Efforts will also be directed at creating a conducive environment for NRIs intending to reconnect to their heritage, Fernandes added.
'If any Pravasi attends the event he will not be disappointed,' says Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
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.
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.
"If they say that my son should not enter Guruvayur temple, it is not correct. It is not a good approach. Let the people say," Ravi, whose wife is a Christian, told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Kochi.
Pravasi centres to be set up in embassies
The launch of Overseas Citizenship of India cards, enabling overseas Indians holding foreign passports free access to the country, and an online electronic remittances gateway will be the highlights of the event
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the gathering on the inaugural day.
In the wake of procedural delays in granting visas to Persons of Indian Origin intending to visit India, the government is considering the option of providing them 'visa-on-arrival'.
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.
The government on Monday said it proposed to issue smart cards in about a month's time and set up a 24-hour helpline for migrant Indian workers to protect them from 'exploitation'.
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.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan has come out with a communiqu announcing distribution of portfolios of the ministers sworn-in on Monday in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers:
'We are keeping in mind that knowledge is more important than money.'
He said things were on the right track and there was a possibility that it will happen.
The Indian government plans to make a database of its nationals imprisoned in various Gulf countries with a view to help them.
The government expects non-resident Indians to pump in about $500 billion into the burgeoning forex reserves of the country in the next 10 years, making them the single largest source of foreign receipts.
The mortal remains of Sunanda Pushkar, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances at a luxury hotel in New Delhi on Friday night, were consigned to flames on Saturday in presence of her family members.
In a significant move, the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to be held in Gujarat from January 7 to 9, might see the overseas citizen of India and person of Indian origin cards getting clubbed, External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.
In 2008, 519 women got their clearance from Protector of Emigrants office, Chennai, which monitors the below matriculation qualified workers from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry.
On matters relating to the Diaspora, the Centre needs to call the shots, suggests Ambassador T P S Sreenivasan.
Amidst spiralling violence in Libya, India's mission in Tripoli on Monday advised all its nationals to leave the strife-torn country using all available means and not to travel to that country.
The Congress on Wednesday stepped up attack on Union minister V K Singh, saying his remarks against the army chief-designate were unbecoming of a minister and a former general of the armed forces and demanded that the prime minister "censure" him.
The 17 related ministries have been combined into seven different groups, including some infrastructure departments, in a bid to ensure synergy and better results.
After the defence ministry termed as "illegal" his decision to put a ban on promotion of Army Chief designate Dalbir Suhag, Gen (retd)V K Singh, now a Union minister, justified his action on Tuesday.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has started preparing the ground to rescue Indians who are expected to be deported from Saudi Arabia as it goes ahead with its new job law, Nitaqat. Sheela Bhatt reports
Chidambaram has not been named as an accused in the FIR and the CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in the matter.
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin will attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Delhi with an agenda to develop a plan to bring together AAPI, NGOs and the government to provide access to affordable and quality health care. Aziz Haniffa reports
'The EC is a sacred institution.' 'In the last few years, more than once, we have found the EC bending over backwards to accommodate the government.'
In one his strongest remarks on Kashmir, Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday said it is an "unfinished agenda" of the partition in 1947 and Pakistan and Kashmir are "inseparable".
Chidambaram said it was a 'despicable slur' on the six secretaries of the government.
All we want from the government is to give us visa and they can't even deliver that, says Inder Singh, chairman of Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin International
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