Ministry of Home Affairs to discard its ‘Black List’ of Indian-origin people

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to discard its ‘Black List’ of Indian-origin people, who have taken asylum abroad under the plea of alleged persecution in India. As per officials, all such people will also be given regular visa as well as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). The list, which is maintained by Indian missions, is mostly consists of the names of people belonging to the Sikh Community. Earlier, the Indian-origin asylees were denied visa services by Indian missions and posts since they took asylum abroad under the plea of alleged persecution in India. Now, such asylees and their family members who are not in the main adverse list of the Government of India (GoI) will be granted visa and consular services at par with foreigners of the country in which they are living. Such Indian-origin people (mostly Sikhs) can also get OCI cards if they have held normal Indian visas for at least two years.