| Pravāsī Bhāratīya Kārya Mantrālaya | |
 | |
| Ministry overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | May 2004 |
| Dissolved | 7 January 2016 |
| Superseding Ministry | |
| Jurisdiction | Government of India |
| Headquarters | Akbar Bhawan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi [1] |
| Website | www |
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) was a ministry of the Government of India. It was dedicated to all matters relating to the Indian diaspora around the world.
Ministry was established in May 2004 as the Ministry of Non-Resident Indians' Affairs. It was renamed as the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in September 2004. [2]
Positioned as a ‘Services’ Ministry, it provided information, partnerships and facilitations for all matters related to Overseas Indians: Non-Resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin. [2]
The Ministry was merged with the Ministry of External Affairs on 7 January 2016. [3] The government said that the decision was taken in line with government's "overall objective of minimizing government and maximizing governance" and that it will help the government address duplication as well as unnecessary delays. [4]
The Ministry had four functional service divisions to handle its services: [2]
The first two divisions were headed by Joint Secretaries. The Protector General of Emigrants (PGoE) headed the Overseas Employment Services Division. The Social Services Unit and the Management Services Unit were staffed with officers of the rank of Deputy Secretary. The Information Services Unit was headed by Senior Technical Director (NIC). [5]
The ministry also sponsored the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-resident Indian Day) established in 2003, when it also instituted the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award. [6]
| No. | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | ||||||||
| Minister of Non-Resident Indian Affairs | ||||||||||
| 1 |  | Jagdish Tytler (born 1944) MP for Delhi Sadar (MoS, I/C) | 23 May 2004 | 9 September 2004 | 109 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan I | Manmohan Singh | ||
| Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs | ||||||||||
| (1) | | Jagdish Tytler (born 1944) MP for Delhi Sadar (MoS, I/C) | 9 September 2004 | 10 August 2005 | 335 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan I | Manmohan Singh | ||
| – |  | Manmohan Singh (born 1932) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam (Prime Minister) [7] | 10 August 2005 | 18 November 2005 | 100 days | |||||
| 2 |  | Oscar Fernandes (1941–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka (MoS, I/C) | 18 November 2005 | 29 January 2006 | 72 days | |||||
| 3 |  | Vayalar Ravi (born 1937) Rajya Sabha MP for Kerala | 29 January 2006 | 22 May 2009 | 8 years, 117 days | |||||
| 28 May 2009 | 26 May 2014 | Manmohan II | ||||||||
| 4 |  | Sushma Swaraj (1952–2019) MP for Vidisha | 26 May 2014 | 7 January 2016 | 1 year, 226 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | Narendra Modi | ||
| Ministry disestablished in 2016 [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||
| No. | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | ||||||||
| 1 |  | General V. K. Singh (Retd.) PVSM AVSM YSM ADC (born 1950) MP for Ghaziabad | 26 May 2014 | 7 January 2016 | 1 year, 226 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | Narendra Modi | ||
| Ministry disestablished in 2016 [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is the highest Indian award for Overseas Indians or an organisation or institution established and run by Overseas Indian diaspora, constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to honour exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen field/profession. The award is given by the President of India. Since 2016, the Government of India has doubled the number of awardees each year to 30 after a decision to grant the award once every two years.
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed on 9 January by the Republic of India to mark the contribution of the Overseas Indian community towards the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915.
Fitzval Remedios Santana Neville de Souza, often known as F.R.S. de Souza and Fitz de Souza, was a Kenyan lawyer and politician who was an important figure in the campaign for independence for Kenya, a member of the Kenyan parliament in the 1960s and Deputy Speaker for several years. He helped provide a legal defence for those accused of Mau Mau activities including the Kapenguria Six, and he was one of the people involved in the Lancaster House conferences held to draw up a constitutional framework for Kenyan independence.
Sushma Swaraj was an Indian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. She was the second person to complete a 5-year term as the Minister of External Affairs, after Jawaharlal Nehru. A senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Swaraj was the second woman to hold the office of Minister of External Affairs, after Indira Gandhi. She was elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. At the age of 25 in 1977, she became the youngest cabinet minister of the Indian state of Haryana. She also served as Chief Minister of Delhi for a short duration in 1998 and became the first female Chief Minister of Delhi.
