The organization will work with Indian missions overseas and volunteers in countries with large populations of non-resident Indians (NRIs), people of Indian origin (PIOs) and overseas citizens of India (OCIs)
To address the issues of Indians in distress the Rescuing Every Distressed Indian Overseas (REDIO) launched its US chapter on Sunday (January 16, 2022). The organization will work with Indian missions overseas and volunteers in countries with large populations of non-resident Indians (NRIs), people of Indian origin (PIOs) and overseas citizens of India (OCIs), the Times of India reported.
According to the report, the REDIO was launched last year to help overseas Indians.
“Often many of them face problems and distress related to issues of immigration, employment, political upheaval in other countries, legal issues, property issues back in India, or marital discord. Indian workers in the Gulf countries have their own set of problems and have sometimes faced abuse and injustice,” the TOI quoted former Indian diplomat and member of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr Dnyaneshwar Mulay, who along with New York-based social activist Prem Bhandari, launched the US chapter of the REDIO to mark Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
Mulay is the founder of the organisation and its chief patron in the US while Bhandari will serve as chairman
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is observed globally on January 9.
“Overseas Indians, who are now over 30 million in numbers, hold important positions in academia, business, media, arts, culture, politics and many other spheres. The mobility is high among Indians and often many of them face problems and distress,” the report citing Mulay’s statement.
“In the long run we hope this will become a structured initiative with synergy among Indians around the world so that we can support the Indian diaspora not just with haphazard efforts during emergency situations but on an ongoing basis.”
— Dr Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Former Indian diplomat and member of the National Human Rights Commission
“While there were several Indian diaspora organisations in various countries and the Indian government was doing extraordinary work to help Indians overseas with their problems and grievance redressal, REDIO would help to bring together efforts by civil society to stand by those Indians overseas who are less privileged to complement government efforts,” Mulay said.
Mulay claimed to have receiving good response “already from the Indian community in 20 countries with several people joining in to help on a voluntary basis.”
“In the long run we hope this will become a structured initiative with synergy among Indians around the world so that we can support the Indian diaspora not just with haphazard efforts during emergency situations but on an ongoing basis,” he said.
************************************************************************
Readers