NRI Top Stories ( Page 40 of 47 )

BJP wants postal ballot for NRIs January 07, 2014 14:44

The BJP is in favour of postal ballot for NRIs in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. On Monday the party said that within the next three days they would ask the Election Commission to make such an arrangement so that eligible NRIs can vote in the 2014 polls through postal ballots. During the "global meeting", organized by Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), held in New Delhi a resolution was adopted stating that NRIs should be allowed to vote in 2014 elections through postal ballot. The meeting was attended by senior BJP leaders like L K Advani, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, M Venkaiah Naidu and Jaswant Singh. The leaders while speaking to the gathering called upon overseas Indians to support the BJP in the next general elections. (Picture Source: yespunjab.com) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Indian assault case: Assaulted student in Australia out of coma January 06, 2014 14:25

Indian student who was in indused coma is now out of it and responding to the treatment very well. Manrajwinder Singh had suffered severe head injuries following a brutal assault on his person and robbery in Australia. On December 29, the twenty-year-old boy was beaten up by a group of eight people, who seemed to be African by appearance, according to reports. Yadwinder Singh, the victim's elder brother, said that Manrajwinder is now out of coma and also responding to treatment. However, the road to recovery will be long, but there is a silver lining now that he is responding, Yadwinder added. Singh was thrashed by the gang when he and his two other friends were at Birrarung Marr near Princes Bridge to board a train last Sunday. The Indian accounts student suffered severe head injuries in the assault case in Australia.Three teenagers have been arrested in the case by the police. (Picture Source: newseastwest.com) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Thieves steal NRI’s bag from lodge in Hyderabad January 04, 2014 15:30

An Non-Resident Indian (NRI) was robbed of his bag on Thursday in Hyderabad while he was sleeping at a lodge at Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB) Colony. The bag contained 7,500 US dollars, three gold rings and important documents of the NRI from West Indies, according to reports. Sridhar was in the city to meet his son, who is an intermediate student syuding in a corporate college located in KPHB Colony. The NRI was sleeping at Sitara Lodge when his bag was stolen by unidentified men, said the police. M. Surender Goud, KPHB Detective Inspector said that Sridhar realized that his bag was missing only in the morning, when he could not locate it. The clues team is trying to collect more evidence to arrest the culprit, Goud added. A case of theft has been booked under Section 380 of IPC. (Picture Source: nagpurtoday.in) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Teenager gets bail in Australia's Indian assault case January 03, 2014 17:35

An Australian court granted conditional bail to one of the teenagers accused in the assault case of Manrajwinder Singh, after the boy said that he was helping the police in the case. The 16-year-old teenager was granted bail on the condition that he would stay away from the co-accused and observe night curfew at home, reported The Age newspaper. The boy appeared at the children's court for a brief period and agreed to the conditions before his parents. Bail for the teenager was granted a day after another accused, a 17-year-old, was remanded in custody over the attack and robbing of 20-year-old Manrajwinder Singh, who is still in a state of induced coma at the Alfred hospital. The 16-year-old boy will later in the month return to court. In the case five other youths, that includes two brothers of the 17-year-old teenager, are yet to be arrested for questioning. Singh was thrashed by eight persons, who were reportedly African in appearance, when he and his two other friends were at Birrarung Marr near Princes Bridge to board a train last Sunday. The Indian accounts student suffered severe head injuries in the assault. (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Free surgery by Dubai-based Indian doctor's team in India December 31, 2013 15:14

Dubai-based Indian surgeon along with a team of doctors will perform corrective surgeries on children with cleft lips and on a victim of acid attack. The team of five doctors will fly down to India next month and conduct 45 operations in Indian villages in two days. Sanjay Parashar, the 47-year-old Dubai-based surgeon has been treating poor villagers for free since 2008 out of his earnings from cosmetic surgery, reported The National. Parashar while talking of his charity work says that he would always perform reconstructive surgery for poor Indian patient free of cost. He termed it as a good balance. When they had started the free camps they needed funds and had to go around looking for donations. Gradually everything settled down and now they perform their tasks easily. Parashar said that he mainly does cosmetic surgery in Dubai, so he's able to gathers resources for reconstructive surgery meant for those who cannot afford the cost in India. Cleft lips is a stigma that affects the victim's speech and eating, said Parashar while adding that most people live with it as it sometimes require upto four operations, depending on the case. A 30-year-old housewife, victim of an acid attack two years ago, will also be given reconstructive surgery on her disfigured face and neck. The team of doctors includes two plastic surgeons, another Dubai-based specialist and a doctor from Australia, who would join him in Nagpur during the two-days India trip. Primary health centres will identify the patients who need reconstructive surgery and the doctors will go to remote villages, up to 100 kilometres, for the operation, according to the report. (Picture Source: the hansindia.com ) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Canadian Sikh MLA denied visa by India December 27, 2013 16:18

A Canadian Sikh, who is a member of Ontario's provincial parliament, was allegedly denied visa by the government of India. Jagmeet Singh has been selected for 'Sikh of the Year' Award by two NGOs, and wants to visit Amritsar inorder to attend the ceremony. The young MPP asserted that the Indian consulate denied him the permission to travel to India via an email. Incidently, Singh is the first such Sikh member of the legislative assembly of Ontario that happens to be Canada's largest province. Singh is of the view that apparently India government disapproves his strong demand for justice to anti-Sikh riots' victims of 1984. He further said that he had been propagating the issue as state sponsored massacre rather than riots between communities. Jagmeet's initiatives led to Canadian government passing a legislation that recognized April as Sikh heritage month in Ontario. The two NGOs that had designated him 'Sikh of the Year' award were SEWA and International Fateh Academy. The ceremony was scheduled for December 24 in Amritsar. (Picture Source: abimayviajes.com) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