The Ministry of External Affairs of India is tasked with formulating and implementing Indian foreign policy, in tandem with the repatriation of Indian citizens in danger abroad and the extradition of fugitives. The Ministry of External Affairs is steered by the Minister of External Affairs, a minister in the PM's Cabinet.
The Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (Hindi: सुषमा स्वराज विदेश सेवा संस्थान is the civil service training institute in New Delhi where Indian Foreign Service officers are trained. The institute functions under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
M. Arunaachalam is a Hong Kong–based businessman and entrepreneur, born and educated in India. He has previously been the chairman of The Indian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, and as of 2009, he has been a member of its General Committee. Arunaachalam is also the chairman of the Indian Chamber Fiftieth Anniversary Education Trust and the Disaster Relief Fund for India.
Ram Labhaya Lakhina is an Indian entrepreneur and community leader living in Oegstgeest, Netherlands. He was the first Chairman of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). He is the Founder, former chairman and now Chairman Emeritus of the Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce and Trade (NICCT), serves as a Chairman of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation, and is one of the founders of The World Forum for Ethics and Business.
Sushma Swaraj was the Indian External Affairs Minister under Prime Minister Narendra Modi from May 2014 till May 2019, responsible for implementing the foreign policy of Narendra Modi. She is only the second women to hold this position after Indira Gandhi.
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.
The Middle East region plays a vital role in India's economy as it supplies nearly two-thirds of India's total oil import, bilateral trade is also flourishing in recent years particularly with UAE and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Over the years, millions of Indians mostly working class have migrated to the Persian Gulf region looking for jobs and they account for a sizeable share in the total remittances received from abroad. Indian External Affairs Ministry refers the region as West Asia and not as Middle East which is a more popular attribution, particularly in the Western countries.
Michael Ashwin Satyandre Adhin is a Surinamese educator, politician, and was the Vice President of Suriname between 2015 and 2020. He is a member of the National Democratic Party. At the age of 35, he became the youngest vice president in the history of Suriname to lead the Council of Ministers. Adhin is a Hindu of Indian descent.
Mukund Purohit is an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur. He is chairman and managing director of Neapolitan Pizza Limited.
Sant Singh Virmani is a US-based Indian plant breeder, rice scientist and a former Principal Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He served IRRI from 1979 to 2005 and retired from its service as the deputy head of the Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry Division.
Panchapakesa Jayaraman is an Indian writer, scholar, vedic priest and a former executive director of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA. He is a known academic in Vedic Studies and Indian philosophy. He has edited six and authored 12 books including, Subrahmaṇya Bhāratī: Bhārata sapūta, published in 1967 by Kshitija Prakāśana.
India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDF-OI) www.idfoi.nic.in is a not for profit Trust established in 2008 by Government of India with the approval of the Cabinet to serve as a credible institutional avenue to enable overseas Indians to engage in philanthropy to supplement India's social and development efforts. The New Delhi-based Trust is chaired by Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs and is exempt from the provisions of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA).
World Hindi Secretariat (WHS),, is an international organisation of nations and regions where Hindi is the first or customary language with significant proportion of population consisting of Hindi speakers and/or with notable affiliation with North Indian culture. WHS is focused on promoting Hindi as an international language and furthering the cause of recognition of Hindi as an official language of the United Nations. India has been trying to get 129 votes at the United Nations to make Hindi an official language of the UN. WHS is head quartered at Vacoas-Phoenix city in Plaines Wilhems District of Mauritius.
Samman may refer to:
Know India Programme abbreviated as KIP is a government initiative by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India for the Indian diaspora between the age group of 18 to 30 years. It was launched on 8 January 2014, on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi. The purpose of the Know India Programme is to help Persons of Indian Origin youths familiarize with their roots and contemporary India and provide them an exposure to the country of their origin. From 2016, six KIPs a year are being organised.
Valavoor Kizhakkathil Rajasekharan Pillai or VKR Pillai is an Indian businessman from Kuttamperoor, Mannar in Alappuzha district of Kerala, living in Bahrain. He is the Chairman of Bahrain headquartered national group of companies in Bahrain. He has been awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award 2017, the highest honor conferred on non-resident Indians by the President of India.
{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)