Govt to seek NRI help for aam aadmi schemes

The UPA government plans to seek help from the 15 million people of Indian origin (PIOs) settled in around 50 countries to increase the coverage of its aam aadmi schemes for rural India.

The government plans to seek investments in grassroot projects in health care, micro-finance and women's empowerment from the PIOs at the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas, to he held in New Delhi on January 8 and 9.

The prime minister of Mauritius, Prakashchandra Ram Ghoolam, the grandson of Sir Shiv Sagar Ram Ghoolam, the first prime minister of Indian origin of the island country, would be the chief guest.

Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vyalar Ravi said the government would offer the PIOs projects in rural India, either with the government or independently.

"We do not want their money but participation in the development of the real India. Enough dollars are already pouring into India,'' said Ravi.

The minister said the PIOs would be asked to invest in block-level projects for empowering women and village communities, extending micro-credit to the rural poor and offering health care facilities.

Officials said the ministry mooted the idea after realising that the PIOs did not heed to the calls for investing in India in the last five Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas celebrations.

Reflecting a change in focus, this year's meet will not be the usual pompous affair. It will instead be a two-day business session focussed more on interactions than speeches. chief ministers would get one day to interact with the PIOs.

The conference is organised by the ministry and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Ravi said a session would focus on the problems of NRI marriages. "We are perturbed over the growing number of fraudulent marriages between NRIs and mainland Indians,'' he said.

CII President Sunil Mittal said huge remittances from the PIOs, which amounted to nearly $26 billion per year, were enough to sustain a new market for transferring money through telephony.