NRI bringing in gold for Indian smugglers December 23, 2013 17:21

Spike in import duties and plummeting international prices of gold has got Indian smugglers turning to NRIs to get the yellow metal in the country, after paying duties of course. According to Indian law, any NRI, who has stayed abroad for more than six months, is allowed to bring in 1kg gold. This was conspicuous from last week event when almost every passenger flying from Dubai to Calicut carried back home 1kg of gold each, totalling up to 80kg (worth about Rs 24 crore). At Chennai airport, 13 passengers have been spotted carrying legally permitted quantity of gold in the past one week. "It's not illegal. But the 80kg gold that landed in Calicut surprised us. We soon got information that two smugglers in Dubai and their links in Calicut were behind this operation, offering free tickets to several passengers," said an official. "The passengers were mostly Indian laborers in Dubai, used as carriers by people who were otherwise looking at illegal means, he said. We have started tracing the origin and route of gold after intelligence pointed to the role of smugglers," he said. Kerala customs revealed that over the past three weeks,d passengers from Dubai have brought more than 1,000kg of gold. “People who pay a duty of Rs 2.7 lakh per kg in Dubai still stand to gain at least Rs 75,000 per kg, owing to the price difference in the two countries. Gold dealers in Kerala say most of this gold goes to jewellery makers in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh,” writes the TOI. AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury

FBI arrests Babbar Khalsa member in US December 19, 2013 17:37

FBI on Wednesday arrested an Indian-American man on charges of assisting a Sikh separatist groups in India to carry out terrorist attacks. Balwinder Singh, 39, of Reno has been allegedly providing material support to members of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). The FBI has booked Singh on charges of conspiracy on counts of immigration related records, conspiring to murder or intension to harm people in a foreign country and for providing material support to terrorists. On December 20, Singh will appear before a US Magistrate Judge for an arraignment and an initial appearance. Singh is an Indian citizen who fled to the US and took asylum. Presently he is a permanent resident in the US. (Picture Source: cknewsgroup.ca) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

NRI to pay Rs 75,000 monthly to wife December 17, 2013 15:52

The Delhi High Court has directed an Indian origin UK businessman to pay Rs 75,000 monthly as maintenance to his wife. In the matrimonial dispute case the court also directed the man to pay an additional Rs 50,000 as litigation fees to his wife as he had a sound income accruing from his IT business in three countries. The Delhi High Court upheld the family court's order of September 2011 that had asked the businessman, a London based computer engineer, to pay the amount to his wife, who is currently in India and unemployed. The order was passed by a bench comprising of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Najmi Waziri. The court dismissed the businessman's plea that he had an ex-parte decree of divorce from a UK court and an Indian court's direction for maintenance was wrong The court rejected the man's argument that he has an ex-parte divorce obtained from a court in UK and the order for maintenance by an Indian court was not justifiable. The court also rejected the man's contension that his wife could earn for herself and was also receiving unemployment allowance from the government of UK. (Picture Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Indian-Americans pay tribute to Sardar Patel December 16, 2013 16:09

On the 63rd death anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Indian-Americans paid tribute to the great freedom fighter of India. The Indian community organized the event "Hum Vatan, Bringing Indians Closer" that was celebrated inspite the freezing winds in Washington. To comemorate India's 'Iron Man' a "Run for Unity" was organized. Scientist Anju Preet the event's organizer compared Sardar Patel with Abraham Lincoln, stating that both the great men had been instrumental in the unification of their country. Sardar Patel had united over 500 individual entities to create India of today, said Preet on Sunday. (Picture Source: wikimedia.org) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Sikh heritage month to be observed in April December 14, 2013 14:46

Every year, April will be observed as Sikh Heritage Month in Canada's Ontario province. Jagmeet Singh, the Brampton New Democrat Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) had tabled the bill to recognize April as Sikh Heritage Month, which was approved by the Ontario legislative assembly on Tuesday. The bill was introduced in the assembly last April. Singh said that April is a significant month for the Sikh community. Sikhs celebrates the festival of Baisakhi in April that also marks Khalsa Day, Singh added. Following the passage of the bill Singh hailed the event and said that Sikh Canadians have significantly contributed to the social, economic, political and cultural aspects of life in Ontario. Statistics Canada has recorded nearly 180,000 Sikh population based on National Household Survey 2011. (Picture Source: sikhmuseum.com) (AW: Pratima Tigga)

Indian diplomat arrested for visa fraud in US December 13, 2013 14:39

An Indian diplomat posted at the Indian Mission in New York was arrested on Thursday for visa fraud charges relating to a domestic worker, who was brought from India and was allegedly being underpaid and exploited. Devyani Khobragade holds the position of India's deputy consul general for political, economic, commercial and women's affairs at the Consulate General of India in New York. US attorney Preet Bharara Manhattan while announcing the arrest of Khobragade said that domestic workers brought to the United States have the same right to protection against exploitation that are extended to US citizens. Thirtynine-year-old Khobragade has been booked under one count for visa fraud and in one count of giving false statements. If the charges are proves against Khobragade, she could be punished with a sentences of upto ten years and five years in prison, for the two charges. (Picture Source: dd508hmafkqws.cloudfront.net) (AW: Pratima Tigga)