The government today decided to merge the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with the Ministry of External Affairs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his approval to the merger, while External Affairs Minister Sushma Swraj confirmed that the proposal has been accepted on Twitter.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs was tasked with overseeing the the welfare of Indians working or studying  abroad.

Swaraj was heading both the ministries and had proposed that both ministries should be merged.

Swaraj tweeted: "Prime Minister has kindly accepted my proposal. So MOIA will now be part of Ministry of External Affairs. As Minister for External Affairs & Overseas Indian Affairs, I realized that Substantial work of MOIA is done through our missions abroad. Therefore I proposed to Hon'ble Prime Minister that MOIA should be merged with Ministry  of External Affairs.