Manju Manukuttan

DAMMAM: Indian volunteer Manju Manikuttan has been selected for Nari Shakti Puraskar 2019 instituted by the ministry of women and child development. She was selected for the award considering her contributions towards empowerment of Indian women expatriates in the eastern province of the Kingdom.

The award carries a purse of Rs 1 lakh and a citation. President Ram Nath Kovind would confer the award on March 8, the International Women’s Day at a function in New Delhi.

Union minister for women and child development, Maneka Gandhi appreciated Manju’s outstanding contribution towards enlistment of women in society.

Manju, a native of Perumbavur in Ernakulam district came to Saudi eight years ago to join her husband Padmanabhan. She works at a beauty parlour here. During the last five years, Manju could rescue about 1,000 harassed Indian women in the region. She brought them to women’s shelter and sent back home. Indian embassy recognized her services and authorized her to work as a volunteer with the embassy.

E-visa introduced, more Saudis to visit Kerala

Jeddah: The Indian embassy has introduced e-visa facility to Saudi nationals visiting India. The Indian Consulate in Jeddah and the diplomatic mission in Riyadh started issuing e-visas from Sunday.

The online visa procedure was approved during the recent meeting between Saudi Crown Prince, Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The extension of e-services would increase the number of Saudi’s visiting Kerala, said Muneer, a travel consultant based in Jeddah.

Earlier, most of the Saudi tourists preferred locations such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia because of the simple visa procedures. Even if they wanted to visit Kerala the Saudis residing at far off places had to travel all the way to Jeddah and Riyadh to give fingerprints and other biometric requirements to apply for a tourist visa. After the introduction of the e-visa system, they can complete the procedures at their homes.

