Minister of State to be inducted for overseas Indian affairs

Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has assured advisory committee of her ministry that a Minister of State with independent charge and a full time secretary would be appointed to handle matters connected with overseas Indians when the External Affairs Ministry and the Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs are merged.

The Minister gave the assurance after Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor strongly raised the demand at the meeting of the committee convened to discuss the merger.

The Central government had formed a separate ministry for overseas Indians to handle problems faced by ordinary Indian workers employed abroad, especially in the Gulf countries. The Narendra Modi Government, however, had decided merge it with the External Affairs Ministry.

The proposal was to convert Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry into a wing of the External Affairs Ministry. This gave rise to protests in Kerala as Malayalees working in the Gulf countries would be affected. Dr. Tharoor highlighted the concerns of Keralites at the meeting, an official release issued by Dr. Tharoor’s office said.

Dr. Tharoor is the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs.