Gurunath arrested by Mumbai police

Mumbai: Mumbai police late Friday night arrested Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of Indian cricket board chief N. Srinivasan, in the IPL spot fixing scam after three hours of intense interrogation, an official said.

Questioned at the office of the Crime Branch, Meiyappan was confronted with the evidence against him and arrested around midnight. His name cropped up in the scam during revelations by Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh Randhawa, currently in police custody.

Meiyappan who flew in from Madurai by a chartered aircraft was met at the airport by a team of Crime Branch sleuths, who drove off to the Crime Branch office in Mumbai Police Headquarters near Crawford in south Mumbai.

He had rushed here following summons by the Mumbai police stuck on his residence door and delivered to his office in Chennai Thursday. He was given time till 5 p.m. Friday to respond to the police summons.

Earlier Friday, he reportedly sought time till Monday to report to Mumbai police but his plea was rejected, compelling him to fly in here.

Sreesanth : A Sacrificial Goat ?

 By Binoy Thomas

I just got back from India, and am happy to report that things are hot like hell back in apna bharat. The sun has been blazing as never before in living memory, according to local residents, and add to it power cuts and water shortages. The one bright spot for me was that it was the IPL season, and all is normally forgotten when cricket’s best talents take to the incredibly well-maintained grounds (they are not astro turfs, and need watering). I watched with admiration and awe Chris Gayle’s incredible sequence of sixers during the Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Pune Warriors tussle. And as I was warming up to the season, came the shattering news of Rajasthan Royal’s strike bowler Sreesanth’s arrest over spot fixing. The investigation is continuing and since then has netted even late wrestling legend Dara Singh’s son Vindu.

Now looking back, I can’t help wonder if Gayle’s sixes were really that good. The latest scandal, not by any means, the first or for that matter last (I will explain why), is casting all actions and actors on or off field as ‘suspect’.

As the media went to town on juicy details on the Sreesanth’s various little ‘outings’, there was an unreal quality to the League, almost as if it was a reality show. Like with all reality show, we don’t know much of it is spontaneous and true, and how much scripted behind the scenes, we are left to wonder who is and who is not clean in Indian Premier League?

The indications available at press time is far from encouraging. The latest name to be linked to the ongoing investigations by various police agencies is none other than the son-in-law of Board of Control for Cricket in India President N. Srinivasan, Gurunath Meiyappan. 
”We have served the summons to Meiyappan, one was stuck on the main door of his home on Cenotaph Road in Alwarpeth, Chennai, and another was accepted by a manager in the Chennai Super Kings office at Coromandel Towers today,” said Mumbai Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy. Meiyappan, it was revealed, besides being CEO, is a part owner of Chennai Super Kings.
The notice was served following interrogation of arrested Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh and inspection of records of his phone calls with Meiyappan and some bookies.
”We are hopeful that Meiyappan will cooperate with police. In case he fails to show up within the allotted time, there are procedures in law to ensure his availability, but it would not augur well,” Roy added.
Now the stuff is really hitting the fan. First of all, how is that a powerful administrator’s son is also a part owner of a major team in the league, a fact few in the public knew, till now? Srinivasan who seemed genuinely pained following Sreesanth’s arrest, is now unavailable to the media. But he doesn’t need to defend himself, as even bigger names have rushed with favourable judgements. IPL chairman and an Indian cabinet minister, Rajeev Shukla, Thursday, asked, “What is the need for BCCI chief to step down? If some MPs take bribe, does it mean parliament should be closed.” God alone knows what he wanted to convey? Maybe, that was the idea, cloud the issue, and shield those really high up on the totem pole from being asked inconvenient questions. Apparently, the real rot in cricket can be traced to ‘players’ that are not on the field and they are as powerful as you can get in a corrupt country.

When the story broke, there were jokes galore in India of watching each cricketer’s gestures other than with the bat and ball, to see what kind of signal they were sending out to bookies sitting in India, Pakistan and Dubai. Did he just scratch his nose? Followed by a wide! Aha, gotcha! But fans will be fans, and they continue to enjoy the spectacle, largely in the comfort of their homes, while ground attendance at many venues are minimal, making this all the more a reality show on TV.

