The Hindu : A chance to renew old bonds

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 05, 2003

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A chance to renew old bonds

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JAN. 4. The `Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' (Non-Resident Indian Day) on January 9 is intended as an annual event to give people of Indian origin living abroad a "chance to renew old bonds."

Designating January 9 as the NRI/PIO day also marks the day Mohandas Gandhi returned to India after 21 years in South Africa.

At a joint press conference of the organisers — the Ministry of External Affairs and FICCI — Rajya Sabha MP and chairman of the high-level committee on the India Diaspora, L. M. Singhvi, said the `Pravasi Divas' would "create a new source of solidarity." Although the people of Indian origin living in different countries around the world had keen interest in India, they did not relate to PIOs from other countries.

The three-day PIO fest, would also be a "listening post" for the Indian Government in its efforts to understand the NRI/PIO "demands and the expectations they have from India." Over 1,200 NRIs and PIOs from over 50 countries are expected to attend the event to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The packed three-day event includes a conference, which covers all sectors of possible interaction from commerce and finance, science and technology to language and culture.

The conference will be addressed, among others, by the Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, the Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh. Well-known NRI/PIOs, who will participate include the Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen. writer and the Nobel Laureate, V. S. Naipual, the deposed Prime Minister of Fiji, Mahendra Chaudhry, the British Liberal Democrat peer, Navnit Dholakia, and the Malaysian Works Minister, Samy Velu.

J. C. Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, told the press conference that at the inaugural event, 10 NRI/PIOs would be given the `Pravasi Bharatiya Samman' award. This will also be an annual feature. This year's list includes the Mauritian Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, British peer Navnit Dholakia, Rajat Gupta of McKenzie, Ujjal Dosanjh, former premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia, Mr. Samy Velu, Prof. Fatima Mir, anti-apartheid activist from South Africa, businessmen, Manubhai Chanderia (Kenya), HariLila (Hong Kong) and Kanakbhai Khemji from Oman, whose family has lived in the Gulf for 300 years.

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