annual report1-final.qxd - Overseas Indian

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
where the MOIA could take action and do something
related to that. Firstly, there should be an effective network
of younger PIO leaders below 40 years. Secondly,
there should be a strengthening of network of ministers
of PIO around the world not only focusing on India but
on parliamentarians across the world. Thirdly, there
should be sustainability of the parallel process of PIO
members of parliament held at PBD 2003.
Baleswar Agarwal, in his turn, talked about the parliamentarian
conferences, the first one of which took
place in November 1998 and which was inaugurated
by then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The second
one was inaugurated by the Vice-President
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Around 300 parliamentarians
participated in these conferences. It was high
time for the diaspora to join hands, he said.
Velupali Raju from Reunion Island started by
talking about his island country and the geographical
distance from major cities. He pointed out that
Reunion had a large Indian population, many coming
from Pondicherry and erstwhile French territories
in India as well as traders from Gujarat and
other parts of India. It was an island with many
civilisations of the world living together. It had borrowed
spirituality from India, he said.
J.C. Sharma, in his speech, opined that the most
important aspect of the Indian diaspora was its
dynamics. The diaspora was so varied and different
that the nature of discourse also was varied. He
gave the examples of Indians in Fiji, South Africa,
and Mauritius. He argued that one could not keep
politics ethnicity-based, otherwise it would lead to
instability, mutual suspicion, and unrest. Hence,
the nature of discourse should be made inclusive.
Finally, he stated that voting rights was a complex
issue and had to be considered very carefully.
In the end, after comments from the audience, a
resolution was passed, which was drafted by the
South African delegation and read by the Chair, Ms.
Shashi Uban Tripathi. It read: “We hereby call upon
all Pravasis, democratic peace loving people in the
world, and the international agencies, and the social
forces to give support to this programme of PBD celebrations
to commemorate the 100 years anniversary
of Satyagraha. In noting further the philosophy
of Satyagraha arose from the special experiences of
Gandhiji in South Africa and India against racism.
Here we call upon both the Governments and people
of both India and South Africa to lead this international
programme of celebration activities to commemorate
the 100 years of Satyagraha.”
Panelists at the panel discussion on ‘Reporting on the Diaspora’ in
Hyderabad on January 9, 2006.
Chair:
Speakers:
Panel Discussion II: Reporting on the Diaspora
Dr. Sanjaya Baru,
Media Adviser to PM
Paras Ramoutar
Chidanand Rajghatta
Sreenath Sreenivasan
Raju Narisetti
Ramesh Japra
Neena Gopal
Shubha Singh
The discussion was initiated by Dr. Sanjaya Baru,
Media Adviser to the Prime Minister. In his opening
remarks, the Chairman spelt out the interest of
the MOIA in networking with the people of Indian
origin through the media. He said that it was
essential to understand what common interests
bound the diversities of the Indian diaspora.
The first speaker, Neena Gopal, a journalist from
UAE, made a comparison between the media in
UAE and India. In UAE, the media was
approached by people having problems, whereas
in India, the media had to approach people to find
out their problems. She said that the views of the
media were taken into account by the UAE
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