Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said that his Ministry fully recognises the urgent need to build safeguards to protect unsuspecting brides, and their parents seeking marriage alliances with overseas Indians.

Presiding over the inaugural session of the day-long National Consultation on Marriages to Overseas Indians in New Delhi on February 18, he said that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) is working on a strategy to make such alliance seekers aware of their rights and responsibilities, stabilising safety nets and catalysing social support systems to assist them.

Describing the National Consultation as the first step in this direction, Ravi said that his Ministry is seeking active partnership with the States and non-government organisations to launch a series of measures to address this very real problem of failed or fraudulent marriages to overseas Indians. Besides publishing a guidance booklet for the parents and prospective brides, the Ministry also proposes to launch three other measures. These include:

* Constituting a gender cell in the Ministry to build gender sensitivity into policy matters and activities of the Ministry in relation to overseas Indians.

* Establishing a gender advisory group comprising representatives of all stakeholders to advise the Ministry from time to time on gender issues of the diaspora.

* Setting up of overseas Indian centres in locations that have significant Indian population. To start with, there can be three such centres - one each located in the U.S., the Gulf and Malaysia. These centres will extend legal, medical and social counselling to those who face the problem of fake, fraudulent or failed marriages and will also operate helplines to respond to women who are facing difficulties in their marriages.

Underlining that similar proactive steps will be necessary from other stakeholders too, the Minister advised the State Governments to establish independent gender cells to deal with issues related to marriages to overseas Indians and to extend the required assistance. These cells can also act in a coordinated manner with the proposed overseas centres, he added.

Welcoming the Supreme Court’s recent decision of compulsory registration of all marriages, Ravi said that all the sections of the society, down to the grassroot level of the Panchayati Raj institutions will have to actively get involved in making the people aware in this regard and extend to them all necessary help and guidance. He urged NGOs also to play a proactive role in this regard.

Earlier, inaugurating the National Consultation, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Girija Vyas, said that, keeping in view the number of complainants visiting her office and over 40 to 50 overseas calls per week received from such harassed women and their parents, it is necessary to generate awareness and to establish adequate helplines to come to rescue of the needy women.

She said that a number of undesirable developments and practices relating to marriages between Indian women and NRIs have come to the notice of the Commission.

These include dowry and non-consummation of marriages, marriages of convenience, concealment of earlier existing marriage by the husband and lack of social security faced by an Indian woman on foreign soil once the marriage is broken for no fault of hers.

"The most conspicuous disturbing trend, however, appears to be the easy dissolution of such marriages by the foreign courts even though their solemnisation took place in India as per the Indian laws," she said and added that the Commission has made a report on NRI marriage problems and has worked out a draft convention on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgements in matrimonial matters.

Vyas also suggested that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs should also consider the possibility of keeping a database of marital status of Indian diaspora not only on the basis of their declared status but also for verifying from various associations of overseas Indians in other countries and any other informal means considered necessary.

Earlier, S. Krishna Kumar, Secretary, MOIA, gave a brief overview of the Ministry’s initiatives and the background of the need and urgency for the National Consultation on this important issue.