HYDERABAD, India, 10 January 2006 — Non-resident Indians (NRIs) from the Gulf countries took out their anger at the government of India for ignoring their problems and doing nothing to protect their interests.
The parallel session on “Indians in the Gulf” on the last day of the 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2006 here turned out be a “grilling session” for the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs officials who were taken to task by angry representatives of NRI organizations in the Gulf countries. Protector-General of Emigrants R.K. Singh and the organizers bore the brunt of the Gulf NRIs’ fury.
They demanded to know why the minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and top officials from the ministry as well as from other ministries concerned with NRI issues did not care to attend the session where the Indians in the Gulf were supposed to highlight their grievances and seek immediate solutions.
Some of the delegates were so furious that they forced a panelist from Jawaharlal Nehru University to cut short his presentation on Overseas Employment: A New Agenda. “There is no point in listening to academic lectures. What we want is response of the officials to our problems. Nothing else,” the delegate said, echoing the mood at the venue.
One of the delegates Suresh Kumar taunted the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, saying “we are not smart enough to issue smart cards for NRIs despite such promises in the last two years. When are you going to issue these cards?” Other delegates narrated their litany of grievances, demanding to know what the government was doing about them.
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has called upon the overseas Indians to provide leadership for the transformation of Indian villages with their experience and knowledge.
In his address at the valedictory session, the president said that the transformation of India required the transformation of 600,000 villages.
