By IANS
New Delhi : The annual engagement of the Indian government with its estimated 25 million diaspora began here Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing an advisory council to tap its huge talent pool and a helpline-equipped centre being set up to help migrant Indian workers in distress, particularly in the Gulf region.
Manmohan Singh, who inaugurated the two-day 6th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at the Vigyan Bhavan convention centre, said he had decided to establish the Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council drawn from leaders in various disciplines among the diaspora to draw on the genius and expertise of those who have made names for themselves in countries where they have settled.
“The council would serve as a high level platform for the prime minister to draw upon the experience and knowledge of the best Indian minds wherever they may be based,” he said.
Overseas Indians have made their name in politics and business, in the arts and literature, in science and academics and are among the highest-earning communities in many countries.
“We in India take pride in the achievements of the people of Indian origin in diverse fields of human endeavour in different parts of the world,” the prime minister told the 1,500-strong gathering from about 50 countries.
“I am particularly happy at the strides made by our women. Indra Nooyi, Sunita Williams, Kalpana Chawla and Jhumpa Lahiri are role models for our society seeking to give women a rightful place,” he said.
While Nooyi is the chief executive officer of the US food and beverages giant PepsiCo, Williams set a new women’s space walking record last year during the course of her 195-day stay in space.
And while Karnal-born Chawla, also an Indian American astronaut, perished in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle disaster, the teacher-turned-author Lahiri won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Singh did not forget to pay tribute to the expatriate Indian worker, a huge source of badly needed labour for countries in the Gulf and Southeast Asia, though often exploited due to their lack of education and economic vulnerability.
“An important constituent of overseas Indian community is the overseas Indian worker,” the prime minister said.
“Estimated at about five million, they are mostly located in the Gulf and South East Asia and play an important role in India’s economy,” he said, acknowledging the $26 billion overseas workers remit to India every year.
“I am happy to announce today the launch of an Overseas Workers Resource Centre to provide relevant information and assistance to potential migrant workers,” Singh said.
The centre will also help overseas Indian workers in distress and address their grievances, he said, adding: “This is a pioneering effort and I hope this centre will in the long run expand the scope of services to promote legal migration.”
The prime minister said that the new initiative was in addition to the nationwide skills upgrade programme for an estimated 200,000 potential migrant workers during the 11th plan period to build a “strong cadre of highly skilled workers”.
The prime minister also lauded the contributions made by the diaspora in areas like philanthropy, which he said was not a new phenomenon. India, he said, was aware of their help during calamities like earthquakes and the tsunami.
“To give impetus to the partnerships, a proposal to promote an India Development Foundation, as an autonomous non-profit trust, is being examined by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs,” he said.
“This foundation will serve as a credible institutional mechanism to direct overseas Indian philanthropic propensities into human development efforts in India.”
The prime minister said his government had given its approval to the policy framework for a new university for people of Indian origin under the public-private partnership model.
“The university will have the autonomy and flexibility in the disciplines that it offers and in its academic governance,” he said, adding it will also help securing the assistance the Indian diaspora intends to provide in education.
“The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has, through a due diligence process, short-listed a few of the proposals and a final decision is expected to be taken soon. I am confident the work on the university will commence this year.”
Earlier Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi announced that India would allow qualified overseas Indian professionals to work in the country in a bid to tap its knowledge base.
“Our approach is to permit overseas Indian professionals like doctors, dentists, architects and chartered accountants the opportunity to work in India,” he said.
“This is not an easy task. It entails amending the relevant legislations and reaching a broad consensus among the stakeholders,” the minister added, while lauding the widely appreciated talent pool of the overseas Indian community.
The minister also said the scheme to issue Overseas Citizen of India Cards to members of the Indian diaspora had met with “tremendous” response with over 200,000 such cards issued by the country so far.
“We intend to take steps to expand its scope.”
Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, the chief guest of the event, said ethnic Indians the world over were connected to “Mother India” through the “golden thread” of the umbilical cord and urged the diaspora to “grab the opportunity that India is providing” as it rises to become a “world power”.