NRIs Corner

Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Tuesday called for greater connectivity between Indian and diaspora youth, which he felt would and should eventually result in economic cooperation leading to the creation of wealth, improved livelihood and prosperity.

Addressing the youth session of the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at the Vigyan Bhavan here, Ravi said he was happy and privileged to meet the youth, andhoped that as in the past, the 12th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas would foster a new bond between India and her overseas Indian citizens.

The Indian diaspora was shaken by the brutal gangrape of a young woman on Dec 16, 2012, and upset over the continuing rapes taking place in the national capital and elsewhere but made the country appear unsafe for women, said members of the Indian diaspora here. It wants the government to take the strictest action against such crimes.

Priti Lamba, who belongs to Toronto, Canada, and is here to attend the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), said the incident made the Indian diaspora in Toronto very angry.

The Indian community in the US is unhappy at the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and feels very strongly that there was no need for her to be handcuffed or strip searched, says an Indian American delegate who is attending the annual diaspora convention here.

Hostility to the current scale of immigration is increasing among Britons, a new research has revealed.

New findings from the British Social Attitudes survey revealed that 77 percent of people supported a reduction in immigration levels.

The 77 percent included 56 percent who wanted it cut by ‘a lot’, the highest number on record, and another 21 per cent who wanted it reduced a little.

A US research agency has awarded an Indian American neuroscientist, Khaleel Rezak, a five year USD 866902 Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant for further research on his projects.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Rezak for his research on how the brain processes everyday sounds may lead to therapies for age-related hearing problems and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS).

Originally from Chennai, Razak, is an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Riverside (UCR).

Pitching for support of overseas Indians, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday said it would move the Election Commission in the next three days to allow eligible non-resident Indians (NRIs) to vote through postal ballots in the 2014 elections.

A resolution was adopted at the “global meeting” organised by the Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP) here, saying: “NRIs be permitted to vote by postal ballot in 2014 polls.”

Over 2,000 non-resident Indians (NRIs) and people of Indian origin (PIOs) from all across the world are likely to attend the 12th edition of the annual diaspora meet beginning here Tuesday.

The focus of the three-day event – which began in 2003 – will be on engaging the youth diaspora in different sectors.

“The event is expected to open new horizons of a strong network of young overseas Indians to contribute to India’s engagement with youth in all sectors,” Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said Monday.

A 20-year-old Indian student, who suffered serious head injuries after being brutally attacked and robbed in Australia, is now out of induced coma and responding well to the treatment.

Manrajwinder Singh, who was beaten up by gang of eight people perceived to be of African appearance on December 29, is out of induced coma and responding well to the treatment, his eldest brother Yadwinder Singh said.

Indians abroad will make news in India with the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD-India Diaspora Day) in New Delhi Jan 7-9. The 25 million non-resident Indians (NRIs) sent $70 billion to India in 2012, with the figure expected to rise to more than $80 billion for 2013. This far exceeds India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) at $47 billion in 2011.

ImanNet condemned the distribution of a hoax video about the strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York as despicable, irresponsible and provocative. Cites the video hoax used to unleash Muzaffarnagar pogrom.

Saudi Arabia Thursday assured India that its Nitaqat work policy had affected only a small percentage of Indians and that 400,000 of them in the kingdom had corrected their work status, becoming legal and welcome workers.

Visiting Saudi Arabian Labour Minister Adel bin Mohammed Fakeih, addressing a press conference her, also said that the kingdom has issued more than one million work visas, including many to the Indian community. He said Saudi Arabia has always had “excellent relations with Indian workers – one of the communities we had the least of problems with”.

An Indian IT professional in New Zealand alleged that he faced racism on New Year’s Eve at a bar, a media report said.

Sandesh Gopal, 30, a software project manager from Bangalore, said a bouncer stopped him and his friend from entering a bar at Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour on New Year’s Eve without giving a proper reason, the New Zealand Herald reported Friday.

Gopal alleged that he and his friend were singled out and asked to show identity proofs after which the bouncer told them that they could not enter the bar.

Eight Indian-origin people were injured, one of them seriously, when the van they were travelling in plunged off a cliff in New Zealand after the driver reportedly fell asleep on the wheel.

The eight were on their way to Hawke’s Bay from Auckland airport in the North Island of New Zealand when the horrific accident took place Thursday, the New Zealand Herald reported Friday.

The van appeared to have gone out of control, rounding a bend and hiting a kerb, before overturning and bouncing over the cliff.

