To the great relief of NRIs, the Ministry of External Affairs, has agreed to eliminate the surrender certificate for those who became naturalised citizens over ten years ago and an OCI application need no longer be accompanied by an original US passport.

The move was welcomed by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) who voiced strong objections when the rules were introduced in 2010. Again in January 2011 the GOPIO held a conference strongly debating the subject.

The GOPIO has now expressed its appreciation with the rule change and lauded the government of India and the Ministry of External Affairs.

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Over the last few months, authorities in Jalandhar have invoked a clause of the Pasport Act to confiscate the passports of 48 duplicitous NRI husbands. More than 100 such fly-by-night grooms also face similar action after their jilted spouses filed complaints.

According to one Passport officer, passports can be confiscated on several grounds including section 10(3) 1967, that says a person's passport can be withdrawn if he obtains the travel document by suppressing or furnishing inaccurate information.
Agencies estimate over 15,000 women in Doaba region have been duped by NRI grooms.

Covering all avenues, authorities say if the NRI is abroad, his passport is seized when he visits India, and if the person does not make a trip to India, the Indian consulate abroad is informed and they confiscate the passport when it is submitted for renewal.

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Deepthi Valluri 25, was arrested after she cheated scores of NRI men into believing she would marry them.

The smart lady cheat went by a number of aliases and put into operation a modus operandi that was near genius in its simplicity and potency.

Deepthi created multiple profiles of herself on a number of matrimonial websites targeting NRIs She is a good looking woman and had little trouble attracting the hopeful grooms. Even divorcees and widowers were fair game for the woman who listed herself as a doctor and philanthropy hobbyist.

Once the targeted groom was smitten, Deepthi would put into gear her request for urgent help for various dire events such as an ailing mother, urgent surgery and so on.

Her ruses worked, over and over again. One NRI sent her Rs1,400,000 but he turned suspicious and filed a police complaint, and the lying lady was nabbed and remanded to judicial custody.

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Neuro-surgeon Suresh Nair who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was assaulted by four inmates while he was in custody in a jail in Sydney. Nair suffered multiple facial fractures including a broken jaw and teeth and said he lost partial sight in one eye. He said he experienced a sort of mental breakdown after the assault.

He has been briefly placed in protective custody since the assault.

Nair is being sentenced for an incident in 2009 in which he did not help a female escort he had hired, even as she lay dying from a cocaine overdose that he helped to administer. During his trial he expressed remorse.

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According to a Neilsen survey conducted in 21 countries this year, women in emerging markets are more stressed than their counterparts in developing nations, and Indian women are the most stressed of all.

Statistics quoted found that 87 percent of Indian women say they feel stressed most of the time and 82 percent have no time to relax. Notwithstanding, Indian women were most likely to spend any extra cash they have on themselves, citing the desirables as clothes followed by health and beauty products and home electronics.

Mexican women came in second in terms of stress, followed by Russia.

In developed countries Spain headed the stress levels at 66 percent followed by France. In the US 53 percent said they were stressed.

The most optimistic women were in Turkey followed by Nigerians and Malaysians.

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