COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

$ 1,000 only: economic, educational, financial benefits for Persons of Indian Origin

Suhasini Haidar in New Delhi

Keeping Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's promise in June 1998 Budget speech, the government today announced the launch of the PIO, or Persons of Indian Origin, card scheme. The PIO card will confer some special economic, educational and financial benefits that are accorded to Non-Resident Indians or NRIs.

Union Home Minister L K Advani said the scheme will be open to all people living outside India who have ever held an Indian passport or are descendants of Indian citizens. ''The PIOs, who are already in India on long-term visa, should apply for the card to the foreign regional registration office.''

Under the scheme, all eligible PIOs will no longer need a visa to visit India, and will also not need to register with the Foreigners Registration Office for visits up to six months. The scheme will cover all persons who have "at any time held an Indian passport, or are the spouse, the child, grand-child or great-grand child of an Indian citizen. "This card will span four generations," said Advani, "and will include descendants of Indians who left India even up to 150 years ago."

The PIO card will be valid for 20 years, and will be issued for a fee of $ 1,000. According to the foreign ministry figures, there are approximately 6.7 million Non-Resident Indians or NRIs at present. Foreign Secretary K Raghunath said an estimated 15 million people would be eligible immediately for the PIO cards. He also said every PIO, including infants and children, would have to apply for the PIO card separately.

Of particular interest to many Indians living abroad will be the acceptance of PIOs and children of PIOs to prestigious Indian medical and engineering colleges under the 'general category'. This will help Indians living abroad under foreign passports to study at coveted institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs, the Indian Institutes of Management or IIMs and all the medical colleges as Indians, rather than under the more restricted "foreigners"/ NRI category.

The PIOs can become members of various housing schemes, Life Insurance Corporation's policies and other government agencies.

However, holders of the PIO cards will not be eligible to vote, and will not be eligible for any other "political rights" that are guaranteed to Indian citizens.

The card can be cancelled in case the card-holder is the citizen of any country "at war" with India, or it is found that the cardholder is "by act or speech, shown to be disaffected towards the Indian Constitution or other Indian laws". People who have been sentenced in India for terrorism, drug-trafficking or arms-smuggling are also ineligible for the scheme.

The PIO scheme will not be available to citizens of Bangladesh and Pakistan. Advani clarified that the card will be issued under strict guidelines, and applications will be closely scrutinised to filter out anti-national elements. He acknowledged that the card could be sought to be misused by terrorists living abroad, particularly those supporting secessionist elements in Punjab and Kashmir. "We will use the same amount of discretion for the issuance of PIO cards that we would for the issue of visas," he said.

The scheme is effective from today. Forms will be available at all the Indian missions abroad and all foreigner registration offices within the country. It will have a validity of 20 years, would be priced at $ 1,000. He also informed the press that 234,556 people of Indian origin in various countries have shown interest in the card, which would be made available to them within two months.

Business News