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Indian PM moots University for NRIs |
| The Indian government has mooted a proposal to set up a university for the benefit of children of people of Indian origin and non-resident Indians. The NRIs and PIOs will be offered 50 per cent of the seats for all courses, including those in engineering, medicine. social sciences and information technology. Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath will meet to finalise plans. |
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Foreign spouses cannot get overseas Indian citizenship |
The foreign spouse of a person of Indian origin does not qualify for Overseas Indian Citizenship (OCI), said a senior official from the Indian consulate in Dubai. “An OCI holder gets a multi-purpose life-long visa which is stamped on his passport but the foreign spouse will have to apply for a separate visa when travelling to India. But their children will be entitled for OCIs since one of their parents is of Indian origin,” said the official.
Haridas Nambier, a Canadian of Indian origin, said: “I am yet to apply for an OCI but I wanted to know whether my wife who is French will also get the benefit of the OCI. She does not have any Indian connection.” The government of India grants OCI — another form of ‘Dual Citizenship’ — to persons of Indian origin of certain categories who migrated from India acquired the citizenship of a foreign country other than Pakistan and Bangladesh.
An OCI is grated as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form or the other under local laws. Every registered OCI will be issued a registration certificate and an OCI visa sticker will be pasted on the person’s foreign passport. These two documents will have the photograph of the individual and all necessary security features. An OCI holder is not given the right to vote or to run for constitutional posts.
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Indian stewardesses employed by Chinese airline
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The China Eastern Airlines has announced that 16 Indian girls had completed professional training as air stewardesses and would begin to work on the company’s Beijing-Shanghai-New Delhi flight. Their monthly salary will be $800 per person, said a spokesperson for the China Eastern Airlines.The airline opened flights on the Beijing-Shanghai-New Delhi route in March 2002 and now there are four weekly flights on this route.
The airline also began providing air services for passengers from Beijing and Shanghai to Mumbai and vice-versa in April last year, increasing its flights between the two nations to seven a week.
Recruiting foreign stewardesses is one of the measures China Eastern Airlines has taken to further localise its air services.
Currently, the company has recruited 100 in-flight attendants from foreign countries, including Japan, South Korea and India. It is planning to recruit more attendants from Russia and the Philippines, the spokesperson said.
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Big fat Indian wedding in Singapore makes news |
It was a $10 million fairy-tale wedding between a Singaporean bride and the son of an Indian tycoon. Decked like a prince, 27-year-old Adarsh Garodia arrived — on a horse — at the Ritz Carlton Hotel to claim his 25-year-old bride Neha Didwania. Some 2,000 guests were present to toast what has been dubbed the Wedding of the Year. For the more than 300 guests from India, they had an all-expenses-paid trip to Singapore, including airfare, accommodation and food at the hotel for three days. The couple met last December through a mutual friend. The groom, who is from Kolkata and the bride, who has a Masters from the London School of Economics, were engaged three months later. A 6.5-carat engagement ring was what he gave her. This was followed by a 10-carat diamond wedding band estimated to be worth at least $1 million.
For the wedding planner, nothing was low-key. Shamini Suppiah, Ritz-Carlton’s associate director for social events, said: “This is the largest-scale Indian wedding we have had here, not only in terms of guest rooms but also in terms of the traditions and ceremonies that are taking place in the hotel.” Guests said it was an experience of a lifetime, a wedding almost fit for a king. The newly-weds’ month-long honeymoon in Greece and Italy. |
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NRI centre in US mooted |
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi has proposed an NRI centre in the US. Working under the Indian ambassador, the centre is to provide assistance to overseas Indians who wish to invest in or contribute in some way to the economic development of India, as also help Indians abroad in distress, he said in Washington.
Ravi, who is on his first visit to the United States since assuming office in January, said a parliamentary standing committee was considering a proposal to extend voting rights to Indians working abroad by removing the six-month residence requirement for enrollment as voters. While the Persons of Indian Origin
(PIO) and Overseas Indian Citizen (OIC) certificates did not exactly offer dual citizenship, it was almost amounting to that as its holders will be treated practically as Indians, he said.
Ravi’s ministry would facilitate NRI investments in various states as also in 125 Export Processing Zones by offering a five-year tax holiday, single window clearances and other facilities. |
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