While Sreesanth provided the perfect target for media and public to start shooting, no one was asking the ultimate question, a question that desperately needs answer – is anyone in IPL or Indian government serious about cleaning up the act? This is not the first time match fixing allegations have plagued big time cricket. Each time, a few players provided the fodder for the press, and then show would go on without further investigation by the media or the police, till the next time, like this time.

The money involved, it seems, is enough to turn even the most ardent followers of Raja Harishchandra into jelly beans of corruption. Various unofficial estimates (what else it can be!), put the total sum involved at a conservative $8 billion or more. One media report attempts to be specific, saying “the business was worth 50,000 crore rupees ($10 billion) at the start of the season, but has come down to 15,000 crores as a result of the scandal”. This is too much money to be floating around unchannelled, unregulated and you can’t blame the opportunists from attempting to grab all of it. And yes, I forgot to tell you, there’s always a Dubai or Pakistan connection. From recent media reports, it would seem that nearly 1500 bookies in India take instructions from mysterious persons connected to a Professor Moriarty (from Sherlock Holmes of course) like figure, known as Mr. D  in Dubai or Pakistan, prompting one local wag to quip, ‘you may keep Pakistan out of IPL, but you can never keep Pakistan out of IPL’!

Given India’s national security interests, then shouldn’t local authorities take match fixing slightly more seriously? After all, creating a League that provides easy picking for your ‘sworn enemy’ is not exactly the best way to protect a country. That is, if this constant strain that runs in media and public is only a misdirection, and that the real mysterious players even behind the non-resident operators, are the supremely powerful sitting within India, and beyond the reach of the law.

Why else, after so much scandal and the great risk to national security, wouldn’t India start a conversation on legalizing sports betting as it happens elsewhere in the world. A regulated betting scenario can act as a counter to the menace of illegal betting and the all-pervasive corruption that flows out of it. There is a good chance that odd instances of ‘fixing’ will still remain, but the moment India takes a decision to go legit with its sports betting, they will not only reap a rich harvest (billions in extra accruals to the exchequer), but they will also have reduced the influence of those sitting elsewhere, inimical to the interest of the country and yes, good cricket everywhere.


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]]> http://www.weeklyvoice.com/headlines/whos-really-behind-match-fixing-in-india/feed/ 0 http://www.weeklyvoice.com/headlines/the-fall-of-an-indian-it-superstar/ http://www.weeklyvoice.com/headlines/the-fall-of-an-indian-it-superstar/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 16:32:44 +0000 The Weekly Voice http://www.weeklyvoice.com/?p=23830

Phaneesh Murthy

New York: He was one of India’s brightest and best contributions to the world of IT. Phaneesh Murthy, among the original team that founded Infosys, and later left to start out on his own, is now in a state of disgrace. In a May 20 press release, the Board of iGate Corporation (a company that he helped found) “that its board of directors has decided to terminate the employment of president and CEO Phaneesh Murthy.” The decision follows a sexual harassment suit brought against him by a female staffer. A similar allegation against him a decade ago was settled out of court.

Murthy has denied charges of sexual harassment against him and said it’s a case of extortion. “There is no merit to the sexual harassment claim. The charges are completely false. They have an easy way to collect money. It’s the same lawyer and law firm who represented the other woman in 2002 (when Murthy was charged with similar allegations when he was at Infosys). Now, do you think the odds are different?” he told The Times of India.

IGate’s board of directors decided to terminate his employment when it emerged that Murthy had a relationship with the company’s 31-year old investor relations head Araceli Roiz. Roiz subsequently claimed sexual harassment. Roiz filed a complaint to the company against Murthy in a letter through her lawyers. iGate said it fired Murthy because he violated company policy.

“The board’s decision was made as a result of . . .the facts and circumstances surrounding a relationship Mr. Murthy had with a subordinate employee and a claim of sexual harassment,” its press release added. “Mr. Murthy’s failure to report this relationship violated iGate’s policy, as well as Mr. Murthy’s employment contract. The investigation has not uncovered any violation of iGate’s harassment policy.”

“The board deliberated extensively on this matter,” said Sunil Wadhwani, co-founder and co-chairman of the board of iGate. “We recognize the significant contributions Mr. Murthy has provided over the past ten years in helping to establish iGate as a leader in the IT industry. He has worked hard to improve the value of iGate, and we greatly appreciate his efforts,” said the Indian American executive. “However, as a result of this violation of iGate policy, we asked Mr. Murthy to step down,” said Wadhwani.

