The
Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas celebrations, here today. The President of Mauritius,
Sir Aneerood Juganauth, Deputy Prime Minister, Shri L.K. Advani,
External Affairs Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha, President of FICCI,
Shri A.C. Muthaiah and Shri L.M. Singhvi, the Organiser of the
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Celebrations, were among the distinguished
guests present on the occasion.
Following is the
full text of the speech of the Prime Minister on the occasion:
"My simple
greeting to all of you here today is: Welcome home.
Many of you are citizens
of your adopted countries. Over 20 million of you have set up
home in scores of countries, near and far. But each one of you
shares a common identity – your Indianness – and a common origin
– this Motherland of your forefathers. Therefore, this great gathering,
which is the first of its kind, is truly a homecoming.
It is also a
grand occasion for the country to pay tribute to its sons and
daughters who have succeeded in reaching the pinnacle in so many
diverse fields of human endeavour all over the world.
There is yet
another important aspect of this unique celebration of the Pravasi
Bharatiya’s association with his land of origin. Many of you –
or your forefathers – left India in search of fortune for a better
livelihood. Today, India has itself become a land of opportunity.
We want to share with our extended family our achievements, hopes,
concerns, aspirations and goals. Your awareness of our current
national course and understanding of our perspectives would enrich
your bonds with India and heighten your sense of belonging to
the global Indian family.
The odyssey of
our people to the four corners of the globe has been a saga of
courage, enterprise and character. In ancient times, our forefathers
went to distant lands as traders, monks, teachers and temple builders.
A century and a half ago, Indian indentured labour was sent forth
to sugar, tea and rubber plantations in near and far-flung parts
of the British Empire. They worked on lands as far apart as Fiji
and Mauritius, Suriname and Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Burma, Guyana
and Malaysia.
The next wave of
emigration was of entrepreneurs and traders who sailed intrepidly
into uncharted waters for unknown countries. Since the 70’s, young
Indian professionals have been migrating abroad to corporate boardrooms,
research laboratories, engineering workshops and university faculties.
The emigration of doctors, nurses, engineers, managers, plumbers,
and electricians to West Asia and the Gulf, has been a steady
growth.
Today, the success
of every category of these emigrants all over the world testifies
to the indomitable spirit, which they carried from Indian soil.
It is a tribute to their patience and forbearance in the face
of hardship, rebuke and denial. It speaks of their dedication
to their chosen professions, overcoming various trials and tribulations.
On this day, 88 years
ago, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India after nearly 20 years as
a Pravasi Bharatiya in South Africa. His struggle against discrimination,
deprivation and exploitation of Indians in South Africa not only
fired the imagination of Indian patriots, it also inspired a spate
of freedom movements right across the African continent. Out of
those freedom movements emerged Pravasi Bharatiya heroes like
Seewoosagar Ramgoolam of Mauritius; Yusuf Dadoo and Monty Naicker
of South Africa; Cheddi Jagan of Guyana; Jagennath Lachmon of
Surinam and many others.
Not many people today
remember the painful Kamagatamaru episode of the early 20th
century, when a boatload of Sikhs from India were most brutally
left to fend for themselves on the high seas off the coast of
Canada. Today, Sikhs are among the most prosperous Canadians and
are increasingly influential in Canadian politics. In Ujjal Dossanj,
we have honoured one such prominent Canadian figure.
Even the illiterate
indentured plantation labourers empowered succeeding generations
through a determined pursuit of education. Sir Vidia Naipaul,
Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Dato Samy Vellu and millions of others are
living symbols of the transformation of an oppressed community
to leaders of society in the space of a few generations.
Let us remember that,
unlike the British, the French, the Dutch and the Germans, India
was never a maritime power. All the same, Indians ventured forth
across the seas to set up new homes in new lands. They went in
peace, often with nothing more than faith in their destiny. No
country can claim that Indians entered its territory in the spirit
of colonialism. This also is a glorious tribute to you and your
forefathers. Few people who entered foreign lands can claim such
a testimony.
Pandit Nehru once
remarked that wherever there is a Indian, a bit of India goes
with him. Pravasi Indians have truly taken India abroad – Indian
culture, Indian society and Indian traditions, not to mention
Indian films and Indian cuisine!
The outside world
has also attracted the best Indian talents, skills, brains and
abilities – like Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati; E.C.G. Sudarshan
and S. Chandrashekhar; Hargobind Khorana and Zubin Mehta. The
Pravasi Bharatiya family today also includes:
- Indian writers in English with
an international readership;
- Entrepreneurs and industrialists
with a global reach of operations;
- Management and lifestyle gurus
with a huge following; and,
- Filmmakers, sportspersons, artists
and performers of great popularity.
They have dramatically
changed the world's perception of Indians, and hence of India.
They have provoked a new appreciation of this land, which has
produced and exported so many achievers. They have built bridges
of understanding between the international community and India.
The benchmarks for
success, which the Pravasi community has set, are a challenge
for us in India. They make us examine why the Indian is so much
more innovative, productive and successful abroad than in his
own country. They prod us to create a business, investment and
economic climate, which is as conducive to success as anywhere
else in the world.
I assure you that
we are fully committed to creating such an environment in India.
We are modernizing
our infrastructure. Our telecom facilities are already as good
as anywhere in the world. The combination of India-based IT companies
and Indian professionals abroad, have made India a premier software
power. We are building world-class highways through our National
Highway Development Project. Our rural roads network is being
upgraded. We have ambitious plans for airports, ports, and railways.
Housing construction has acquired an unprecedented speed. Literacy,
especially women’s literacy, has registered a marked rise over
the last decade.
