Kerala, which has nearly 16 lakh people living abroad, today raised "strong objections" to Centre's decision to merge the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the Ministry of External Affairs and said it will raise the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chief Ministry Oommen Chandy, who is in the national capital, said the MOIA was created due to persistent insistence of Kerala and the decision to merge the two ministries was not "right" as the MOIA addressed the problem of overseas citizens, especially from Kerala, in much effective manner.
He also attacked the government for its decision to abandon the full fledged Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD), a programme to connect with the Indian diaspora.
Chandy, along with K C Joseph, state minister for Non Resident Keralites (NORKA), will also meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and raise the issue with her.
"We have strong objections over the merger of MOIA with MEA. It was at our insistence that the then UPA government set up the Ministry with Vaylar Ravi as its first Minister.
"This Ministry helped to tackle the problems of overseas citizens diplomatically especially during the problem over Nitaqat law in Saudi Arabia. It also helped in effective redressal of issues related to migration, labour laws and working conditions of Indians," Chandy told PTI.
The Nitaqat law makes it mandatory for local companies there to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. There had been widespread perception that the policy would lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there. Amid concerns over enforcement of Nitaqat law, 1.41 lakh Indians had left Saudi Arabia.
Around 16 lakh Keralites reside abroad, of which a large chunk are in the Gulf nations. The community also sends large amount of remittance to the country. In 2014-15, the figure crossed Rs 1 lakh crore.
Nearly 12 years after it was set up to improve engagement with the Indian diaspora, the MOIA will be merged with MEA in sync with the Narendra Modi Government's broad principle of "minimum government, maximum governance".
The proposal for the merger was cleared by the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who also holds charge of the MOIA, said yesterday.
The NDA government had taken a decision in October
last year to hold Pravasi Bhartiya Divas event biennially instead of every year conference.
Announcing the plan to organise the event every other year, Swaraj said it would now hold two 'mini' Regional PBDs annually in countries with a presence of Indian diaspora.
Chandy said, "I had reserved a day for PBD well in advance. But then I again received a communication from the Ministry that the CM's session has been cancelled.
"But I am still going for the PBD as it gives an opportunity to interact with non-resident Keralites and leaders of different organisation.
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CPI-M in Kerala also opposed the move and wanted the
Centre to reconsider its decision to merge MOIA.
CPI-M veteran and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly V S Achuthanandan asked the Centre to reconsider the decision, saying scrapping the MOIA was an "insult" to lakhs of expatriates working abroad, especially in the Gulf regions.
MOIA was created with an aim to directly involve in the problems faced by NRIs, he said in Thiruvananthapuram.
Moreover, the Norka Department of the state created to deal with issues of non-resident Keralites would find it difficult to take up their problmes after the merger, he pointed out.
Criticising the decision, CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan said it would only result in neglecting the issues faced by the diasporas.
