New Delhi: While spelling out plans to allow overseas Indian doctors to practise in their native country, the Government on Sunday announced that the Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) will now have parity with Non Resident Indians (NRIs) on 'Inter-country adoption' and domestic airfares.
The Government was also likely to sign Social Security Agreement with countries like Netherlands, France, Sweden and Norway which have significant Indian population to ensure protection of their interests, said Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) Vayalar Ravi while announcing the new benefits on the first of the three-day 'Pravasi Bharatiya Divas'.
PTI quoted Vayalar Ravi as saying, "We have decided to extend a wider range of benefits to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders".
To provide for specific steps to ensure their protection and welfare, labour pacts are also being negotiated with Gulf countries and Malaysia, which are host to a large Indian workers, informed the Minister.
The MoU was signed with UAE recently and similar pacts are expected to be inked with Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries in the next few months, Ravi said.
"There are a host of other benefits that we are working on and will be pursued over the next few months," he said, adding these include allowing overseas Indian doctors to practice in India.
These are parity with NRIs on 'Inter-country adoption', parity with resident Indian nationals in domestic airfares and parity with Indian nationals in entry fees for national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
Towards this end, focus is on policies and programmes that will best serve India's development effort and meet the expectations of the Indian Diaspora as a significant constituency across the world, the Minister said.
Noting that the emerging job opportunities will require skilled workers, he said the Centre, in partnership with states and apex Industry associations, has launched a National Skill Upgradation Programme for emigrant workers.
It is to better prepare overseas Indian workers for emerging opportunities in various fields, he said, adding the target is to train 50,000 workers annually.
Ravi said the OCI card scheme, launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a year ago, has met with overwhelming response and 90,000 such cards have been issued so far.
"We have decided to extend a wider range of benefits to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cardholders," he said.
"We hope to step up our efforts and cover a much larger number of overseas Indians in the ensuing year," the Minister said.
"Our endeavour is to promote, nurture and sustain a strategic and mutually-rewarding relationship between India and its Diaspora, as partners in progress," he said.
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