The two-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that is to be inaugurated today by the Prime Minister will, in all likelihood, start off with routine announcements intended to reassure the Diaspora of more than 20 million that India duly desires their welfare. There will also be speeches made to urge a sense of bonding and persuade them that hobnobbing with official dignitaries and others of Indian origin living abroad is a worthwhile activity. On the sidelines, tried and tired advice will be doled out to those unlucky enough to live in this 9%-plus-growth economy on the political dispensation they should adopt for nationalistic pride to shine through. What none of this will do is give this event reason to justify its pretensions to being of consequence.
Since 2000 or thereabouts, the myth has multiplied that wooing NRIs and PIOs, massaging their egos and lavishing them with giveaways is a matter of urgent public policy. The Centre, therefore, has accorded this Divas top attention. Having held the event in Mumbai and Hyderabad earlier, it has been returned to Delhi for precisely the perceived need for proximity to political power. Some years ago, the Diaspora was promised dual citizenship. Last year, a special PIO university. While the former proposal was watered down to a PIO card that allows a foreign citizen of Indian origin to visit India without a visa for 15 years (its superior version, the overseas citizen card entitles the holder to visa-free visits for life), the latter proposal is still on the drawing board of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs. This ministry has a budget of Rs 50 crore for this fiscal, a big chunk of which goes into the Divas. Revised estimates show that last year?s event soaked up Rs 6 crore, almost a quarter of the ministry?s budget for 2006-07. What about the ?outcomes?? NRI remittances are up sharply this fiscal. But this would likely have happened regardless of the Divas. As for FDI by them, whatever little happens is totally independent of this annual gathering. It is time, then, for the government to withdraw from the event, and let overseas Indians run it by themselves. Perhaps the ministry could then be shut down?unless it can persuade the affluent among our overseas patriots to subscribe to, say, oil bonds at super-low coupon rates. Or pay some form of tax or the other.
