Indian government has removed names of 225 Sikhs who were blacklisted by the government for their alleged involvement in subversive or anti-India activities.
Security Agencies in India had put 298 Sikhs on the blacklist since 1980s.
Over 225 names have been removed from this list over last four years.
Those who were in the blacklist were barred from visiting India.
"We have pruned the list in the last four years and recently removed names of 36 Sikhs settled abroad," a Home Ministry official told PTI.
The names of remaining people, whose names are in the blacklist, are expected to be removed in phases, the official said.
The Indian Express reported Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he assumed office in 2014 to remove names of persons from the list against whom no cases or legal proceedings were pending.
The Deccan Chronicle wrote that many Sikh families who had sought political asylum abroad were booked in cases in India and were not allowed to visit India in the past decades.
Sikh-Americans have welcomed the Indian government’s decision of removing the names of 225 Sikhs from a blacklist calling it a ‘step in right direction.’
“This is a step in the right direction and a promise fulfilled by the Modi government,” said Jasdip Singh Jasse, founder of Sikhs of America, at a joint news conference with the Overseas Friends of BJP-USA, which was attended by leaders of Sikh American community.
