Global Indian News
Diaspora: forever india
I welcome you in the midst of our extended family of Indians at this celebration of multifaceted talents of the Indian diaspora. Overseas Indians, who include Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and …
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GANDHINAGAR: Cooperative federalism, not competitive federalism – this was the picture that emerged from the hardsell of chief ministers of different states who tried to entice overseas Indians with new …
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It’s a song of India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows how to chant, and enchant the captive audience of overseas Indians with his projection of India as the land of opportunity and a beacon of hope in the world.
“India awaits you with opportunities,” Mr Modi told around 4,000 overseas Indians in his inaugural speech at the 13th annual get-together of the Indian diaspora in Gujarat’s capital on January 8.
“I welcome all of you and say that there are several opportunities waiting for you in India. Times have changed very quickly. The world is looking at India with hope and anticipation,” he said in eloquent Hindi.
Modi exhorted NRIs and PIOs to return to the country, and leverage their formidable talent, experience and expertise to transform India into a self-assured, powerful nation.
“From the world’s richest countries to the poorest of the lot, the whole world has its eye turned on India. They want to embrace India. They want to walk together with India,” he said to applause from the audience.
“There was a time when professionals in India went to distant lands to explore new possibilities. Now India awaits you with opportunities. I want to tell you that India is full of opportunities now,” he told the delegates.
Connect, Celebrate and Contribute –- this was the 3C mantra that resonated among young global Indians who gathered in Gandhinagar, a satellite city named after Mahatma Gandhi, in what External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called the celebration of the 25-million strong Indian diaspora and India’s soft power.
In a pioneering exercise, the annual gathering of overseas Indians called ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Divas’ kicked off on January 7 with a hymn to the power of youth and the first-ever youth PBD that provided a platform for young NRIS and PIOs to connect with their ancestral land and contribute their bit in the ongoing transformation of the motherland.
Enthusiasm was palpable among young expats who has come to the city that embodies the spirit of Gandhi, the exemplar pravasi, as they were reminded of the glory and the grandeur that was India and the unfolding miracle that is India.
Sushma Swaraj encapsulated the animating ethos of the PBD as she inaugurated the three-day diaspora fest on a bright resplendent morning on January 7. This year around, the PBD is special as it celebrates the centenary of the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India as the liberator of the nation.
Diplomacy is the art of the possible. If successful and effective diplomacy is about reigniting the spark in old relationships, winning new friends, breaking new grounds, and shaping the outcomes in the international arena to promote the country’s enlightened national interests and development, then the seven-month old Narendra Modi government scores high as it builds on the successes of 2014 and looks ahead to 2015 with “new vision and new vigour.” Breakthrough Diplomacy, as India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj writes in a prologue to the eponymous e-book published by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, is about melding ‘Diplomacy for Development’ as the overarching themes in India’s global engagements.
“2014 has truly been a Year of Breakthrough Diplomacy. India’s star is today shining ever brighter on the global firmament,” writes Swaraj.
Talking of breakthrough diplomacy, it’s time to unscramble the jargon and introduce some balance in diplomatic discourse and the unfolding possibilities in the coming months. For one thing, breakthroughs don’t happen every day or every year in diplomacy; the India-US nuclear deal was a breakthrough, but getting Obama to be the chief guest at the 2015 Republic Day celebrations is a diplomatic triumph, but not a breakthrough. To claim routine diplomatic successes as breakthroughs, therefore, would be misleading, and lowering the bar. For another thing, diplomatic breakthroughs presuppose a perceptible and substantive rise in a country’s comprehensive national power, economic and military strength as well as soft power.
Madison Square Garden, New York. Allphones Arena, Sydney. After dazzling and ravishing NRIs in high visibility rock-star like shows in foreign lands, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to turn on all his charm to serenade over 3,000 NRIs and PIOs on home turf in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. On January 8, Mr Modi is expected to perform a new improvisation of his ‘Song of NRIs’ and will seek to enlist them as proactive stakeholders in the reignited India growth story.
The annual jamboree of overseas Indians looks set to have a new shine next year as India toasts the centenary of the homecoming of Mahatma Gandhi, the most famous NRI, and seek to leverage myriad talents and resources of expat Indians for the larger project of national resurgence. The Modi government, which has made a proactive engagement with the 25-million strong Indian diaspora scattered across countries and continents a key feature of its foreign policy, is bursting with ideas to put its own stamp over the 13th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) that will be held in Gandhinagar January 7-9.
In the age of visuals, the PBD promises to be a captivating show. It will be a 3D performance in ways more than one. Celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s historic salt march, a new high-tech museum built inside a giant salt mound will illumine the father of the nation in a 3D image. Prime Minister Modi, on his part, will have his own 3D mantra of Democracy, Demographic Dividend and Demand, with which he charmed the rapturous crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York on a bright Sunday morning.
Get ready for the 3D show in Gandhinagar.
The multifarious ties between India and Britain are headed for a marked upswing. Moments after he met India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane, British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “Relations with India are at the top of the priorities of UK’s foreign policy.” “Your’s is a very inspiring vision, U.K. wants to partner in any way we can,” Mr Cameron said in another tweet.
The British leader’s enthusiasm seems to be shared across the spectrum in Britain. Soon after the Modi-Cameron meeting, Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org), caught up with UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Baroness Sandip Verma, and found her brimming with enthusiasm about the trajectory of the India-UK relations and the India growth story.
The 55-year-old politician and businesswoman, who has been made a Conservative peer for life, is also a visible emblem of the success of the Indian diaspora in Britain. In this wide-ranging interview with indiawrites.org in New Delhi, the Amritsar-born Sandip Verma speaks about how Britain is eagerly looking forward to offering Prime Minister Modi “exceptional welcome,” the success of the Indian community in Britain and soaring expectations about the India story under the leadership of a reform-minded prime minister.
The sun is set to shine brighter on the already robust India-UK relations, with British investors bullish about investing in India’s renewable energy sector that is expected to burgeon under …
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In a defining outreach to Pacific islands community, India has unveiled a $75 million line of credit for Fiji for upgrading the sugar industry and sought to deepen defence and security cooperation with the archipelago nation.
Revitalising development partnership with Fiji, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who touched down in Suva at the crack of dawn on a day-long visit, also pledged $5 million fund to develop villages in the Pacific nation that is home to a large Indian diaspora. Persons of Indian origin comprise over 37 per cent of Fiji’s population.
Signalling a diplomatic upsurge with the Pacific island community, the Indian leader also held a summit meeting with the leaders of the island states. Mr Modi announced an ambitious Pan-Pacific Islands Network that will provide telemedicine and tele-education to residents of these countries.
Call it the Pacific Bonding, if you like. The multi-hued ties between India and Fiji are set to get a new sparkle as Suva rolls out the red carpet for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 29. This will be the first prime ministerial visit from India to Fiji after Indira Gandhi visited the Pacific nation 33 years ago in 1981.
The timing of the visit is propitious as Mr Modi visits the island nation weeks after Fiji held multi-party elections, which was judged as largely free and fair by the international community. India has welcomed Fiji’s re-embrace of democracy and backed the election process by providing indelible ink and training. India also participated in the Multilateral Observer Group (MOG) for the Fiji elections as co-Chair (with Australia and Indonesia).
Fittingly, Prime Minister Modi’s 10-day overseas trip that included big-ticket multilateral summits and dozens of bilateral meetings in Myanmar and Australia ends with Fiji and meetings with leaders of small but significant Pacific island nations that are set to loom large on India’s diplomatic agenda in days to come.