Alive For Go-Ahead Men : A Delhi Press Magazine

In the biting cold weather of the capital, another annual ritual, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD), came to a tame end, recently. Like the weather, the event was extremely cold and drab, by any stretch of imagination.

The most well-known overseas Indians, like steel baron Laxmi Mittal, top-notch politician of America Bobby Jindal, golfer Vijay Singh, Vikas Dhoorooso, member of the 2006 French football team, cricketers like Monty Paneshar, Ram Naresh Sarwan, and Shiv Narain Chanderpaul were missing this time too.

Not only that, the likes of Salman Rushdie, Lord Swaraj Paul, City Bank boss Vikram Pandit and Pepsi co-head Indira Nooyi, did not consider it worth attending. Frankly speaking, but for the presence of Samy Vellu Sangalimuthu, the longest-serving President of the Malaysian Indian Congress and former Minister in Malaysia, Mahendra Choudhray, former Prime Minister of Fiji and Ruby Dhall, the glamourous MP of the Canadian Parliament, hardly any big-time overseas Indian was there at the PBD.

While Indians have a huge pres- ence in the USA, Malaysia and South Africa, with over 10 lakh people of Indian origin each in these countries, their delegations were not big enough. The only saving grace was the presence of affable and amiable Sant Singh Chatwal, a NRI hotelier from America. A close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, he candidly admitted that big-time overseas Indians hardly care for this event.

It is the duty of the Government to ensure that known faces among overseas Indians attend the summit.

While addressing the 8th edition of PBD, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh urged those present to invest in India in a big way.

Perhaps, he was not aware of the profile of most of the participants. They were either working-class people or small-time businessmen.

Of course, India today is one of the top investment destinations.

Economic opportunities are expanding everywhere. But, it would be most appropriate if he made such an appeal to real big-ticket overseas Indians. Unfortunately, like in the past, they were missing this time, too.

Further, it was felt that overseas Indians should be encouraged to join public life and politics upon their return to India, just as they are joining business and academia.

However, the more pertinent question, that remained unanswered and which many overseas Indians, especially from Malaysia, were asking was: Why is the Indian Government only interested in the NRIs' dollars ? And it looks the other way when overseas Indians feel and face the heat in their adopted countries.

They were referring to the shameless incidents in Australia, Malaysia and some African countries, where Indians are at the receiving end from the locals for some time.

Also, like a ritual, Indian leaders, including the PM, assured them that that the Government was working on giving 'Persons of Indian Origin' the right to exercise their franchise, by the next general elections. The response to the PM's assurance that, overseas Indians would be given right to franchise, was quite lukewarm.

A third-generation Indian from Thailand, Paul Pornthep SriNaurla, was rather blunt when he said that he is only emotionally attached to India.

"We want to see it growing in leaps and bound in every field," he averred. But, he was not keen to get voting rights in India.

Dr Singh also discussed the important subject of the welfare and security of overseas Indian workers and students.

He said that many of them had been adversely affected by the global downturn and his Government is working on proving a social security safety net for returning workers.

Concern for security

He said that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has established a ‘Indian Community Welfare Fund’ in 18 countries but there was also a need to structure an appropriate ‘Return and Resettlement Fund’. The Government is also negotiating with the Governments of Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar, that had a large number of Indian emigrants, to improve the welfare and protection provided to them.

An NRI from Dubai said that Indians working in the Gulf have to work under most trying conditions in far-flung countries. They hardly get any social security. It is high time that, like the Chinese Government, Indian Government takes a proactive role in the welfare of Indians working or settled abroad. Delegates from the Gulf were particularly peeved and disappointed with speeches of Prime Minister and Vayalar Ravi, the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, for not giving them concrete assurances in terms of their social security in the Gulf.

Inward remittances into the country, from non-resident Indians, witnessed a dip during the calendar year 2009 due to the global economic conditions, which resulted in job-losses across various countries, particularly the Gulf. There has been a 13% decline in remittances at $22.8 billion in the first half (January-June) of the calendar year 2009, against $26.2 billion in the same period last year, according to figures on private transfers available on the Reserve Bank of India site.

India was among the largest recipients of remittances in the world, in 2008. The country witnessed a substantial surge in inward remittances, with the NRIs considering the Indian banking system a safe haven for parking their surplus funds. Total remittances across various countries in 2008 were close to $300 billion.

Almost a dozen banks, including Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Indian Overseas Bank, had put up stalls in the PBD, with great hope that NRIs would throng them in order to invest their surplus money. However, the PBD proved to be huge disaster on this front, as very few of them were seen making enquiries at these stalls.

An official of PNB blamed the organisers for failing to invite affluent and important overseas Indians.

But, Harmohan S Walia, an NRI from Australia, was of the view that, as Indian banks have branches in practically all parts of the world, they park their money in those branches.

Property disputes

And as if it is not enough, a reallife version of the film Khosla ka ghosla is being played out with an increasing number of non-resident Indians (NRIs). Complaints of realestate deals going sour, illegal encroachment and unauthorised occupation of properties flooded the officials of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) during PBD.

"Property dispute is one of the most frequent complaints by NRIs.

They are unable to protect their property due to long absences or lack of awareness of laws," says Vayalar Ravi. The largest number of complaints is from major real-estate markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab.

The complaints are mainly about protection of property that has been forcibly occupied or encroached, dispute relating to division of property or inheritance and cases where investors have been cheated by realestate developers. Though there was a session on property disputes at the PBD, only assurances were given to the harassed, overseas Indians.

At the end of the 3-day jamboree called PBD, there was a strong feeling that the Government has to plan this annual event more carefully and look after the interests of the huge Indian diaspora. The purpose of PBD would be defeated if the Government looks only at the dollars of overseas Indians.