SPECIAL REPORT

Meagre attendance and few program sessions with mass appeal mar diaspora event

estimated $2.8 million worth of economic activity for SW"'

.fltBY PAWAN LUTHRA

If the mission statement for the Regional Pravasi

Bhari tya D i was (Overseas Indians Day) .in Sydney was

"Connecting for a Shared Future - the Indian Diaspora, India and the Paci fie," sadly, the event does not appear to have achieved its ob jective, Poor attendance, unrealistic costing, a skew cowards business in the program sessions, and less than satisfactory execution have been cited as facrors.

With more than 800,000 Indian diaspora in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Is land nations, Day One on November 10 saw l ess than 150 people in attendance Numbers p icked up o n Day Two to about 350, but dwindled to about 200 on the last day.

The Sydney Convention Centre w ith iL~ capacity of over 2,000 looked strangely desolate as key note speakers, some of them highly accomplished in their fields, made their addresses

The concept of the Regional PBD

Regional PBDs are organised by the Indian Governmem's :rvUnistry of Overseas Affairs to provid e a platform for the Indian community in a selected region of the world to contribute to the relationship between the countries of their region and India. Last year, the evenr was held at Port of Spain, Mauritius.

Earlier this year, there was much excitemem in Austral ia's Indian community as Syd n ey was picked to host the convention. An Indian High Commission communique said it expected " l ,000 participants from within Australia and from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fij i, New :Zealand, PNG, Hong Kong, Phillippines and the Pac ific Island s" The P remier of NS\XI Barry O'Farrell showed the san1e enthusiasm, declaring d1at he foresaw "an

In the end, no more than 350 delegates attended, of whom 140 we re invited speakers. Most attendees were loc al Sydney-siders, wid1 only a smattering from other stares, predominantly Victoria. The overseas delegates made up a negLigible number.

PBD Sydney: Highlights

At the very outset, it must be said that hosting d1e seventh Pravasi Bhartiya Di vas in Australia presemed a great opportunity for the Indians in the region to connect w ith the motherland and w-ith each other. Attendee Ra j Natarajan, past UlJ\ President, pointed our, " PBD Sydney was a perfect opportunity to present issues of concern in the local diaspora to the po licy makers both in Australia and India, becau se we had the ears a n d eyes of rhe highest office in States, the Premiers and some of the h ighest offices at the Federal level like the lmmig:ration and Tracie Ministers".

A significan r p latfor m ,vas created by AustraLia's nomination as the venue fo r the 2013 Regional PBD.

As well, attendees were afforded an excellent opportwi.iry to listen to speakers with some great stories to tell. The passionate and emotional speech b y the former Prime 1'Unister of Fiji, Mahendra Pal Chaudhry, particularly stood out. E qually well presented was the warm welcome by NSW Premier Bar r y O'Farrell who hosted the delegates at Goven:une nt House, speeches by the P r emier of South Australia Jay Wetl1erill and the Depmy Premie r of Queensland Jeff Sweeney, and the warm and friendl y Pallavi Sha rda, Australi a's own Bollywo od celeb rity. Well- known recluse and cricket legend Steve Waugh n1rned up as well, to s hare his experiences in India

From cbe Federal level, tbe Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison and the Minister for T rad e and lnves m1ent Andrew Robb found their way to the PBD even as their new government

Th e Languages se ssio n: On e of th e fe w t h a t appea led sat its first week in Parliamem. Two of the plenary sessions, one on languages and the other on media, went down particularl y well. Never has the PBD discussed the power of Indian languages in the Ind ian diaspora; seeing tlus on the pr ogram was indeed heartening, and sets a positive prececlem for fonue PBDs. The session on media was efficiendy handled b y moderator Suslu Das as she led die participants thro ugh a strucnu:ed session yet allowed flexibility in the var ious di scussion poims.

F lying in t\vo accomplished performance artists such as santo()I' maestro Sluv Ktm1ar Sharma and acclaimed vocalist 1-feeta Pandit also added a deeper dimension to the cultural engagement of the PBD. Bodi artists tbrilled rhe crowd, however small, at their performances.

Perhap s most successfully, the convention turned out to be a great opporn11i.i ty for d elegates to network with community members from other states and nacions. Faces were put to names already known, as people got to know each other.

So what went wrong?

The C h ief Guest, India 's ~'1inister for Overseas Affairs, Vayalar Ravi looked stunned as he stood at the dais to address the nearly empty Sydney Convention Centre in bis opening spee ch. He fumbled his way tluough his address, which he attributed, somewhat strangely, to 'poor stage lig hting'. Speaking to fodian Linkon the last day, di e Minister did commeut on the poor turnout, citing "the vast distances peop le would have had to travel, which would have added to the cost of attendance"

Unfornmately, more thi ngs went wrong than right for this much - an ticipated event.

For starters, the organisers chose an overly bureaucratised 'top -heavy ' approach, about which much comment has alread)' appeared in community media.

Decisions were made out of Canberra, not exactly t he greatest h Ltb of connectiv ity a mongst the local India population in

Australia. Sydney and Melbourne seem t o have more than a third of the targeted audiences of the PBD, and it is in put from these concerned pmuasis which shoul d have been so ught

Perhaps the eligibility for membership in the managing committee s hould bave been a non - GPS ddve to centres of infl u ence w ithin the local Indian commmi.it)', say Harri s Park in Sydney. This would have verified the candidates ' credentials i n terms of bow connected they are to the bulk of the Indian community! (Take for instance, Senator Lisa Singh, who sat on the organising committee. While she is deservedl y admired for making it to ParLiament through sheer dint of hard work, her indepth knowledge of the Indian communiLJ here is questionable). Jokes as ide, the organisers si mply could nor excite tbe community about tl1e PBD. Perhaps the marketing could have been better, to reach a w ider section of the targeted audience. Instead, thousands of dollars