Developing cyber capacity of India, managing waste and harnessing solar energy are some of the issues that will be discussed at the 15th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) at Varanasi later this month.
The event, which will begin on January 21 in Allahabad, will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22. Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth will be the chief guest at the event.
“We usually have the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas on January 9, the day Mahatma Gandhi returned to India, but this time we delayed it due to the Kumbh,” said General VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, addressing a press conference on Friday.
The pravasis wanted to attend the Kumbh Mela and also the Republic Day celebrations on Januay 26, he added. “About 5,000 people have already registered for the event,” he said.
The PBD will start off with the ‘Youth PBD’ where Himanshu Gulati, Member of Parliament, Norway, and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Member of Parliament, New Zealand, will be the chief guests.
Simultaneously, the Yogi Aditya Nath government will hold the UP Pravasi Bhartiya Divas specially focussed on pravasis hailing from the State.
Minister for External Affairs (MEA) Sushma Swaraj will host a dinner for participants on day two of the event.
On January 24, the participants will visit the Kumbh Mela and then return to Delhi to attend the Republic Day celebrations.
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