Hyderabad, January 7
Ms Nivruti Rai and Mr Iftekhar Shareef from the US have become the first recipients of the much awaited Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards today at the inaugural day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave away the OCI card, passport and visa providing lifelong multiple entry into the country to both the overseas Indians, at the newly built state-of-the-art Hyderabad International Convention Centre here.
Ms Rai, a computer hardware engineer from Portland, was overwhelmed at being chosen for the honour. “I am thrilled to be part of history that is being created. With this, I have established my connections with India,” she said.
Having moved along with her two children to Bangalore, where her husband Dr Sunit Tyagi is a senior engineering manager at Intel since last year, Ms Rai, who hails from Lucknow, hoped that she could contribute to the economic progress of the country.
Mr Shareef, President and CEO of National Bankcard Corporation based in Chicago, is a Hyderabadi, who said the biggest benefit of the OCI card was the emotional connectivity he will get with his motherland.
“As a business person, I feel very comfortable with the new facility. As NRIs, we used to experience a lot of restrictions earlier. We are now citizens of India except that we don’t enjoy voting rights,” Mr Shareef, who left India 23 years ago, said.
He said he now planned to send his children to school in Hyderabad, and would make an effort to 'give back' to the country.
In his inaugural speech, the Prime Minister recalled during the last edition of PBD at Mumbai, he had announced that one day every person of Indian origin living anywhere in the world could aspire to become a citizen of the motherland.
“I am happy that as an important first step, we have delivered on our promise to grant the status of Overseas Citizen of India to eligible applicants,” he said.
He also disclosed that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs would soon complete the process of rationalisation of categories and ensure convergence of benefits.
Describing the case of overseas Indians in the Gulf as ‘unique’, Mr Manmohan Singh said their demand seeking voting rights at home has a ‘convincing political basis’. This proposal is at an advanced stage of consideration by the government, he declared.
