Indian Express Friday, April 21, 2000

New department to exclusively deal with problems of NRIs

NEW DELHI: A new Department is being set-up in the External Affairs Ministry to exclusively deal with the problems of six million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and over 20 million Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), reports PTI. This decision has been conveyed by the Ministry to Parliament's Standing Committee on External Affairs. An officer has been appointed for the department and the functions and responsibilities of this division are at present being worked out, according to the second report of the 42-member Committee headed by Krishna Bose. "The newly created division would improve coordination among various ministries and departments to optimise the benefits of the policies of the Government directed towards the NRIs as well as the PIOs," it said. In its report, tabled in the Lok Sabha earlier this week, the Committee regretted Government's "lack of sensitivity and shortsightedness" in its approach towards NRIs and PIOs and asked the Ministry to create a meaningful data-base on them. "The Government has so far shown a lack of sensitivity and shortsightedness in their approach towards them, which is evident from the fact that there is total death of data on their economic strength, their cultural concerns, their potentialities and contributions towards their motherland and on many other related issues," it said.