Indian passport holders living abroad could get voting rights by the time of next Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated today.
Inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations here, Singh said he recognised the “legitimate desire” of Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise and to have a say in who governs India.
“We are working on this issue and I sincerely hope that they will get a chance to vote by the time of the next regular general elections,” Singh told the gathering of 1,500 overseas Indians from 40 countries.
“In fact, I would go a step further and ask why more overseas Indians should not return home to join politics and public life as they are increasingly doing in business and academia,” he said.
Officials later said the voting rights could be extended to Indian passport holders and those having Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cards would not be eligible for it.
“We seek the active involvement of overseas Indian communities in accelerating the pace of our economic and social development. In this context, it is important that we make efforts to connect the second generation of overseas Indians with their ancestral heritage and involve them actively in India's march forward,” he said.
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PM confident of 9-10% growth in few years
The prime minister said India would return to 9-10 per cent growth in a couple of years. His views were seconded by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who also showed confidence in the country’s growth story.
Singh said the country was expecting 7 per cent growth this year despite the unprecedented financial crisis, while Mukherjee said the economy could clock 7.7 per cent growth.
Singh urged overseas Indians to become involved in the economic and social development of the country. He said Indians settled overseas should invest their savings in long-term opportunities for direct investment rather than keeping it in bank deposits.
“If the current trend continues, it would be possible to have 9-10 per cent growth rate... India is on growth trajectory,” Mukherjee said at the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.
Mukherjee said the stimulus measures had started paying dividends, as the Indian economy grew 7.9 per cent in the second quarter. He expressed optimism that India would grow by 7.7 per cent this financial year from 6.7 per cent in 2008-09.
Social security net for workers returning home
The prime minister said the government was conscious about the adverse effect of economic crisis on Indians employed abroad and was working on a project to provide social security net for the workers returning home.
Inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations here, he said security of overseas Indian workers and students was a top priority of his government.
“About 40 per cent of the total remittances of over $50 billion in 2007-2008 came from skilled and semi-skilled overseas Indian workers. Many of them have been badly affected by the economic crisis,” Singh noted at the function.
“We are conscious of the need to structure an appropriate ‘Return and Resettlement Fund’ and we are working on a project to provide a social security safety net for the returning workers,” the prime minister said.
He said India has been negotiating with countries with large emigrant Indian populations to improve the welfare and protection offered to our workers.
Over the last year, India signed labour agreements with Malaysia, Bahrain and
Qatar that create institutional frameworks to look into issues such as recruitment, terms of employment and workers’ welfare, Singh pointed out.
“We also signed social security agreements last year with Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and are now negotiating such agreements with a number of other countries,” he said.
Govt to consider allowing NRIs invest in infr bonds
The government today said it would consider allowing NRIs to invest in infrastructure bonds to facilitate greater inflow of funds for key projects and ensure their participation in the country’s development.
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said the government needed $435 billion (Rs 20 lakh crore) for various infrastructure projects and allowing the NRIs to invest in such bonds would help it in arranging the funds. “It is a very good proposal and we will consider it. We will need time to finalise the whole thing,” he said.
The idea was floated by several NRIs at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and later they found support from Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath.