Upset over removal of 'UP Rising' posters at Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh government has planned to organise a Diaspora conclave of its own for the first time next month to woo investors and associate NRIs in development of the state.
Giving a platform to Keralites in the Gulf to air their grievances, an exclusive session on Non-Resident Indians in that region was held as the 11th Pravasi Divas began in Kochi on Monday.
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.
Other speakers will include CK Prahalad, Karan Billimoria and Apoorva Bagri.
Educationist Dr Shashi K Pande on how he sees India, and how he would like to see it change.
The 13th edition of the flagship congregation of diaspora is coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi arriving back to India from South Africa in 1915, to eventually lead the country towards attaining freedom.
A cultural delegation will serenade Indians with 'chutney' and 'calypso' during the event.
Just days before the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet at Chennai, surfacing of an email purportedly send by the Indian Mujahideen has prompted the government to redo security arrangements for the diaspora event.The two line mail, which was received on the Confederation of Indian Industries' mail server, is signed off by the 'Indian Mujahideen'.The mail says that the IM is keeping an eye on the developments of the three-day annual event organised for the Indian diaspora.
Preparations are almost complete for the smooth conduct of the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which will be attended by President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Addressing the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Jaipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Non-Resident Indians would be allowed to vote and participate in the election process.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on Sunday with President Pratibha Patil honouring 15 individuals for their achievements and enhancing India's image globally. Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore spoke to these awardees on what this recognition meant to them.
The Diaspora is no longer a mere remittance economy. It today claims dual loyalty and demands a say in Indian politics, says sociologist Shiv Visvanathan
'India today has to fight many a battle, all of which cry out for innovation. This is where the experience of the Diaspora could be the most productive well-spring.'
'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.
The government on Wednesday directed online travel aggregators to process pending refunds related to air ticket bookings during the coronavirus lockdown period by the third week of November. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there was a nationwide lockdown for varying periods starting from March 25, 2020, and scheduled commercial flight services were also suspended for a certain period. On Wednesday, the consumer affairs ministry held a meeting with online travel aggregators to discuss issues prejudicial to consumer interest in the travel sector.
Making a strong pitch for greater connectivity with the diaspora youth, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Tuesday said partnerships between young Indians in the country and those residing overseas in industry and social sectors would create jobs and bring prosperity.
The time is nigh for India to ensure that investment by its former citizens is encouraged by protecting their rights, says C B Patel.
Soma Ravi, an Indian caregiver in Ramat Gan, recounts the last 4 days in Israel and says the Indian embassy has been in constant touch.
The Indian community in Australia and the Pacific will get an opportunity to contribute between India and countries in the region at the 7th Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention in Sydney, a top Indian diplomat has said.
Can India really succeed when it leaves some of its underprivileged so far behind that they simply do not matter, asks Aseem Chhabra
It is critical to engage politicians in the US and India to recognize the achievements of the three million strong Indian-American community says M R Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora
'Non Resident Indians know that India's problems are the combination of many factors over the centuries, including foreign rule, lack of resources and the ever-growing population, among other things. Yet, India has achieved many things and even looks at Mars as a neighbour.'
Eight cheetahs from Namibia were released into the park in September last year as part of an ambitious project to revive the extinct cheetah population in the country.
The euphoria of Ab Ki Baar Modi Sarkar will fade quickly if the Modi government does not raise its game, and focus significant monetary resources and managerial skills on making India's infrastructure truly world-class, says Ram Kelkar.
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.
Modi is visiting the African country from August 22 to 24 at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. South Africa is hosting the first in-person summit of BRICS comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, since 2019.
All we want from the government is to give us visa and they can't even deliver that, says Inder Singh, chairman of Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin International
'This has been an ongoing process,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former consul general in San Francisco, 'but I believe a Modi visit to the West Coast can be a force-multiplier.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday and Tuesday.
'India is showing a reasonable amount of resilience, but we are still living in a world that is quite fragile.' 'That's why we hope that the government will continue to invest significantly in public capex so that we are able to ride through this cycle till the private sector is able to play its part in investing and adding to the capex cycle.'
India will continue to take up with China the return of over 23,000 stranded Indian students, besides a large number of Indian workers and their families who are currently stranded back home for the last two years due travel restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior diplomat has said.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
Right now there are five Hindus occupying the top job in the world. Rishi Sunak will be the sixth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asserted that there is a "huge difference" between pre- and post-2014 India, saying the country is now moving ahead at an "unprecedented speed and scale" as he showcased the achievements of his term in power to the Indian diaspora in Indonesia.
Kerala will have to wait. The next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be held in Chandigarh," and not in Thiruvananthapuram, said Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.
'We want maximum voting and a healthy system. People from the whole world appreciate our system'
President of the Kyrgyz Republic, who is the current Chair of the SCO, and the PM of Mauritius, who was the chief guest at this year's Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, have also been invited, the MEA said.
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