The stars shone down at the Inaugural Ceremony of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The stage was set and the huge two storey Birla Auditorium at Jaipur was over packed to witness the historical moment. The dais was adorned by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh, who holds the credit of having attended eight out of ten PBDs since the inception of the event. The Chief Guest for the ceremony was the vivacious orator and dynamic woman leader Ms. Kamla Persad Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Other dignitaries like Shri Vayalar Ravi (Minister for Overseas Indian affairs), Shri Ashok Gehlot (Chief Minister, Govt. of Rajasthan), Shri Parvez Dewan (Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs) and Shri B. Muthuraman (President CII) were also seen sharing the podium with both the Prime Ministers.
Shri Vayalar Ravi informed the gathering of the presence of 1900 delegates from 60 countries in PBD 2012. He threw light on the condition of Overseas Indian workers in the Gulf, Middle East and Africa as to how they are always employed as temporary or contractual labour informally. No labour laws of the host country are applicable to them. After an overview of the problem in hand, Shri Ravi spoke to the Government interventions and key initiatives which could provide an apt solution.
- Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) for Overseas Indians in distress
- Indian Worker Resource Centre (IWCR) formed at Abu Dhabi for assistance of Overseas Indian workers
- Establishment of an office in Jaipur for attestation of Overseas Indians
Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Rajasthan expresses his happiness on being the host of PBD. He noted that the Overseas Indian youth should connect with their roots and be a part of the development story of India.
H.E. Ms. Kamla Persad Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, narrated the story of the struggle of her previous generations and herself as emigrants. She inspired the gathering by quoting Gandhi. She also threw light on the world having become a smaller place due to the boom in communication and technology. It has become much easier for India to know spread its arms and welcome the Diaspora for a symbiotic relationship.
With the address of Chief Guest Ms. Bissessar, the stage was set for the Prime Minister to deliver his address. The crowd cheered the leader of the nation as he proceeded towards the dais for his deliberation.
After promising a stable and dynamic economy in the midst of global turbulence in his speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said “NRIs share a deep bond with India. We, as a nation, value the contribution of the Indian community living abroad” as an opening remark for the packed auditorium at the inaugural session. What followed was a brief summary of the steps taken by the Government in the last one year to facilitate, encourage and promote the engagement of the Indian Diaspora to contribute to the building of modern India.
- Long distant Indians to vote in the national elections. This was our first step to welcome them into democracy by registering overseas Indians under the Representation of People Act 1950.
- Introduction of bill for amendment in Citizenship Act to streamline the PIO and Overseas Citizen of India schemes. This will help get rid of the anomalies in the schemes.
- Provision of Overseas Indian Card which will be given to foreign spouses of such card holders as well.
- Established an office of the Protector of Emigrants in Jaipur due to large number of workers of Rajasthan emigrating abroad.
- Building a Pravasi Bharatiya Bhawan in Jaipur which will also house a Migrant Research Centre to provide on-site help to overseas Indians and emigrating workers.
- Implementation of e-migrate project that will provide end-to-end computerized solutions for all processes in the emigration system.
- Expansion of Labour Mobility Partnership Agreements to cover not only skilled workers but also students, academics and professionals. Such Human Resource Mobility Partnership agreements are being negotiated with The Netherlands, France, Australia and the European Union.
- Government to introduce and sponsor a new Pension and Life Insurance Fund for overseas Indian workers Government concerned about safety of Indians in unstable regions. It has been conveyed to the Gulf and the West that they should take care of NRIs, PIOs and Overseas Indians
It was a meaningful session which gave detailed knowledge of Government interventions and future plans with respect to the huge population of all Indians living abroad. The future looks bright as seen from the effort the Government is making to include Global Indians in their development plan. However, as in case of every issue, innovation or planning is only the first step. Excellence in execution and a bottom-up approach, if adopted, will only contribute towards giving a much needed global perspective to the growth story of India.
