The 14th edition of the three-day mega meet of Indian diaspora, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in Bengaluru, has come to an end. The state government termed it as "extremely substantive" and outcome oriented. Speaking to the media after the completion of the meet, Minister of State for External Affairs Gen VK Singh said, "This year we have had a very large gathering, we have had more than 7,200 people who registered, we have had more than 2,000 people who came from abroad."
"The general impression that we get after talking to people is that this time we were able to attract much larger crowd whether they were at the sessions or at the exhibition area," he said. The minister also keenly pointed out that for the first time, all allotted space for the exhibition was sold out. "I'm quite sure with this as the marker we will have to work very hard for the next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in 2019. PBD is held with an aim to provide a platform to overseas Indians to engage with the government on issues of concern to the diaspora and to explore opportunities for investment in India and contribution to the country of their origin."
He informed that most of the problems raised during the PBD were from Gulf countries and Malaysia, because there is a large labour force there. "Our aim has been to find a solution to the issue, most of them were of generic nature and those that can be solved by discussion with their ambassador. In the coming years, a greater emphasis will be given on ensuring that government schemes, programmes, outreach programmes of the MEA goes out in a bigger manner to all the countries," Singh said.
Karnataka's Industries Minister RV Deshpande said that the state takes pride in hosting the largest ever PBD since the inception of the idea. He also thanked the union government for providing the opportunity to project the state as a destination for investment and a hub for innovation and science.
The Divas saw two Karnataka ministers make a hardsell of several things and forward their "personal" commitment to facilitate any investment that they want to make. Deshpnde said the state had achieved outstanding success in all sectors including steel, IT, BT, nanotechnology, aerospace and space, garments, granite, and iron ore, tourism and fashion, agro industry, horticulture, floriculture and silk, high quality general, technical, medical and educational ecosystem to the new world of startups. He said, "Karnataka's strategy is based on introducing conducive new policies, revising and improving old ones, making massive investments in human capital, creating high quality social, physical and digital infrastructure." He also exhorted the NRIs to become Karnataka's ambassadors. "Promote India, promote innovative Karnataka. And you do decide to make new investments or expansions, do reach out to me directly."
The last day of the event is marked with the conferring of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award- the highest honour given to overseas Indians. It is conferred by the Hon'ble President of India as a part of the convention. President Pranab Mukherjee gave away the awards during the valedictory session of the impressive ceremony. Thirty nominees were selected by an 11-member Jury-cum-Awards committee, with the Vice President as Chairman and External Affairs minister as Vice-Chairman.
Giving his speech, President Mukherjee said, "It is indeed a pleasure for me to be present amongst you on the occasion of the valedictory speech of the Pravasi Bharatiya Sammelan. On this historic day 102 years ago, the greatest Pravasi Bharatiya of all times, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa. One of the largest community of expatriates amounting to about 31.7 millions, the Pravasi Bharatiya stands out for his innate ability to assimilate and yet maintain his identity." He congratulated the winners saying, "On behalf of the Government of India, it was indeed an honour for me to have conferred the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman on 30 members of the diaspora just a while back. I congratulate each one of you for your contributions to your counties of origin and India."
