Once again the annual jamboree of diaspora, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, is here and once again overseas Indians would expect to be heard by the powers that be. In its eight year now, the PBD has seen its attendance fall to around a fifth of what earlier editions saw. The media quota a senior Foreign Affairs official as reasoning: “The novelty of PBD is fading and there is no magic formula to increase the numbers. We cannot rotate the venue as it is difficult to get government officials to attend the meetings for three full days. Even if we invite the Union Home Minister for the function, he cannot stay more than a few hours. Last time, we got around 1,000 people since it was held in Chennai.”

That could be one explanation. However, it is more likely most NRIs have realised that the event is more about ‘Bharat’ than about the ‘Pravasi.’ Repeatedly, representatives of non-resident Indians, particularly those from the Gulf, have attempted to bring to the fore the plight of low-wage earning workers and each time they’ve found the officialdom pre-occupied with the wealthier lot who could park funds in the home state. Let us, therefore, reconcile to that fact and move on. Let us try to look for something for the ‘Pravasi’ in Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. As per the announced plans, it is only the exclusive session on “Property-related issues of NRIs/PIOs” that could be of a little bit of interest to the “Aam NRI.”

Hundreds of thousands of rupees worth of property across the country has been rendered of no value to the NRI owners owing to a plethora of legal wrangling and bureaucratic rigmarole. Far away from home and usually lacking local help to tackle these matters, a large number of overseas Indians find themselves in the throes of despair and desperation. Tardy legal processes do not help whether it comes to evicting an unwanted tenant or resolving a family dispute. To add to their woes, there are hundreds of fly-by-night type of real estate brokers and agents lusting for easy NRI money.

NRIs are generally not fully equipped with information on the projects, track record of real estate companies/builders/agencies, and grievance redressal mechanism of their property related issues. According to officials, a large number of references have been made to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs by overseas Indians on property related issues such as illegal occupation of land, flats, houses and commercial property, delayed handing over by builders, realtors or property dealers, delay in the settlement of related court cases etc.

The PBD seminar, slated for January 7 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, would include the real estate scenario in India, the role of different government agencies/private enterprises and other stake holders, measures to prevent such disputes and speedy disposal of cases filed in courts in India. Representatives from NRIs/PIOs Associations and others, police and land-revenue officials of state governments, builders/real estate associations, the Bar Council of India and officials from the central government are among those expected to take part in it.

Among those slated to address the seminar are Justice A R . Lakshmanan, former Chairman, Law Commission of India, Justice A.M.Ebrahim, Retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe, Preneet Kaur, Minister of State for External Affairs, GoI, and Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indians Affairs, GoI. A presentation on the legal aspects of property owning and tenancy in India will be made by Prof Bimal N Patel, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat National Law University and another on concerns of the overseas Indians on property related issues by Shri Manmohan Maheshwari of GOPIO.

Presentations will also be made by Harshvardhan Neotia, Chairman, CII National Committee on Real Estate and Housing, Rohtas Goel, President, National Real Estate Development Council and Kumar Gera, Chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Associations of India. Another new feature of this edition of PBD is an annual lecture series by a prominent overseas Indian. It will be launched by economist Jagdish Bhagwati, who will deliver a talk on ‘India: the role of Diaspora’. On the eve of PBD 2010, the Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council will meet at his 7, Race Course Road residence. The council has 20 eminent people of Indian origin, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Bhagwati, industrialist L N Mittal and Pepsico chairman Indra Nooyi.

PBD 2010 will also see participation from seven foreign ministers of Indian origin. For the first time, PBD will be webcast live on the ministry’s website (www.moia.gov.in), as well as the website of the official e-magazine, Pravasi Bharatiya (www.overseasindian.in). There will be plenary sessions where delegates from across the world will be able to interact with cabinet ministers. Around 14 chief ministers will also be participating in PBD to woo investment from overseas Indians to their states. The PBD-2010 will have four concurrent sessions on: ‘Investment’, ‘Knowledge’, ‘Philanthropy’ and ‘Gender Issues’.

Among the decisions taken by the Government of India as a result of wider consultations held at these Conventions, are formulation of the Overseas Citizenship of India, establishment of Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre, conceptualisation of PIO University, formation of Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council of People of Indian Origin, setting up of the India Development Foundation, enabling professionals holding Overseas Citizens of India cards to practice in India, launching of the Global Indian Network of Knowledge (Global-INK) and the issuance of a smart cards for Indian workers working abroad.

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