Source: Economics times/ IndiaTimes Dual citizen for PIOs in 16 nations
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2003 The Vajpayee government will grant dual citizenship to Indians in 16 countries and the Bill to this effect is likely to be considered by Parliament during the Winter Session, beginning this month. As New Delhi gears up for the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January next, the government plans to extend dual citizenship to expatriates in eight more countries- Israel , Greece , Switzerland , Cyprus , France , Sweden , Portugal and New Zealand . "We have included eight more countries keeping in mind the demand from expatriates all over the world," J C Sharma, secretary, Ministry of External Affairs told timesofindia.com. "I am optimistic that the Bill will be considered by Parliament during the next session," Sharma added. Dual citizenship, the main concern of the Diaspora in developed countries, had been a long standing demand. It took an event like Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to bring it to fruition, he said. During the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, government had proposed granting dual citizenship to Indians in the United States , United Kingdom , Australia , Canada , Finland , Ireland , the Netherlands and Italy . The decision was later accepted by the Union Cabinet and a Bill to this effect was introduced on May 8, 2003 in the Rajya Sabha. Indians living in these countries will have to apply for dual citizenship and the government could grant it after due verification. However, expatriate Indians would not have the privilege of voting rights and would not be allowed to hold constitutional offices or jobs in three defence services. The Union Cabinet in last March had approved certain amendments to the Citizenship Act 1955, to incorporate new provisions, streamline and remove certain provisions that have become redundant in order to increase the efficacy of the Act. The amendments would also introduce overseas citizenship for persons of Indian origin belonging to specified countries and facilitate introduction of the scheme of issue of national identity cards to all Indian citizens. The Citizenship Act was among 109 central acts, which had been identified for a review by the Commission on Review of Administrative Laws constituted by the Central government under the chairmanship of P C Jain in 1988. The broad issues addressed during the review undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs included how to make acquisition of Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation more difficult and how to prevent refugees and illegal immigrants from becoming eligible for Indian citizenship. '''''''''''''' Thanks, Joegoauk ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
