Notice Board
LAUNCH OF THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE “OVERSEAS INDIAN”
Hon’ble Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Mr. Vayalar Ravi launched an interactive portal of the Ministry on 27 Feb. 2006. This is the electronic version of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) monthly magazine “Overseas Indian” which was released by the Hon’ble Prime Minister during the 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) at Hyderabad. The online edition of the magazine will come out in English and seven other Indian languages, viz. Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Telugu, Punjabi, Tamil & Urdu. The magazine covers news, views and events related to Overseas Indians and activities undertaken by MOIA. The website address is www.overseasindian.in.
The Indian community is welcome to visit the website often and keep themselves updated on the latest developments related to overseas Indians. They are also welcome to give their views for further improvement of the portal.
Holding of an Indian passport by a foreign national constitutes an offence under the Indian Laws
Under the Indian laws, if the holder of an Indian passport acquires nationality of another country, he should surrender his/her Indian passport forthwith to the nearest Indian Mission/Post. Unauthorised possession of Indian passport constitutes an offence punishable under the Indian Passports Act, 1967.
2. The Consulate General has come across several cases where persons of Indian origin who have acquired British citizenship continue to hold their Indian passports. The Indian laws are very clear on this. Article 9 of the Constitution of India states that a person shall cease to be a citizen of India, if he voluntarily acquires the citizenship of any foreign State. A foreign national is thus not entitled to hold an Indian passport. In the light of this position, all persons of Indian origin, who have acquired foreign nationality, are advised to surrender their Indian passports forthwith to the nearest Indian Mission/Post for cancellation, in case they have not done so, so far.
3. There is also a misconception among the public that now that the Government of India have introduced the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), foreign nationals of Indian origin can continue to hold an Indian passport. The factual position is that holding of an Indian passport by a foreign national continues to be an offence punishable under the Indian Passports Act, 1967. OCI holders would be granted a “U” sticker visa which will be a multi-purpose, multi-entry, life-long visa pasted on their foreign passports. Indian passport would not be issued to an OCI holder.
COMPLAINTS FROM OUR NEIGHBOURS AT JEWELLERY QUARTERS
Complaints have been received from neighbours in Jewellery Quarters, Birmingham that the service-seekers to the Consulate General are misusing their premises while they wait for the Consulate General of India to open in the morning. For the information of the visitors, there is a public convenience facility at Vise Street, about 300 yards away from the Consulate building. The local authorities have also emphasised the need to keep the area neat and tidy.
INDIAN WOMEN IN DISTRESS
Consulate General of India, Birmingham is in the process of identifying NGOs/Women's organisations and other organisations which may be involved in working with Indian women in the United Kingdom. The focus is presently on women who are Indian nationals. The objective of this exercise is to examine the magnitude of the problem and to see that the process of giving support to such women is streamlined and made more effective. Institutions/organisations in the Midlands and other areas under the jurisdiction of this Consulate, working in this domain are invited to send details of their activities and contact particulars to Mr. S.V. Balaji, Consul (P&I) at the Consulate at the earliest either by fax: 0121-212-2786 or by e-mail: cons_cgibir@fsmail.net.
RIGHT TO INFORMATION
The Government of India has promulgated Right To Information (RTI) Act 2005 which came into force with effect from October 12, 2005. All Indian citizens abroad have come under the ambit of the RTI Act subsequently.
Those wishing to apply for any information/documents under the RTI Act may please contact the following official who has been designated as the Public Information Officer (PIO) of this Consulate General for necessary action:
Public
Information Officer
The Appellate
Authority is:
1.
http://www.persmin.nic.in
The fees
for various information/documents, which are to be paid by the applicants, are
laid down by the Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India on its
website:
http://righttoinformation.gov.in
Invitation for Expression of Interest for
Short-Listing of
Government of India has
decided to establish a deemed university in India for children of PIOs/NRIs. The
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs invites Expression of Interest (EOI) for
establishing a PIO/NRI University in India from reputed Overseas Indian Trusts
or Registered Societies with experience in establishing and managing higher
educational institutions in the format given below:
The details of organization
containing information regarding finance & administrative strength,
organisational structure and source of funding with appropriate documentation.
Audited accounts to be furnished at least for the last five years.
Attested copies of registration certificate of
Trust or Society.
Details of experience of
the Trust/Society in managing such institutions for at least the last five
years.
Detail of Management Competence for this project.
Briefly state concept of
the proposed project and details regarding finance, faculty, administration
and construction schedule etc.
The expression of interest
shall be sent within 45 days from
the date of publication of this advertisement. Short-listed
Trusts/Societies will
be invited to
make a presentation on their proposal to a Screening
Committee and
thereafter will be required to submit the detailed project report
for setting up
the proposed University for further
evaluation.
I The envelope must be superscribed “Shortlisting Trust/Society for PIO/NRI University in India”. The Expression of Interest document shall be addressed in a sealed cover to:
Joint Secretary (DS) |