Ahead of the upcoming polls in Karnataka, Dr Arathi Krishna, secretary of the NRI section of All India Congress Committee, said yesterday that the NRI Forum in Karnataka has remained inoperative for a long time. She added that in its current form, the body is incapable of addressing the problems faced by Non Resident Indians (NRIs).
"If Congress comes to power, a separate department will be formed for NRI Kannadigas," Dr Krishna said.
Addressing the media in a press conference yesterday, she added that the NRI Forum should be restored to respond to the problems faced by Indians from Karnataka working in Gulf countries.
“Due to sheer negligence and lack of willpower of the government, the vice-chairman of the NRI forum has not been appointed for the last five years. During the time of the pandemic, Ukraine, Sudan and Afghanistan crises, people faced several problems. We had to take steps to help those NRIs who were in distress. NRIs had decided to boycott the election over negligence of the government," she said.
"As per my recommendations, some points favouring NRIs were included in the Congress manifesto and that includes forming a separate department for the NRIs," she added.
“In addition to forming a separate department, every year ‘Kannada Nammadu – Kannadigaru Naavu’ programme will be organised in line with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. A sum of INR 1,000 crore under the reserve fund scheme has been added in the Congress party's manifesto to encourage the NRI Kannadigas to run industries in the state,” she stated.