Indian expats can now provide UAE local address in passports

Gulf News
October 28, 2020

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Dubai, Oct 28: Indian expats in the UAE and elsewhere can now provide their local address abroad to be added in their passports, Gulf News can reveal.

Siddhartha Kumar Baraily, consul, Passport and Attestation, at the Indian Consulate in Dubai said the Indian government had decided to allow its overseas citizens to add their local address in their country of residence mainly to aid those who do not have permanent or valid addresses in India.

“We understand that many people who have been staying for a long time in the UAE don’t have a valid address in India. They may add their local UAE address in their passports,” he said.

Change in address cannot be made in existing passports, the official clarified. Indian passport holders have to apply for a new passport in which the change in address can be made.

The facility can be availed by Indian expats living in both rented or self-owned accommodations. Those wishing to give their UAE address should provide certain documents as proof of residence at the time of applying for a new passport for changing the address from India to overseas.

Baraily said either the electricity and water bill [from Dewa/Sewa/Fewa] or rent agreement/title deed/tenancy contract will be accepted as proof of residence in the UAE. Changing their address may help applicants to get quick police verification from India at the time of passport renewal.

As first reported by Gulf News on Tuesday morning, police verification is now mandatory for the passport renewal of all Indian expats as per a change in the policy of India’s Ministry of External Affairs implemented since September.

However, the diplomat clarified that police verification of Indians abroad does not require verification of the address of the applicant. “This [police verification] is just to verify the identity of the applicants as Indian citizens and that there are no criminal cases registered against them since the time of the last police verification done on them,” he explained.

The mission is, however, encouraging Indians without a valid address to change their address, whether in India or locally.

Change of address in India

If applicants wish to change their address in India, any of the following documents may be accepted as proof of residence at the time of applying for a new passport for change in address:

i. Aadhaar Card/ e-Aadhaar/ Letter containing the unique Aadhaar number. [Aadhaar is India’s national identity card which has not become mandatory for Non-Resident Indians yet].

ii. Allotment letter of the government accommodation issued by the Estate Office/Public Works Department of the Central/State Government in respect of their employees

iii. Applicant’s current and valid ration card

iv. Driving licence

v. Duly certified/attested extract of the service record/book of the government employees (serving/retired) or the bona fide certificate issued by the employer in respect of serving Government employees

vi. Election Commission Photo ID card

vii. Electricity bill

viii. Employer Certificate on letterhead from reputed and widely-known companies

ix. Gas connection bill

x. Income Tax assessment order

xi. Marriage Certificate issued by the Registrar of Marriages along with address proof of spouse in respect of newly married women

xii. Parents’ passports and parents’ address proof in case of minors (if address is different)

xiii. Parents’ passports in case of minors (if address is the same)

xiv. Passport of son/ daughter in case of dependent parents (if address is the same)

xv. Passport of son/ daughter in case of dependent parents and address proof of son/ daughter (if address is different)

xvi. Photo Passbook of running Bank Account (Scheduled Public Sector Banks, Scheduled Private Sector Indian Banks and Regional Rural Banks only)

xvii. Proof of Address (POA) issued by the India Post, Department of Posts

xviii. Rent agreement

xix. Spouse’s passport copy (first and last page including family details mentioning applicant’s name as spouse of the passport holder provided the applicant’s present address matches the address mentioned in the spouse’s passport)

xx. Spouse’s passport copy (if address is different) with spouse’s address proof

xxi. Telephone (landline or post-paid mobile bill)

xxii. Water bill

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News Network
March 21,2024

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New Delhi: India has now become more unequal in terms of wealth concentration than the British colonial period as income and wealth of the top 1% of the country’s population have hit historical highs, according to a paper released by World Inequality Lab.

By 2022-23, the top 1 per cent income share in India was 22.6 per cent and the top 1 per cent wealth share rose to 40.1 per cent, with India’s top 1 per cent income share among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil and the US.

Co-authored by economists Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi, the paper stated that the “Billionaire Raj” headed by “India’s modern bourgeoisie” is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces. 

The paper said there is evidence to suggest the Indian tax system might be “regressive when viewed from the lens of net wealth”. A restructuring of the tax code is needed, the paper said, adding that a levy of a “super tax” of 2 per cent on the net wealth of 167 wealthiest families would yield 0.5 per cent of national income in revenues and create space for investments.

“A restructuring of the tax code to account for both income and wealth, and broad-based public investments in health, education and nutrition are needed to enable the average Indian, and not just the elites, to meaningfully benefit from the ongoing wave of globalisation. Besides serving as a tool to fight inequality, a “super tax” of 2% on the net wealth of the 167 wealthiest families in 2022-23 would yield 0.5% of national income in revenues and create valuable fiscal space to facilitate such investments,” the paper said. 

