Quote:

---

36.43. The Committee recommends that dual citizenship should be permitted within the rubric of Citizenship Act, 1955. Sections 9, 10 and 12 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 should be suitably amended for this purpose. ...(Vide para 34.61 )

The Committee has further recommended in its Report that only citizens of countries specified in the Schedule (to be appended) will be eligible for dual citizenship and that citizens of other countries (including those of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, for example, regarding which some apprehensions have been expressed) would not be eligible for India's dual citizenship. The Committee has also made it clear that the dual citizenship recommended by it would not be automatic, that it would be confined to persons who were or were entitled to become citizens of India, as well as their children and grandchildren if they have taken the citizenship of the countries to be specified in the Schedule. A provision analogous to Section 12 of British Nationality Act, 1981 may be included in The Citizenship Act and should be substituted under the caption "Renunciation and Resumption of Citizenship". The provision which the Committee recommends is patterned on the British Nationality Act, 1981 and may read as follows:-

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Proud Indian Canadian

Good article!

Quote:

---

The Rediff Special/ Lord Bhikhu Parekh

Why the Diaspora needs India

My dear fellow countrymen

I share some thoughts and sentiments on the eve of the major three-day conference that is about to take place in New Delhi.

This conference is concerned with something called the Indian Diaspora. Indians have been going abroad for the last 2,300 years or more, starting with the post-Buddha era when missionaries went to Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

In the 7th and 8th centuries, our people went to East Africa and elsewhere, as part of our involvement in the slave trade. During this period, Gujarati businessmen financed Arabs in the buying and selling of slaves.

Then came the 19th century, when our people were taken on as indentured labour in roughly 24 countries, including Fiji, the West Indies, South Africa and East Africa. After the Second World War, our people started going to Western countries and, in the 1970s, to the Gulf countries.

So there are five different phases of Indian migration, of which three are recent ones.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Proud Indian Canadian

So Prime Minister finally announced it!

http://asia.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/south/01/09/india.citizenship.ap/index.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Proud Indian Canadian

NILANJANA BHADURI JHA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, JANUARY 09, 2003 01:55:43 PM ]

NEW DELHI: Loudly cheered as he announced dual citizenship, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told overseas Indians on Thursday that it was not their riches but the richness of their experience that India sought.

Inaugurating the first-ever Pravasi Bharatiya Sammelan on a morning when the sun made a welcome appearance to break the Delhi chill, Vajpayee exhorted NRIs and People of Indian Origin to share the vision of India in the new millennium.

"We do not want only your investment. We also want your ideas. We do not want your riches, we want the richness of your experience. We can gain from the breadth of vision that your global exposure has given you," the Prime Minister said.

Delegates from 60 countries cheered as he announced dual citizenship for People of Indian Origin in certain countries. Vajpayee said a legislation to facilitate this would be brought in the budget session of Parliament, after working out administrative and procedural regulations.

There were other announcements. Vajpayee said a compulsory insurance scheme for Indian workers migrating to the Gulf region would be unveiled soon and the Parliament was already considering a Bill to establish a welfare fund for overseas Indian workers. And there was a plan to reserve seats in Indian educational institutions for the children of the NRIs in the Gulf.

Whenever India had faced a challenge to its security or to its territorial integrity, overseas Indians had tirelessly championed its cause, the Prime Minister said.

"When there was an effort to isolate India after our nuclear tests of 1998, you came forward to stand by India," he said, adding, "Your enthusiastic response to our Resurgent India Bonds in 1998 helped us raise over four billion dollars, when we needed it most."

The essence of Vajpayee's address lay in the words: "We would like to create an environment in India which will make you want to return, not just for sentimental or emotional reasons, but in the conviction that you can excel in this country as much as you could anywhere else in the world."

The Prime Minister also presented the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards to prominent Indians abroad. Among those honoured were Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth, Professor Fatima Meer from South Africa, Lord Navnit Dholakia from UK, former premier of British Columbia Ujjal Dosanjh and Rajat Gupta CEO, Mckinsey, from USA.

Also honoured was Nazir Mohammad, who left Indian shores for Trinidad as the one-year-old son of an indentured labourer in 1912.

In fine form, Vajpayee the poet played to the gallery, ending with a few verses in Hindi. "You live in my heart, how can I call you a guest...whenever the urge takes you, just come, the doors are forever open to you," he told a delighted gathering.

Anerood Jugnauth also chose to end his special address in carefully read out Hindi, while External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha signed off his welcome address with an evocative "Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani."

Not to be left behind on a day of extravaganza, chairman of the organising committee L M Singhvi said the endeavour was not just for "globalisation of India", but also the "Indianisation of the globe".

Indian was the flavour of the day and could not have been showcased better than the two musical giants, Bharat Ratnas Ustad Bismillah Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar sharing the stage for the first time ever. The octogenarian maestros held their audience spellbound to set the tone for three days of interaction and celebration. They got a standing ovation that refused to die down even when the next speaker had taken the podium

-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Proud Indian Canadian

" We don't want money...." This sentence clear lots of doubt of NRI. India do not need only money , good ideas can boost our country's developement. Remember NRI we have to help india with lots of constraints, please, don't complain for that. Son can never complain for his mother.


Nilesh

Hi,
Is there anyone in Canada, who attended the three day conference? If so, can we have some 'hands on experience', please.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sunil Sharma, P.Eng.