Bengaluru : In a significant global initiative, NRIs across the world have gathered at Indian embassies and consulates, urging for the protection of their investments and savings in India. This campaign marks one of the largest gatherings of NRIs post-independence.

The NRIs have organised themselves into groups, advocating for relief measures and highlighting their concerns. Their petition, presented at various locations, stresses on the point that approximately one out of every three NRIs has faced victimisation in India. They appeal to the Indian government for support, citing their substantial contributions to the nation.

The key request of the NRIs is the enactment of the NRI Protection Bill to address their concerns and safeguard their investments. This campaign began in Eastern Asian regions like Hong Kong and Australia, followed by petitions in the Middle East, Gulf nations, Europe, the US, and Canada.

Subhas Balappanavar, the international convenor leading the campaign, and his team visited seven consular offices in the USA. Balappanavar recounted his experience at the Indian consulate in San Francisco, stating that after some initial hurdles, they were able to meet consulate officials to submit their petition.

Meanwhile, Mohan Vel Thandapani, a member of the NRI Grievance group, visited the Indian consulate in Dubai. He mentioned that with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to the Middle East as part of the 'Alhan Modi' campaign, where 55,000 NRIs have already registered, they aim to meet the PM and urge him to address the issue of protecting NRI savings and investments.

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Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.

The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.

Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.

The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.

India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.

In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.

Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.

The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.

It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.

Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.

The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.

The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.

On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.