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Transcript of Joint Special Briefing by MEA and Government of Odisha on 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2025

India - Ministry of External Affairs

January 07, 2025

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Government of Odisha, I warmly welcome all our friends from the media for this special briefing on the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention. For this special briefing, we have with us Shri Arun Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA) in the Ministry of External Affairs. We also have with us Shri Manoj Ahuja, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha. As also we are joined by Shri Sanjay Singh, who is Principal Secretary, looking after information and public relations affairs in the Government of Odisha. We also have with us Shri Ankan Banerjee, Joint Secretary, Diaspora Engagement in the Ministry of External Affairs and Shri Saroj Samal, Director in the Government of Odisha. With that, I invite Secretary CPV to make his opening remarks.

But before that, ladies and gentlemen, once we have had opening remarks from the principals, I would urge you to, when you ask your questions, please do raise your hand. I will call out for you to take your turn to ask the question and please do introduce yourself as also your organisation. With that, I invite Secretary Sir to make his opening remarks. Sir, over to you.

Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): Thank you, Randhir, good afternoon and thank you all for joining us today for this special briefing on the upcoming 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that would be held, as you know, in Bhubaneswar from tomorrow, that is from 8th to 10th of January, 2025, in partnership with the State Government of Odisha.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention is being organized for the first time in the State of Odisha, which is famous for its rich historical, cultural and spiritual heritage. As you are aware that since 2017, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Conventions are being held once every two years. The last Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was held at Indore in January, 2023, in partnership with the State Government of Madhya Pradesh.

The 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention will be formally inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, on 9th of January. Her Excellency, Christine Carla Kangaloo, ORTT, the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, will be the chief guest of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and she would be virtually addressing the Convention. Dr. Dev Pragad, CEO and co-founder of Newsweek, will be the guest of honor at the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on 8th January.

We will have ministerial level delegations from Mauritius, Malaysia and South Africa and big delegations of diaspora from several other countries including from Malaysia, Mauritius, Oman, Qatar, UAE, UK and USA. There would be five plenary sessions which would be chaired by Union Ministers and moderated by eminent Indians from their respective fields.

The Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, has given us the vision of Vikasit Bharat by 2047. We have taken the initiative of not only sharing this vision with our esteemed diaspora but have also urged them to partner our journey towards this cherished goal. The Indian diaspora has an important role to play in the vision of Vikasit Bharat. It acts as a living bridge between their motherland and their adopted homeland. That is why the Government of India has chosen the diaspora's contribution to Viksit Bharat as the overarching theme of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

Now coming to the programme of the Convention, the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas would be celebrated on the first day, that is the 8th of January. It will be jointly organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Government of India in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs. Honorable Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Mohan Charan Majhi, Honorable Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Ji, Honorable External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, MOS for External Affairs, Shri Pabitra Margherita and the guest of honor, Dr. Dev Pragad, will all address the Indian diaspora delegates at the Pravasi Bharatiya Youth Convention.

The inauguration of the Youth PBD will be followed by a special plenary session on the theme titled Beyond Borders, Diaspora, Youth Leadership in a Globalised World. This will be chaired by the Honorable Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya. As a parallel event, the Honorable Chief Minister of Odisha and the Honorable External Affairs Minister would be chairing a business session with the business community of the visiting Indian diaspora.

On the afternoon of the first day, the State Government of Odisha would be hosting two plenary sessions. The first one is called Unraveling India's Best Kept Secret and the second one is titled Odisha, a Land of Opportunities. At these two sessions, the State Government of Odisha would showcase the enormous potential that could be harnessed by the Indian diaspora in Odisha through their engagements in developing and promoting tourism, trade, investments in different sectors such as textiles and garments, forest products, healthcare, pharma, food processing and start-ups.

The State Government of Odisha would also offer the PBD delegates an opportunity to have a glimpse and feel of its rich cultural heritage embodied in its intrinsic and diverse art forms and its different popular festivals by conducting their visits to several places of touristic and cultural attractions near Bhubaneswar. Arrangements have been made to serve several cuisines of Odisha to the delegates during the course of the next three days.

As I have mentioned earlier, the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas would be formally inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister of India on day two of the Convention. He will also address the Convention. The Prime Minister will remotely flag off the inaugural journey of the Pravasi Bharatiya Express, a special tourist train for the Indian diaspora which will depart from Delhi and would travel to multiple destinations of touristic and religious importance in India for a period of three weeks. This will be conducted under the Pravasi Bharatiya Tirthi Yatra Tirth Darshan Yojana of the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Honorable Prime Minister will also inaugurate four exhibitions. The first one is called Vishwaroop Ram, the Universal Legacy of Ramayana. This exhibition would present the timeless epic of Ramayana through a curated juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary art forms.

The second exhibition is titled The Diaspora's Contribution to Technology and Viksit Bharat. This exhibition would acknowledge the contributions of the Indian diaspora to the development of technology in the world. The third exhibition titled The Spread and Evolution of Indian Diaspora in the World with special focus on Mandvi to Muscat. This will showcase the rare documents of people who had migrated from Mandvi in Gujarat to Muscat in Oman.

