Antony never meant to offend expatriates: Kerala minister By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service
Thiruvananthapuram, July 24 (IANS) Staunchly defending his boss, a Kerala minister says Chief Minister A.K. Antony never meant to hurt non-resident Keralites (NRKs) and that expatriates never had a better friend running the state. Non-resident Keralites Minister M.M. Hassan claimed Antony's remark early this month that was seen as disparaging towards NRKs, especially those belonging to religious minorities, had been widely misunderstood. "Antony has already come out with a clarification on this after he found out that the statement did hurt the NRK population," Hassan told IANS, referring to the chief minister's statement since that NRKs are "ambassadors of Kerala". "The (earlier) statement was made with respect to the particular political and social climate that prevailed in the state at that time. Never did Antony mean to hurt the NRK population, which has been the mainstay of the Kerala economy for several years now." On July 9, Antony had mentioned in remarks to reporters that minorities had got a bigger share of benefits from migration to the oil-rich Gulf, the U.S. and Europe and this had created an economic and social imbalance in Kerala. Sources close to Antony claimed his remark was merely a plea for leaders of religious minorities to urge their communities to practise restraint instead of constantly bargaining for benefits given the continuing tension over the communal violence in Marad in May. Said Hassan: "Antony has so much of concern for the NRK population that he created a separate department and made me the minister for NRKs. "To take the state forward and also to involve NRKs, he organised the Global Investors' Meet (in Kochi in January). This government has special concern for NRKs," added the minister. There are currently about 1.6 million Keralites settled overseas, mostly in the Gulf countries. Every year close to Rs.35 billion arrive in Kerala by way of remittances from these expatriates. Hassan pointed out that the present United Democratic Front (UDF) government had held several conferences to see how best to alleviate problems NRKs faced. A special insurance-cum-retirement scheme had also been launched for them. He noted that now government is now contemplating setting up an NRK fund whereby their investments could be channelled for the most productive use for Kerala. The government has already commenced talks with the State Bank of India to float a bond for this purpose. Besides, Hassan pointed out, he had himself undertaken several trips to the Gulf countries to find out about the problems Keralites there faced. The minister pointed out that Kerala was pressuring the centre to lower airfares on state-owned Indian carriers, especially to the Gulf nations. He said efforts were also on to operate ship services to the Gulf to help thousands of Keralite labourers whose savings would increase if they could avoid paying high airfares to visit home. "I appeal to the NRK population -- there should be no more wrong feeling about Antony's intention towards them," said Hassan. --Indo-Asian News Service ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
