Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset I would like to welcome all the distinguished invitees to this Regional Workshop on the issue 'Marriages to Overseas Indians'.

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs had organized a National Consultation on this issue in February 2006 at New Delhi and discussed this problem with the various stakeholders so that a suitable strategy could be considered for this. Eminent speakers from civil society, police, legal fraternity and diplomatic missions had participated in this.

The problem is acute in this part of the country and in southern States. The reason is that most of the migrants are from these States who go in search of jobs to the USA, Canada and Gulf countries as there is a demand for such migration.

Though the precise numbers are not available but the information gathered from various sources reveals that there are more than 30,000 cases in the country in which the brides have been abandoned by the respective grooms on various grounds.

These brides have consequently no legal status and are going through a very bad experience in their life. This is a very serious problem and therefore a suitable strategy needs to be debated to tackle this problem.

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs also discussed this matter with the National Human Right Commission/NCW. During the discussion, it revealed that the reason for this problem is that there have been cases of suppression of information regarding existence of earlier marriage, family, employment and citizenship status of NRI who enter into marriages in India, failure to take the wife to the foreign country where the NRI spouse lived, ex parte divorces and so on.

No easy legal remedy is available for such cases and consequently it has become a serious problem for the parents of the bride. Though it is a social problem but considering the magnitude of the problem, a legal remedy need to be found to curb such practices.

I am sure the Workshop would have discussed this in detail and also have arrived at certain specific recommendations. I am saying it is a social problem because the parent also in search of good bridegroom overlook to verify the proper status of the NRI which is normally done for other cases of marriages but when it comes to NRI and foreign settled grooms most of the parents do not do proper verification.
Therefore, it is necessary that a proper awareness programme needs to be launched and particularly in the rural areas from where the most of the brides come so that they are aware of the risk they are taking if they enter into such matrimonial alliances.

Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has been considering this issue very seriously and has been in consultation with the concerned organisations and, that is why this workshop in collaboration with National Commission for Women.

Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs has been very anxious about this problem and has directed the Ministry to launch an awareness programme regarding this.

The Ministry is also considering a proposal for establishing Overseas Indian Centres in USA, Gulf and Malaysia to start with, for these are the places where there is a significant Indian population. Besides other things, these Centre will also extend conselling facilities with the help of professional counselors to those who face the problem of fake,fraudulent or failed marriages.

However, the important role here has to be played by the state government because that is the institution which can tackle such social problems effectively. State governments may have to launch a wide publicity campaign through various channels to educate the rural peasantry.

Similarly, it may be desirable and necessary that the NGOs should also take part actively in this area as this is a social problem and the society need to come forward to tackle it. In fact, NGOs can play a very active role in educating the people regarding the risk they are taking if they enter into such alliances without proper verification.

It may also be desirable to explore the possibility whether the legal aid societies could assist these families to help these families to get their disputes resolved amicably so that they are not further financially adversely affected and NRI who had duped them are legally prosecuted as per the law.

There is also a need to explore the possibility of suitable legal remedy when the parties affected are in the various countries as it may be difficult for a poor family to contest such cases in different countries as they may not be aware of the laws prevalent there.

The cost of litigation is going to be very high and therefore, they may be afraid to take this route due to financial problems. That is why legal aid societies can play a very proactive role.

Though the problem is social in nature but as it is affecting the society and having a great impact on the structure of the society it is necessary that suitable legal remedy for such problem is found at the earliest. I am sure this workshop would help in this regard.