We are aware of
the slow progress in several areas of our social sector development,
but we are determined to move faster than before. All in all,
we are guided by the ambitious goal of making India a Developed
Nation by 2020, free from all vestiges of poverty and full of
opportunities for all our one billion people.
We would like to
create an environment in India which will make you want to return,
not just for sentimental or emotional reasons, but in the conviction
that you can excel in this country as much as you could anywhere
else in the world.
I believe that the
Pravasi Bharatiya can be a catalyst for rapid change in this direction.
Each of you, through your network of friends, relatives and acquaintances
can create a strong urge for change in India. Our collective attention
needs to be rescued from the sterile controversies and trivial
issues that dominate the headlines, and focused on the real tasks
to be accomplished, so that India can catch up with the developed
world.
At the same time,
you can project the truth about India to the world in a credible
and effective manner. Misleading, one-sided and negative pictures
are often put out due to bias, ignorance or design. Your familiarity
with the Indian reality and with the perspectives of your adopted
society equips you to correct such misrepresentations. You could
project a positive image of India -- not as propaganda, but as
a true reflection of the reality on the ground.
For example,
- India continues to have one of
the fastest growing economies, at a time when most developed
economies have slowed down.
- Our exports grew by 19 per cent,
in spite of a global slowdown and a strong rupee.
- Till recently, India needed to
import food grain to feed its population. Last year, we exported
food grain worth over 60 billion rupees to 25 countries.
- About a decade ago, we had to
mortgage our gold to tide over a difficult Balance of Payments
crisis. Today, we have record foreign exchange reserves of nearly
70 billion dollars.
How often have we
seen such facts quoted outside the country? It is far more likely
that mindless political gossip or isolated acts of crime and violence
would dominate the headlines around the world.
India has been deeply
appreciative of the support of the Pravasi Bharatiya community,
at times of need. Whenever India has faced a challenge to its
security or to its territorial integrity, you have tirelessly
championed its cause. When there was an effort to isolate India
after our nuclear tests of 1998, you came forward to stand by
India. Your enthusiastic response to our Resurgent India Bonds
in 1998 helped us raise over 4 billion dollars, when we needed
it most.
Many of you have
been generously helping the schools, colleges, IITs and universities,
as their grateful alumni. I commend this gesture of Guru Dakshina.
Some of you have met me with interesting suggestions on how to
expand the scope of Pravasi Bharatiya involvement in the development
of India’s educational infrastructure. The Ministry of Human Resource
Development has also taken some initiatives in this direction.
Since education is going to be one of the main competitive strengths
of India in the emerging Knowledge Society, let us work together
to seize the opportunity.
In this context,
I will take the luxury of offering a word of advice. The Indian
community abroad often reflects the diversity, which is the hallmark
of our society here. We are proud of this diversity - whether
it is linguistic, religious or regional. Groupings like the Telugu,
Tamil, Punjabi and Marathi associations serve a useful purpose
in preserving linguistic skills and regional cultures. But it
is also necessary to strengthen the broader Indian identity in
the country of your residence. When you are united as Indians,
your voice carries greater weight: both for highlighting issues
of your concern in your host country, and for promoting Indian
causes. This is a truth of great long-term significance for Indian
communities everywhere.
I have always been
conscious of the need for India to be sensitive to the hopes,
aspirations and concerns of its vast diaspora. It is like a parental
charge. It is also an obligation derived from our civilizational
heritage.
It was with this
perspective that we set up a High Level Committee, headed by Dr
Laxmi Mall Singhvi, to examine all matters relating to the interaction
of the community with India. I would like to congratulate Dr Singhvi
and his colleagues for the thorough and exhaustive nature of their
report.
The idea of celebrating
the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas annually flows from the recommendations
of the Committee. The revised and improved scheme for PIO Cards
is also based on the ideas of the Committee.
Indians who have
chosen to settle in foreign lands should be loyal to their country
of adoption. The biggest challenge facing every immigrant community
is to integrate harmoniously into the political, economic and
social life of the host society, while preserving and cherishing
its civilizational heritage. Over the years, Indians have achieved
this delicate balance virtually everywhere, without a contradiction
between their adopted citizenship and their original Indian identity.
It is in this background
that my government has decided to accept the High-level Committee’s
recommendation to permit dual citizenship for People of Indian
Origin living in certain countries. We are now working on the
administrative regulations and procedures governing dual citizenship.
We will introduce the necessary legislation during the Budget
Session of Parliament.
The NRI of today
is the Pravasi Bharatiya of tomorrow. The welfare of NRIs in the
Gulf region is of utmost concern to us. A compulsory insurance
scheme for Indian workers migrating to this region will be unveiled
shortly. Parliament is already considering a bill to establish
a welfare fund for the overseas Indian workers. To meet the educational
needs of children of workers in the Gulf, we plan to reserve a
certain proportion of seats in our academic institutions for the
children of the Gulf NRIs.
Our preparations
for this first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, and the encouraging response
to it, have convinced us of the fruitfulness of this event. We
will continue to engage closely with the communities of Indian
origin. For this, we are setting up an Advisory Committee, which
will meet periodically to suggest new initiatives to the Minister
of External Affairs.
We are prepared to
respond to your expectations from India. We invite you, not only
to share our vision of India in the new millennium, but also to
help us shape its contours. We do not want only your investment.
We also want your ideas. We do not want your riches, we want the
richness of your experience. We can gain from the breadth of vision
that your global exposure has given you.
When you left the
country, you carried with you the primary colours of the Indian
ethos. A cross-fertilization of cultures over time has added new
shades to those vibrant hues. Today we invite you to brush in
some of these new colours into the ever-evolving canvas of India’s
development.
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