The contribution of Gulf-based Indian workers would be recognized at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention in New Delhi next year, the Indian government has confirmed.
Arab News published a report on Sunday, widely covered by the mainstream Indian media, that the expatriate community was angry about the alleged exclusion of the Gulf session.
The PBD, or Non-Resident Indian Day, is celebrated in India on Jan. 9 every year to mark the contribution of overseas Indian workers. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Ghandi from South Africa to Mumbai on Jan. 9, 1915.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs said this week it would have a “Gulf session,” on the last day of the 12th edition of the PBD convention.
This came after the ministry had released a tentative program with no mention of it at the three-day event.
In a telephone interview with Arab News from New Delhi, Manoj Kumar, the ministry’s joint secretary, said: “We have planned a Gulf session on Jan. 9, in the afternoon immediately after the ‘Parallel State Sessions.’”
Kumar denied accusations that the session had been removed. He said it had not been mentioned because specific sessions are not usually listed in the tentative schedule released by the ministry. He said the PBD in Kochi last year “had a full-length Gulf session.”
India’s PBD to recognize Gulf workers’ contribution