The paper has analysed data based on the annual tax tabulations published by the Indian income tax authorities to extract the distribution of top income earners between 1922-2020.

The share of national income going to the top 10 per cent fell from 37 per cent in 1951 to 30 per cent by 1982 after which it began steadily rising. From the early 1990s onwards, the top 10 per cent share increased substantially over the next three decades, nearly touching 60 per cent in the most recent years, the paper said. This compares with the bottom 50 per cent getting only 15 per cent of India’s national income in 2022-23.

 The top 1 per cent earn on average Rs 5.3 million, 23 times the average Indian (Rs 0.23 million). Average incomes for the bottom 50 per cent and the middle 40 per cent stood at Rs 71,000 (0.3 times national average) and Rs 1,65,000 (0.7 times national average), respectively.
The richest, nearly 10,000 individuals (of 92 million Indian adults) earn on average Rs 480 million (2,069 times the average Indian). “To get a sense of just how skewed the distribution is, one would have to be at nearly the 90th percentile to earn the average income in India,” the paper said.

In 2022, just the top 0.1 per cent in India earned nearly 10 per cent of the national income, while the top 0.01 per cent earned 4.3 per cent share of the national income and top 0.001 per cent earned 2.1 per cent of the national income.

Enlisting the probable reasons for sharp rise in top 1 per cent income shares, the paper said public and private sector wage growth could have played a part till the late 1990s, adding that there are good reasons to believe capital incomes likely played a role in subsequent years. For the shares of the bottom 50 per cent and middle 40 per cent remaining depressed, the paper said, the primary reason has been the lack of quality broad-based education, focused on the masses and not just the elites.

“One reason to be concerned with such high levels of inequality is that extreme concentration of incomes and wealth is likely to facilitate disproportionate influence on society and government. This is even more so in contexts with weak democratic institutions. After largely being a role model among post-colonial nations in this regard, the integrity of various key institutions in India appears to have been compromised in recent years. This makes the possibility of India’s slide towards plutocracy even more real. If only for this reason, income and wealth inequality in India must be closely tracked and challenged,” it said.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that the Congress will split in three months after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and its impact will be visible on the Siddaramaiah-led state government.

"Due to internal squabbles, the state government will not last long," the BJP leader said.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he said the sitting MP from the Gadag-Haveri constituency, Shivakumar Udasi, has done a lot of development work and implemented the Central government's schemes effectively.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will surely become the PM for the third time. The overall response has been good in the Gadag-Haveri Lok Sabha constituency," the former Karnataka chief minister said.

Asked if he was contesting the election in a half-hearted manner in the Gadag-Haveri seat, Bommai said "such a question does not arise when the party's high command gives instructions".

He said he would respect his opponent and not take anyone lightly. 

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News Network
March 18,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 18: The Election Commission on Monday afternoon issued orders for the removal of six Home Secretaries - including the top bureaucrats from Gujarat, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.

The poll panel also directed the transfer of West Bengal's Director-General of Police, the top cop of a state that has seen several instances of poll-related violence in recent years. The poll panel further said a shortlist of three potential replacements had to be prepared and submitted by 5 pm.

The re-shuffle, not an uncommon move by the Election Commission before major polls, also includes the transfer of the Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand Home Secretaries, as well as senior officials attached to the offices of the Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh Chief Ministers.

In addition, Iqbal Singh Chahal, who is Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and other officials in municipalities across Maharashtra, have been removed too.

All of this comes less than a month before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll; the ECI on Saturday said voting will begin on April 19 and run over seven phases till June 1.

This is, in fact, the first bureaucratic re-jig by the ECI since it announced polling dates.

The ECI's move comes after a meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and his two associates, the newly-appointed Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. This step comes as part of the poll panel's commitment to ensure a level playing field for all political parties in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, as well as by-polls for 26 seats in 13 states.

Sources said the personnel removed were found to be holding dual charge in the offices of the respective chief ministers of each state, and this could compromise, or be seen to be compromising, required neutrality, particularly in relation to law-and-order before, during and after polling.

Bengal's ruling Trinamool has not yet reacted to the removal of DGP Rajiv Malik, who is seen by some to be close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party. In the past, the state government has questioned the last-minute re-shuffle of senior civil service and police officials so close to an election, arguing it actually hampers prep work since the new faces need time to adjust to the post.

Bengal has frequently witnessed violence during polling season; in June last year over a dozen people were killed across the state as voting for a panchayat election was underway.

The Trinamool accused the opposition of instigating violence and criticised central forces for their failure to protect voters, while the Congress claimed the state had let thugs loose on the people.

While announcing the dates on Saturday, the Chief Election Commissioner said the poll panel would take a very dim view of any violence during the election. Mr Kumar said the ECI is prepared to come down hard on any such incident. "We're putting political parties on notice," he declared.

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