RIYADH, 2 June 2006 — India’s Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Arjun Singh said that an examination center for the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) would be set up in the Kingdom for the next academic year to enable non-resident Indian (NRI) students to participate in competitive examinations back home.
In another development, an Indo-Saudi joint committee was set up here yesterday to identify the areas of cooperation in which the technical and financial resources of both countries could be pooled into the setting up of joint ventures in IT, health care, education and other strategic sectors. Professor Sukhdev Thorat, chairman of the University Grants Commission, led the meeting on the Indian side. The 12-member Saudi delegation included representatives of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the Deputy Minister for Industrial Affairs, and prominent Saudi businessmen.
On the subject of conducting examinations for NRI students appearing for professional courses, the minister announced that the government had accepted the proposal.
“I am happy to inform you that the HRD Ministry has accepted it and the system will be in place before the next academic session,” said Arjun.
He also disclosed that Indian degrees would be recognized in the Kingdom under an arrangement being worked out by Indian and Saudi Equivalence Committees. “I am assured that this matter would cease to be a problem,” he said, adding that he had taken it up pointedly during his meeting with Minister for Higher Education Khaled Al-Angari on Tuesday.
The new momentum in Indo-Saudi relations, he pointed out, had been made possible following the landmark visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to New Delhi at the Republic Day celebrations this year.
During his audience with the king on Tuesday, Arjun Singh said the Saudi monarch had assured him that all the agreements within the framework of the Delhi Declaration would be fully implemented.
The minister was a keynote speaker at a reception hosted in his honor by the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys’ Association (AMUOBA) in Riyadh. India’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia M.O.H. Farook, senior Congress leader Wasim Ahmad, vice-chancellors of various universities and the office-bearers of AMUOBA were among those present.
In his address, Arjun Singh assured Muslims that their status as a minority would not only be protected but also enhanced. He pointed out that only a “microscopic minority” in the country would like to see the minorities treated as second-class citizens. However, he declared that the Congress leadership under Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was committed to safeguarding the rights of the minorities amid the challenges looming ahead.
The minister’s assurance on protecting the minorities’ rights was in response to an earlier appeal from AMUOBA President Misbahul Arifin who expressed disappointment with “UPA’s cold attitude toward our issues.”
The memo also called for setting up competitive examination centers for expatriate students in the Gulf. In the absence of such centers, “thousands of Indian students travel to India to appear in the competitive examinations. This causes a lot of burden on the parents in the Gulf.”
Referring to the memorandum, Arjun Singh said the government had already challenged the verdict of the Allahabad High Court through the Supreme Court, which had stayed the court order. “I cannot comment anything more at this stage. But I would like to assure you that our government is fully committed to protecting the minority rights,” he said.
Regarding the classification of Indian expatriates as NRIs, the minister said Ambassador Farook had made a number of suggestions in this regard. “On returning to Delhi I shall see how we can deal with them to the satisfaction of the Indian community, whose welfare is always our prime concern. I would request you to be a little patient and give us some time so that you will be able to walk with your heads held high.”
Earlier, the ambassador called for a review of their status as NRIs, since the admission fee for professional courses amounts to $5,000, which is well beyond the means of an average NRI in the Gulf. “Of the 1.4 million Indian expatriates in Saudi Arabia, 80 percent of them are blue-collar workers,” he observed.
The ambassador also drew his attention to the problem facing around 35,000 NRI students and observed, “it is necessary to set up coaching centers for NRI children.” This point has been widely welcomed by the members of the Indian community. “A coaching center would be highly desirable as it can prepare the students for admission to professional courses,” said Musharraf Ali Khurshid, chief pharmacist at a local hospital here.
