**************************************** Goanet needs your participation to grow. Post your comments, views, queries and inputs to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************Bill on dual citizenship to be placed in Parliament
>From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) New legislation for the grant of dual citizenship to people of Indian origin (PIO) will be placed in Parliament during the budget session that began Monday. "We will be moving the legislation for granting dual citizenships in the current session of Parliament, thus setting into process the assurance given by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the people of Indian origin," J.C. Sharma, secretary in the ministry of external affairs, said here Monday. Approval of the legislation would enable India to consider requests for dual citizenship from Indian diaspora residing in countries that allow for such provision, said Sharma, addressing a press conference organised here by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to explain the follow-up action being taken to the Pravasi Divas meet held in January. "A legal committee has been set up to study the legislation in respective countries to ensure that the proposal for dual citizenship is in conformity with the laws where the PIO are residing. Grant of dual citizenship to PIO residing in the U.S., Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia from where there is considerable demand is being considered. In addition, some countries in Europe are also being studied," said Sharma. The laws in some of the Nordic countries and Holland are being studied in this respect. The Indian government and FICCI have joined hands to set up a special division in the chamber to study and chalk out an action plan for carrying forward the suggestions received at the first diaspora meet in the capital that was attended by around 2,000 delegates from 61 countries. FICCI has constituted a special committee chaired by State Bank of India (SBI) chairman A. K. Purwar and co-chaired by PepsiCo India Holdings Private Ltd chairman Rajeev Bakshi with Member of Parliament L.M. Singhvi as chief patron. Both SBI and Pepsico, with their global reach, are expected to facilitate better interaction. "The committee would have a 10-15 member advisory board comprising eminent leaders of the Indian diaspora with broad representation from every geographical region to give inputs across countries and sectors," said A.C. Muthiah, FICCI president. The special committee would chalk out an action plan for follow-up action as India looks to raise ten-fold the current flow of foreign direct investment from the diaspora, from around $500 million to $5 billion, by 2008. FICCI also hopes to attract savings of NRIs in bank deposits, shares and bonds to at least $10 billion in the next 10 years. "We are looking at developing a holistic relationship with Indian diaspora and not merely economic and investment," said Sharma. Before the next diaspora meet on January 9, 2004, the committee hopes to see considerable progress in the flow of investment and cooperation leading to technical and economic cooperation in business, industrial and social projects like funding of and setting up of institutes of higher learning. "We are going to pick up two to three salient suggestions made in each separate session to concretise them for an action plan," said Muthiah. Some of the proposals that have been taken up for study include taking up with various countries like the U.S. repatriation of social security collected from Indians working there after the completion of their short-term assignment. The committee would also study laws affecting the welfare of Indians during their stay overseas. These would include marriage, divorce and custody of children and welfare of workers. "We want to ensure that countries where Indians reside have equal levels of comfort and are equal gainers as India where these laws affecting the welfare of diaspora are concerned," said Sharma. -Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
