While India’s growth has been impacted by the global slowdown, given the strong economic fundamentals of the Indian economy the effort is to bring the economy back to 9-10% growth in the medium term, said Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India in his Inaugural Address at the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2012. The event has been jointly organized by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Government of India), Government of Rajasthan and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from 7-9 January at Jaipur. He added that efforts to tackle inflation are producing results.

Expressing his appreciation for the contributions made by the Indian community living abroad, he highlighted some of the Government initiatives for the diaspora. On their long pending demand for participation in the country’s election process, Dr Singh informed that the Government has issued notifications for registering NRIs under the Representation of People Act, 1950. This is a first major step to enable Indian residents abroad to participate in the election process, he added.

He further highlighted the introduction of a Bill to merge People of Indian Origin and Overseas Citizen of India schemes by amending the Citizenship Act. He elaborated that this would rectify the anomalies in the schemes and also provide for Overseas Indian Cards to foreign spouses as well.

Sharing the measures taken to ensure the safety and well being of Indian workers abroad, Dr Singh said that the Government has decided to introduce and sponsor a new Pension and Life Insurance Fund which will provide social security benefits and a low-cost life insurance cover against natural death. He elaborated on the expansion of the Labour Mobility Partnership Agreements to cover students, academic and professionals as well. Such agreements are also being negotiated with Netherlands, France, Australia and the EU as well, he added.

Dr Singh complimented the Government of Rajasthan on its proposal to build a Pravasi Bhartiya Bhawan at Jaipur, which will also house the offices of Protector of Emigrants and Migrant Resource Center.

Prime Minister also launched the website of India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDFOI), a trust under the aegis of MOIA providing a credible window for Overseas Indian Philanthropy for India’s social development. He also released a OIFC– MOIA publication “Returning Indians - All you need to know”.