The Hindu : National : Meet of overseas Indians to be shorn of festivities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 02, 2005

National

National

Meet of overseas Indians to be shorn of festivities

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 1. The Government has decided to go ahead with the January 7-9 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, being held in Mumbai for the first time, but there will be no celebrations of any kind.

The decision to go ahead with the event was taken at a high-level meeting today.

"It will be a business-like affair. All celebrations have been cancelled," the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Jagdish Tytler, said this evening.

"In the light of the tsunami tragedy and the Government's pre-occupation with relief and rehabilitation, it has been decided to scale down the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2005 meet in Mumbai next week," an official statement said.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has agreed to allow a scaled-down divas, after initially considering its cancellation, because many of the several hundred delegates to the conference have already arrived in India, the statement said.

"However, the Prime Minister has directed the Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs, the nodal Ministry organising the event, to cancel all celebratory events including entertainment, lunch and dinner programmes. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2005 will only have business-oriented sessions. It will also discuss ways in which overseas Indians can contribute to the relief and rehabilitation efforts in a sustained manner."

Natwar for ASEAN meet

It was also announced that due to his commitment to the Mumbai event, the Prime Minister had requested the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, to represent him at the Association of South-East Asian Nations' summit on the post-tsunami situation in Jakarta on January 6.

After participating in the January 6 meeting, Mr. Natwar Singh would fly to Colombo to discuss relief and rehabilitation issues with the Sri Lankan Government, the statement added. The invitation to attend the summit meeting had been extended by the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hasan Wirajuda, to Mr. Natwar Singh during a telephone conversation on Friday. Key international players have also been invited to attend the summit meeting.

Official sources said that a Bollywood nite and a cultural nite, scheduled for January 7 and 8 in connection with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, had been cancelled.

A large number of participants from abroad and India have already confirmed their presence at the event.

While the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will inaugurate the event on January 7, the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will give away the Pravasi Bharatiya Awards to eminent overseas Indians.

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