Few Faces Fewer Smiles ; Absence of Corporate Bigwigs and Rivalry Between Ministries and Industry Chambers Ensured Pravasi Divas Was a Lacklustre Affair

Summary

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They came, they saw and they went. Not very happy. On January 9, as the curtains fell on the fifth edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD)-a three-day jamboree for the Indian diaspora-the absence of bigwigs both from India and abroad came as a dampener for the grand event tipped to be a platform for networking and showcasing the new India.

The chill of that Sunday morning on January 7 seemed to have percolated to the event when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lit the lamp together with the chief guest, Deputy Premier of Singapore S. Jayakumar, in Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan, calling upon the diaspora to strengthen its links with India. "I would like you to reach out and invest in a new India. Invest not just financially, but intellectually, socially, culturally and, above all, emotionally... come engage with India," he said.

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Extract

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Few Faces Fewer Smiles ; Absence of Corporate Bigwigs and Rivalry Between Ministries and Industry Chambers Ensured Pravasi Divas Was a Lacklustre Affair

With the Indo-US nuclear deal cleared by Washington, Manmohan acknowledged the contribution of the Indian-Americans in lobbying with the Congress to ensure the passage of the Bill. The prime minister made no big t...

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