Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs

Last updated

Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs of State of Kerala (NORKA ROOTS)
പ്രവാസി മലയാളി കാര്യ മന്ത്രാലയം
Agency overview
Formed6 December 1996;27 years ago (1996-12-06)
Jurisdiction Kerala
Headquarters Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Agency executive
  • Ajith Kolassery, CEO
Website https://www.norkaroots.org/

The Non-Resident Keralites Affairs abbreviated as NORKA is a department of the Government of Kerala formed on 6 December 1996 to redress the grievances of Non-Resident Keralites (NRKs). [1] It is the first of its kind formed in any Indian state. [1] The department was formed in an attempt to strengthen the relationship between the NRKs and the Government of Kerala and to improve the administrative framework. [1] The field agency of NORKA is known as the NORKA Roots, which was set up in 2002 to act as an interface between the NRKs and the Government of Kerala. [2] It also acts as a forum for addressing problems amongst non-resident Keralites, safeguarding their rights and assisting returnees. [2]

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the NORKA-Roots portal facilitated registration from people all around the world to request to return to Kerala. The portal also allowed people stuck in different states of the country to register on their site from 29 April 2020.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayalis</span> Ethnic group

The Malayali people are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala & Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They form the majority of the population in Kerala and Lakshadweep. They are predominantly native speakers of the Malayalam language, one of the six classical languages of India. The state of Kerala was created in 1956 through the States Reorganisation Act. Prior to that, since the 1800s existed the Kingdom of Travancore, the Kingdom of Cochin, Malabar District, and South Canara of the British India. The Malabar District was annexed by the British through the Third Mysore War (1790–92) from Tipu Sultan. Before that, the Malabar District was under various kingdoms including the Zamorins of Calicut, Kingdom of Tanur, Arakkal kingdom, Kolathunadu, Valluvanad, and Palakkad Rajas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Kerala</span> Culture and traditions of Kerala

The culture of Kerala has developed over the past millennia, influences from other parts of India and abroad. It is defined by its antiquity and the organic continuity sustained by the Malayali people. Modern Kerala society took shape owing to migrations from different parts of India and abroad throughout Classical Antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Kerala</span>

The economy of Kerala is the 9th largest in India, with an annual gross state product (GSP) of 9.78 lakh crore in 2020–2021. Per-capita GSP of Kerala during the same period is 257,711 (US$3,100), the sixth largest in India. In 2019–20, the tertiary sector contributed around 63% of the state's GSVA, compared to 28% by secondary sector, and 8% by primary sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Kerala</span>

Kerala is a state in south-western India. Most of Kerala's 34.8 million people are ethnically Malayalis. People of Kerala trace their origins to Dravidians and Aryans. Kerala people have mixed ancestry. Additional ancestries derive from millennia of trade links across the Arabian Sea, whereby people of Arab, Jewish, Syrian, Portuguese, English and other ethnicities settled in Kerala. Many of these immigrants intermarried with native Malayalam speakers resulting in formation of many Muslim and Christian groups in Kerala. Some Muslims and Christians thus take lineage from Middle Eastern and European settlers who mixed with native population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vidya Academy of Science and Technology, Thrissur</span> Engineering college in Kerala

Vidya Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) is a privately financed engineering college in Thrissur District in Kerala. The college offers a degree in Bachelor of Technology and courses in six branches of engineering - Production, Civil, Computer Science, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Communication, Mechanical. The college also offers a degree in Masters in Computer Application (MCA). From the year 2011, the college has offered four MTech courses and two PhD programmes in Electrical engineering & Computer science engineering. The college was established and is administered by Vidya International Charitable Trust (VICT), a body formed by more than a thousand non-resident Keralites mostly based in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Kerala</span> Indian State Government

The Government of Kerala, also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as the cabinet.

Norka may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerala House</span> Building

Kerala House is the official state mission of Government of Kerala at New Delhi. Each state of India has to maintain a statutory representative and state mission house in the capital to liaison with the Central Government on behalf of the state.

The Kerala Gulf diaspora refers to the people of Kerala living in the West Asian Arab states of the Persian Gulf. A report presented in 2014, estimates that 90 percent of Kerala's 2.36 million-strong diaspora resides in the Middle East. Nearly 80 percent of Indians living in Kuwait are from Kerala according to the 2008 survey commissioned by the Department of Non-resident Keralite Affairs.

