STATEMENT OF SHRI EDUARDO FALEIRO, COMMISSIONER FOR NRI AFFAIRS AT HIS
PRESS BRIEFING
(September 29, 2010)
The annual Global Goans Convention will be held in Kuwait on November 16
and 17. Our Ambassador in Kuwait, senior officials of the Ministry of
Overseas Indian Affairs, leaders of the Goan community across the world
as well as leaders of the Indian community in the Gulf countries will
participate. The Convention is organized by the Goan Cultural Centre,
Kuwait.
The programme of the Convention will include structured meetings on
subjects of interest to our NRGs. There will be an Open House for the
benefit of our domestic and industrial workers in Kuwait and the
concerned officials of the Union and of the State Governments will
address their grievances and the suggestions made at the meeting. On
the second day of the Convention, there will be a “Vishwa Konkani
Samelan”, a cultural programme with involvement of the Konkani speaking
expatriate communities of Goa and elsewhere in India.
During my recent visit to New Delhi, I met the Union Law Minister, Shri
Veerappa Moily re. voting rights for NRIs. He informed me that the
Representation of People’s (Amendment) Act, 2010 has been approved by
Parliament and is presently before the Rashtrapati and she will give her
assent any moment now. In the meanwhile, rules concerning time within
which NRIs should be registered in the electoral rolls and procedure for
registration of NRIs are being drafted by the Union Law Ministry. NRIs
should register their name in the electoral roll of the constituency in
which they reside as per their passport. Our NRGs will certainly be
entitled to vote at the next general elections to the Legislative
Assembly and to Parliament.
I had written to the Union Home Minister stating that Goans holding
foreign passports were being given tourist visas and asked to leave the
country as soon as the rather short period of the tourist visa expired.
This was most unfair and inhuman, I had pointed out. The Home Minister
agreed with me and directed that the Visa Manual should be revised
accordingly. The Visa Manual has now been revised and the Union Home
Ministry has instructed all State Governments and other concerned
authorities to comply strictly with the revised guidelines. Goans as
well as other persons of Indian origin holding foreign passports will
henceforth be issued only long term “X” visas (extendable visas) and not
tourist visas (A copy of the relevant revised guidelines is enclosed).
The Direct Tax Code Bill was introduced last month in the Lok Sabha by
Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukerjee. Once enacted, it will come into
force in April 2012. Among other clauses, the Bill provides that a
person who stays in India for more than 60 days in a year and 365 days
or more in the previous four years is liable to taxation in this
country. As per the existing Income Tax Act, a person pays tax in
India if he is in this country for 182 days or more in a year. I
discussed this matter with the Union Revenue Secretary. He mentioned
that it is an internationally accepted principle that a person using
national resources for a reasonably long period of time should pay some
tax in that country. He also told me that if taxes are paid in any
country abroad by such a person, he shall be entitled to claim deduction
of his tax liability to the extent of the tax paid abroad.
I have been invited by the Institute of Strategic Studies of the
European Union to address the Second India – European Union Symposium
to be held in Brussels on October 11 and 12 next. I have also been
invited by the Universal Peace Federation to address their Conference in
Seoul on the theme “Interfaith, the United Nations and Peace in the
Twenty-first Century”. Since both the Conferences are being held
around the same time, I have informed the organizers of the Seoul
meeting that I will not be able to attend it. I have requested our
Ambassador in Belgium to identify Goan residents in Brussels so that I
may meet them. I request Goans in Brussels, through the media, to get
in touch with our Embassy so that it may arrange a meeting where the
Ambassador and myself will interact with the Goans there.
I have been dealing with foreign policy matters for the last about 30
years. In 1980, I was appointed the Convenor of the Foreign Affairs
Department of the AICC and thereafter I was a Minister of State for
External Affairs for two terms and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Department of the AICC until 2004. I continue to hold senior positions
in some international organizations and I am often invited to
participate in their conferences abroad. There is no financial
liability incurred by our Government with those visits. However, I do
avail of such opportunities to interact with Goans in different parts of
the world.
http://indiancommunityinkuwait.blogspot.com/2010/09/global-goans-convention-2010-kuwait.html