NEW DELHI: India has relaxed its visa policy to help people of Indian origin visit home, external affairs Minister Inder Kumar Gujral said in the upper house today. Answering supplementary during question hour, Gujral said that the visa relaxation was universal.
He told Ms. Margaret Alva and NKP Salve, both Congress (I) who felt that one million pound sterling had been lost due to reduction in visa fee, that visa was not an instrument for fund raising. He said that since the relaxation there had been an increase in the number of visitors to the country.
Gujral told S.S. Ahluwalia, Cong (I) that there was a list of people whose entry into India was restricted due to security reasons. But the names on the list had now come down. Lists change according to circumstances, he said.
MS Alva said that the Indian high commissioner to United Kingdom was acting as high commissioner to Southall.
Gujral told Suresh Pachouni of the Cong (I) that the visa relaxation from July one had made it easier for nonresidents to visit home and encouraged trips for business, commerce and tourism.
Several members wanted to know why there was no reciprocity in visa policy. Gujral said visa policy was not a projection of foreign policy. He said that visa policy had to take care of the country’s interests of commerce, industry, tourism and Indians abroad.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 7, 1990
