Tytler secures depts from five ministries

Defying doomsayers, Overseas Indian's Affairs Minister Jagdish Tytler seems to have quietly scored a victory by securing important departments form five major ministries.

Apart from the protection of emigrants (POE) department, carved out from the labour ministry, he is also to be consulted on the foreign direct investment (FDI) flow through non-resident Indians and any scheme on NRI deposits being considered by the Reserve Bank of India.

From his old friend Commerce Minister Kamal Nath's ministry, Tytler has secured the authority to channel the setting up of special economic zones for and by expatriates. His nominee will also sit on the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the Foreign Investment Implementation Authority.

The authorities, however, were not yielded easily by the ministries concerned. According to sources, Mines Minister Sis Ram Ola, who was till recently the labour minister, had refused to part with the POE department. Cabinet Secretary BK Cahturvedi was also in favour of "considering the matter at a later date".

The department will now form the biggest chunk of Tytler's ministry.

Officials of the commerce and the finance ministries also raised the issue of multiplicity of authority, when it came to handing out power over the expatriate money.

"Even after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh okayed the division of function, a row ensued when the notification draft was placed in the Cabinet meeting," said a source.