By Kul Bhushan, IANS
If you were visiting India in early January, you had the chance to attend a number of major NRI events. You could listen to and probably meet top Indian leaders and rub shoulders with fellow NRIs who are leaders in their own countries or achievers in their professions and businesses. It was a great chance to hobnob with fellow overseas Indians and to make new contacts, especially if you are in business.
Come January and NRIs dominate the news front in Delhi – and indeed the rest of India. Before and after the major Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) conference organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, other NRI bodies hold similar events. In the last few years, the Indian states had also roped in their own NRIs and held these meetings in Punjab, Gujarat and a couple of more states to attract NRI dollars. NRI organisations like Gopio (Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin), Friends of the South Asian American Communities, Mauritius group and NRI Institute also hold their conferences.
This year’s PBD, the sixth so far, was unique in that an NRI prime minister with his Indian counterpart opened the impressive event. In a packed Vigyan Bhavan, India’s showpiece conference centre in New Delhi, Navinchandra Ramgoolam set the note in an evocative speech about the tribulations faced by his father, Sir Seewoosagur, as the leader of Indian labourers in Mauritius while fighting for human rights and independence – a typical tale of overseas Indians becoming pro-active in politics.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlighted India’s progress while talking about “a golden thread (that) links all overseas Indians like an umbilical cord”. Then he went on to make key announcements for NRIs. These included an NRI Global Advisory Council or ‘a think tank’; an India Development Foundation to channel NRI funds for social welfare progress, a PIO University and a Pravasi Centre in New Delhi whose model he unveiled.
While the final number of delegates in the conference is being tallied, the highest is still from the US at over 125. Surprisingly, Malaysia had over 70. Has it something to do with the recent attacks on Indians there so that they come to seek support in their motherland? As expected, Mauritius had over 35 delegates while attendance from Britain hovered around a paltry 35. In all, around 1,500 people attended the two-day event. Of these, almost 200 were Indians – a lot of them government ministers and officers and the rest from the private sector hoping to make new contacts for business.
Among the well-known overseas Indians were: Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, and a few of his ministers; former prime minister of Trinidad Basdeo Pandey; Malaysian Minister of Works Seri Samy Vellu; Ujjal Singh Dosanjh, former minister of health of Canada; and Vijaya Vaidyanath, CEO of Rodney District Council in New Zealand. The more glamorous ones included film director Shekhar Kapur, writer Shashi Tharoor, telecom expert Sam Pitroda, beer baron Lord Karan Billimoria, Gulf builder Yusufali M. A., British philanthropist Raj Loomba, Irish hotelier Lord Rana and Kenyan industrialist Manu Chandaria.
Out of 97 people who spoke at the PDB, NRIs numbered 30. This is a major improvement on the past events when the NRIs just listened while Indians did most of the talking. The regular complaint of allocating NRIs more time at this meeting is having some effect. However, some delegates complained that the top Indian ministers or senior officers make their speeches and leave the conference giving no opportunity for NRIs to interact with them.
“We have come here to interact with Indian leaders – not just listen,” said one regular delegate from the US. “In the speeches of the Indian leaders, let us have a little less of India’s progress which we know and can get the information from the Internet or the media but much more on NRI affairs. Will their speechwriters take note?”
Despite the theme of involving NRIs in social and economic development, attracting investment was dominant. No less than five chief ministers of different states made a strong pitch for investment and more than 10 states had elaborate pavilions at the exhibition to attract investors with their incentives. Gujarat dominated them all with its newly re-elected Chief Minister Narendra Modi despite competition from some Bollywood sizzle by roping in actress Koena Mitra to endorse Jharkhand.
So what was PBD all about? The Indian government announced some new initiatives for NRIs and noted their concerns while seeking their investments. Indian businesses reached out to them. Basically, it was networking for where would you meet a fellow NRI from Sweden, Serbia or New Zealand? It climaxed with the 10 awardees of the Pravasi Sammaan by the president of India – a time to relish the NRI achievements and excellence.
(Kul Bhushan previously worked abroad as a newspaper editor. He can be contacted at: [email protected])