'My own Indianness has kept me evolving and changing -- and that's something that nobody and nothing can take from me,' says Roopa Unnikrishnan, who left the Indian shores a decade ago. As India gears up to honour its pravasis to mark their contribution in the nation's development, Rediff.com presents different perspectives on the Diaspora.
India needs to come up with new ideas to make the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas more appealing to overseas Indians. The Diasporas talents should be used for the country's development, says Thomas Abraham, founder of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin
On a visit to India in 2013, writer Ved Mehta -- who passed into the ages on Sunday January 10, 2021 - gave Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel a rare glimpse into his state of mind and what he thinks of the changes he encounters in his motherland.
She said it was her will-power and determination to return to her motherland, which prevailed upon the caretaker government to withdraw the arrest warrant and ban on her return.
Subedar Fateh Singh, a 51-year-old Army man who lost his life during combing operations at the Indian Air Force base near Punjab's Pathankot town on Saturday, had won a gold and a silver medal at the first Commonwealth Shooting Championships held in Delhi in 1995.
Twenty two years before Kabir Khan's The Forgotten Army streams on Amazon Prime on January 24, 2020, his documentary of the same name was telecast on Doordarshan. On that occasion, Kabir Khan spoke to Amberish K Diwanji/Rediff.com about Netaji's Azad Hind Fauj and its many battles for India's freedom.
Former PM Manmohan Singh and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi also paid their tributes.
"Although we saw hope in all our previous endeavours, I feel this time something positive is bound to come out. It is very unfortunate that so many of our men have lost their lives during the struggle," says Nawang Sithar, adding, "Let me assure you that no Tibetan will ever instigate violence."
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, the former cricket captain of Pakistan, Shahid Afridi has asked both the neighbouring countries to show some restraint towards each other and pleaded for peace in the region. "Pakistan is a peace loving nation, why talk about extreme measures when things can be resolved through dialogues?" the all-rounder tweeted. "Pakistan wants cordial relationship with all. When two neighbours fight both homes are effected (affected). Say No to war," Afridi added in a series of tweets.
The PM said Japan and the Indian diaspora has a big role to play in India's growth story.
Shortly after former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away, leaders, including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, paid tributes to him.
The 91-year-old leader said, 'Right from its inception, the BJP has never regarded those who disagree with us politically as our 'enemies', but only as our adversaries.'
To live like a writer I cannot shift elsewhere. Here (India) I can meet my own people, converse with them in my own language, the language for expressing my thoughts. The government can help me live as a writer," she told PTI.
She lived for two-thirds of her life in India, adopted its national cause and customs, and took an Indian passport. She served a prison sentence in Lahore as part of Gandhi's protests against an Imperial power which happened to be her motherland. Freda Bedi delighted in confounding accepted definitions of identity.
The kind of hiring MNCs are doing in India makes it clear call centre operations are no longer the only thing on their minds.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the unfortunate tragedy where our brave soldiers die every week to prevent more lethal attacks on the nation.
In super-human acts of valour, Havildar Abdul Hamid personally knocked out five tanks over two days, effectively derailing the enemy offensive in the 1965 Indo-Pak War. 'Decades later, I realised not only how much the nation owed to this great son of India but also that my entire family was probably alive thanks to him,' says Vijay Dandapani.
'Pakistan has employed force to curb Baloch aspirations and rights. There have been charades of giving rights and concessions and packages, but all of them are hollow and meaningless and not even worth the paper these are written on.' 'Pakistan is appeasing China for the investments which will benefit them. The economic corridor with China will not only deprive the Baloch of their land and resources, but will turn them into a minority because of the influx of outsiders.' 'The Balochs want to be masters, not slaves and hired labour in their own land.'
In heart-wrenching scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, coffins of soldiers arrived in several states for the last rites with full military honours.
'Chest-thumping on-air theatrics on television are no consolation for families who've been forced to embrace the price of war,' notes Nikita Puri.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain asserted that Muslims in India are as patriotic as any other Indian.
As the news of Kalam broke, condolences and tributes poured in from all corners of the country, reflecting the huge popularity he enjoyed both in and out of the highest office of the country that earned him the sobriquet of the "people's President."
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day.
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
The top court also observed that it cannot be assumed that if a person does not stand up for the national anthem, then he is 'less patriotic'.
The new battalion, numbered 241, was named Bastariya because it included recruits from Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Sukma districts.
He expressed his concern over recent reports of sexual abuse of children across the country and said that there was an urgent need to have in place an effective deterrent regime.
Raheel's comments assume significance as they come amidst the strain in Indo-Pak ties after the Uri terror attack and India's surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK.
The members of ABVP on Friday took out a protest march at India Gate in New Delhi against an event in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru at JNU.
'Once the common man realises that living in harmony, respecting, loving and protecting each other is the real meaning of secularism, and treating everyone equally to safeguard our Constitution and motherland is patriotism, there will be no opportunity for communalism.'
Modi thanked the people of the state for making the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' initiative a fruitful one.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he has accorded highest priority to the modernisation of defence forces as strong security was necessary for an atmosphere of peace, amity and harmony in the country.
'The BJP strongly believes that we are all Indians, and everyone enjoys the same rights.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Rajapaksa and said he looks forward to further deepen relations between the two nations.
A criminal complaint was filed on Friday in a Delhi court seeking registration of an first information report against All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen President Asaduddin Owaisi for alleged offences of sedition and causing enmity between different classes.
Hitting out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the minority leader should go to Pakistan and try his antics there.
In a bid to "instil committed patriotism and nationalism", the Supreme Court today ordered cinema halls across the nation to mandatorily play the National Anthem before screening of a movie and the audience must stand and show respect.
'If the Americans believed that India is as strong as China or Russia, would they have shown this scant respect for us,' asks Tarun Vijay, MP. 'An economically strong and militarily powerful India would never have had this experience. Not just the Americans, everyone in this world respects might. China receives respect, India gets the law book.'
Saurabh's parents Narinder Kumar and Vijay Kalia remember with crystal clear clarity that moment 20 years ago when they saw their elder son for the last time. He was not yet 23 and on his way to rejoin duty but they did not know where.
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