Gulf NRIs likely to get voting rights, says PM

Launching of overseas citizen of India (OCI) cards, an integrated remittance gateway, and signing of a memorandum of understanding between the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) and the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) marked the first day of the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which started here yesterday.

Inaugurating the conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that a decision would soon be taken on granting voting rights to non-resident Indians in the Gulf. "The proposal is at an advanced stage of consideration by our government," he said.

Besides conferring the right to vote, the prime minister said the government would launch a more liberal "Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana" on February 1, 2006, to provide enhanced insurance benefits to workers.

He was hopeful that competition from a number of insurance providers would ensure that premiums remained affordable.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who launched an easy-to-use electronic remittance gateway, said the inflow of remittances from abroad increased from $13 billion in 2001 to $21.7 billion in 2005.