option i.e date on which the options granted vests with the employee and FBT will be payable by the employer at the time of exercise of option by employee. The employer has the option to pass the burden of FBT to the employee.
There are various open issues that still remain to be clarified:
(i) If an NRI (overseas personnel) working abroad has been deputed to India by a foreign company for a short period of time and during such period he exercises the option which was vested to him abroad, can the foreign company be brought under the purview of FBT?
(ii) An employee deputed in an overseas country would be required to pay tax in the overseas country on the basis of grant, vesting or exercise if that country levies a tax on them.
If the employer in India has paid FBT and recovered it from the employee, then the employee may not be able to claim credit (of the amount paid to the employer towards FBT) in the overseas country, which leads to double taxation.
To further boost investment by NRIs in various sectors the law should be amended.
Related Readings - EB5 Visa, NRI Capital Gain
Tharoor honoured with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award
2007-05-09
Writer and former UN under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor has been honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest award for overseas Indians.
The award was conferred on Tharoor by the Indian Ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen at his official residence in Washington on Tuesday evening.
The official citation of the award recalled not only Tharoor's "brilliant record as an international civil servant" but also his contribution as a writer on contemporary social and political themes.
The award was conferred "in recognition of his valuable contribution in promoting the honour and image of India and in fostering the interests of overseas Indians".
Accepting the honour, Tharoor pointed out that the Award was given in 2004 but he was unable to accept it at the time because of the rules of the United Nations that prohibited accepting decorations by foreign governments.
"For me this evening is very special for all sorts of reasons," Tharoor said adding that he had the distinction of being able to carry the Indian standard in the race to succeed Kofi Annan as the Secretary General of the United Nations.
"It didn't work out... But we were able to stand up to certain values and principles in the international system for which India has always stood" Tharoor said.
"I wear this badge with pride and honour," he said.
The function was attended by members of the Indian American Community, the Co Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans Democrat Jim McDermott and Republican Joe Wilson and senior Congressional staffers.
Source: Hindustantimes
Related Reading - NRIs Questioned How to get 15 Trillion
NRI husband's passport no could be stamped on wife's passport
2007-05-07
New Delhi: In a bid to curb cases of women getting duped or harassed in marriages to NRIs, the Government is considering a proposal to make it mandatory for the husband's passport number to be stamped on the wife's passport.
The proposal has been made by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in the wake of a rise in complaints about women getting abandoned, harassed or cheated by their NRI husbands.
The Ministry is of the view that the inclusion of the husband's passport number in the wife's passport will aid in tracing him.
"Right now, only the husband's name and address are mentioned in the wife's passport. Provisions should be made to include the husband's passport number too," a senior ministry official told PTI.
The move will help trace the husband in case of desertion, abandonment or ex-parte divorce, he said.
The Ministry has also proposed that all NRI marriages be registered under the Special Marriage Act.
"Registration under the Special Marriage Act will give more power to women as the NRI husband cannot escape easily in case of any dispute by taking the help of foreign laws," the official said.
The Government is also considering going in for special agreements with other nations, including working out a set-up whereby a divorce order passed by a court in a foreign country in respect of an NRI husband and an Indian wife would have to be endorsed by an Indian court.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has, meanwhile, formed a six-member sub-committee with officials from the Ministries of Law, Home Affairs and Women and Child Development and representatives from the States of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh to look into problems encountered in NRI marriages.
Over 30,000 Indian women have been abandoned by their NRI husbands, and 15,000 of them are from the Doab region of Punjab alone.
Source: Hindu
NRI's offer to invest in education sector in Punjab
2007-05-04
CHANDIGARH: The NRI Punjabis Thursday offered "large scale investment in improving academic standards and educational infrastructure in the state".
An assurance to this effect was given by a delegation of the NRI Sabha which called on the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here Thursday morning. The delegation was led by the NRI Sabha President Giani Resham Singh Hayer and General Secretary Kamaljit Singh and comprised district Presidents from across the state.
Badal directed the State civil and police administration to chalk out a joint action plan to sort out all the pending issues of Non Resident of India (NRIs) at the top priority in a time bound manner. He assured full support and cooperation to resolve their issues and said that the SAD-BJP Government was committed to the welfare of NRIs. A separate department of NRIs Affairs had been set up under the administrative control of a Senior State Functionary. "Appreciating the gravity of the problems of NRIs, I have kept this newly created department with me", said Badal.