Murthy said that he had informed the chairman of the company about his relationship after the relationship had ended. When asked if his disclosure earlier would have saved him his job, he said, “The timing of the information to the chairman is I believe what they considered as the grounds for my termination. I had informed the chairman many weeks ago. Perhaps I should have informed the chairman earlier than when I did.”

Murthy said he was in a relationship with Roiz for the last few months. “It was more than friendship. Let’s leave it as a personal relationship,” he added.

Murthy said he would contest the charges and he is keeping his options open.

When asked why the relationship broke, he said, “When you figure out women, let me know. I will take lessons from you.”

Thomas Mulcair

Ottawa: The Tories are making each word count on the Thomas Mulcair affair. Recent reports have highlighted a meeting between leader of the Opposition Mulcair and Laval’s ex Mayor currently facing a corruption probe where the latter tried to bribe Mulcair. Mulcair acknowledged Thursday that he met with the former mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt in the 90s. “In early 2011, I met with the police in order to help in their investigation,” Mulcair said in a statement. ”I gave to them my account of a meeting I had with Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt dating back to 1994.”

The meeting came to light after French-language newspaper La Presse reported that Vaillancourt tried to tempt Mulcair with a bribe. According to the article, Mulcair met with the Vainancourt who offered him a white envelope, which he understood to be full of cash. The former mayor told him that he could help but Mulcair said the situation made him “physically uncomfortable.” “I effectively and immediately ended the meeting with Mr. Vaillancourt,” he confirmed. ”This matter is currently before the courts and I will therefore avoid further comment.”

But Tory cabinet Minister Peter Van Loan is not fully convinced. He says “no clear answers have come from Mulcair on his own conduct”. “His claim that because he didn’t see cash he didn’t report it to police does not hold water, and as a lawyer he knows it. After all he said he assumed there was cash in the envelope. Mr. Mulcair covered this up, plain and simple, for 17 years.”

Van Loan added, “He needs to answer simple questions: Who in his party did he speak to about this? Did he talk to anyone else in his party about having been offered “help” from Mr. Vaillancourt? Did he meet with Mr. Vaillancourt at any point after he became a federal Member of Parliament? Or after becoming leader of the NDP? Why, in 2010, did Thomas Mulcair say he was never offered any money by Gilles Vaillancourt, when he now admits he was? Will he agree to appear if called to testify under oath before the Charbonneau Commission?

Kenney Promotes Start-Up Visa In Silicon Valley

 Ottawa: Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney was recently in Silicon Valley to promote Canada’s new Start-Up Visa, the first of its kind in the world.

“The message was delivered loud and clear to the entrepreneur community in Silicon Valley that Canada is open for business,” said Kenney.  “The new Start-Up Visa will help Canada attract the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs to build businesses, create jobs, and fuel economic growth.”

During his time in Silicon Valley, Kenney met with foreign entrepreneurs and influential figures in the start-up and tech communities, including founders of start-ups, accelerators, other business leaders, venture capitalists, angel investors and immigration experts to promote the Start-Up Visa and explain why Canada is a great place to start a business and invest.

Kenney met Dave McClure, the founder of 500 Start-Ups, one of America’s leading start-up accelerators which provides mentorship and seed fund investments to help entrepreneurs become successful.  He also met with members of C100, a Silicon Valley-based organization that supports Canadian technology entrepreneurship through mentorship, partnerships, and investment.

Kenney also took time to visit Plug and Play Tech Centre which houses business accelerator programs for entrepreneurs designed to strengthen the growth of their ideas and start-ups.

Kenney attended TiEcon 2013, the world’s largest conference for entrepreneurs, where he spoke with many international entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists first-hand.

During his visit, Kenney was a featured guest speaker at Stanford University where he spoke to scholars, researchers, and students who have a high potential for becoming candidates for the Start-Up Visa. While at Stanford, he also met with Dan Siciliano, a legal scholar and entrepreneur with expertise in corporate governance, corporate finance, and immigration law, and Vivek Wadhwa, Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization and author of The Immigrant Exodus, one of The Economist’s Books of the Year for 2012.

