India’s Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, has appealed Kiwi Indians to help build the growing friendly ties between New Zealand and India. The minister, who was on his second visit to New Zealand last week, was addressed a public meeting organised by the New Zealand Indian Central Association and the Auckland Indian Association at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre last Sunday.
Mr Ravi, who heads one of India’s newest ministries (he is the OIA Minister for the second successive time since January 2006), said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had great respect and a deep love for persons of Indian origin living all over the world. The OIA ministry was Dr Singh’s brainchild, he added.
He said Dr Singh often recalled how this segment had bailed out the country during the crisis in the early 1990s when India’s foreign exchange reserves were at their lowest by stepping up remittances, when Dr Singh had begun reforming the economy for the first time since independence.
Outlining the impressive progress that India was making in the economic and developmental arenas, he praised the important role that overseas Indians across the world had been playing for decades. Indian Americans had a pivotal role to play in lobbying the American leadership at all levels before the signing of the nuclear agreement between the US and India, he said.
It was this desire to keep a continuing relationship with people of Indian origin living outside the country that had led to concepts like the OCI (overseas citizen of India). Legislative moves were afoot to make it possible for Indian citizens living abroad to vote in Indian elections, he said.
On the issue of the recent controversy surrounding the physical surrender of Indian passports by individuals who had accepted other citizenships, the minister said that was merely a security measure after the Mumbai bombings and more a knee-jerk administrative reaction to terrorist activities on Indian soil. “There were no malafide intentions on behalf of the government, and the status quo has been restored,” he said.
The minister graciously offered an apology on behalf of his government saying, “I am sorry for what happened.” A new Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre has now been established with help from the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) as also a 24X7 toll free help line, he revealed. “I will look after you well,” he said.
Remittances from overseas Indians had now grown to a whopping US$53 billion a year showing the confidence that the Indian diaspora had in its mother country and the potential of its growing economy, he said.
It was India’s robust regulatory regime that insulated the country from the global financial crisis that had decimated so many western nations, he pointed out. These regulatory measures, which the country had been practicing for four decades were now being implemented by countries like the United States, he said, praising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his leadership and the pivotal role he had played as Finance Minister in earlier governments, coming in at what would have been India’s darkest hour financially.
Mr Ravi listed a number of avenues where overseas Indians could participate in the vastly changed investment climate in the country. Perhaps the most interesting progress from the point of view of overseas investors is in the area of public private partnerships (PPPs), which have been extended to a wide range of sectors from infrastructure to education. The minister invited Kiwi Indians to participate gainfully in partnering in these areas.
Being one of the youngest countries, India was emerging as a supplier of skilled manpower to the world and he said his ministry had already put in place a memorandum of understanding with Denmark for the provisioning of skilled human resources in the medical and paramedical sectors.
The minister extended an invitation to Kiwi Indians to visit the Commonwealth Games in October as well as the next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi early next year. At the end of the speech he answered a number of questions from the audience and agreed convey Kiwi Indians’ request to Dr Manmohan Singh to visit New Zealand.
Earlier, NZICA Vice President Harshad Patel addressed the audience and thanked the Indian High Commission for giving the NZICA and AIA the opportunity to host the public meeting (which was free for all to attend and had no door fee).
Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand Admiral (retd) Sureesh Mehta once again called on all Indian organisations to work together in New Zealand and help develop better relationships between the people of the two countries. Commenting on the forthcoming FTA, Mr Mehta said the relationship between the countries must “go beyond trade. The future lies in partnerships and the transfer of technology, knowledge and capital.”
Expanding on the minister’s reference to India’s young population, the High Commissioner said the Indian workforce will come to dominate the world in the near future as developed country populations age. “India will have the largest 20-40 demographic, and its ability to use the English language and technical skills will work in Indians’ favour,” he said. He also asked Kiwi Indians to regularly visit the High Commission’s website for the latest updates on a range of matters.
New Zealand Members of Parliament Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Rajen Prasad, NZICA President Paul Singh Bains and ANZ Manager Sunil Kaushal also addressed the meeting. The meeting was one of several engagements that Mr Ravi had in Auckland, including a luncheon meeting with the Kerala community, a lunch with businesspeople and the inauguration of Relianz Foreign Exchange’s new Royal Oak branch.
The public meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre and the meeting with businesspeople was sponsored by the ANZ Bank.