Indian Government Launches Global Pravasi Rishta Portal and App for NRIs and Indian-origin Foreign Citizens

On December 30, the Government of India launched the Global Pravasi Rishta portal and app as an all-in-one platform for Indian diaspora and Indian Missions across the globe. The portal and app are aimed at facilitating communication between Indian Diaspora, Indian Missions, and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) both in emergencies and normal times. Currently, there are 1.35 crore PIO/OCI cardholders and 1.80 crore NRIs.

Until December 30, there had been no one-stop communication channel for the Government of India to connect with Indian Diaspora and communicate the existing/upcoming schemes to them. The lack of such a single-key communication tool as the Global Pravasi Rishta portal and mobile app was strongly felt during the emergency that the Coronavirus pandemic created by bringing international air travel to a standstill early in 2020. Lakhs of NRIs and Indians visiting their family members abroad were left stranded and distressed across geographies due to the closure of airspace for international passenger flights.

Even there was no one-stop platform to register on for VBM and air bubble flights when registration was compulsory for repatriation under the Government of India’s Vande Bharat Mission. Those seeking repatriation to India had to register with the nearest Indian Mission. It made selection of the most eligible for evacuation flights difficult for the External Affairs Ministry in the early days of Vande Bharat Mission. During the closure of Indian Missions, there was no direct medium other than Facebook and Twitter for the stranded, distressed overseas Indians to communicate their ordeals collectively to the ministry.

“The crisis that laid open the communication gap between Indian Diaspora and Indian government became an overwhelming reason for launching the Global Pravasi Rishta portal and app for the overseas Indian community,” said the chief community relations officer at IndianEagle.com, a leading travel-booking portal for Indians in the USA.

The portal and app will disseminate alerts, advisories, and information on visa, passport, immigration and other consular services, in addition to helping NRIs and Indian-origin foreign nationals with crisis management in real time. The portal and app will list various events and ceremonies organized by Indian embassies and consulates, inviting participation and volunteering by Indian diaspora members of different age groups. In short, the new communication tools will give overseas Indians a single-key access to the consular officers and emergency services at any juncture.

Launched by V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for External Affairs, the Global Pravasi Rishta portal and app will make it easy for the ministry to know what the overseas Indian community opines about various bills and policies. It signifies the importance of Indian Diaspora members and their direct/indirect contribution to the growth of India. Now onwards, effective connect with NRIs and Indian-origin foreign citizens is no longer a challenge.

Travel Beats, a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, is a one-stop portal for the latest community, visa, passport, immigration, and travel news. Through our dedicated Travel News section, we catered latest updates related to air bubble flights’ schedule, travel eligibility criteria, visa-based restrictions, COVID testing, quarantine guidelines, etc. in a bid to make travel easy in the unprecedented circumstances. We have addressed loads of queries and concerns regarding travel to and from India amid the pandemic.