He was also the featured guest speaker at an event hosted by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, attended by many prominent entrepreneurs and investors.

“There is huge interest in Canada’s new Start-Up Visa and in Canada’s expanding tech sector,” said Minister Kenney. “Canada’s strong economic growth, low taxes and business costs, excellence in research and innovation, and top quality of life all make Canada a top country for innovative entrepreneurs looking to build their businesses.  If you are a start-up entrepreneur and want to build a dynamic company that can compete on a global scale, then Canada’s Start-Up Visa Program is for you.”

The Start-Up Visa, which opened for applications on April 1, is an important part of the Government of Canada’s plan to build a fast and flexible economic immigration system. The Start-Up Visa Program is the first of its kind in the world and provides Canadian private sector organizations with access to a broad range of entrepreneurs – including the world’s best and brightest – in whose ideas they can invest.

At the same time, the program provides immigrant entrepreneurs with valuable assistance in navigating the Canadian business environment, which can be a challenge for newcomers, and enables them to build innovative companies that can create Canadian jobs and compete on a global scale.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Gurgaon: There is need for reorienting the country’s strategic thinking and reappraising its higher defence organisations, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday, noting that India was well positioned to become a net provider of security in its immediate region and beyond.

Singh, who laid the foundation stone of Indian National Defence University (INDU) at Binola village in Gurgaon district, said India faces the entire spectrum of security challenges as it lies in a difficult neighbourhood.

Binola is located on the national highway to Jaipur. About 200 acres of land for the university was acquired by the Haryana government in Binola, Bilaspur villages and handed over to the Defence Ministry in April.

The prime minister said India had today unprecedented access to high technology, capital and partnerships and had also sought to assume responsibility for stability in the Indian Ocean region.

”We are well positioned, therefore, to become a net provider of security in our immediate region and beyond,” he said.

The prime minister said challenges and opportunities for the country should prompt “reorientation of our strategic thinking and a reappraisal of our highest defence organisation.”

”It is imperative that the country’s defence professionals remain abreast of the complex environment we face and the avenues that are available as a result of the enormous transition taking place in India. That is where this university comes in,” he said.

Noting that India’s neighbourhood provides a full range of conventional, strategic and non-traditional challenges, the prime minister said world was witnessing change on a scale and speed rarely seen before.

”Nowhere is this change more pronounced than in Asia, where we are witnessing multiple security challenges on account of the intersection of fragile states, internal conflicts, proliferation of arms and terrorist groups,” he said.

He said explosive development of technology was also transforming defence capabilities and new challenges will emerge as dependence on cyber and outer space grows.

The prime minister said the university was meant to ensure that the country, the government and the armed forces benefit from the best military advise that is available.

”It is meant to provide an avenue for our thinkers and policymakers to understand the complexities of war. It is also meant to provide our defence professionals with a deep understanding of the interplay between all attributes of national power,” he added.

He said the students at the university would need to map the contours of foreign conflicts and understand the relationship between defence and finance, between external and internal security and between defence and diplomacy.

The university, which would inject much-needed strategic culture in governance, is expected to adequately prepare national security leaders to look holistically at security challenges and frame policies based on informed research.

Defence Minister A. K. Antony, in his speech, said the university will be ready by 2018-19 and would go a long way in enhancing the capabilities of security leaders.

The Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal N. K. Browne, who is the current head of the chiefs of staff committee, said there was need for making future civilian and military leaders adept at functioning in complex scenarios at the national and international levels.

The function was attended among others, by central ministers Salman Khurshid and Selja, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, Indian Army chief Gen. Bikram Singh, Indian Navy chief Admiral D. K. Joshi, Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Officials said INDU will be a unique autonomous institution of national importance which will develop and propagate higher education in defence studies, defence management and defence science and technology and promote policy-oriented research related to defence.

The university, which was first mooted over four decades ago, will be instituted by an act of parliament with the defence minister as itschancellor.

The university will be headed by a president, who would be a three-star serving general or an equivalent officer from the other two services.

Sixty-six percent of the students would be from the armed forces and 33 percent students would be drawn from among civilians, police and other government agencies.

The present institutes of armed forces, including the National Defence College (NDC) in New Delhi, the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) Wellington, College of Defence Management (CDM) Secunderabad and the National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakwasla are proposed to be brought under INDU’s ambit.