In a significant decision, Badal said that the cases of NRIs in future would not be handled below the rank of DSP. The Punjab overseas Center for greater coordination between the government and the NRI Sabha would be set up in UK , Canada, USA, Australia and Germany. The NRI Sabha offered full assistance in setting up and running these centers.
Responding to the demands raised by the members of the delegation, Badal said that he would soon lay the foundation stone of NRI Bhawan at Jalandhar. He also assured them that he would soon take up the matter of setting up of fast track court for NRIs in the Civil Courts with the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court. He also directed the Financial Commissioner Revenue to enact legislation for the division of properties within the Lal Laquir on the pattern of ancestral property because most of the problems faced by NRIs pertain to the division of joint property. He asked the Revenue department to thoroughly look into this matter and necessary instructions be issued immediately for quick disposal of such cases.
Badal informed the delegation that he would soon convene a meeting of NRI Sabha with the officers of the concerned departments to thrash out the issues such as setting up of NRI offices in the district administrative complexes, appointment of NRI Nambardars and setting up of fast track courts in the office of district revenue officers to deal with cases of land grabbing of NRIs properties .
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister solicited the cooperation of NRIs for the overall development and prosperity of the state. He appreciated their outstanding contribution in the growth and progress of Doaba region and also urged them to come forward for taking development initiatives in the Malwa and Majha belt that was relatively under developed as compared to Doaba.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by his Media Advisor Harcharan Bains and Advisor Daljit Singh Cheema. The other members of the delegation included; Major Singh Mauji, Upinder Singh Grewal, Rajinder Singh Marwaha and Balbir Singh Changiara, General Secretary SAD Canada.
Source: punjabnewsline.com
University for NRIs approved by Indian Govt.
2007-05-02
The government of India approved a policy framework to establish a university in India to provide affordable and quality education for children of NRIs/PIOs. The university will be a deemed university under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act as an Institution of Excellence and will come up in a special economic zone (SEZ).
The university will be set up by overseas Indian trusts or societies with credible standing and experience in the field of education under the ove rall supervision of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. An advisory board comprising representative from the UGC, the ministries of Overseas Indian Affairs, External affairs, Human Resource Development, Health and Family Welfare, Indian Medical Council and Dental Council will evaluate the academic and infrastructure standards of the university and its adherence to norms set up by statutory bodies.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced setting up of an exclusive university for the PIOs at the 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), held in Hyderabad in 2006. At the PBD 2007 in New Delhi, he once again announced that the proposal for establishing a university for PIO is under active consideration of the government.
Corporates benefit from taxpayer but shy of social duties
2007-05-02
New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) Madhu Goud Yaskhi, often dubbed an 'NRI MP' as he left a flourishing law practice in New York to enter parliament, has criticised corporates for enjoying 'all kinds of benefits from taxpayers' money' while shying away from extending even basic facilities to poorer sections of society.
Pointing out that the much talked about GDP growth was restricted only to a few major cities, Yaskhi, Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh's Nizamabad, said: 'We are seeing 9.2 percent GDP growth and only fewer sections of these industrial houses are going all over the globe and purchasing companies.
'But what is their responsibility in terms of India? What are they doing in education and health sectors?' he asked while participating in a discussion on the Finance Bill Monday.
Referring to Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy's objections against reservations for other backward classes (OBCs) in higher educational institutions, Yaskhi said: 'They need reservation when it comes to land purchasing. They (Infosys management) requested the Andhra Pradesh government to give 500 acres of land for developing as their latest campus. The current market rate of the land is Rs.100 billion, but they wanted it for Rs.800 million.'
Yaskhi, who worked in the United States for 15 years and gave up American citizenship before contesting the Lok Sabha elections, said an average US household spends about $150 monthly for poor people. 'When one of the richest person in the country - Sunil Bharati Mittal of Bharati Communication, who bought a telecom giant recently, was asked about (Microsoft CEO) Bill Gates' contribution of $300 millions to AIDS project in India, he said he was too young to retire.
'This is the response of the corporate sector, which claim all kinds of benefits,' he said.
The MP also questioned tax benefits to the IT sector as it contributes only five percent growth rate. He said the government should focus more on the manufacturing sector, which creates employment.
Yaskhi also urged the government to ensure the effective implementation of the welfare schemes it had introduced for the poor and the weaker sections. Quoting the government reports he said. 'According to the reports of December 2006, only 13 departments have spent just 40 percent of the allocated money.'
'Out of the Rs.25.25 trillion money allotted, only Rs. 13.64 trillion has been spent in nine months,' he said. 'This is a wastage of taxpayer's money.'
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