Agha gets special privileges with card.
By Dileep Thekkethil
Pakistan-born Bollywood singer and actress Salma Agha who applied for an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card last week, received it after the Home Ministry found her eligible for the special category visa.
As an OCI card holder, the singer can now visit India and get an exemption from reporting to the police. A statement from the Home Ministry read, “We have decided to grant Salma Agha the OCI card after following the due procedure.”
After coming to know about the decision of the home ministry, Agha visited home minister Rajnath Singh and expressed her gratitude for the swift decision of the ministry in helping her get an OCI card.
The officials in the Home Ministry said that Agha applied for the OCI card a few days back and after scrutinizing her request and considering various aspects, they decided to approve her the OCI card.
The 59-year-old Salma Agha was born to a wealthy father in Karachi, and moved to London at age 9. She has appeared in Bollywood movies, including “Nikhaah” and also sung in a few Bollywood movies. Agha had won Filmfare best female playback award in 1982 for her rendition ‘Dil ke armaan aansuon me beh gaye’ in ‘Nikaah.’
Using the OCI card Agha can now enter the country multiple times life-long and need not have to report to the police authorities, no matter how long she stays. Card holders are also allowed parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields except in the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.
According to government norms, any person “whose parents or grandparents or great-grandparents is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or such other country as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, shall be eligible for registration as an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder.”
In her OCI card request, Agha had claimed that her maternal grandfather Jugal Kishore Mehra was originally from India. Mehra was a noted actor and his wife and Salma’s grandmother, Anwari Begum, was a star singer in the 1930s and 1940s.