OCI HOLDERS NEED SPL PERMIT FOR ‘TABLIGH’, JOURNALISTIC ACTIVITIES: MHA

NEW DELHI: All Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders are required to take special permission from the central government if they want to be involved in any missionary, “Tabligh” or journalistic activities in the country.

The OCI cardholders have parity with Indian nationals in the matter of tariffs in air fares in domestic sectors, entry fees for visiting national parks, national monuments and museums in India.

An official from the Union home ministry said these rules were part of the “brochure” published by it in 2019 and were recently consolidated and notified.

Tablighi Jamaat workers, both foreigners as well Indians, indulge in preaching tours across the country, also known as “Chilla”, in which a volunteer of the organisation travels for 120 days to various parts of the country and stay in local mosques where they inform the neighbourhood people about their activities besides holding special prayers.

The ministry, in its notification issued on Thursday, said the OCI cardholders are entitled to get multiple entry lifelong visa for visiting India for any purpose but “required to obtain a special permission or a special permit from the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) or the Indian Mission to undertake research and to undertake any missionary or Tabligh or mountaineering or journalistic activities”.

An OCI cardholder is a foreign national holding a passport of a foreign country and is not a citizen of India.