Thirteen years after the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was organised to celebrate the contribution of the Indian diaspora to the development of the mother country, its format is being changed and the change has largely been welcomed by the core audience.
Now the event will be moved outside Delhi to different states every two years; a smaller event will be held in Delhi every alternate year. “Starting with 2016, we will have a scaled down event in Delhi every alternate year. For this we will invite 150 experts in various fields from the Indians overseas to have outcome focussed discussions and events,” external affairs and overseas Indian affairs minister Sushma Swaraj announced recently.
The sessions will focus on issues such as problems of Indians working in Gulf countries, participation of Indians overseas in government flagship programmes such as like Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, and problems faced by persons of Indian origin. Working groups with overseas and Indian experts will be set up to discuss these issues and prepare reports that will be submitted to the government.
Another change in the offing is a greater focus and increase in the number of regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held overseas to engage with the diaspora.
Indians overseas are largely happy over the change in format. “The PBD format has stayed the same for a long time. The diaspora has however changed in that period so it is good that the event is changing and they are bringing the event to where the diaspora is clustered,” was the response by Sanjay Puri, chairman of the Washington DC based US Indian Political Action Committee (USINPAC) on more smaller format regional PBDs. “However it would be good for the MOIA to go to locations/regions where the diaspora is not as engaged with India. The diaspora or the NRI community in the US is very much engaged with India. It would be good to engage the diaspora in Africa where the diaspora has been there for generations but somehow is not as engaged as the second, third generation feels disconnected to India. Likewise you could look at Latin America too,” he adds.
Ashook Ramsaran, president, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) International, was also positive in his response on the new format and says it will rejuvenate the event. “The new format announced is a welcome change as it would be more focused on the diaspora’s issues of interest and concern as well as the mutual benefits for both India and its diaspora,” he says. With the planned increase in the number and locations of regional PBDs, there will be more interest, participation and relevance for both PBDs and RPBDs, he adds. “We had recommended similar changes for both PBDs and RPBDs which I believe will be a more active engagement of the diaspora. Of course, good advance planning for the various conference sessions with qualified speakers is also paramount to more successful PBDs and RPBDs,” Ramsaran said.
The first event under the new format will be the regional PBD in Los Angeles on November 14 & 15. The MOIA and the Indian consul general in San Francisco are organising the event with the objective of providing a platform for the Indian community and to contribute to the relationship between the two countries, the US and India. Members of the Indian community will have an opportunity to convey their concerns and aspirations to the government of India and will explore ways to give back to the mother country. The event, which is likely to be attended by 1000 delegates, will be inaugurated by minister Swaraj.
“The US has the largest Indian diaspora in the world, and this RPBD will celebrate that. Besides, California has grown to replace the New York tristate area as the single largest concentration of Indian Americans in any state in the US. It also boasts of Indians excelling in all major sectors – medicine, hospitality, IT & ICT, small businesses & entertainment. All major Indian American associations have come together to form a joint committee that is working with the government of India for this event,” says Munish Gupta, coordinator, GOPIO International.
Source: The Economic Times
