Speaking with Indian PM on behalf of Indian-Australians

Prominent Indian-Australian Neville Roach AO was appointed to the Global Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister in June last year. As part of a select group of 20 overseas Indians including Jagdish Bhagwati, Rajat K. Gupta, Lord Khalid Hameed, Laxmi Mittal, Indra Nooyi amongst others, he travelled to New Delhi early this year to participate in the inaugural meeting of the council.

A likely joint initiative between the Indian Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry for External Affairs and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, the council has been set up to draw upon the experience and knowledge of eminent people of Indian origin in diverse fields from across the world.

Very humble about his appointment, Neville credits the desire of the Indian government to make relations with Australia better, as the reason behind his appointment in the role. A previous Pravasi Bhartiya Samman award winner, Neville already had a profile in the Indian government before this appointment.

Talking of the first meeting held on the 7th of January this year, a day before the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, Neville shares that his main expectations were not only to gather the views of the Indian government about its priorities, but on the whole to get a perspective from other members about organising the Diaspora of Indian communities harmoniously, with tailored support for strengthening their roots in the respective countries.

desire to listen to all Indians based abroad, and use their support to promote India as a nation. Neville claimed he wanted to understand the Indian government’s position on India’s priorities, so that he can discuss them with the community in Australia to further share those views with Australians on India’s priorities. Neville also spoke about the potential of trade partnerships between India and Australia in Technology, Science and Vocation Education sectors to name a few that came up at the meeting.

More broadly, members were of the unanimous view that India and its overseas community can and should build a strong, strategic and mutually beneficial partnership.

“Prime Minister Singh welcomed the ideas and suggestions made by Members of on one platform such an exceptional group of eminent achievers as the Members of the Global Advisory Council”.

When asked about the future of the council, Neville said, “It is likely that members of the council will be invited to be part of specific task groups. This will allow a more intimate involvement around specific actions and targets to support the country”.

He added that the next meeting is likely to be held in the middle of this year.

Pravasi Bhartiya Divas followed on the 8th of January where Neville says, the questions around the safety of Indian students in Australia featured in quite a few of his discussions. He added that the position of the government is slightly different from that of the Indian media, in that, the Government has repeatedly articulated that the Australian government act swiftly on ensuring the safety of its citizens. Neville expressed strongly in his various interactions that Australia is a successful multicultural society and that it is taking significant action to ensure that the incidents decline over time.

Neville is of the view that there is still much goodwill, from the Indian Prime Minister and those present at the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas towards Australia. For this goodwill to not be eroded, he says, much will depend on the coming days on how Australia deals with the safety of Indian students.

On 26 January this year, Neville served as Australia Day Ambassador at the Willoughby Local Council’s Australia Day celebrations.

Ruchir Punjabi