In a bid to promote two-way engagement and build better understanding with the Overseas Indian community, a unique institution - 'Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra' - will come up in New Delhi by next year.
Saving the lives of Indians held hostage by Somali pirates would be the prime concern of the government when it decides on taking appropriate action, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said on Monday.
Deshmukh, who is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region, replaces Govindrao Adik.
Agreement paves the way for increased air connectivity between both countries and has the potential to spur trade investment, tourism and strengthening the cultural exchange between India and Brazil.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko on Wednesday alleged that the Libyan army had shot dead an Indian worker there and the authorities of the violence-torn country falsely claimed it to be a death in a road accident.Vaiko said 42-year-old Murugiah from Tirunelveli district was shot dead by the Libyan Army after it ordered the workers to vacate their place of accommodation. "On February 22, they were forced to vacate the place and the army opened fire on them."
In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, he sought permission to step down from the board of National Aviation Company of India Ltd.
Stepping up their campaign on the Mullaperiyar issue, Union Ministers from Kerala on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking his intervention in ensuring the saftey of the 116-year-old dam. Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi, K V Thomas, K C Venugopal,Mullapally Ramachandran and E Ahamed met Dr Singh with a demand to rein in Tamil Nadu's insistence on increasing the water level in the reservoir for enhancing water supply to the state.
Australia will ask India to crack down on unscrupulous education agents in India who give misleading information to students willing to pursue studies in the private institutes Down Under.
With high festive season demand pushing up airfares, aviation regulator DGCA has been asked by the Union civil aviation ministry to examine if it could take some steps provide any relief to air travellers.
In a meeting with Minister for Overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi in New Delhi on Tuesday, Australian Education Secretary Lisa Paul said her country is committed to have a help line for Indian students to lodge their complaints and to seek other support.
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.
India said it will seek a report from its US mission into the arrest of an Indian documentary film maker at the Houston airport for allegedly carrying suspicious Islamic jihad literature, brass knuckles and $10,000 in cash.
As many as 386 foreign companies are in the Prior Approval Category (PAC) list of the government due to non-payment or reduced payment of salaries and other related issues of exploitation of workers.
The decision to go for such a pact was taken at a meeting between European Union Foreign Affairs Minister Baroness Catherine Asthon and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi.
Government has already set aside a provision of Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) in the Budget for infusing equity in Air India in this financial year.
The airline is operating the flight AI-9801 with a 70-seater Canadian Regional Jet aircraft, which on Tuesday had an occupancy of 50 from Delhi.
After securing the resignation of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, Government on Monday said the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) will be under scrutiny including its funding and vowed not to spare any 'wrong-doer', as its top boss Lalit Modi came under the scanner of Income Tax authorities.
A section of Air India pilots, who have threatened to go on strike tomorrow demanding pay parity and better working conditions, on Tuesday, met the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) as part of the conciliation process.
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.
Overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said on Wednesday investment promotion, sharing of knowledge and property issues relating to the expatriates will be among the main themes of the three-day meet to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 8.
New Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Thursday sought the support of all employees of ailing Air India in restoring its lost glory and said the staff and the management should work in coordination to achieve this.
Conceivably, the deferment of the Parliament session to beyond the second week of September has more to do with the nuclear deal with the United States than the alienation of Kashmiris or the wheeling and dealing by the UPA and its allies.
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 minister for Overseas Indian Affairs says he is aware of the problems expatriates face when they travel to India with their Overseas Citizen of India cards.
The Election Commission has directed Union Minister Vayalar Ravi to repay the money incurred by him during his travel to Kannur while campaigning for the Congress candidate for the by election slated for November 7.
India received $55.9 billion in remittances in the year 2010-11.
The government has infused fresh equity of Rs 3,200 crore.
Ruling out any provision for a Non-Resident Indian nominee in Indian Parliament, Minister for Overseas Citizens Vayalar Ravi has asked the diaspora to make 'intellectual' contribution to their motherland along with financial investments.
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.
M S Gill, V Narayanasami, Jitin Prasada, Raghunath Jha, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Santosh Bagrodia and Rameshwar Oraon were on Sunday inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she had wanted her son and All-Indian Congress Committee general secretary to become a minister, but he refused.
The scheme has been launched in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Gulf, and is aimed at helping women who have been deserted by their overseas Indian spouses or are facing divorce proceedings.
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'.
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said the government was considering extending financial support to Air India.
The Election Commission will hold biennial elections on February 13 to seven Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Saif-ud-Din Soz as also National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. Elections would be held for four seats in Jammu and Kashmir and three in Kerala.
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.
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.
The committee also decided to recommend to the government to amend the Guruvayur Devaswom Act for removal of the clause, which empowered the 'thanthri' (traditional high priest) as the supreme authority of religious matters.
'Ravikrishna's school certificate proclaims him a Hindu, his passport says he is a Hindu. What authority has the priest to overrule the Government of India, which issued the passport,' asks Kerala Dewasom Minister G Sudhakaran.
India's Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Vayalar Ravi, keynoting the 15th biannual convention of the National Federation of Indian Associations, said the election of Senator Barack Obama as the new President of the United States had rewritten not just the history of America, but the history of the world.
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