The Federation Of Kerala Associations In North America (FOKANA) is an umbrella organization formed on July 4, 1983, in New York City to unite all Kerala/Malayali organizations of the American continent. It was during the seventies that many Malayali organizations started to show up all over United States and Canada. Thus, there was a need to unite all these organizations under a single roof. In 1982, under the initiative of Dr. M. Anirudhan, a preliminary meeting was held in Washington D.C., which was chaired by the then Indian Ambassador to United States K.R. Narayanan. This meeting initiated the forming of this organization. Later in 1983, the first Kerala Convention was held in New York city. Personalities like Dr. Syed Muhammaed, the then Indian High Commissioner in London and Mr. Vayalar Ravi, the then-Home Minister of Kerala attended the convention. This convention, through the active efforts of many prominent Keralites, founded the present organization. The 2020-22 President is Georgy Varughese. The international convention will be held in Orlando, Fl on July 7–10, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourist Resorts (Kerala)</span>

Tourist Resorts (Kerala) Ltd or (TRKL) is a Government of Kerala undertaking under Kerala Tourism Department, established in August 1989 to promote tourism investment and to develop Tourism infrastructure in the Indian state of Kerala. TRKL was conceived to identify tourism infrastructure needs of the state and bridge any identified gaps. Kerala is today growing at an amazing pace in tourism, adhering to the principles of indigenousness, environmental sustainability and community participation. Kerala's beaches, hill stations, backwaters, wildlife sanctuaries, historical monuments, etc. attract foreign as well as domestic tourists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. M. Hassan</span> Indian politician

Malik Mohammed Hassan is a leader of the Indian National Congress and a former Minister in the Government of Kerala and also former president of KPCC. He has served the Kerala Legislative Assembly for over two decades as part of the INC. Being a strong orator and a respected parliamentarian recognised among his peers for his integrity and an inspirational leader accepted by the public, he has always been considered as a true leader who upheld the concept of secularism and nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. C. Joseph (Irikkur politician)</span> Indian politician

Karuvelithara ChackoJoseph is a senior Indian politician and long term member of the Indian National Congress. He was the former Minister for Rural Development, Planning & Culture of the Government of Kerala from the year 2011 to 2016. He represented the Irikkur constituency in Kerala eight times from 1982 to 2021.

Pravasam is a 2008 Malayalam novel written by M. Mukundan. According to the author, the novel is an attempt to re-define nostalgia which is thought to be the essence of life of non-resident Malayalis and to pay respect to hundreds of thousands of Malayalis living as non-resident Keralites in different parts of the world. It is a novel that travels through generations. It depicts a clear picture of the life stories of various persons living in various parts of the world as non-resident Keralites. It explains us about the different kinds of feelings of various kinds of people who had left their homeland for various reasons. These reasons include the emigration for the sake of seeking a better profession, for studies, for getting a better class of living and so on. But almost all of them dreams of returning to their homeland one day and enjoying the homeliness. One of the issues the books addresses is the question of cultural identity of the Malayali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. K. Menon</span> Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist (1949–2019)

Cheril Krishna Menon was an Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the Chairman and Managing Director of Behzad Corporation, headquartered in Doha, Qatar, which has presence in many other countries. He received the 2006 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and in 2009 received the fourth highest Indian civilian award, Padma Shri, from Government of India, in 2009, with. He died after prolonged illness at Apollo Hospital, Chennai on 1 October 2019, aged 70.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thenumgal Poulose Jacob</span> Indian surgeon

Thenumgal Poulose Jacob is an Indian surgeon specializing in vascular surgery, and the founder Head of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Madras Medical College. Born in Aluva, in the south Indian state of Kerala, to Thenumgal Poulose and Mariam in a Malayali family, he did his under-graduate studies at UC College before graduating in medicine from Stanley Medical College, Chennai, and secured his MS degree from the same institution. He started his practice under government service at Madras Medical College where he helped establish the department of vascular surgery in 1978 and served as its founder head until his superannuation in 1993. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2014, for his contributions to medical science. He is married to Esther and the couple has a daughter, Siji Jacob, an academic and a son, Hasum Jacob Thenumgal, an engineer at TCS. He is in private practice at T. P. Jacob Clinic in Royapuram, Chennai and is also a consultant vascular surgeon at MV Hospitals for Diabetes, Royapuram.

Loka Kerala Sabha is an event hosted by the state government of Kerala to bring Malayali diaspora living around the globe under one platform. It was hosted under the department of Non-Resident Keralites. It aims at utilizing the expertise of NRKs for developing Kerala state. Loka Kerala Sabha is proposed to happen once in two years

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaysian Malayalees</span> Malayalee diaspora in Malaysia

Malaysian Malayalees, also known as Malayalee Malaysians, are people of Malayali descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia from the Malayalam speaking regions of Kerala. They are the second largest Indian ethnic group, making up approximately 15% of the Malaysian Indian population. The bulk of Malaysian Malayali migration began during the British Raj, when the British facilitated the migration of Indian workers to work in plantations, but unlike the majority Tamils, the vast majority of the Malayalis were recruited as supervisors in the oil palm estates that followed the kangani system, and some were into trading and small businesses with a significant proportion of them running groceries or restaurants. Over 90% of the Malayalee population in Malaysia are Malaysian citizens.

The Malayali Diaspora refers to the Malayali people who live outside their homeland of the Indian state of Kerala and the Union Territories of Mahé, India and Lakshadweep. They are predominantly found in the Persian Gulf, North America, Europe, Australia, Caribbean, Africa and other regions around the world.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "NORKA profile". Archived from the original on 26 January 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Non-Resident Keralites' Affairs Department (NORKA),NORKA-ROOTS-A Profile". Govt of Kerala. Retrieved 10 December 2009.