‘MOIA merger an insult to NRIs’
Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy has termed the decision to merge ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) with ministry of external affairs (MEA) as an insult to NRI community. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Chandy demanded that the decision be revoked at the earliest to avoid any “adverse” effect.
The chief minister reasoned that the “abrupt” decision to merge the ministries was taken without “consultation or any proper analysis”. “I am really shocked to hear the news about the abrupt decision to merge the overseas Indian affairs ministry with the external affairs ministry without any consultation or proper analysis. We cannot ignore the contribution of NRIs in India’s development and spreading India’s rich culture and heritage,” Mr Chandy stated in the letter to the PM.
He stated that the move would adversely affect the interest of the overseas Indians. Mr Chandy, who is in the national capital, said the MOIA was created due to persistent insistence of Kerala and the decision to merge the two ministries was not “right”. He explained that the MOIA addressed the problem of overseas citizens, especially from Kerala, in much effective manner.
“The ministry of overseas Indian affairs came into existence in the year 2002 with the objective to deal with various issues of overseas Indians and also to frame schemes for their comprehensive welfare. Since then, the ministry took proactive measures for the overseas Indians. The ministry succeeded in amending the rules for providing voting rights to the overseas Indians, extending dual citizenship to them by issuing OCI cards, implementing insurance and pension schemes, and controlling the recruiting agencies effectively,” wrote Mr Chandy in the letter.