The second batch of 130 Indians rescued from the Italian cruise ship 'Costa Concordia', which hit a rock and sank off the Tuscan coast in Italy last week, returned home on Friday.
In an unprecedented act of philanthropy to an American academic institution, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has given a $2 million grant to the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for the Advanced Study of India, headed by Devesh Kapur to support its research on international migration from India.
Over 81,000 Indians were deported from the Gulf this year on various grounds, including non-possession of visas, resident permits and violation of local laws, the government said on Thursday.
Out of those who arrived from Lebanon at 2.15 AM, 269 were from Tamil Nadu, 139 from Punjab, nine from Kerala, three from Goa and one each from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
The Slovak Republic's President, Peter Pellegrini, has expressed interest in adopting a tree-planting initiative similar to India's "Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam," launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The inspiration came during a meeting with Indian President Droupadi Murmu, who was on a two-day state visit to Slovakia. During a tree-planting ceremony in Nitra, Murmu highlighted Modi's initiative to plant trees in the name of mothers. Pellegrini was impressed and suggested that Slovakia could consider a similar program. The initiative, launched on World Environment Day last year, encourages people to plant a tree in their mother's name as a symbolic gesture of love and respect.
India will soon make a comprehensive amendment to emigration laws to protect its labour force abroad, especially in the Gulf region, from being exploited by unscrupulous recruiting agents.
All the chief ministers from the northeast states have confirmed that will be attending the 9th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said on Wednesday.
The parliamentary panel, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party's Sushil Kumar Modi, has also decided to examine remote voting and e-postal ballots for Indians residing abroad.
The helpline, Open 24x7, could be used by NRIs in distress to address their problems to the concerned officials in the ministry.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs proposes to introduce the scheme to start with in US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain -- the places from where such cases are mostly reported.
Started as a pilot project for Delhi, the new system will automatically convert into FIRs cyber financial crimes filed on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and helpline number 1930, initially above the threshold limit of Rs 10 lakh, he said.
ccording to the MEA plan shared with the ministry of civil aviation that is set to begin from May 7, approximately 14,800 passengers will be evacuated from 13 different countries. F
The government has taken "serious note" of complaints against an Indian company, involved in alleged mistreatment of 77 Indian labourers in Sri Lanka, and directed its mission in Colombo to make immediate arrangements for their return.
Unless the ministry for external affairs and the ministry for overseas Indian affairs work together, many NRI problems cannot be ironed out, feel T P Sreenivasan.
The Union Finance Ministry on Friday announced key amendments to foreign exchange (forex) regulations, including mandating government approvals for all investments originating from countries that share land borders with India. The latest amendments also seek to simplify cross-border share swaps and streamline key definitions, such as "control". The updated regulations have aligned the treatment of downstream investments made by overseas citizen of India (OCI)-owned entities with those owned by non-resident Indians (NRIs) on a non-repatriation basis.
Mallya and his group firms are already facing a probe by Enforcement Directorate for alleged diversion of loans taken by long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines
India is exploring the possibility of investment by Non-Resident Indians in some infrastructure projects of the country, S K Krishna Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs said in Washington on Thursday.
Though the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in a communication dated June 11 (D.O. No.OI-15014/02/2009-DS) informed that the rules to renounce the Indian citizenship have been further simplified, the Ministry of External Affairs have not taken it into consideration so far, showing the lack of coordination among the ministries.
Loan against gold as a product is catching on fast. Let's keep the momentum going, but aim for sustainable growth. A few bad apples should not ruin the brunch, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Millions of NRIs wishing to get voting rights may have to wait a little longer to see their names in electoral rolls as differences between the government and the Election Commission have resulted in a delay in finalising the modalities for enrolment.Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Tuesday said two rounds of discussions have already been held between the Election Commission, the external affairs ministry and his ministry to finalise the modalities.
In his inaugural address at the 7th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Tamil Nadu government and Confederation of Indian Industries, the prime minister said that professionals, including doctors, dentists, pharmactists, engineers, architects and chartered accountants, would have the benefit of practising their professions in India.
Deshmukh, who is Science and Technology Minister, was given additional charge of the Ministry immediately after Virbhadra Singh resigned in the wake of a Himachal Pradesh court framing corruption charges against him in a 23-year-old case in June, this year.
Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry has sought a detailed report from Indian High Commission in United Kingdom about the controversy involving its reported refusal to grant a Person of Indian Origin card to Nobel laureate V S Naipaul.
The Union Finance Ministry on Tuesday said that aggregate business of public sector banks (PSBs) has shown strong growth of 11 per cent in the first half of the financial year 2024-25 (H1FY25) to touch Rs 236 trillion. The operating and net profit were also robust. At Rs 1.5 trillion, operating profit grew by 14.4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) while the net profit saw an impressive 25.6 per cent jump at Rs 85,520 crore in the first half of FY25.
NRIs hailing from the five poll-bound states will be able to vote in the elections for the first time but they will have to be physically present in their place of origin to exercise their franchise.
Ravi said he proposes to introduce a bill to this effect in the next parliament session.
'The problems faced by migrants remain the same for the last 20, 30 years -- salaries not being paid properly, exploitation by agents, etc. This is the biggest problem and not what the Saudi government implements now,' migration expert Dr Irudaya Rajan tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warier.
In an unprecedented act of philanthropy to an American academic institution, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has given a $2 million grant to the University of Pennsylvania's Centere for the Advanced Study of India, headed by Devesh Kapur, to support its research on international migration from India.This is the first time the ministry has ever awarded an empirical research grant of this magnitude to an academic institution outside India.
Such a legislation, the panel said, should be made applicable not only to the NRIs but also to those individuals who come within the definition of 'Overseas Citizens of India' as laid down in the Citizenship Act, 1955.
India and Saudi Arabia on Monday decided to expedite implementation of the $50 billion West Coast refinery project, and identified energy, defence, semiconductor and space as areas for intensified cooperation during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
On the first day of the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Jaipur, India sought investors to fulfill its goals in the field of solar energy, report Priyanka
However, the amendment would not be applicable to all persons of Indian origin, their children and grand children, who migrated to Pakistan and Bangladesh after January 26, 1950.
Human trafficking has been a concern and it got serious after recent detection of alleged involvement of MPs in the illegal activity.
Under the scheme titled Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, 100 admission-cum-scholarships will be offered each year for undergraduate courses.
The yellow page, which will reach out to about five million Indians living outside country, will feature Indian businesses willing for tie-ups and NRI entrepreneurs as well. To be made available in print and through an Internet edition, the yellow pages can also be obtained from Indian High Commissions and missions abroad.
Amid growing concern over the spate of attacks on Indian students Down Under, India and Australia decided on Monday to form a joint working group to coordinate between the two countries in ensuring safety of the students there. The decision was taken in New Delhi at a meeting between a high-level Australian delegation and officials of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
