 When one hears the jana-gana-manha, which Indian soul will not feel a deep sense of pride? When the words vande matram are uttered, which Indian heart will not be filled with devotion for the motherland? Wherever an Indian may reside, in whichever part of the world he may be, seeing the saffron white and green of a tricolor will make the heart brim over with emotions. This is true for all 125 crore Indians and equally true for the 2 crore 80 lakh Indians settled abroad. For the love for one's motherland depends on neither a passport nor a visa. A small memory is all that it takes to open up the floodgates, thoughts of the loved ones back home and of those familiar sights, smells and sounds. As a proud messenger of warmth and fond memories from India, Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi journeyed across the seas with but one aim. And that was to bolster the pride and prestige of both India and Indians across the world. The world assumed that the Prime Minister's visit would consist of a few meetings with top leaders and would appear as nothing more than a small quickly forgotten item tucked away in some corner of the newspaper. But what actually happened was unprecedented. The Prime Minister was thronged by huge crowds wherever he visited. The foreigners witnessing these large gatherings must have wondered if it was an Indian carnival that was being celebrated. Such was the impact of Prime Minister's visit. He brought new life to existing ones so they can become stronger and deeper. No stone was left unturned to showcase India's strength and capabilities to the whole world. The Prime Minister visited powerful economies of the world like USA, Canada, UK, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and China. There were agreements signed on many important issues such as development, transport, energy and security To drive foreign investment and technology towards the development of India, the Make in India initiative was put into place. From meeting new age technology leaders at the Facebook headquarters to engaging with nuclear scientists at international summits he would simply make a stopover at places like the Indian residential campus in Dubai or stop to pose for selfies with the proud Indian fans. Perhaps never before in the history of modern India has a Prime Minister reached out to non-resident Indians in this manner nor has brought India so close to them. For the first time ever has the top leadership of the nation formed such a direct connection with the expatriate Indian diaspora. It was 33 years since an Indian Prime Minister visited Fiji and the first time since a visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Mongolia. You are the heartbeat between two great nations, two vibrant democracies, two wonderful people. But more had to be done after this to closely connect the Indian diaspora to India. The first decision was to involve them more closely in the process of policy formulation. This led to the formation of the Prabhasi Bhartiya Kendra which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on the 2nd of October 2016. Brainstorming sessions with an active participation of NRIs are being conducted touching upon number of areas, the contribution of NRIs to social and economic developmental efforts, better services in trade and commerce, encouraging tourism, development of medical tourism in India, transfer of knowledge, encouragement of innovation, role of non-resident Indian community organizations, problems faced by Indian students studying abroad and ones faced by children of non-residents studying in India, connecting better with non-resident Indians through social media and the problem of overseas contract labour especially in ECR nations. A unique Prabhasi Bhartiya museum has been built in the Prabhasi Bhartiya Kendra and the special arrangements for a comfortable stay have been made for the NRIs visiting the event. But beyond the pride and self-respect of Indians abroad lies the matter of their security and this avenue is being diligently pursued by the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj with great sensitivity. Today, Indians living abroad have begun to feel that someone is looking out for them back in India. And the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdul Rajeeb, gave his officials the order to solve this problem within two days. We will give the exit visa only. We will give India to the Indians with our own wishes. I would also like to thank the Prime Minister because this work could have been possible and the connection he made with India, Saudi Arabia and his personality could have been possible. Whenever Indians settled abroad have faced trouble or threatening situations or have been trapped in dangerous places, the foreign ministry has swung into mission mode to organize their rescue under the direct supervision of Madam Swaraj. So whether it has been Indians trapped in the Yemen crisis or a girl called Geeta trapped for years in Pakistan, the Indian nurses in the war zone in Iraq or the Indian civilians caught in the civil war in South Sudan, they were never forgotten by their country. They have all been rescued. In today's world, a single tweet solves the toughest of problems efficiently and quickly. Here are a few instances. This is a story of a little girl who in all her innocence at play reached a place of no return. She could not even communicate her grief as she was deaf and mute. Geeta rescued from Pakistan. My mistake was that I was small, I did not understand and I made a mistake that I went to a wrong place. My parents used to come here the most, they used to make me cry again and again. With the help of the media, I wanted to tell everyone. Then when Sushma Swaraj Ji saw this news in India through this media and I kept praying this way, then I came to know that from the hard work of the Indian government, Sushma Swaraj Ji tried to call me back to India when I came back from the plane. I was very happy. Then I went to Indore. I was very happy to see all the children. I thank the respected Modi Ji very much. India is progressing so fast in this way and it is becoming famous in the world. I thank him very much. I pray to God that you will be successful. Hail India! This is Sushil Kapoor. He joined a shipping company in Dubai but ended up at a place where he thought he could never return. Sushil Kapoor rescued from Iranian jail. We had to buy diesel from Oman and we had to sell that diesel in Dubai. So this procedure was going on for 7-8 days. There is a ship coming along side our ship. People are on board. They started killing me first. They handcuffed me. They tied my legs. They put guns on my head. Then we took them to Iran. We took them to the police station. Then we found out that we were punished. We have been punished for 2 years. We have been fined for 2.9 US million. That means 19 crores. And we have been punished for 15 years. Sushma ma'am found out that this is happening. Ma'am made me believe that I will try my best to bring Sushil back. The foreign minister, Mr. Zarif, came to India. Sushma ma'am said in front of him that Sushil