The Ministry has been established to tap the financial and managerial resources of NRIs and also help handle the problems faced by ordinary expatriates.

The new ministry that Jagdish Tytler, minister of state with independent change, is going to head is likely to be renamed overseas Indians' affairs ministry from NRI affairs. This is being done to make it more inclusive and not ruffle feathers of the PIO community. "On top of the agenda for the ministry is clearances for Indian American hoteliers who wish to set up motels and budget hotels along highways in India," Mr. Tytler, who still remains without an official address, told ET.

This should come as a shot in the arm for the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), which has a membership base of over 8,400 owning assets of over $40 billion, and is supporting various marketing initiatives on the Visit India 2004 campaign in US. "We are keen on putting India on the global tourism map since that will create big investment opportunities for us," Mr. Hitesh Bhakta, director AAHOA, had told ET earlier.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tytler, who is still operating out of a senior bureaucrat's office in South Block, is unfazed by the lack of infrastructure. "This assignment is very exciting for me and soon the new ministry will have more teeth. In fact, the affairs of overseas Indians are now being handled by a plethora of other ministries and we hope to bring all that under a single window. The draft on the priorities has already been prepared in consultation with FICCI and senior bureaucrats and is being presented to the Prime Minister tomorrow for his clearance," he said. But even though the new government is upbeat about its new ministry, earlier the high-level committee on Indian Diaspora under Rajya Sabha MP, Dr. L M Singhvi, had recommended the setting up of an advisory committee on the lines of the Planning Commission rather than a separate ministry for overseas Indians' affairs. This was to ensure the involvement of NRIs and PIOs themselves in the organization instead of only Indian bureaucrats, according to sources.

Other issues that Mr. Tytler hopes to put on fast track are property acquisition by NRIs & PIOs including agricultural land, setting up hospitals and educational institutions, family law matters that affect young girls who are abandoned by their NRI husbands, dual nationally and investment in medical research and high tech JVs. "We would also like to create educational talent pools so that prominent Indian academicians based overseas can come to India and teach at different universities for a few weeks. This will also be extended to fields like music, medicine and advanced technology.

In the area of law we are looking at separate legislation for international marriages involving NRIs & PIOs and steps to protect people with dual citizenship when they are in a third country, "Tytler said. The minister also assures that there will be no changes to the date of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and the event is being organized again on January -11 2005 jointly with FICCI.