Non-resident Indians can soon fly home cheaper

New Delhi: Holders of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards are to be charged the same domestic airfares as resident Indians and also charged the same entry fees for National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi announced this last week, as part of continuing efforts by the Indian government to tap the financial and educational assets of the 25 million non-resident Indians (NRIs) in contributing to nation-building.
Mr Ravi told the annual caucus of the Indian diaspora, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), that the OCI Scheme introduced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year had met with overwhelming response and so far 90,000 such cards had been issued, with thousands more overseas Indians expected to sign up this year.
NRIs who have assumed the citizenship of their country of residence are normally categorised as "foreign nationals" and have to pay higher airfares and charged often five times the "local rate" for entrance to national parks and wild life sanctuaries.
That will soon be changed, though the minister did not say when. Mr Singh called the PBD the annual "celebration of the home-coming of the global Indian".
15/01/07 Imtiaz Muqbil/Bangkok Post, Thailand

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