American contingent stands apart

Though the second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas has delegates from over 60 countries, those from one particular country stands out -- The United States of America.

With over 200 delegates, American team is the largest and most influential delegation in town. From young analysts and techies to people like Professor Dipak Jain of Kellogg's School, it is a great mix of the powerful Indian Diaspora in US.

"They are the most powerful, most flashy and the most visible around here," remarked a senior Indian diplomat this morning.

From Ambassador-at-Large B K Agnihotri, who is noticeably sidelined this year, to a group of Indicorp youngsters, the American crowd is visible all around. There is the young research analyst Parag Khanna from The Brookings Institute and the suave Tarun Khanna of the Harvard Business School.

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There are also big groups from Malyasia, Europe and the Gulf. Interestingly the groups from Malaysia and Gulf are clear about their interests -- to develop business ties with India.

"We are looking at improving our business relations with India. The proposed Diaspora centre in Delhi and other proposals should help us have better relations with India," says a Malaysian delegate who is planning to invest in Chennai.

A Letchumanan, a journalist with The Star newspaper of Malaysia, says the Indian community in Malaysia is not very keen on things like dual citizenship.

"They prefer the PIO card, which gives them free travel access to India and permit them to own non-agricultural property," Letchumanan says. He adds that Malaysians are not interested in dual citizenship because that could create trouble for their country where Chinese, Indians and Malays have a peaceful coexistence.

The Gulf crowd is more pleased than last year. This year the prime minister has put his 'focus' on the Gulf region with concessions announced for their children's education.

And the admission by prime minister that half of the Rs 55000-crore foreign remittance comes from Gulf workers has also added to their feeling of being accepted in their home country. "It shows the importance of the Gulf NRIs among the Indian Diaspora," says Khaja Quader Anwar, founder director of Ideas Gulf, a network of Indian professionals.