To allow voting facility to Non Resident Indians (NRIs) residing abroad, Election Commission is working out a mechanism and Ministry of External Affairs is facilitating it.

Addressing reporter at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Secretary (OIA & CPV), Ministry of External Affairs said “The issue of simplifying and providing voting for NRIs during Indian elections is on.”

“Things like introducing Internet voting and other means are being worked out. The Election Commission (EC) had already deeply engaged itself on the issue and has made some recommendations to the government,” he added.

On the voting issue, EC has taken our (MEA) views. Now the decision has to be taken by both the EC and the Union government, he further added.

Mulay to a question on how soon the recommendations of the current edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be implemented said “The current addition stood out compared to previous 13 editions. We had success by outcome oriented approach, focused policy orientation and bread and butter issues were highlighted by the Indian Diaspora, especially the workers in the Gulf countries who number more than 90 per cent of expatriates. The focus will be to enhance empowerment of NRIs and their security.

The current edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being held at Bengaluru had surpassed all expectations and the number of delegates had crossed 7,100 and more registration was on still. Out of them 1,700 had come from overseas and of which 500 were NRIs visiting their mother country.

“Today’s Pravasi Bharatiya Divas has representation from 72 countries. There were seven Indian ambassadors to different countries who are here to answer queries from the NRIs. There were 22 Parliament members attending the session and many ministers from the states. Today being day one there were 3,200 visitors who came to visit the exhibitions,” said Mulay.

The new feature of this Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was that it was all inclusive backed by participative sessions and where 100 panelists had been lined up to hold discussions.

The largest contingent was from the US which had 200 delegates followed by Malaysia 150, Qatar 130 and Oman and Bahrain around 90 each.

Old Notes

Talking about extended deadline for returning old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, Mulay said “Since many have not returned old notes, the Union government has indicated to NRIs who have not yet returned currency notes to do it by June 30.”

“The last date to return old notes was fixed on March 31. Due to demand of NRIs the government has taken the decision to extend it to June 30. MEA had consulted Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and union finance ministry and now reasonable time has been given for NRIs,” he added.

The provision to exchange the notes would be subject to the regulations of the notification -- Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Regulations, 2015 which put the limit of bringing back currency into the country at Rs 25,000 per person.

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