M A I N   N E W S

Curbs on foreign investment go
Sops to NRIs, PIOs in Gulf & South-East Asia
R. Suryamurthy and Gaurav Choudhury
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 9
India today threw open the global marketplace for domestic companies by removing the existing restrictions and offered them the freedom of setting up foreign subsidiaries without limiting its size to a government determined investment ceiling.

“Indian corporates will hereafter be freely permitted to make overseas investment up to 100 per cent of their net worth, whether through an overseas joint venture or a wholly owned subsidiary. The current restrictions, including a ceiling of $100 million are hereby being lifted”, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said while inaugurating the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here.

All existing restrictions on Indian corporates to undertake agricultural activities abroad, whether directly or through an overseas branch, will also be removed.

“This will enable companies to take advantage of global opportunities and also to acquire technological and other skills for adoption in India,”Mr Vajpayee said.

“We have decided to permit— indeed, encourage— Indian corporates to go global in the agriculture sector”, he observed.

Indian NRIs and PIOs in the Gulf and South-East Asia received special sops from the government in respect of children’s education.

Indian workers in the Gulf and South-East Asia, who have had to leave their children behind in India, would now enjoy the facility of one-third reservation out of the 15 per cent supernumerary seats across different disciplines in educational institutions.

Further, children of NRIs in the Gulf would not be required to pay NRI fees. They would be treated on a par with resident citizens.

For Indian workers migrating to the Gulf region and South-East Asia, a compulsory insurance scheme called the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana has been introduced since December 25, 2003. The government has also decided to set up a permanent centre to deal with the multifarious needs of the Indian diaspora.

“The government has decided to set up a Pravasi Bharatiya kendra in New Delhi, for which we will provide land and a seed grant of Rs 25 crore. The responsibility of running it will be entrusted to an autonomous body, which will also raise additional resources from members of the diaspora”, the Prime Minister said.

The second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which began here, has come at a time when speculation is rife about early Lok Sabha elections, and the Prime Minister’s announcements today came as no surprise.

During the first Pravasi Divas last year, the Prime Minister had announced the decision of the government to accord dual citizenship to PIOs of 16 countries. The Citizenship Amendment Bill has recently been enacted to this effect.

The Prime Minister today sought to dispel any notion that the government was selective in according dual citizenship to PIOs of certain countries.

“I would like to clarify that these 16 countries were chosen because their legal systems were compatible with the concept of dual citizenship.”

Sukhi comes in support of Sonia on foreign origin issue
R. Suryamurthy
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 9
It has been a long and thrilling journey for Moga girl Sukhi Turner to reach the corridors of power in New Zealand.

And, today she came in support of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, stating that the question of foreign origin was “hypocritical and discriminatory.”

She took everyone by surprise when she went around with New Zealand cricket star Glenn Turner. And in 1996, she became the first elected Indian woman Mayor of Dunedin City, New Zealand.

Sukhi was honoured with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman at a glittering ceremony in the Capital today.

With feet still entrenched in her roots, Sukhi wants to bring about social and environmental development in her ancestral village in Moga district.

“I do not believe in trickle-down effect. Effort should be made by each one of us, including NRIs/PIOs, in directly bringing about change in society,” she told The Tribune.

She is holding talks with the Punjab Government and local NGOs for the development of her ancestral village near Moga.

“I feel there should infrastructural development in rural areas and improvement in the sanitation in the region as this would result in better health conditions of the people,” she said.

Asked about the opposition expressed in certain quarters about Congress President Sonia Gandhi being considered for prime ministership, she said “such an attitude is hypocritical and discriminatory.”

“This kind of criticism on Ms Gandhi’s foreign origin issue is in poor taste and speaks volumes about petty politics,” Sukhi, who left for New Zealand in 1973, said.

She said Ms Gandhi’s foreign origin was not a “progressive” issue and gave the country a bad image abroad.

‘’On the one, our leaders demand that there should not be any discrimination against Indians, like me, who have migrated abroad and are now settled in other countries.

“On the other there raising this issue in India seems very hypocritical as they are also following the same policy of discrimination,’’ she opined.

Dual citizenship invites flak
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 9
The dual citizenship for NRIs/PIOs granted recently by the Vajpayee government came in for sharp criticism at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function, forcing the External Affairs Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, to state that the issue of granting political rights had to be debated in the country before a decision could be taken.

Delegates at the conference said dual citizenship was merely one step towards addressing the real issue. If citizenship is being extended why not political rights like right to vote and fighting elections.

They also criticised the government for granting the dual citizenship to NRIs/PIOs of 16 countries. Some of the delegates asked why Africa and other nations are being sidelines by India when they have contributed, if not more, as much as those who migrated to the West.

“We have come a long way. When we came into government in 1998 we started with the PIO card. Now we have moved a step further. Whether to give them political rights has to be debated. You must bear in mind the progress we have made in five years,’’ Mr Sinha told the delegates.

As the conference was thrown open to delegates, a departure from last year’s approach of speeches from the dais, the delegates criticised the government for not doing enough to remove poverty in the country and instead giving millions of dollars in aid to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pravasi Divas sidelights

Cultural mosaic of India was on display at the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations in the Capital. Kalbelia dancers from Rajasthan dancing to the enchanting tune of folk singers enthralled the audience as they came out of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium after listening to the speeches of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and others.

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Taste of India. That’s where all were headed for after the morning session. And, the culinary was not disappointing. Tired of Big Macs and pizzas, the NRIs/PIOs were virtually seen ‘eating’ their fingers as they gleefully gulped in traditional food. Cuisines from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Bihar were all there. How can we forget the ‘gol-gappas’ and ‘chats’, where many made a beeline.

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It was film star Vinod Khanna, not the minister, the wardrobe he adorns, which caught the attentions of the younger generation of NRIs/PIOs. Several children of Indian origin were keen to get his autograph. Why Vinod Khanna, who had left Bollywood years back? Pat came the reply. He is first a film star and other things later. We have seen him on TV screens and in person, still he looks even more dashing even now, blushed a young girl.

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Colonial legacy, perhaps, continues to hang on us. The Pravasi conferences, in both the years, have been focussed on the English speaking NRIs/PIOs. Realising that this measure was alienating other NRIs/PIOs, who went to other European countries, the government plans to hold sessions in French and Dutch. There are over one million in French speaking areas and over 4.5 million in Dutch speaking regions of the globe.

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Perhaps there could not have been a better way to renovate the stadiums in the Capital before the Commonwealth Games in 2010, than holding Pravasi meet. This year, the delegates would have a feel of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and Talkatora Stadium. With the conference becoming an annual feature and the strength of the delegates increasing with each passing year, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which has the capacity of about one lakh, could perhaps be the venue at a later stage.