The next edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD), the annual conference of Indian diaspora, to be held in New Delhi on January 8 and 9, will focus on rural development initiatives.“The focus of the meet will be on rural population, especially empowerment of rural women,” Minister for Overseas Indians’ Affairs Vayalar Ravi said at a press conference here on Wednesday.He said the focus of the last five PBDs has been to attract investment from the overseas Indians rather than their ideas and skills. “Money has not been forthcoming. Therefore, we decided that we won’t ask for any investment this year but seek partnership from NRIs for philanthropic projects,” he added. The minister said projects like micro-finance initiatives can benefit the rural population and the NRIs will be interested in contributing to the development of their place of birth. The second day of the PBD would be dedicated to interaction with Indian states represented by various chief ministers. He further said that the session would give impetus to greater interaction between the diaspora and major Indian states as important investment destinations. The session will consist of experts both from India and overseas as well as representatives from Central and state Governments. Opportunities will be given for longer interactive sessions with the delegates. It will also be a platform where issues of social concerns of regional diaspora groups would be discussed in detail, Rana said.“The objective of the PBD 2008 is to provide a platform for socio-economic development of India and recognise the contributions made by the overseas Indians,” Rana said. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, will be the Chief Guest of the function.
