Click to play videoNew Delhi: The fifth Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas – India’s NRI fest – concluded in the Capital on Wednesday, with the Government once again rolling out the red carpet and then bidding a familiar adieu to the much-feted Non Resident Indians.
While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made an emphatic speech urging the NRIs to invest in India, not just financially but emotionally and intellectually; President A P J Abdul Kalam highlighted the importance of the “the great NRI.”
"The 25 million overseas Indians are constantly maintaining the umbilical connectivity with India," Kalam said.
But the pep-talk apart, has the Government taken - or plans to undertake - any concrete steps to make the community motivated enough to think of their motherland or are NRIs still India's neglected diaspora?
At the end of six plenary and 22 working group sessions, the great Indian Diaspora is no better or worse off than before.
The most keenly awaited session on how to get $1.5 trillion of capital investment saw a capacity attendance by NRIs and also highlighted how investing in India is still riddled with bureaucratic red tape.
"We have to fill out forms in triplicate and they ask for PAN and MIN numbers. It’s not possible," an NRI pointed out to Finance Minister P Chidambaram
Chidambaram had a tough time dodging these very pointed questions. But it wasn’t just the formidable bureaucratic barrier that became a bone of contention.
Workers in the Gulf countries also said the Indian missions are short-staffed and just cant handle the needs of the millions who are employed there.
However, while there were no big ticket announcements at the three-day event, the corporates still reaffirmed their faith in the great Indian growth story.
The Government also indicated that it will come out with financial instruments for attracting remittances from NRIs into key sectors like infrastructure and agriculture.
There was also a special mention for the Indian-American community with the Prime Minister acknowledging the role they played in lobbying for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The thinking was clear - NRI communities could be a powerful tool in pushing strategic agendas.¤
All the big-talk apart, there was also a token discussion on social and civic legal issues involving the NRIs.
Though the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas has now become a regular feature every winter, the moot question remains that beyond just being a annual jamboree, does the fest serve any real purpose?
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