The ministry of overseas Indian affairs which was formed to connect with the 25 million Indian diaspora now has a new head. As part of the cabinet reshuffle conducted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he has inducted Mr.Vayalar Ravi, a veteran Congress party leader from Kerala and a Rajya Sabha member as a cabinet minister in charge of NRI affairs.
Mr. Ravi replaced Mr. Oscar Fernandes, who was inducted last year. Mr. Oscar Fernandes had earlier replaced Mr. Jagdish Tytler, the first minister of the ministry, who had to resign last year after he was linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the national capital.
Born in a middle class family in Vayalar village in Alapuzha district, Ravi began his career as founder president of the Congress' students wing Kerala Students Union in the early 1960s. He later led the Youth Congress in the state and played a key role with A K Antony in building Congress as a mass force in Kerala by attracting people from all classes and social groups to the party. Elected to the Kerala Assembly in 1982 and 1987, Ravi served as state home minister from 1982 to 1986.
The nearly two million strong non-resident Keralite community could not have expected more from the Indian Government. Soon after the swearing-in, the 68-year-old Mr. Ravi said he would speed up the procedure for granting voting rights to Non Resident Keralites and raise their issues actively with the central government.
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