The university’s constituent colleges would include the National College of Defence Studies (NCDS), Indian Institute of Defence Technology (IIDT), Indian Institute of Defence Management (IIDM) and Defence Institute of Distance & Open Learning (DIDOL).

The review committee set up by the government after the 1999 Kargil conflict, headed by eminent strategic expert K. Subrahmanyam, had reiterrated the need for a university to exclusively deal with defence and strategic matters.

Shillong: Anshu Jamsenpa, the first Indian woman to scale Mount Everest thrice, wants to scale the world’s highest peak for the fourth time if the Nepalese government waives the royalty tax imposed on climbers, her husband Tsering Wange said.

Anshu, a mother of two, became the first Indian woman to conquer the Mount Everest for a third time Saturday. She was among the 13 climbers of the first Northeast India Top of the World Mount Everest Expedition, 2013, which was flagged off by President Pranab Mukherjee from Rashtrapati Bhavan March 20.

”Anshu is very keen to re-conquer Mount Everest for the fourth time, provided the Nepalese government waives their royalty tax for her fourth attempt,” Wange told IANS over phone from Arunachal Pradesh.

”The Manipur Mountaineering and Trekking Association has submitted the names of the expedition team members, including Anshu Jamsenpa, Bidyapati Devi, Puyamcha Mohon, Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba to the Nepal’s ministry of tourism and civil aviation. 

”The association has requested them to allow the four climbers to go ahead. But it has not yet received any reply from the Nepalese government,” Wange said.

”We are elated with Anshu’s achievement. It is a historic moment for Arunachal Pradesh and India. I’m not sure but she should be the first mother in the world to have made it to the world’s highest peak thrice,” Wange said.

During Anshu’s last expedition to the Mount Everest, Wange, who also heads Arunachal Mountaineering and Adventure Sports Association, said he had to pay a royalty fee of $25,000 and a liaison officer fee of $3,000 to the Nepalese government.

Anshu along with other team members returned to the Everest Base Camp Monday. 

The Indian expedition team will trek back to Lukla from where they will take a flight to Kathmandu May 26. They will attend the 60th anniversary of the Everest conquest May 29 in the Nepalese capital.

All successful Everest climbers will be felicitated by the ministry of tourism and civil aviation of Nepal.

Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba, who is also part of the first Northeast India Top of the World Mount Everest Expedition, 2013, became the youngest person from Manipur to conquer the peak. Chingkheinganba is said to be all of 16 years, seven months and 11 days.

David Zohmangaiha (Mizoram), Wansuk Myrthong (Meghalaya), Tarun Saikia (Assam), Anand Gurung (Sikkim), Nima Lama (Arunachal Pradesh) and N. Bidyapati (Manipur) have also made their states proud by becoming the first to scale Mount Everest.

Sikh Turban

Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said that she would look into the issue of allowing Sikhs in her country to wear the turban while at work and also while riding motorcycles.

“We will work with your community to help make the necessary changes requested on cultural and religious grounds,” the Blacktown Sun quoted her as saying Thursday during a visit to Gurdwara Sahib in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood.

She said this during a closed door meeting with office-bearers of the Australian Sikh Association.

The Sikhs also asked Gillard to allow members of their community to wear the six-inch sword, called the kirpan, to official government functions and to differentiate Sikh students from other students in schools.

Gurdwara spokesman Balvinder Singh Chahal was quoted as drawing the attention of Gillard to the fact that countries like Canada and Britain already allow Sikh civil engineers to wear the turban instead of the hard hat at work sites and while riding motorcycles. 

“I also would like to point out that the Punjabi language and Sikh religion were the fastest growing language and faith group – at the rate of 205 percent from 2006 to 2011, according to recent census,” he said.

He also sought the inclusion of Punjabi language and Sikh history in the curriculum of schools, especially in western Sydney.

“We also request more liberal entry of international students especially from India to help the country (Australia) to meet its skilled and less skilled labour needs,” Chahal was quoted as telling Gillard.

Gurdwara Sahib in Glenwood, Sydney, is said to be the largest gurdwara not only in Australia but also in the entire southern hemisphere.