All the eight injured have been admitted to Hawke’s Bay Hospital.

Khaleeq ur Rahman member state level committe Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board records computerization and digitization, Government of Andhra Pradesh is expecting to arrive jeddah by Air India this evening. After arriving at Jeddah he visited Makkah to perform Umarah and visit to Madina.

Khaleeq ur Rahman is working on the NRI’s issues especially arising due to the imposition of the Nitaqat law.

A 16-year-old boy, who was charged with attacking an Indian
student in Australia, was granted bail after he briefly appeared in a court Friday.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was granted bail a day after a
17-year-old was remanded in custody in connection with the attack on Manriajwinder Singh in Melbourne Dec 29, The Age reported.

Singh, 20, who is studying for a bachelor of commerce degree at a Melbourne university is in an induced coma in The Alfred Hospital after he was viciously attacked by a group of eight boys and a woman.

I am writing to you on behalf of the Indian American Muslim Council, an organization of non-resident Indians that is dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos.

On january 2 Reception Dinner was hosted for Shri Tariq Anwar General Secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of India and Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing of the Government of India at Jeddah, K.S.A.

He is presently a Member of the Parliament of India representing Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He has been Member of Lok Sabha several times from Katihar Parliamentary Constituency. His political career started from Congress Party, as a student leader he was very popular.

A teenaged boy, accused of attacking an Indian student in Australia last month, was part of a gang that targeted people of Indian appearance, a children’s court heard here Thursday.

The boy, 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested on New Year’s Eve for the attack on Manriajwinder Singh in Melbourne Dec 29.

Singh, who is studying for a Bachelor of Commerce degree at a Melbourne university, is in an induced coma in the Alfred Hospital in the city after sustaining serious head injuries.

Doctors are still waiting to assess the extent of his injuries following the attack.

A teenage boy accused of beating a man in Melbourne was part of a gang that targeted people of Indian appearance.

A children’s court heard that the 17-year-old boy was arrested on New Year’s Eve after an attack on Manrajwinder Singh last Sunday, that left the 20-year-old with serious head injuries.

Singh remains in an induced coma, as doctors wait to assess the extent of his injuries following the attack, as he and two friends waited for a train.

Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the two-day NRI Conference to be held at Sri Anandpur Sahib and Jalandhar from January 10 will focus on strengthening emotional bonds with Punjabis, who have made their niche in various countries.

Badal along with NRIs Affairs Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, were here to review the arrangements for the second day of NRI Conference to be held at Bath Castle here.

Over 438 delegates from 19 countries have confirmed their participation in the Conference, Majithia said.

The Punjab NRI Commission Wednesday asked the union ministries of external affairs and overseas Indian affairs, Protector of Immigrants and Bureau of Immigration to probe allegations made by two NRIs against immigration and police officials at New Delhi’s IGI International Airport.

The NRIs have, in their complaint to the commission through the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA), have alleged that they were wrongly detained and harassed at the airport by immigration and security officials in September last year.

Asha Khemka, an India-born educationist in Britain, has been named for the highest British civilian award for women for her services to education.

Khemka, principal and chief executive of West Nottinghamshire College at Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, has been named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ in the New Year’s Honours List for 2014.

Khemka was named for the Order of the British Empire in 2008 and has been running the college since 2006.

The body of an Indian national, who committed suicide in Oman, is stuck in that Gulf nation due to incomplete paperwork and cannot be sent to India, according to media reports.

The body of Ashokan, 52, who hailed from the south Indian state of Kerala, hanged himself Dec 25 in a store room near his residence in Oman’s capital Muscat. The body is now stuck back in Muscat due to lack of necessary papers, the Times Of Oman reported Tuesday.

The new Indian Ambassador to the UAE has arrived in Abu Dhabi to assume charge.

T P Seetharam, nominated as the Indian Ambassador to the UAE by the government of India last month, is expected to present his credentials to President of the UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan soon.

Kerala-born Seetharam, 57, has served as Indian High Commissioner to Mauritius from September 2011 to November 2013.

An Indian passenger’s passport was allegedly retained at Sharjah airport, because the passport control officer did not like his moustache.

Officials at the Sharjah Department of Naturalisation and Foreign Affairs are investigating the case, Gulf News reported.

Brigadier Dr Abdullah Bin Sahoo, Director-General of the department, said they will study CCTV images to check whether the passenger’s allegations are correct and will then take action.

Sujeev Kumar, a software engineer, who flew from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in India arrived in Sharjah on Friday.