New Delhi: Government on Saturday decided to take steps to enhance engagement of overseas Indians in a variety of social development philantropic projects.
The decision was taken at the fourth meeting of the Board of Trustees of India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians (IDF-OI) chaired by the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj.
IDF-OI is a not-for-profit Trust set-up by MOIA in 2008 to serve as an avenue for overseas Indians to contribute to India's social development efforts.
The meeting reviewed the functioning of IDF and its action plan for 2015-16.
"It decided to enhance engagement with overseas Indians and increase the number and variety of projects. The Board revised the mandate of IDF to seek contributions from overseas Indians for the three flagship programmes of the Government of India - Namami Gange, Swachh Bharat and Swachh Vidyalaya," the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry said.
Previously, IDF had focussed mainly on philanthropic activities by overseas Indians.
The Board also decided that Indian diaspora can also contribute through IDF to projects identified by state governments as well as projects implemented by NGOs.
The participants in the Board meeting included prominent Indians and NRIs including Yusuff Ali, Joginder Pal Sanger, Subhash Jindal, B K Agnihotri, Ashok Chowgule and Bindeshwar Pathak.
