Overseas Citizens to get parity with NRIs: Vayalar Ravi

New Delhi, Jan 7 (UNI) India today announced three new benefits for the holders of the newly-introduced Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards which includes parity with Non-Resident Indians on inter-country adoption.

Parity with Resident Indian nationals in domestic airfares and parity with Indian nationals in entry fees for national parks and wildlife sanctuaries are the two other benefits for the Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) announced by Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi while addressing the inaugural session of the three-day 5th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

The new benefits would make adoption easier for the PIOs as they had to undergo cumbersome procedures at present.

Since the PIOs hold foreign passports, they had to pay air fares in dollars while undertaking domestic air travel. They also had to pay higher charges, that too in dollars, to visit national parks, historic monuments and wildlife sanctuaries.

Though the PIOs are now exempted from paying higher air fares and higher fee to visit national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, they will have to still pay higher charges to visit national monuments like the Taj Mahal or the Qutab Minar.

Under the OCI scheme, which was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this day in 2005 at the third Pravasi Divas in Mumbai, an overseas Indian could get life-long visa, free travel to India any number of times and enjoy certain economic, educational and cultural benefits.

However, this facility does not amount to "dual citizenship" since the OCI scheme does not confer political rights on the holder of the cards.

Mr Ravi said 90,000 OCI cards have been issued mostly to overseas indians in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand since February 2006. The first two OCI cards were issued by Dr Singh at the fourth Pravasi Bharatiy Divas held in January 2006 in Hyderabad.

The OCI Scheme, which was introduced after amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 by Parliament, seeks to confer a special status on Persons of Indian Origin of all countries who were citizens of India or eligible to become citizens of India on January 26, 1950 when India became a Republic. However, PIOs of countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh are not covered under the scheme.

Mr Ravi said his ministry would step up efforts to cover a much larger number of overseas Indians under the OCI scheme in the coming years.

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