Karnataka’s NRI Cell to offer legal and assistance

The newly set up NRI Cell in Karnataka will not only seek to bring foreign investment to state, but also help Non Resident Indians handle legal and social issues abroad.

Chairperson of the NRI Cell Ganesh Karnik told reporters that the NRI Cell would comprise of three divisions. While one division will concentrate purely on luring foreign investment, the second and third divisions will seek to address the legal and social matters confronting the NRIs living abroad.

Similiar Cells established by previous Governments including the Karnataka Diaspora Cell had failed to help NRIs living abroad, he said and added that the recently set up NRI Cell will have to start from the scratch. “We don’t even have the data on the total number of NRI Kannadigas living abroad”, Karnik said.

However, he claimed that he had already started receiving mails from NRI Kannadigas and Kannada Associations in the US and Gulf countries with a wide range of suggestions.

NRIs in the Gulf countries have urged him to act as a facilitator between them and the educational institutions in the State. “NRIs have to pay a heavy donation for seats in professional colleges. They pay as high as Rs 800,000 to 900,000. They have requested the Cell to intervene and ensure that colleges reduce the capitation fee and fees as they no longer earn as much as they used to”, Karnik said.

Though they are keen on contributing to the development of the State, Karnik said NRI Kannadigas are not known to be big investors as most of them are either professionals working as engineers and doctors or as drivers.

So, the Cell has to diversify its objectives by adding a social and legal face to its services. The Cell will help NRIs who had landed in trouble abroad facing criminal charges with legal assistance, apart from sorting out the many formalities they go through during their life abroad.