JEDDAH, 21 March 2004 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s announcement about the implementation of reservations in education for Gulf NRIs is being followed up. “We’ve taken up (the matter) with the concerned government agencies in New Delhi,” Indian Consul General Syed Akbaruddin said here on Friday while addressing a meeting organized by IDEAS. He urged Indian expats to voice their problems through organizations or directly to the consulate. Akbaruddin said it was surprising that only Khaja Anwar, IDEAS founder and director, and two-three others attended the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas when the community was 1.5 million strong in the Kingdom. He pointed out that the presence of NRIs in the United States was comparatively less and yet hundreds of them attended the summit. Akbaruddin said there was a move to establish a degree college for girls in Jeddah for Indians.
