Washington, DC – The Embassy of India celebrated Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) here. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Arun K. Singh talked about the importance of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Ambassador Singh highlighted the transformational role played by the Indian American Community and its future potential in the development of India-US Relations.
Ambassador Singh underscored the importance of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being on January 9th, the historic day Mahatma Gandhi triumphantly returned to India after his non-violent campaign in South Africa.
The event was well attended with enthusiastic participation by the Indian-American community members representing various sectors including the government, business, professionals, artists, journalists and students.
Swadesh Chatterjee from North Carolina gave a Talk on “Building Bridges: How Indian Americans Brought the US & India closer together.” Chatterjee recently published a book highlighting the contribution of Indian Americans in various fields including in the field of energy cooperation.
This was followed by a Talk by Satyam Priyadarshy, President of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs, which has 61 chapters across 17 countries). Priyadarshy spoke on “India’s Flagship Projects and Indian Americans: Promising Possibilities”. In his talk he touched upon the ways in which Indian American community can contribute to flagship projects of the Government, including Smart City Mission, Skill India, Digital India, Make In India and Swachh Bharat. He also underscored how these projects are organically connected to each other.
The event concluded with an interactive session with the audience through Q&A.