If the objective of the twice-a-year Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is to strengthen connections of People of Indian Origin (PIOs) with their roots, the 18th edition of the event which came to a close on Friday in the temple city of Bhubaneswar has served its purpose well.
About 7,500 PIOs from about 75 countries attended the event. This year, the chief guest was Carla Kangaloo, the President of Trinidad and Tobago.
On Friday, 27 accomplished PIOs were honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA), the highest honour for overseas Indians. The awardees hail from Australia, Austria, Barbados, Fiji, Guyana, Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Maldives, Myanmar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Tanzania, UAE, Uganda, UK and the US.
In the gatherings inside the huge tents set up for the event, one could hear a smattering of too many languages of countries that PIOs have made their homes—Spanish, French Creole, Arabic, Malay, Burman, English etc—as the ‘Pravasis’ interacted with each other in immensely cheerful ways, made more delightful by a pride and a sense of cherishment in their Indian roots.
Not without reason too. India, home to one-sixth of humanity, is a country that is on the resurgence, with the fastest growing economy and growing strategic and military heft.
Many awardees clung to a poetic cliché—the country where they work is the ‘karambhoomi’ but India is their ‘janambhoomi’.
On the sidelines, the team of Union ministers from Delhi—led by the unflappable foreign minister S Jaishankar, his two junior ministers Kirti Vardhan Singh and Pabitra Margherita, Mansukh Mandaviya, the youth affairs and sports minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, the education minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Information and Broadcasting and IT minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the culture and tourism minister, tribal affairs minister Jual Oram and others interacted with the diaspora groups from the United States, United Kingdom, Qatar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, UAE among others.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the PBD 2025 on Thursday while President Droupadi Murmu chaired the valedictory session on Friday.
Expressing her appreciation for the indomitable spirit of the Indian diaspora, President Murmu made a special mention of the contribution made by women, students and the youth who she termed as the torch bearers for the future generations of the diaspora.
This is the first time that the PBD has been held in eastern India. Of course, Odisha has had historical maritime connections with South East Asia that are being renewed now.
