Meeting of PM’s Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at a meeting with the Global Advisory Council

 of Overseas Indian, at Jaipur, Rajasthan on January 08, 2012. The Deputy Chairman,

Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Union Minister for

Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh and the Union Minister for Overseas

Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi are also seen. Photo © PIB

Jaipur (PIB) --- Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh presided over the third meeting of the Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians on January 8, 2012 at Raj Bhawan, Jaipur from 1200-1430 hrs. Also present were 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 secretaries to the Government of India.

The Council meeting was attended by eminent Overseas Indians including: 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.

The Members of the Council unanimously thanked the Prime Minister for convening the third meeting of the Council at Jaipur and for allowing free exchange of views on matters concerning overseas Indians. The members appreciated that many of the suggestions made previously by them had been implemented for example 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 issues are under implementation. The members spoke on issues concerning higher education particularly faculty development, engaging second and third generation overseas Indians, Foreign Direct Investment in retail, issues pertaining to governance, and how India can take a more proactive role in the discourse on globalization. The members maintained that on balance, the tenor of reports about India in the international media showed that the global community maintained a healthy respect for India because of India’s strong fundamentals.

Prime Minister thanked the members for their constructive suggestions. With slowdown in the USA and Europe, Prime Minister noted that the growth centers may have to shift to the Asia-Pacific. He was confident that despite many constraints India would return to a sustained high annual growth path of 9-10 percent in the medium term. Prime Minister further assured that the Government would reflect on all the suggestions made by the Council members, and engage proactively on all of them.