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CELEBRATIONS OF PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS IN PORT MORESBY - 09 JANUARY 2019

Posted on: January 09, 2019 | Back | Print

The 15th Pravasi Bharatiya  Divas was celebrated in Port Moresby  with wholehearted fervour at INDIA HOUSE, on 09 January 2019, from 1730-1930 hours.  Around 100 Non-Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin from various walks of life as well as a few local friends of India participated in the event.    Governor of West New Britain, Mr. Sasindran Muthuvel, a recipient of Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award in 2014, was the Chief Guest and  graced the occasion along with his wife.   The event started with screening of the promotional video on Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being held in Varanasi on 21-23 January 2019, followed by  the short  version of  the video ‘India by Choice’, produced by our Public Diplomacy Division.  

In my introductory address, I summarised  the importance and relevance of celebrating Pravasi Bharatiya Divas as an engaging and networking platform for overseas Indians to interact with the government and people of India.  I also highlighted about the schemes and facilities available for NRIs and PIOs and urged the Indian diaspora  to make use of these for their benefit.   For the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention being held in Varanasi on 21-23 January, I invited all members of diaspora to avail this opportunity to be part of Government’s outreach with overseas Indian Community.    

In his key note address, Governor Sasindran Muthuvel, recalling the context connecting Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa for Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, dwelt upon Gandhiji’s teachings and the need for imbibing and propagating the principles followed by Gandhiji.  He expressed his desire for inclusion of Gandhiji’s teachings and principles in the curriculum of Papua New Guinea at school level.   He also urged Indian Government to initiate a short-term programme for foreigners on 'Gandhian Thoughts'  in order to disseminate the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi overseas.  

Subsequently, Acting President of India Association of Papua New Guinea, Mrs. Rani Ganesh, took the floor and highlighted certain issues regarding difficulties faced by Indians resident in Papua New Guinea to  obtain Singapore transit visa for travelling to India .  Singapore has no visa facilitation centre in Port Moresby.  She urged the government to take up this issue at appropriate level to facilitate Singapore visa on arrival for Indians transiting Singapore from PNG enroute to India.  She  pointed out the need for implementing visa on arrival’ for Indians, as agreed by the PNG Government during the visit of the President of India to PNG in April 2016.  She brought out the delay in processing PNG visa for Indians  by PNG High Commission  in New Delhi.  She also enquired whether Indians in Papua New Guinea can exercise their  voting rights for the forthcoming elections  from here.  She requested all Indians to join the IAPNG and register their names with the High Commission to maintain database. 

During the event, the artiste, Mrs. Elizabeth Tandoa who sung and made the video ‘Vaishnav Jan To’ from PNG, was honoured by handing over  the commendation letter from EAM  to her, jointly by me and Governor Muthuvel.   Though Mr. Jonathan Auna, artiste who sung and made the video from Solomon Islands, had been invited to attend the event, he regretted his inability and, therefore, the commendation letter will be handed over to him appropriately in due course.  Names of the winners who qualified for second round of 'Bharat Ko Janiye  Quiz' from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands   were announced  and the medals received for them were displayed (to encourage others to participate in future)  in the event, as they did not attend,  though  they had been invited to the event. 

Following this, cultural programmes organized by the India Association of PNG were performed.  Token gifts were distributed  to the performers.  Indian refreshments and snacks were served to participants.   The event filled a feeling of oneness and the participants appreciated the High Commission for organizing the first ever Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Port Moresby.

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09 January 2019