By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala’s V.S. Achuthanandan government Tuesday approved the Pravasi Kerala Welfare Bill 2008, aimed at reaching out to thousands of people from the state settled elsewhere in the country and abroad.
“This is going to help all Keralites settled outside the state,” Achuthanandan told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.
The bill will be introduced in the state assembly.
Besides the welfare schemes which are planned, the new bill is likely to look into ways to put to “productive use” the annual remittances from the non-resident Keralites (NRKs) which run in excess of Rs.200 billion.
The chief minister also announced that a World Malayalee Conclave would be held here along with the first International Youth Festival for non-resident Malyalee children and youth July 15-16.
These decisions were taken here Tuesday at the meeting of the Roots-Norka, the state’s implementing agency for all NRK-related programmes.
In the state budget presented recently, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has set aside Rs.30 million for setting up the NRK welfare fund and Rs.2 million for the two-day event.
“We have also named two new vice-presidents to the Roots-Norka: V.K.C. Mohammed Koya and M.A. Yusuf Ali,” said Achuthanandan.
Koya is a former legislator of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist and Ali is a Middle East based Keralite businessman.