From exclusive “NRI lanes” on the Delhi-Jaipur highway to decorative streetlighting, the city of Jaipur is all set to host the three-day 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), beginning Saturday.
Coming at a time when doubts are being raised on the growth of the economy, the event expects to promote India as an investment destination and find answers to the Indian growth story from over 1,300 delegates who have come from over 54 countries to attend the annual congregation of non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin. According to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, India has the second-largest diaspora in the world.
The overseas Indian community is estimated at around 25 million. The high level committee on Indian diaspora in its report in 2001 had termed India’s diaspora as having “great potential for national development”. Apart from projecting India as a favourable investment destination, the debates and discussions at this year’s PBD are expected to focus on how to maintain growth without compromising on inclusivity.
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar, will be the chief guest of this year’s PBD, which has been given the theme of “Global Indian-Inclusive Growth”.
The annual flagship event will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will deliver the valedictory address on January 9 and confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards.
The highlights of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas are expected to be the three plenary sessions which will begin on Sunday. The first of the session, titled “Two decades of liberalisation”, will be moderated by the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi and will have environment minister Jayanti Natarajan and road transport and highways minister CP Joshi as participants. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the keynote address. The second plenary session, “partnering for prosperity”, will have speakers such as former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor, CPI(M)’s leader Sitaram Yechury and minister for corporate affairs Veerappa Moily.
The last plenary session, ‘Shared connections: Message of Mahatma Gandhi’, will be moderated by Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister, public information infrastructure and innovation.
Another keenly watched event would be the ‘Global Indian state initiative and opportunity’, which is moderated by the overseas minister, and will have the chief ministers of Goa, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as participants. Besides, there will be three pre-conference seminars on ‘Solar Energy- Investment and R&D’, ‘Social Entrepreneurship-Water’ and ‘Health’. The PBD oration this year will be given by economist and management expert Kishore Mahbubani, dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
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