Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians Meets at Jaipur

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh chaired the third meeting of the Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians on 8 January 2012 at Jaipur. Thirteen eminent overseas Indians from across the world attended the meeting. Shri Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Rural Development, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Shri E. Ahamad, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs and senior officials of Government of India also attended the meeting.

The Eminent Overseas Indians present included Lord Karan F. Bilimoria, Shri Swadesh Chatterjee, Ms. Ela Gandhi, Lord Khalid Hameed, Dr. Renu Khator, Shri Kishore Mahbubani, Shri L.N. Mittal, Lord Bhikhu Chotalal Parekh, Dr. Sam Pitroda, Tan Sri Dato’ Ajit Singh, Mr. Neville Joseph Roach, Prof. Srinivasa SR Varadhan and Mr. Yusuffali M.A.

2. The members of the Council emphasized the usefulness of the Global Advisory Council as a platform for free exchange of views. The members appreciated that many of the suggestions made previously by them had been implemented such as merging of OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) and PIO (Peoples of Indian Origin) cards and facilitating voting rights for Non-Resident Indians while certain other proposals were under implementation. The members suggested further measures in the areas of higher education particularly faculty development, engaging second and third generation overseas Indians, moving ahead with economic reforms, more effective governance, global outreach of India’s soft power and promotion of research & development. They also called upon India to take a more proactive role in the discourse on globalization.

3. In the interactive session, the GOI Ministers responded to some of the suggestions made by the Council members. They conveyed their readiness for further interaction in the coming months to follow-up on these suggestions.

4. In his concluding remarks, Prime Minister thanked the members for their constructive suggestions. He emphasized that Government of India deeply valued the contribution of the Council in strengthening India’s engagement with the overseas Indian community. Prime Minister assured that the Government would reflect on all the suggestions made by the Council members, and engage proactively on all of them.