Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj holds meet for Indian diaspora

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today led a panel discussion on delivering consular services to Indian diaspora as part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD).

"Brainstorming diaspora engagement. EAM @SushmaSwaraj leads 2nd PBD panel discussion on Delivering Consular Services," ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The PBD, a conclave of the Indian diaspora organised by the ministry, has undergone a change from this year onwards.

Started in 2003 and anchored by the erstwhile Ministry of Overseas Indian affairs (MOIA), it was an annual event that celebrated the Indian diaspora's success and deliberated on issues confronting them.

However, from this year, with the merger of the MOIA with the external affairs ministry, the celebratory event has been turned into a biennial affair with the intervening year being devoted to "a lot of thinking and a lot of thought process", according to Sushma Swaraj.

People who migrated from territories that are currently within the borders of India, as well as their descendants, are termed as Indian Diaspora. The diaspora is currently estimated to number over twenty million.

"People would study the various issues and come up with various recommendations so that the problems of the diaspora could be solved," she said in her keynote speech at the signature 14th PBD event held here on January 9. (IANS)