The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Centre will ensure security of Indians abroad

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Sunday, Jan 11, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Centre will ensure security of Indians abroad

Special Correspondent

MoU signed with many countries to get decent remuneration for domestic help

— Photo: M. Vedhan

SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT: Angidi Veeriah Chettiar, Mauritius Vice-President (left), with Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi at a function in Chennai on Saturday. Mahendra Utchanah, former Mauritius Minister; S. Shanmuganathan, coordinator of the GOPIO conference; P. Ramaswamy, Malaysian MP; and P.P. Devaraj, president of the GOPIO, are in the picture.

CHENNAI: The Centre will ensure the security of the Indian community living in any of part of the world, but will not entertain interference in its domestic affairs by other countries, small or big, Vayalar Ravi, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, said on Saturday.

“There should be no interference in the domestic affairs of India. There is a different method and diplomatic processes the Indian government will take up to ensure the security of Indian communities living abroad,” he told a gathering of the Global Organisation of the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) at the inauguration of the annual dialogue with India here.

The Ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding with many countries to ensure that those recruited as domestic help received a decent remuneration. The government was looking for an amendment to ensure that such persons were assured of $250 a month in wages.

“NGOs cannot demand that persons wishing to work abroad be allowed to leave without fulfilling the requirements of the Ministry. We must know where they are going for employment. They require our permission before they leave India,” he said.

The government was willing to implement educational and healthcare programmes that people of Indian origin would want to take up in villages of their origin. The India Development Foundation had been set up to facilitate the PIOs to complete projects in their ancestral villages. Such contribution would be attributed to the person or family funding the project.

He said the ‘Know India’ programme was launched to enable children of the PIOs to visit Indian villages and learn about the country. Efforts were on to set up universities to provide an opportunity to children of PIOs to study in India. The Ministry offered scholarship schemes.

Mauritius Vice-President Angidi Veeriah Chettiar said the next Tamil session of the GOPIO would be held there in June. Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin and actor Kamal Hassan were expected to attend.

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