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So were Goans... but was there anyone to speak up for them? FN Keralites ignored by diaspora meet: Antony By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 10 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony is upset that non-resident Keralites have been ignored by the Indian diaspora meet under way in New Delhi. "I fully appreciate the initiative taken by the government to celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Indian Diaspora Day), but all of us would have been extremely happy if they had also looked into the issues of those settled in the Middle East, the majority of whom are from Kerala," Antony told reporters here. He hastened to add he was making the statement in his individual capacity and that it did not reflect the views of his cabinet. "What I am emphasising is not just that of granting dual citizenship but other aspects as well," said Antony. Inaugurating the three-day meet Thursday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced that NRIs and people of Indian origin (PIO) in select countries would be granted dual citizenship. They would, however, not get voting rights. NRIs in the Middle East would not get this benefit. A long-standing demand by successive governments in Kerala has been the granting of voting rights to NRIs. Kerala has said the names of all NRIs from the state be included in the electoral list and that they be allowed to vote in case they were in the state on polling day. According to Kerala Minister for Non-Resident Keralites M.M. Hassan, who is attending the New Delhi meet, the prime minister has not addressed the needs of Malayalis in the Gulf. "Dual citizenship is welcome but it might not have any impact in Kerala," said Hassan in a statement released here. Some 1.6 million Keralites are estimated to be living abroad, a majority of them in the Middle East, and are a major revenue earner for the country. According to the latest state-level banker's committee report, deposits by non-resident Keralites touched an all time high of Rs.257.91 billion in 2002. Over the years, these deposits have soared from Rs.187.24 billion in 2000 to Rs. 214.31 billion in 2001. The total deposits in Kerala banks as on June 30, 2002, was Rs. 528.22 billion. Another pending demand of Keralites in the Gulf is a reduction by Air-India in airfares, especially to the Middle East. "This is a grave issue. Today, while fares from other cities in the country to the Middle East is almost the same, a one-way ticket from Kochi to Dubai on Air-India costs Rs. 10,600 while it is just Rs. 6,500 on Emirates," said K.V. Muraleedharan, president of the Kerala Association of Travel Agents. "Precious foreign exchange is flowing out of the country on account of wrong policies. These are issues which ought to have been addressed at the meeting in Delhi," he said. Still Antony is not disheartened. "We have given several memorandums and representations to the prime minister. We will continue to do this and we are hopeful the needs of Keralites settled abroad would be taken care of," the chief minister said. --Indo-Asian News Service
