Natwar Singh

Natwar to address diaspora issues

External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh will travel to Kerala soon on a two-day visit to address issues facing the 1.6 million Keralites living abroad. “He will have wide-ranging discussions with the Kerala government on issues concerning the problems of Keralites living abroad and he will also tell us about the Center’s views on them,” said M.M. Hassan, state minister for non-resident Keralites (NRKs).

“He will meet Chief Minister A.K. Antony and officials who deal with this segment of the community,” Hassan said.

“His visit to the state within a short time of taking over as external affairs minister shows the Central government’s keen interest in the various memorandums we have submitted on the welfare of NRKs,” said Hassan.

Sonia Gandhi

Sonia heads National Advisory Council

Social activist Aruna Roy, Congress Party leader Jairam Ramesh and telecom expert Sam Pitroda have been named to the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

They are among 12 members nominated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the panel that will oversee the implementation of the Common Minimum Program (CMP), the governance agenda of the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government.

Other nominees are C.H. Hanumantha Rao, chairman of the Center for Economic and Social Studies; Jayaprakash Narayan of the NGO Loksatta; Jean Dreze of the Delhi School of Economics: V. Krishnamurthy of ICAL Fuel Systems; social activists Mirai Chatterjee and Madhav Chavan; D. Swaminathan of the Mahatma Gandhi National Institute of Research and Social Action; Unicef adviser A.K. Shiv Kumar; and planner N.C. Saxena.



–– Indo-Asian News Service