The fourth one is an exhibition which is called The Heritage and Culture of Odisha. This exhibition will showcase the rich heritage and culture traditions of Odisha through its different art and craft forms and highlights its illustrious legacies. There would also be promotional stalls set up by several union ministries and departments of the government of India and also those by the state government of Odisha and other state governments of India with a view to project the impressive development strides taken by India during the last decade as a part of its march towards a Viksit Bharat.

In the afternoon of the second day, we will have two plenary sessions, one on titled Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers, Stories of Migrant Skills. This would be chaired by Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Honorable Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Labor and Employment. This will be followed by a plenary session called Green Connections, Diaspora's Contribution to Sustainable Development to be chaired by the Honorable Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw.

On the final day of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, the Honorable Rashtrapati Ji would chair the valedictory session in the afternoon at which she would confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards on 27 distinguished members of the Indian diaspora to recognize their outstanding contribution and achievement in diverse fields, both in their countries of residence as well as in India. Awards would be conferred to Indian diaspora from 24 countries. The Honorable Rashtrapati Ji would also deliver the valedictory address at this session.

Here I would also like to inform that the valedictory session would be preceded by two more plenary sessions. The first one is called Diaspora Divas, Celebrating Women's Leadership and Influence, Nari Shakti, which would be chaired by the Honorable External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar. And the second one will be on Diaspora Dialogues, Stories of Culture, Connections and Belongingness that would be chaired by the Honorable Minister of Culture and Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Friends, there would be several cultural performances every day in the evenings on 8th, 9th and 10th of January.

Considering the theme of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, we expect that the discussions would take place on how the diaspora can facilitate India's development, growth and its international engagements and on what opportunities India can offer to them, specifically the opportunities that are available in Odisha. The Convention will showcase the vibrancy of the Indian diaspora and their achievements abroad. The exhibitions are being organized to spotlight the contributions of the Indian diaspora and how they have acted as a vehicle for promotion of Indian culture, values and ethos abroad.

With this, I would like to thank you all for your patient hearing and I will be happy to answer your questions, if any, at the end. Thank you.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Thank you, sir. I now invite Chief Secretary Sir to make his opening remarks.

Shri Manoj Ahuja, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha: Thank you. We are very thankful to the Government of India for hosting the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention at Bhubaneswar. Organised by the External Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the Government of Odisha, we have been working to make this event comfortable and pleasurable and also impactful for all the delegates, especially the Pravasi Bharatiyas who would be visiting Bhubaneswar for this convention. We have identified about 21 tourist sites nearby in Bhubaneswar, in Puri, in Cuttack, up till Jajpur and have made special arrangements for the guests to visit these places.

We have also introduced five double-decker buses and ten hop-off buses where our delegates can make use of in seeing the city and around the city. We have also, lot of activities, people of Bhubaneswar have come forward and actually owned up this convention and you will find that things like food festival at Khau Gali, Patha Utsav , Park Utsav, Night Flea Market at Ekamra, Haat has been set up and a lot of programmes which will run concurrently. For example, the Adivasi Mela at Exhibition Ground, Chilika Bird Festival at Mangalajodi, Rajarani Music Festival, Mukteshwar Dance Festival, Flower Show at Ekamra Kannan, International Odissi Dance Festival, Food Fest at Khao Gali and similar programmes besides the one which are being organized in the convention premises itself.

We are very glad that in keeping with the strategy of Purvodaya, Odisha has been selected for the programme and from the citizens of Odisha and the state government, we wish all the delegates to have a pleasurable and enjoyable stay at Bhubaneswar. Thank you very much.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we open the floor for questions. Excuse me, we have a question here. First, let me call out and then please raise your hand so that I can point out to you.

Amrit Pal Singh, DD India: My name is Amrit Pal Singh, I am from DD India. My question is for Secretary CPV. So, what is the objective of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas and why Odisha this time?

Speaker 1 : My question is, total budget, budget who will give, central government or state government? If state government will give then what benefits state government will get in future?

Speaker 2: I supplement to why Odisha has been selected this time. And my second question, how this just measures the contribution of diaspora to [Inaudible].

Jayati Maity, Nandighosha TV: Sir, this is Jayati Maity from Nandighosha TV. I would like to know from the dignitaries, there is a threat of new virus and new affected also found in different states. Is there any precautions taken for this event, sir?

Speaker 3: Yes, sir. Sir, how do you find the Odisha Canvas for the NRIs to paint their story? And the second question is, if you will see, Odisha, is Odisha more investment friendly as compared to other states as given that the state has a very much tremendous potential of land, mines and resources and tourism also?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Sir, we can take these questions and then we will come back for more.

Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): The Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, as I mentioned, is one of the most important schemes of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Government of India. Our basic objective through this program is to provide a platform to the global Indian diaspora to engage themselves and to do and meet the leadership in this process. So this event, as I mentioned, takes place once every two years. Two years back, we were in Madhya Pradesh in partnership with the state government hosting the event in Indore. Two years down the line, we are now in Odisha in Bhubaneswar hosting this event. It is one of the largest events of the Diaspora Connect. As you are very much aware, diaspora engagement is one of the most important objectives of the Ministry of External Affairs. Our Honorable Prime Minister, whenever he has visited any country abroad, diaspora engagement has been one of his major events that takes place. Recently when he was in Guyana and Nigeria, he had diaspora engagements there also. So this is keeping in tradition with our overall objective and policy of regular engagement with the diaspora that the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is held.

Why Odisha has been selected? As Chief Secretary just mentioned, as a part of the Purvodaya policy, the Government of India decided that Odisha should be the destination for this year's Pravasi Bharati Divas. It will be an opportunity for Odisha to present itself to the diaspora about the opportunities that the state has for the diaspora to come and invest and to explore. Tourism, as the Honorable Chief Secretary just mentioned, is one of the most important areas that we are looking at in promoting. As I mentioned, there will be a business session where investment opportunities will be presented.

Shri Manoj Ahuja, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha: Just to add to what my colleague has mentioned, the diaspora contribution to India's global growth story has been very significant. And this diaspora can also from the state's perspective play a very major role in Odisha's development. Just the fact that if so many delegates are coming, if they carry back good experiences from Odisha, then they become our ambassadors. The Honorable Prime Minister has announced a scheme in Chalo India, where essentially he says that every one Indian can then bring back five more visitors to Odisha. So when we in Odisha are thinking about playing a very significant role in the Vikasit Bharat 2047 vision, we will also be able to perform that role at a global stage, be it internal of tourist attractions, be it in terms of exposing people to our art, culture, sculpture, traditions, history and also in terms of business environment as he mentioned. So we feel that there will be a lot of positive spin-offs for Odisha in those terms as the number of delegates is very large and coming from all over the country.

Somebody asked a small question about the virus and all that. We can please rest assured that we are going strictly as per Government of India guidelines in that matter and taking as and when necessary steps are to be taken. At that stage, whatever is the requirement has been adequately taken care of.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: We have a question here.

Speaker 4: This is the 18th edition of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas. What has been our experience as far as positioning India globally in economic and social sectors, economic, social and culturally?

Dr. Ashok Panda: This is Dr. Ashok Panda. I have a very small question. For example, I am studying in a civil school over here and now I am in the US. Obviously, I would like to feel like having an interface with my school trip buddies or my friends. So what I am trying to tell you is what provision has been taken by the community to ensure that there is an interface between the localities and the people who are coming from outside. That is an important interface and I am sure you will appreciate it. I don't know what has been done in that regard.

Soumyajit Pattnaik: I am Soumyajit Pattnaik. I am from Kalinga TV. My question is to the Chief Secretary. We are showcasing Odisha for investments. So are we looking at diversifying investment because whenever we speak of investments, we are looking at mineral-based industries only. So what kind of sectors, like what are the diversified sectors we are looking at for investment, especially from the diaspora. Thank you.

Shri Manoj Ahuja, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha: I think regarding the investment question, we will take it for Utkarsh Odisha. I think we can discuss in detail there because that would be the matter there. But rest assured, we are looking for a diversified investment.

The second point which you raised, I think it is very important. That is why we have made efforts and tried to involve and get people to make it their own event for the citizens of Bhubaneswar. And also we have had specific people attached with everybody in case they have special requests. People, if they are from Odisha and they may have studied in our school, they want special requests. We will also take that into consideration and make arrangements for them. Plus, besides the delegates, this time we have created enough space for local participants who we have invited all the eminent people and others. We are inviting them through special invitations so that they can also participate in this event.

Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): The question that you raised, 18th session this is going to be there, 17 sessions have been held. Today the Indian diaspora is more than 35 million across the globe and they play a major role working as, as I mentioned in my statement, living bridges between the country where they are today staying and working and their motherland, which is here over India.

This diaspora that we have is one of our biggest strengths when we are there. If you would ask me, then the amount of remittances that India receives today, we are the largest in terms of remittances that come and our diaspora is one of the biggest contributors. Our diaspora plays a major role in promoting the Indian culture also abroad and Government of India here, we encourage them also to work with our Indian missions that are there, our ambassadors over there with whom they are able to promote and propagate the Indian culture. You will hear Indian festivals being organized in various parts of the world and that is happening thanks to the growing Indian diaspora.

So if I would say economically they are connected, socially they are connected, culturally they are connected, but they are in a different country, in a different offshore country, but somewhere the links are there and if you recall the Honorable Prime Minister himself has described them as the Rashtradoots. He says that you are our two ambassadors who are posted abroad. So therefore the strength of the Indian diaspora is immense. This is all I can add.

Speaker 5: Can you create a copy of your statement because you touched a number of points?

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Also this press conference will be available digitally on the MEAs YouTube channel. So you can have that and the transcript also will be on our website.

So with that we come to the conclusion of this press briefing. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. We look forward to being in touch with you over the next three days to carry the story of diaspora of Pravasis here in India and the story of Odisha to every look and corner of the world. Thank you very much.