Launching of overseas citizen of India (OCI) cards, an integrated remittance gateway, and signing of a memorandum of understanding between the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) and the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) marked the first day of the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which started here yesterday. | |
| Inaugurating the conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that a decision would soon be taken on granting voting rights to non-resident Indians in the Gulf. "The proposal is at an advanced stage of consideration by our government," he said. |
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| Besides conferring the right to vote, the prime minister said the government would launch a more liberal "Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana" on February 1, 2006, to provide enhanced insurance benefits to workers. |
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| He was hopeful that competition from a number of insurance providers would ensure that premiums remained affordable. |
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| Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who launched an easy-to-use electronic remittance gateway, said the inflow of remittances from abroad increased from $13 billion in 2001 to $21.7 billion in 2005. |
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