Kapoor is in jail for 2 years. His punishment is over. On 11th October, someone came to me from the jail in Peshachan. He told me that Sushil is free tomorrow. And on 14th October, I took him to India. The Indian government has done a lot. Six year old Sonu, an innocent and playful child who was abducted from New Delhi and sent to Bangladesh. A victim of torture. Sonu, rescued from Bangladesh. Sonu, when he was informed that he is going home, he took him to his mother's house. He stayed at home for a month. I told him to take him to my mother. He told me that he is not my mother. I am your mother. Sonu, when he was informed that he is going home, he took him to Bangladesh. Sonu, when he was informed that he is going home, he got very happy. After 6 years, I was very happy to meet my brother, mother and father. I want to thank my father and my sister-in-law. I also want to thank my sister-in-law. I also want to thank Jamal. I also want to thank the foreign ministry. Similarly, Naushad Alam thought he had lost everything in Saudi Arabia. His brother, his loved one, runs his life in liberty. Naushad Alam, rescued from Saudi Arabia. A 40-year-old man, who was an Indian, took him to the jail and locked him up. He was put in the jail because of what he was told. But we don't know anything. After that, he was kept for a year and 15 days. We heard that Mrs. Susma Suraj is calling us back to her homeland. Before this, we got the joy of an Eid. We were very happy. We were so happy that we were all married. We met each other in the airport, and we cried so much with our parents, brothers and relatives. We felt that we had a new life. We thought, let's do something about the public or the public. Computer engineer Faheem Ahmad went to build a future in Maldives. But to his shock, he was implicated on suspicion of drug smuggling at the Maldives airport as soon as he landed. Faheem Ahmad, rescued from Maldives. After reaching Maldives, I was arrested at the airport. The people who had sent me there had trapped me in a drug case. And I was put in jail. After the drug smuggling case, I endured a lot. For almost 4.5 months, I have been in jail. I had left the hope of coming back. I cried a lot. I cried a lot. Because in those 4.5 months, I had seen everything that a common person doesn't see in his whole life. After that, when I got the chance, I called my family. They contacted our MP, Dr. Kirit Sumayya. They went to their office. They took this case to Mrs. Sushma Sauraj. Because of the hard work of Mrs. Sushma Sauraj, our country, our country, our country, our country, our home, our family and our children. Sir, when I got on the airport, I cried a lot. I can't describe that happiness in words. I, my family, Dr. Kirit Sumayya and Mrs. Sushma Sauraj will be grateful. Vikram Singh from a small village in India also went through a similar experience. He landed in Malaysia but after some months he began to feel that he would never see his home again. Vikram Singh, rescued from Malaysia. He told Mrs. Sushma Sauraj about all these stories. She told him about the future. He told me that if the foreign government could bring me back, I would be happy to see tears. And I thank him with all my heart that he did a great job for me. When a mother goes out in search of her daughter's father, she does so just to complete her family. Gurpreet Kaur too went to Germany to seek her child's father with this very dream. Instead, both mother and child were detained and lost all hope of seeing their country again. Gurpreet Kaur, rescued from German refugee camp. I didn't find anyone there. I didn't think that I would be able to go back from here. I thought that my whole life I would have to go through this pain. Whatever happened with me, but if something had happened with my daughter, maybe I would never forgive myself. When I went to Germany, my dream was that my whole family would meet and my child would get her father. I would get my husband. But I didn't have a complete dream. When I got my first tweet of Mr. Gurpreet Kaur, then I thought that there was no end to happiness. When I first spoke to Mr. Shushma, it was that a mother held her child by her hand and said that she was crossing the river. I was so happy that I was only watching every two minutes of my time. I couldn't stop my tears of joy. I was just thinking that I should quickly meet Mr. Shushma and hold his feet so that you can save my life. In the past two years, four major evacuations have been pulled off from international trouble spots. Over 7,000 were rescued from Iraq. Over 3,000 from Libya. 1,000 from Ukraine. And over 4,000 from Yemen, along with Indians, around 2,000 foreign nationals were also evacuated to safety. Over 150 Indian nationals were brought back safely home from South Sudan as well. The Yemen and South Sudan rescue efforts were personally led by Minister of State, External Affairs, General V.K. Singh. And in spite of coming under artillery fire, he helped to bring the Indians trapped in Yemen safely home. In the aircraft, because I had a habit of going and talking to people, I saw this little baby and I said, how old is the baby? And she said, five days. I was actually aghast. Of course, we learned later that I think it was a premature child. When we got down, the baby was suffering from severe jaundice. We got the baby put into the incubator and ultimately, next day, with the incubator, she flew back to India with the child. And in this way, with the honour, safety and welfare of the Pravasi Indian kept sacrosanct. In a period of just two years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi entirely visited 44 nations. External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Minister of State General V.K. Singh and newly appointed Minister of State M.J. Akbar established new relations with the NRI communities abroad. Wherever they went, the dormant aspirations of India were awakened. The world looked at India in a new light and Pravasi Indians looked at India with greater esteem. Previously, non-resident Indians were only guests or tourists. Now, they have re-emerged as a partner on a mission to create a more developed India. Henceforth, the Pravasi India Divas will be organised biannually. Mm. And yes, the story doesn't end here. There are people who return home after months and years of toil and meet their families in a happy reunion. The Pravasi Bharti Divas transforms into a happy festival. Here mothers reunite with their children again. Couples come together once again. If the bond of brotherhood is reaffirmed, so do aging parents joyfully bask in the presence of their loved ones. One unifying bond running through a medley of hearts and a sea of emotions of a country called India. The honour and self-respect of non-resident Indians. The security of non-resident Indians. The contribution of non-resident Indians to India. With these three pillars for the first time in history, the government of India will be connecting directly with 2.8 crore non-resident Indians. Come! Today, on Pravasi Bharti Divas, let us celebrate the occasion with a sense of deep pride and an exuberant joy. Jai Hind!