JEDDAH, 24 January 2004 — The 2nd Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, held in New Delhi on Jan. 9, that brought the global Indian Diaspora under one umbrella, proved a landmark for Non- Resident Indians (mostly overseas contract workers — OCWs) in the Gulf region with the Indian government finally addressing the basic issues that has continued to affect the group. The prime minister approved two major steps in education policy that would help Gulf NRIs.
The largest grouping has been instrumental in fueling the engine of Indian economy with a collective contribution of nearly 50 percent of the $102 billion of the foreign exchange reserves that India enjoys today, and they were in focus in the second annual Diaspora event.
And it prompted Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to state in his opening remarks: “It is thanks to my NRI family and their contributions that is helping us to repay our loans to the World Bank and also gives us the privilege of lending to other nations too.”
But it was his gift to the Gulf NRIs that made this meeting a meaningful one for the Indians in the Gulf. He said: “We offer a reservation quota of one third of 15 percent supernumerary seats in all the educational institutions for all the NRIs”.
Khaja Quadeer Anwar, founder director of the Indian Doctors, Engineers, Architects, Accountants and Lawyers Society (IDEAS), who was one of the speakers at the Gulf NRIs meeting, and the other panelists at the session wanted to know as to when this facility would be effective. With only four months left for the start of the new academic year (2004-2005), the time span for implementation was short. The answer to their question was that the quota would be applied soon and the groups in the Gulf were asked to stay in touch with the Indian missions for details.
In addition Vajpayee said: “From now on the NRIs from Gulf and Southeast Asian countries need not pay a special NRI fee for admissions to professional colleges in India”.
Students seeking admissions through the NRI quota had to pay a special NRI fee earlier under a government regulation passed in the late 80s. This capitation fee or tuition fee was 5-10 times more than what those in India paid. With this announcement, the NRIs have now been brought on par with the residents.
This valuable sop also solved another major concern of the Gulf NRIs — domicile regulation. Many Indian states have domicile regulation that requires student to school in India for the last three years prior to their seeking entry into professional courses. With this second sop from the premier, the need for domicile prior to entry to professional courses has been done away with.
That Vajpayee chose Jan. 9 as the Diaspora Day is significant because that was the day one of India’s greatest sons returned home. It was on Jan. 9, 1915 that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned from South Africa to India to launch his non-violent movement that led to India becoming free from the British yoke.
The first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was launched on Jan. 9, 2003 and 2,000 NRIs from 62 countries got together to create a global vision. This year, at the second annual celebrations, Gulf NRIs, who are over 3.5 million in number, were in focus. About 1,200 delegates attended this year’s meeting. There are over 22 million Indians living or working outside India and skilled and semiskilled contract employees constitute almost the 70 percent of the total Gulf Indian Diaspora. Hence, it accounts for the world’s largest Indian Diaspora in a region.
Saudi Arabia accounts for the world’s largest NRI population at 1.6 million followed by USA with 1.55 million. In demographic classification, the state of Kerala constitutes the largest share — at least in the GCC region.
Vajpayee had announced two major sops to NRIs and PIOs (people of Indian origin) — dual citizenship and an insurance scheme to the overseas contract workers in the inaugural Diaspora Day meeting. The government was to implement the dual citizenship status for 16 countries effective from November 2003.
But it was the insurance scheme that was to prove a big relief for Gulf NRIs. It offered security for the overseas workers. This scheme came into effect on Dec. 25, 2003 as a gift to the Gulf NRIs. Primarily, New India Assurance Company has been given the contract and the rights to start issuing the policies. The premium per annum is a nominal sum of 1,000-2,000 Indian rupees with the maturity clauses described such as in case of death overseas, accidents or partially handicapped etc. And it has been made compulsory for all Indians who are leaving on employment contracts to foreign countries.
This year at the Pravasi Bharatiya Day, the Gulf NRIs raised the question why the scheme is applicable only to persons embarking on employment from 2003, to which Vinod Khanna, minister of state for external affairs, said that a study is being conducted and modalities of its being applicable to all is under review.
There were around 40 panelists and speakers chosen globally by the Ministry of External Affairs to speak and present various issues, proposals and topics in this year’s event. There were four panelists from the Gulf.
Khaja Anwar compiled the most common issues affecting the Gulf NRIs and highlighted them during his address at the Gulf NRIs session, chaired by Vinod Khanna.
Major Gulf NRI issues voiced at this session:
• Waiving off the Non-Domicile regulation for overseas contract employees.
• Reservation quota in jobs for the repatriated OCEs from Gulf countries.
• Revision of age limits for the repatriated OCE’s from the Gulf.
• Reservation quota in schools/colleges for OCE Wards.
• NRIs Ministry in the states that has a Diaspora of more than 1 million.
• Reservation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in states where there is a Diaspora of more than one million.
• NRIs housing corporations in the states.
• Welfare schemes for OCEs.
• Pension Schemes for the OCEs.
• Voting Rights for the NRIs.
Vinod Khanna said after the session that the government would seriously look into the suggestion of a pension scheme for Gulf NRIs and voting rights. “I will make a recommendation to form a committee that will comprise both government and NRI delegates to work out its mechanism,” he added.
