October 10, 2007 ☼ Foreign Affairs
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
Chetan Kunte directs us to a new 112-page handbook, available online from the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. The honourable minister is “sure this Handbook will facilitate greater understanding of the environs and help Overseas Indians to work, invest and flourish in their own country”. Lest you wonder why there is such a ministry, the handbook tells us that “an important service that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is striving to extend to the Overseas Indians is that of investment services to enable potential Overseas Indian Investors to benefit from India’s rapidly growing economy.”
Among others, it says that the ‘dual’ citizenship scheme is not really dual at all. Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) has been introduced by statute as a new category of citizenship to facilitate life-long visa, free travel to India (sic) and certain economic, educational and cultural benefits. This is not to be construed as ‘dual citizenship’ since it does not confer political rights. Any Overseas Indian applicant who is comfortable with his present citizenship status in the country of his residence can apply for OCI. [OI handbook]
Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, even those comfortable in their citizenship status, aren’t eligible. Sorry.
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