PM Manmohan Singh says OCI and PIO cards will be merged

In order to facilitate active participation of the Indian diaspora in business and educational activities in India, the government has decided to merge the overseas citizenship of India (OCI) and persons of Indian origin (PIO) cards into a single facility. Both cards are given seperately at present, which gives them different rights including different visa durations.

While inaugurating Pravasi Bharitya Diwas in New Delhi on Saturday, prime minister Manmohan Singh said merging the two cards will facilitate visa-free travel to PIOs and provide them rights of residency just the way OCIs have. He added that his government hopes to iron out some of the problems that have arisen in the implementation of these schemes.

The government has been, of late, encouraging PIOs to opt for the OCI card to deal with the long delays faced by them in getting visas to travel to India. An OCI card provides multi-purpose, multiple entry, lifelong visa for India; exemption from registration with local police in India; and parity with NRIs in respect of economic, financial and education fields, including admission to IITs and IIMs.

However, a PIO card holder’s visa-free entry is only valid for 15 years; s/he has to register with the local police for stay exceeding 180 days in India on any single visit. And while OCI gets a specific right to become an Indian citizen, the PIO card holder does not have this. But now merging the two into a single facility will bring PIOs at par with OCIs.

Talking about the non-resident Indians’ (NRI) right to vote, PM said the government has enacted a law which has accorded NRIs the right to register themselves in the electoral rolls of their constituencies.

Meanwhile, PM Singh said that India’s growth is expected to be 9-10% from next year and economic recovery was progressing well despite fluctuations in global scenario.

Underlining that high growth rate is vital to fund India’s social development programmes and create employment for its young population, Singh said, “In the last two quarters, our growth rate has been 8.9% and we expect that for the entire year it will be around 8.5%,” he said.

He continued, “We expect that from the next year onwards we will be able to grow at a rate between 9 and 10% This growth is vital to fund our ambitious social development programmes and to create employment,” Dr. Singh said.

In wake of various scams hitting the government, the PM said that he is examining seriously how to make systemic changes that ensure more transparent procedures and safeguards in our governance processes.

“I believe our democracy is sturdy, vibrant and has its own inbuilt mechanisms for redressal and course correction. We need to build consensus on far-reaching changes that may be required in processes of governance and in our legal or electoral systems. We are determined to work sincerely towards this end,” he said.