Sixth Pravasi Bharathiya Divas in Delhi

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Theme - Engaging the Indian diaspora for India's social progress

November 22, 2007

The sixth PBD is also projected as a platform where issues of social concern of regional diaspora groups could be discussed in details. There will be parallel sessions of different regions - such as Gulf and the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, USA etc - where there is significant Indian presence.

The Indian government will now seek the 25-million strong diaspora's help in the social development of the country, said Vayalar Ravi, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA). The sixth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the annual conference of the non-resident Indians that will take place Jan 7-9, will focus on education, healthcare, empowerment of rural women and knowledge economy, the minister said.

"The focus will be on social areas and issues with special emphasis on women, including rural women," Minister Ravi said.

He said the focus of the last five PBDs had been to attract investment from the overseas Indians rather than their ideas and skills. "The investment or money has not been forthcoming. Therefore, we decided that we will not ask for any investment this year but seek partnership from NRIs for philanthropic projects."

The ministry has mooted the idea for establishing 'India Development Foundation' (IDF), which would be act like a "single window clearance system" to channel the investments - both small and large - ideas, skills and technology for around 6,000 rural blocks across the country.

"The potential investors - it could be anyone who wants to do something for his or her village or district - could approach the IDF and it would guide him to implement the plan without going through the red tapes," Ravi said.

The PBD, being organized jointly by MOIA and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), will focus on micro-finance institutions at the block level and the health sector. "After much thought and research, we found that these were the sectors that could attract a lot of interest from the NRI community," Ravi said.

A highlight of the PBD would be the 'market place' organised by the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC), where the potential investor and the Indian businessmen could meet and discuss to establish joint ventures.

"It will be a side event and will involve providing B2B partnerships and answering queries to overseas Indians by eminent knowledge partners of the OIFC. It will be a unique opportunity to find a one-stop shop for answering queries of overseas Indians especially in the real estate, wealth management and taxation," said a ministry official.

Registration Open:
Parvasi Bharatiya Divas is the annual flagship event of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) which aims to connect more 25 Million Indians with India's Economic and Social development. The Ministry is organizing Sixth edition of the PBD on 8^th - 9^th January, 2008 in New Delhi.

The online Registration for PBD-2008 is now open through the website www.pbdindia.org/

The ministry official in a communiqué has suggested to those who want participate to register early to avoid any inconvenience related to accommodation and other arrangement at a much later date.

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