based Indian social organizations presented memos highlighting their grievances to Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister, and E. Ahmed, Minister of State for External Affairs, who were recently on an official visit to Saudi Arabia. The memos contained a list of grievances, which included education of NRI students, opening of Indian consulate office in the Eastern Province, attestation of documents, voting rights and rehabilitation schemes for returning Indians. Mohammed Quaiser, president of Tanzeem Hum Hindustani (THH) led a delegation of office-bearers Imtiaz Ahsan, secretary and Mirza Azmathullah Baig, joint secretary and handed over the memorandum to Mukherjee and E. Ahamd in separate visits. “We have drawn the ministers' attention to a number of issues that NRIs are facing in Saudi Arabia,” said Quaiser. He briefed the ministers on the increased number of house burglaries, thefts, looting and snatching incidents on the streets in the Kingdom's various cities especially in Riyadh. “We urged the ministers to take up the matter with higher Saudi authorities for safety and security of Indian community members,” he said. He said the attestation of documents by Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry after being authenticated by the Indian Embassy in Riyadh has been a lengthy process and needs to be addressed immediately. The process was causing long delays as currently the documents have to be dispatched to the Saudi Embassy in New Delhi or Saudi Consulate in Bombay for attestation. Indians working in remote areas of the Kingdom can not follow up the procedures and have to wait for long for attestation of their documents, he said. Opening of an Indian consulate office in Dammam has been a long-pending demand, as 30 percent of the 1.6 million Indians were working in the Eastern Province. Indian workers living in that part of Saudi Arabia are facing difficulties in getting their consular services and other issues tackled by the Indian Embassy. Although the consular teams from the Indian Embassy have scheduled visits to the Eastern Province, a sizeable number of blue-collar NRI workers fail avail of those services. Those workers even cannot visit Riyadh because of the long distance between the two cities, he pointed out in the memorandum. The ministers were also reminded of voting rights, a long-pending demand by the Gulf NRIs. THH urged the visiting ministers to make necessary arrangements so that NRIs could exercise their fundamental right of choosing their representatives. Education of NRI children has been a pressing issue, particularly for those returning home for good after finishing 10th or 12th class examinations from the Indian community schools in the Kingdom. The memorandum underscored the need for taking necessary measures to facilitate admission process in colleges and universities back home. “The Indian government should introduce important schemes for the employment as part of rehabilitation of the returning Indians,” Quaiser said, saying Gulf NRIs were the major source of foreign exchange to the Indian exchequer. THH has also demanded from the ministers to constitute a committee comprising members from External Affairs Ministry and Overseas Ministry for an in-depth study of the issues pertaining to NRI workers living in Gulf states and work out a plan for their better future in India. Indian National Forum (INF), another social organization presented a memorandum to Pranab Mukherjee, drawing his attention to education in Saudi Arabia of NRI children. The memorandum signed by Abdul Ahad Siddique and Shaikh Nizamuddin, president and secretary of INF, said the Indian community schools in Saudi Arabia under the patronage of Indian mission were managed by the Indian community. There are private schools that offer Indian curriculum but parents in the low-come bracket cannot afford their high tuition fees. Of late the growing inflation in Saudi Arabia and low wages have been hurting the Indian community members and as a result a large number of children of NRIs, who could not afford the high fee structure could not send their wards to school. The INF suggested that the Indian community schools under the embassy patronage be converted into Kendriya Vidyalayas to receive Indian government aid that could help the Indian community members working in Saudi Arabia. It further said that the Indian nationals working in the Gulf should not be defined as such NRIs and considered as overseas contract workers simply because of their contract-based employment here. The Indian overseas contract workers are far more underprivileged unlike their counterparts in North America and Europe, but the contributions through remittances to India were unmatched. __
