 A grand convention that embraces India's largest number of foreign delegates with the participation of around 7,000 Pravasi Bhartias representation from over 92 countries 15th Pravasi Bhartia Divas Convention 2019 the world's largest diaspora congregation ever 9th January the day India's first illustrious Pravasi Bhartia, Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa to India in 1915 was aptly marked as Pravasi Bhartia Divas former Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpay took the initiative of reconnecting the Indian diaspora with their roots and extending a hand of gratitude to them ever since its advent in 2003 the PBD convention held on the 9th January every year has now become a platform for networking and knowledge exchange between India and its diaspora in 2015 a decision was taken to make PBD convention a biennial event in order to increase its effectiveness apart from PBD convention 10 regional Pravasi Bhartia Divas or our PBDs have also been held in New York The Hague, Durban, Toronto, Port Lewis, Sydney, London, Los Angeles and Singapore between 2007 and 2018 this is a special initiative to encourage the participation of those Pravasi Bhartias who are unable to attend the biennial event in India and benefit from its deliberations the year 2019 marked the 15th edition of PBD the holy city of Varanasi a symbol of India's magnificent heritage was chosen to host the PBD convention the vibrant town of Varanasi dazzled and gleamed with enthusiasm as the 15th PBD commenced at the Biennial Hast Kalasankul on the 21st January 2019 With a deep focus on building India special guest His Excellency Mr. Iman Chughalati member of parliament Norway and guest of honour His Excellency Mr. Kawajit Singh Bakshi member of parliament New Zealand addressed the plenary session of Youth PBD Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi initially inaugurated the 15th PBD convention 2019 with his dynamic speech welcoming the Indian diaspora His Excellency Mr. Pravind Jagnath Prime Minister of Mauritius was the chief guest of the convention the Indian diaspora the second largest in the world estimated at over 31 million exudes eminence through their brilliant work spread over 200 countries the global remittances were 76.4 billion US dollars in 2018-19 making India the world's number one recipient of remittances to keep the convention engaging and interesting Young Pravasi Bhartias engaged in an online quiz Bharat Ko Jaanye which is a part of No India program a flagship initiative of PBD that focuses on familiarizing PIO youths with their roots in India the third day saw a series of plenary sessions on key emerging topics like technology development with artificial intelligence innovation, cyber security and waste management domain experts from the diaspora policy makers and other stakeholders deliberated on the topics the third day's highlight was the conferment of Pravasi Bhartias Samman awards by Honorable President of India in recognition of the outstanding work done by Pravasi Bhartias in their host countries I see this as not just a recognition a personal recognition for me I see this as a recognition an amazing recognition from the Government of India and I believe that this award puts a responsibility now on us to be more closely linked to Motherland India has been a land of festivities celebrations and human excellence for centuries its cultural fabric and ethos have been enriched with each passing phase of its history and to that we added a new chapter when we embarked on a journey to connect and embrace our brothers and sisters around the world to give the 2019 TBD a taste of true India the convention dates were adjusted to coincide with the Mahakum at the Holy Conference of Prayagraj and the Republic Day celebration at Rajbath, New Delhi the delegates participated in Mahakum in Prayagraj as a special gesture foreign high commissioners and ambassadors resident in India were also specially flown into Prayagraj from Delhi to relish the Indian heritage and spirituality the esteemed delegates also witnessed the majestic parade by armed forces along with cultural extravaganza at the 70th Republic Day celebrations at Rajbath, New Delhi this is my 15th day in India we had been in Agra for 12 years and this time was very good because on 26th January we were also invited to come we are very happy we are getting very good feedback we will do Agra next time we will keep in mind the major events of India if we do it there will be tremendous amount of connection our diaspora is a symbolic representation of India on the move and with the touch of heritage it gives a unique identity to the evolving cultural, social and economic paradigms connect with India care for their security and safety celebrate their cultural heritage and contribute to India's development thriving on these four seas Bravasi Bhartya Divas will continue to be one of the flagship initiatives to strengthen the engagement of overseas Indian community with Government of India to acquaint the younger generation of Bravasis with Bharat to true India to address the issues that concern the Indian diaspora and to find synergies and to sow the seeds of collaboration which will yield a better tomorrow for India and all Indians