Qualified professionals of Indian origin, including doctors, dentists, pharmacists, engineers, architects, lawyers, chartered accountants can practise in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday, while inaugurating the 7th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
“The Overseas Indian Citizenship Scheme, which had been announced in 2006, has elicited an overwhelming response. I am therefore happy to announce that OCI card holders who are qualified professionals—doctors, dentists, pharmacists, engineers, architects and chartered accountants—will now have the benefit of practicing their professions here in our country. Further details to operationalise this benefit are being worked out,” he said. A government official explained that a notification to that effect under the Citizenship Act of India was made on Wednesday, following an inter-ministerial consultation, and since these professions fall under separate ministries, each concerned ministry has to make corresponding changes in their regulations to include this new category, introduced under Article 7B in the Citizenship Act of India.
The Prime Minister also acknowledged the growing role that the people of Indian origin have been playing in influencing public policy and opinion-making across the world. He cited as example the key role that the overseas Indian community, especially that in the US, played in lifting the 34-year old nuclear isolation imposed on India by the international community.
The prime minister asserted the growing importance of India in the global arena. “I am sure that each one of you would have sensed the growing respect with which India is today regarded in the world. India’s rise is increasingly being regarded as an important dimension of the emerging international world order. Our counsels on key global challenges are not just being heard, but are being actively sought’’.
Another new initiative of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs that the PM launched for the Pravasis, was the “Global Indian Knowledge Network”, to facilitate transfer of knowledge, a virtual think-tank to generate ideas on issues such as development, education, and healthcare.
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