Srinivasan Confirmed As Judge In US’ Second-highest Court

Washington: Chandigarh-born “trailblazer” Indian-American legal luminary Srikanth ‘Sri’ Srinivasan has made history with the US Senate unanimously confirming him as the first South Asian judge on the powerful appeals court for the American capital.

Srinivasan, 46, currently principal deputy solicitor general of the US, was Thursday confirmed by the Senate by a 97 to 0 vote, as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often called the nation’s second-highest court.

“Pleased” at the unanimous confirmation of his nominee “the first one to this important court in seven years,” President Barack Obama said “Sri is a trailblazer who personifies the best of America.”

“Born in Chandigarh, India, and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Sri spent nearly two decades as an extraordinary litigator before serving” in his current job, Obama noted predicting, “Now he will serve with distinction on the federal bench.”

“Sri will in fact be the first South Asian American to serve as a circuit court judge in our history,” he said as he pressed the Senate to act quickly to fill the three remaining vacancies on the appeals court “as well as other
vacancies across the country”.

The 11-member court has been operating with just seven judges – four Republican and four Democratic nominees – throughout Obama’s tenure.

The influential Washington Post described Srinivasan’s confirmation as significant for Obama “hoping to shift the conservative tilt of the court, which is poised to rule on several key elements of his second-term agenda in
the months ahead.”

In fact like many other analysts Post noting that four of the Supreme Court’s current nine justices served on the DC Circuit suggested “With the vote, Srinivasan also becomes a front-runner to be nominated for a Supreme Court vacancy should one arise in the next three years.”

For USA Today “It was just the latest chapter in a stellar legal career that has taken the 46-year-old litigator known as “Sri” to a seat on the nation’s second most powerful court – and given him instant buzz as a potential Supreme Court justice himself.”

Even before his 18-0 approval by Senate Judiciary Committee last month, the New Yorker suggested: “The stakes in this nomination are clear: if Srinivasan passes this test and wins confirmation, he’ll be on the Supreme Court before President Obama’s term.”

Ian Millhiser, a senior constitutional policy analyst at the Centre for American Progress Action Fund agreed that “Srinivasan may indeed emerge as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court.”

“In the mean time,” he suggested there were “ten potential Democratic Supreme Court nominees who aren’t named ‘Sri’”. Among them, he named California’s Indian-African-American Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Indian-American Neal Kumar Katyal, whom Srinivasan succeeded.

Srinivasan’s family immigrated to the US when he was four. He grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, where his father was a mathematics professor at the University of Kansas, and his mother taught at the Kansas City Art Institute.

He received his BA with honours and distinction in 1989 from Stanford University and his JD with distinction in 1995 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

He received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering US National Security in 2003 and the Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Excellence in 2005.

Salman-Khurshid

New Delhi:  As many as 56,700 Indians face deportation from Saudi Arabia in the next one-and-half months and ten officials have been dispatched to the kingdom to help the Indian mission prepare emergency certificates for their exit, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Thursday.

“As of now, 56,700 Indians have registered with the Indian mission for getting exit permits as they have no valid passports or other travel documents,” Khurshid told a group of Urdu editors here.

He said he is leaving on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to meet his counterpart Faisal Al Saud and other dignitaries and discuss various bilateral matters including problems of Indian workers due to the “Nitaqat” policy under which all companies are required to provide 10 percent of jobs to Saudi youth.

Khurshid said the 10 officials sent to the kingdom will help the mission to prepare no objection certificates for the Indian workers, adding it is a “cumbersome procedure as we are required to get details of the worker from the district authorities”.

He said this time, more than 4,000 Indian volunteers are helping the mission to complete formalities, while the mission is working round the clock and has also set up offices in various Saudi cities to facilitate workers to fill up form for the emergency certificates.

The Saudi government has fixed July 6 as the deadline for all foreign illegal workers to leave the country.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahmed and his advisor T.K.A. Nair to the kingdom to sort out problems of Indians who are there either without work permits or valid passports.

The Saudi authorities have assured the Indian government that they will not harass Indian workers because of their good behavior, and no one will be penalized or sent to jail for violations of these norms if they leave country before the deadline.

Khurshid said he is also going to take up issue of increase of Haj quota for Indian pilgrims with the Saudi authorities. At present, India sends more than 175,000 pilgrims every year.