The Indian government announced that the Income Tax Department will 'bother' those NRIs who have unexplained funds.

Speaking at an interactive session with Ficci members in Delhi, the CBDT Chairman Laxman Das and Finance Secretary R S Gujral who chaired the session, said there is no intent that NRIs should not return or not bring their assets to the country. Citing an example Gujral said if a person worked as a clerk abroad and returns after two years with $1 billion, the person will have to explain the wealth.

Also, the government plans to make it a compulsory reporting requirement in case of assets held abroad for 16 years, rather than the existing 6 year stipulation.

Analysts say the move will create unnecessary reporting requirements and hassles for NRIs who return to India after a long stay abroad.

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Even though Malappuram district is the most backward district in Kerala, it leads in overseas remittances to the state according to an economic survey released by State Finance Minister K M Mani.

Malappuram's per capita income in 2010 was less than half Ernakulam's and Kottayams, at just Rs.36,740.

The survey notes the significant contribution of three decades of migration in helping to reduce poverty, unemployment and deprivation. Today over 10 percent of the population of Kerala lives outside the State, in various parts of India and abroad, particularly in the Gulf region.

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At the initiative of secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the US State Department is in the final stages of launching an online portal that will help US NRIs to safely donate funds to non-government organisations (NGOs) back in India.

This will impact the way NRIs make donations back home with the convenience that will eliminate them going through a cumbersome bureaucratic process and be rid of the strain of identifying a genuine NGO, which will help them deliver the money and services to the targeted receivers.

After months of research and brain-storming sessions both in India and the US, the State Department is slated to launch the website in April or early May.

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A Delhi court has ordered a UK based hotelier to pay maintenance of Rs.1.5 lakhs a month to his estranged wife, who now lives in India. She was abandoned by her husband in London a few months after he married her four years ago.

The husband has also been directed to pay arrears of Rs.45 lakhs to the wife, calculated from the date of filing of the petition by her in 2009. The couple also have a minor child.

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The Delhi High Court has barred an Indian domestic helper from pursuing her case in a New York Court till further orders. She was awarded nearly $1.5 million for alleged 'ill-treatment' by an Indian consulate employee in the US.

The order came in response to a petition filed by the central government asking that domestic helper Shanti Gurung be restrained from pursuing her case in the US.

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