The Air India Office in Chennai has received a letter warning attacks by 'suicide bombers' and threats to disrupt the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) beginning in the city on Thursday, police said.
The first ever live webcast of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2008 will be put up on www.PIOTV.com
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the gathering on the inaugural day.
"Moreover, PBD has a lot to do with government and each government takes advantage of it and utilises it for its vested interest."
The Bihar government set up the Bihar Roots Foundation to help connect people of Bihar origin in different parts of the world to the land of their ancestors and preserve their ancestral language, Bhojpuri. But it needs to do more to preserve the language and its heritage in Bihar
He said that his state wants to reflect all the three colours of the national flag in the land of Gujarat. While the white revolution that began in Gujarat as a co-operative movement, the green revolution was represented by the handsome growth in the agriculture sector, he said.Narendra Modi stated that his state now exports milk to European nations and Singapore. Milk production has increased by 66 per cent in the state in the last decade.
On the eve of the sixth PBD, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi clears the air about these perceptions and explains to rediff.com's Krishnakumar how this year's event will bridge the gap between the Indians abroad and Indians back home.
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
Underlining the contribution of non-resident Indians, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said remittances sent to the country by overseas Indians were about $100 billion for the year 2022, an increase of 12 per cent in one year. Speaking at a session during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, she described NRIs as the "real ambassadors of India" and appealed to them to use made in India products and services as far as possible so that the country's individual brand can be promoted across the globe. Sitharaman also said that after the "China plus one" policy, the world is now talking about the "European Union (EU) plus one" policy.
The PBD this year functions as a political stage for the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi have been wooing the Indian diaspora through widely publicised events across the country. At the PBD, the mood was either largely pro-Modi, and when not, apolitical.
The sixth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was inagurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday. The prime minister announced that the government will set up a Global Advisory Council for Persons of Indian Origin. He said the council would comprise persons of Indian origin from all walks of life across the globe.
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin will attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Delhi with an agenda to develop a plan to bring together AAPI, NGOs and the government to provide access to affordable and quality health care. Aziz Haniffa reports
Modi also asserted that if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India.
Reaching out to the Indian Diaspora while inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday invited them to 'actively' participate in the country's economic development and join politics while hoping that they would get voting rights by the time of next general elections in 2014.
A quick scan of prime ministerial speeches at the PBD going back to 2009, another election year, reveals no political utterances by either Modi or his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh.
"The President was very enthusiastic when we told him we want to give this award to Qader," said MIOA Deputy Secretary Mahesh Arora.
Every year, hundreds of non-resident Indians diligently gather in New Delhi to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas from their different far-off adoptive nations just for three days.
When Mammootty -- one of the superstars of the Malayalam film industry -- took to the dais to talk about how India could use its soft power to its advantage, a sell-out crowd was a certainty.
"A lot of people in this country have given different definitions of secularism. I too have a right to give my own definition," Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said at a session of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Delhi on Sunday, while replying to a query by New Yorker Sanjay Sinha."For me the definition of secularism is very simple: India first. That's it," Modi said, getting a huge round of applause from the NRIs.
The students who attended the PBD were an unhappy lot. Over 80 students attended the PBD as part of the Know India programme, and several students complained that there was no proper forum for them to interact with each other.
A special session to discuss NRI women's issue was convened on the third day of the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas.
People of Indian Origin want to talk to ministers so that their problems can be solved, says Amit Mitra, Secretary-General, FICCI.
Thirteen individuals from the Indian Diaspora have been conferred with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman at the seventh edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, underway in Chennai
The Tamil Nadu police would ensure 'maximum protection' for the three-day Pravasi Bharati Divas, the annual congregation of Non-Resident Indians, in the city in the wake of the e-mail threat warning of possible terror strikes during the high-profile event."We have ensured maximum protection," Suburban Police Commissioner S R Jangid told reporters after reviewing the security measures at the Chennai Convention Centre, the venue of the event, to be organised from January 8.
Vayalar Ravi, the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, announced that the 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held at Vigyan Bhavan from January 7 to 9 would focus on empowerment of rural women.
The Kerala government's attempts of garnering funds for its under construction airport ran into rough weather on Sunday when a group of NRIs questioned the 'agenda' behind the 'secrecy' of the details of private-public participation in the management and allotment of shares in the proposed airport. Matters got worse when a senior bureaucrat said that they were not asking 'ordinary' Keralites to invest, if they don't have the money.
In its ninth consecutive year, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, a Diaspora conclave that marks the contribution of the overseas Indian community in the development of the nation, has become a popular brand of sorts. The three-day event will start on January 7 and will see a participation of 1,300 delegates from the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Europe and even Africa.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention provides a unique platform for overseas Indians to interact among themselves and with central and state governments. The eleventh edition of the convention is being held in Kochi, Kerala, from January 7-9
Rediff.com's P Rajendran attends a seminar on pure science at the second day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event in Kochi.
One of the sessions at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Kochi on Monday was specifically devoted to the problems faced by Indian nationals in the Middle East. Rediff.com's Rajendran P reports.
"Come to India, invest in India and let India emerge as a stronger nation," was Chavan's message to all the overseas Indians who attended the chief ministers' conclave on the concluding day of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2010. Chavan's statement was well received by all overseas Indians present at the venue.
The text of the Prime Minister's inaugural address at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2010
Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas is India's flagship annual event, which aims to connect with the Diaspora spread around the globe and focuses on boosting investment and sharing of expertise.
On the second day of the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in Jaipur, a seminar was held on 'Enhancing rural energy access'.
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