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.
Don't marry Indians in America, including Canada,' Vayalar Ravi, India's minister for Overseas Indian Affairs often tells people back home.
Blaming anti-social elements for the attacks on Indian students in Australia, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi today said Canberra was taking strict action to prevent such incidents after the Centre's intervention.
Under the scheme titled Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, 100 admission-cum-scholarships will be offered each year for undergraduate courses.
Other panelists of the 23-member council includes external affairs minister S M Krishna, City group CEO Vikram Pandit, NRI entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria, economist Jagdish Bhagwati, educationist Sam Pitroda.
The government has suspended the licence of Dewan Consultants and Mansur & Co, Mumbai and blacklisted the foreign employer -- Global Resources -- in connection with the 'sub-human conditions' of more than 100 Indian workers in Mississippi, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Expressing his opposition to a legislation for allowing non-Hindus to worship in temples in the state, Ravi said his case was entirely different as he is a Hindu and his son was also brought up as a Hindu.
All eyes will be on star India batter Virat Kohli, who is perhaps battling the biggest form crisis of his career.
Noting that it was responsibility of the state governments to prosecute unscrupulous recruiting agents, he said proper enforcement of the relevant law will help in controlling illegal migration from the country.
For the 25 million Indians living abroad, getting information about their country especially the growing investment opportunities in various sectors would now be just a click away.
The idea is "not easy to implement since there are many stakeholders, though the government has been able to fix a minimum wage structure for maids," Vayalar Ravi, the minister of overseas Indian affairs, told PTI. There are nearly five million Indian working in the Gulf countries, but rising inflation in the region has made the condition of the blue-collar workers difficult since they are unable to save money locally or remit them back to India.
An amendment to the Indian Immigration Act governing the conduct of manpower agents is now waiting for the mandatory clearance from the union cabinet, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said in Dubai on Tuesday. Of the 56 complaints received so far this year, 13 licences were cancelled while 27 were suspended. Twenty-eight licences of recruiting agents were cancelled in 2006 and 65 were suspended.
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.
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, who met with an accident in Liberia, will be airlifted to Chennai for further treatment.
Kerala will have to wait. The next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be held in Chandigarh," and not in Thiruvananthapuram, said Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
After several losses in the early years of the new century, a resurgent India notched up two consecutive series wins in Australia to become the Aussies' nemesis.
The scheme would cover women deserted in India or overseas within one year of the marriage and divorce proceedings initiated by the spouse within one year of the marriage.
Two young students of Indian origin from Chile and the United States of America, who attended the 8th Bharatiya Pravasi Divas as part of Know India Program, reveal how their current tour of India has helped them cleanse themselves of their prejudices spurned by Bollywood movies and how they wish to further strengthen their relationship with India by working with the country's underprivileged.
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin will celebrate its Convention 2009 in Chennai, India, January 6 and 7 at the Trident Hotel, just before the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2009 event.
There will be no requirement of emigration clearance from October 1 for Indians travelling abroad, with the government on Thursday admitting that the 'retrograde' scheme was a cause of 'harassment' and 'corruption'.
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said in New York on Friday that New Delhi is trying to negotiate for an agreement with the Bush Administration under which temporary Indian workers in the US would not have to pay social security taxes.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday rapped the Union government for "half-baked assurances and lips service" on tracking film producer Mushtaq Nadiadwala's two minor children, who he claims have been illegally detained by his wife in Pakistan since 2020.
A hassle-free electronic remittances gateway, enabling non-resident Indians to send money back home, will be launched during the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas opening in Hyderabad on January 7.
The Aam Aadmi Party dismissed the allegation as "baseless" and claimed it was "another conspiracy hatched by the BJP" to tarnish AAP's image ahead of voting for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and Punjab.
Pravasi centres to be set up in embassies
The first ever live webcast of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2008 will be put up on www.PIOTV.com
Quoting officials, The Washington Post said, the foiled assassination was part of an escalating campaign of aggression by RAW against the Indian diaspora in Asia, Europe and North America.
Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi in reply to a question said India's remittance from abroad is $27 billion which is the highest in the world.
Efforts will also be directed at creating a conducive environment for NRIs intending to reconnect to their heritage, Fernandes added.
Already reeling under huge losses and facing a liquidity crunch, Air India has suffered a loss of Rs 3,450 crore (Rs 34.5 billion) in the first half of the current fiscal.
The proposals were discussed at a recent meeting between Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury, an official said.
The economy is scheduled to dominate the seventh annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Chennai, January 7-9. Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told Rediff India Abroad that the ongoing economic meltdown has affected the Diaspora and could even impact on the numbers participating in the PBD, but said such impact could be marginal. "We are not getting any alarming report, so far," the minister said, adding that at least 1,200 prominent NRIs are expected to attend.
Customs sleuths will be posted in London, Hong Kong, Dubai and Brussels in an effort to check trade-based money-laundering among others.
Holding the 'nexus' between agents responsible for the 'exploitation' of Indian workers in Gulf countries, New Delhi on Friday said it would tighten rules for their recruitment.
All efforts are being made to bring home the bodies of the 21 Indians, who were killed in the boat mishap off the Bahrain coast, as early as possible to their respective home states, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said.
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