GOPIO INTERACTS WITH MEMBERS OF INDIAN PARLIAMENT IN NEW YORK ON AADHAAR CARD FOR NRIs AND DEMONTIZATION ISSUES

GOPIO officials including GOPIO Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, International Coordinator for North America Dr. Rajeev Mehta and GOPIO Intl. Chamber of Commerce (GICC) Co-Chairman Prakash Shah were in attendance at a one-to-one Interactive Meeting hosted by the Indian Consulate in New York on Friday, October 27th. Organized by Indian Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty, the following members of Indian Parliament were present.

Mr. T.K.S. Elangovan
Mr. Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu
Mr. Raghav Lakhanpal
Mr. Bhatruhari Mahtab
Mr. Hiterndra Reddy Amdayala Paddu
Mr. Anil Gulabrao Shirole
Mr. Harshvarsh Narayan Singh
Mr. Kodikunnel Suresh

Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty welcomed the guest and Deputy Consul General Paramita Tripathi made a presentation of the history and role played by the Indian Consulate in New York, Govt, of India’s subcontractor Cox and Kings also made a presentation. In the interactive session, GOPIO brought some of the current issues faced by the Diaspora Indians as follows:

NRI AND PIO ISSUES
Presented by Global Organization of People of Indian Origin to Members of Indian Parliament
1. Demonetization Issue - Millions of OCI card holders and Diaspora Indians with foreign citizenship are still holding demonetized currencies (between 7,500 to 10,000 crores) since they were not allowed to deposit them during the extended period of Jan. 1st to June 30th. GOPIO officials raised the question, what to do with these currencies?

2. On October 21st, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a clarification, saying that the linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts is mandatory under prevention of money-laundering rules. The central bank was responding to news reports that quoted an RTI reply on linking Aadhaar by Dec. 31st, 2017. However, Govt, of India, Ministry of Finance had issued a press release on April 5th. 2017 saying that Aadhaar Card needs to be linked for income tax filing only for those who are eligible to obtain the card. However, no statement has been issued whether NRIs need to link bank accounts with Aadhaar card.

NRIs are not currently eligible to get an Aadhaar Card. GOPIO suggests that all Indian citizens irrespective of staying in India or outside must be given Aadhaar card similar to the Social Security Number issued to all American citizens living in the US or outside.

3. Real estate issues – Many NRIs have not been able to get hold off the apartment/house for which they have paid, especially in places like Noida and Gurgaon. Their inherited properties are also being taken over by unsuspecting relatives and others in connivance with local officials.

The members of the parliament interacted with GOPIO officials sand others present a the meeting and promised to take up the issue with appropriate authorities in India.