Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2021: PM Modi to Inaugurate Convention; Know the Significance Behind the Day

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or the Non-Resident Indian Day is observed annually to appreciate the role of NRIs in making a living outside of the country and helping in the development of the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention via video conferencing today at 10.30 am. In a tweet on Friday, Modi said that he wishes to “interact with our [country’] vibrant diaspora” during the convention inauguration.

PBD convention is a flagship event organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the first plenary session will be addressed by the External Affairs Minister of India Dr S Jaishankar. Then the second 16th convention of the Plenary session will be addressed by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan at 10 am today, January 9.

The vice president of India, M Venkaiah Naidu also expressed his greetings to the NRIs via a tweet. He wrote that the Pravasis carried the “fragrance of this ancient land to far away places & with their hard work, [enhanced] India’s reputation overseas”.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2021: Date

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on January 9 every year since 2003 when the first Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award was also created to honour those Indians who were contributing to the development of the country from their work overseas. On this day, Mahatma Gandhi had returned from South Africa in 1915 and started working for India's freedom.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2021: Theme and celebration

The celebration is brought along with a different theme for different years. For 2021, the theme is ‘Contributing to Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ falling in line with PM Modi’s call to be ‘vocal for Local’.

Also, the celebration and the entire convention will be conducted online this year due to the pandemic.

President Ram Nath Kovind will be also present during the convention and will deliver his Valedictory address as the finale of the event. On this day, aside from the convention, various events are organised to honour the work of NRIs across various Indian bodies present in other countries.

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