Media

The ethnic Indian media in foreign countries, which includes the English language media, reflects the diversity of regions, languages and opinion of India.

The ethnic Indian media in foreign countries, which includes the English language media, reflects the diversity of regions, languages and opinion of India. The ethnic media also gives expression to the community's empathy with India on a wide variety of issues.

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The ethnic Indian media evolved gradually, from radio, to print, and then to ethnically owned radio and channels. There is greater coverage of political, international and Indian issues in countries allowing freedom of expression, while in others, the focus has remained inevitably on entertainment and community issues.

The ethnic media abroad can become a very important vehicle for communication between the Indian public and the Diaspora. Frequently the mainstream media in many countries does not do justice to various Indian points of view on international and Indian events. The ethnic media's contacts with the free and vibrant press of India enriches their perspectives and acquaints their readers with a different point of view on major international developments.

Lack of effective communication, especially with the ethnic Indian press abroad, was in the past one of the reasons for misguided elements in some countries to support subversive movements in India.

Its role in the host countries and in strengthening relations between India and the Diaspora therefore diminish unless steps are taken to improve quality and make relevant. The Committee made some recommendations to strengthen links between Indian organisations and the ethnic media as well as prominent Indians in the foreign media.

These included creating a data bank on the ethnic media and a facilitation mechanism for interaction with the Indian ethnic media in both the future organisational set up that the Committee is recommending in this Report and in the External Publicity Division of the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Committee also recommended that links with associations like the US-based South Asian Association of Journalists and the UK Association of Indian Journalists should be developed.

Economic Development (Investment, International Trade, Industrial Development And Tourism)

The economic and political influence exercised by our Diaspora and their existing and growing contribution to India's economic development has been described in detail in the country/region chapters.

The Committee strongly recommended that the expertise in the management, financial, corporate, trade and banking sectors available in our Diaspora, should be tapped for the economic rejuvenation of India.

This should be done on a mutually beneficial basis and accordingly structural economic reforms, popularly termed as the second-generation reforms in India, for improving the operating environment for conducting business need to be implemented at the earliest possible. Such policies have yielded enormous dividends in China.

The Committee noted that the Diaspora's presence in their countries of settlement has catalysed demand for Indian goods and services, ranging from food to fashion to the Indian entertainment industry. Members of India's Diaspora, who are employed amongst the top consultancies and multinational firms, can facilitate access to the top management, support our trade and FDI initiatives, and help in increasing our share of products outsourced by large multinational corporations.

Indian professionals, traders and businessmen can provide useful insights for market penetration strategies and use their networks for the entry of new products and services from India.

The Committee found that the share of foreign direct investment (FDI) made by our Diaspora in the total cumulative FDI approved since 1991 was 3.78%, while it was 9.15% of the actual inflows. The Committee was informed that India could attract more FDI if procedural delays and red tape were reduced.

Specific measures needed to be taken to eliminate unnecessary formalities, harmonise policies at the central and state levels and ensure transparency in our rules and procedures governing FDI. The Committee recommended expediting the setting up of a dedicated and empowered one-window channel for processing various FDI- related clearances as a solution.

The Committee also felt that extending fiscal incentives, such as reducing corporate tax rates to levels at or below competitive international levels would be extremely useful in attracting investment.

The Committee learnt that the Resurgent India Bonds (RIB) floated in 1998 and the India Millennium Deposits (IMD) floated in 2000 resulted in the mobilisation of about US $ 4.2 billion and US $ 5.51 billion respectively.

After examining the methods of attracting Diaspora investments adopted by other countries, the Committee recommended that issue of special infrastructure bonds for NRIs/PIOs incorporating the attractive features of the Israel Bonds should be considered.

The Committee was told that there are huge delays in receiving remittances from abroad in rural and remote areas. The Committee recommended that this problem should be expeditiously addressed and suggested that the system of Rupee drawing arrangements made with exchange centres in the Gulf region through which NRIs can remit an equivalent amount in rupees to their relatives in India, should be replicated in other countries.

The Committee was informed of many instances of fraud committed on NRI bank deposits in India and recommended that banks should enforce strict vigilance while granting loans against NRI deposits, and adopt effective measures to deal with fraud. Attempts to revamp our legal system so that fraud cases are tried speedily is also a pressing need.

The instructions of the Reserve Bank of India in this regard, should be strictly adhered to by all bank branches.

The Committee noted that NRIs also have grievances regarding delays and procedural lapses in their investments in shares and debentures. The Committee noted that a procedure for redressal is already in place and should be given wide publicity through web sites and through our Missions and Posts.

The Committee recommended that there should be one single, fully empowered agency to deal with all complaints relating to this issue.

The Committee felt that the Diaspora could make a significant contribution to the growth of tourism in India. The Committee recommended that suitable schemes should be devised to attract members of our Diaspora like the people of Gujarati origin in the US, who dominate the motels and the budget hotels business, into establishing similar facilities in India.

To motivate PIO travel agents to promote tourism to India, an annual convention of PIO tour operators and travel agents could be organised in India and dovetailed into the larger programme of Diaspora-related events organised around the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

The Committee also recommended to the Government to consider issuing an India Credit Card for the Diaspora. A token sum for each transaction made through the card could be credited to the account of selected national projects, thus creating a sense of identification with nation-building efforts in the Diaspora.