Doha: The Embassy of India in association with Indian Cultural Centre (ICC), Indian Business Professional Network (IBPN) and Indian Community Benevolent Forum(ICBF) celebrated local Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2016 at Doha Marriott Hotel on January 9, in the presence of a large Indian diaspora of Qatar. The event was presided over by Sanjiv Arora, Indian Ambassador and patron of all three apex bodies under the aegis of the embassy.
A minute of silence was observed by members present to pay tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives at the recent attack at Pathankot, in Punjab.
President of ICC Girish Kumar welcomed all the dignitaries and members of Indian diaspora present at the event, which is the first local Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrated in Qatar to mark the contribution of the diaspora to India’s development. He also mentioned that the selected countries have been engaged to interact and share the experiences of Pravasi’s directly with Minister of External and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj.
K M Varghese, President of IBPN, and Acting President of ICBF Baby Kurien highlighted the importance of Pravasi Bharathiya Divas.
In his keynote address, the ambassador thanked congratulated all three apex bodies for coordinating an event of this magnitude and also thanked the members of Indian Diaspora for their presence. He briefed about the significance and benefits of all the previous PBD’s held at various parts of India. He lauded the PBD awardees from Doha, Padmashri Advocate C K Menon and Hassan Chougle. He also highlighted that the first social organisation especially from the Gulf region has been bestowed with Pravasi Bharathiya Award was ICBF. The Ambassador also thanked Dr R Seetharaman, Dr Mohan Thomas and other prominent Indian Community members for their contributions towards strengthening the business relationship between India and Qatar. Ambassador conveyed his thanks to the leadership of Qatar and the Qatari community for their valuable cooperation in strengthening the cultural and trade relationship between two great countries.
The gathering watched a live webcast of the speech of Sushma Swaraj, from New Delhi. The Ambassador gave a resentation on Make in India, a movement by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.
The Peninsula
