JOHANNESBURG, NOVEMBER 20, 2004
IANS
Indians in Africa have been urged to participate actively in the third
diaspora meet that will be held this time with a more business-oriented
approach in Mumbai in January.
Minister of state for overseas Indian affairs Jagdish Tytler Thursday
ended four days of discussions with local communities in Kenya and South
Africa in which he went to great pains to explain why the third Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas would be different.
“In the past, there was a lot of talk. Lots of problems were discussed,
there was good food and entertainment and that was the end of it,”
Tytler said here.
“Then they all went home. Ministers went back to their states
and nothing came out of it. Because of this, people started losing faith
and began calling it a ‘tamasha’.
” Tytler said he had been requested by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to avoid this at all costs.
“She said to me: ‘Don’t take the overseas Indians lightly.
They mean business. They are serious people. They have made a name for
themselves and they have brought a work culture that we are all proud
of.’”
To achieve this, several areas had been identified for special attention
at the event in January.
These include education, tourism, infrastructure, science and technology,
nuclear medicine. Tytler said all chief ministers would also be asked
to come with full business plans of their states.