s P ecIAL R e PORT

the auditorium, even as they stood outside lamenting the lack of relevance.

many could not attend due to work commitments. Much of the Indian diaspora works in an employed category, and for most to take two out of their allocated 20 annual leave days to attend a conference, or take unpaid leave, is difficult. The weekday choice is more conducive to a business program where attendance suits the business community.

The heavy focus on business programs was robustly criticised by most of those attending.

Sources within the organising committee pointed the finger at Canberra’s micro management of the whole affair. With just a couple of individuals who had the ear of the High Commissioner Biren Nanda, there definitely was a strong bias towards business, with less emphasis on issues which concern and connect the local diaspora with India and within the region. Business sessions of opportunities in services, business opportunities in resources, business opportunities in primary commodities, business opportunities in infrastructure etc. would have all been well appreciated in an Indo-Australian business forum, not in what was an essentially a forum for the diaspora to connect.

Saba Zaidi Abidi, the founder of Vision Asia network services was outspoken in her views.

“The Australia India Business Council was heavily involved in the planning and execution of the PBD event along with the Indian High Commission and dominated most of the sessions,” she wrote in a letter to Indian Link. “This makes one wonder as to what was the objective of this whole exercise? If the purpose of the PBD was to promote B2B relationships between governments, then yes, it did achieve that objectively to some extent. But if it was about people coming together to celebrate their common heritage, share experiences and bring to focus their current problems and issues, and highlight the needs of the pravasi community at large, it fell short of delivering that. There was hardly any P2P or people-topeople contact”.

Some break-out sessions saw no more than 20-30 people attending. On one occasion, an organising committee member was seen imploring attendees to return to

Most sessions ran late – even the cultural performances. Well-known santoor artist Shiv Kumar Sharma could not help commenting that Indian Standard Time seemed to have crossed international boundaries, as he patiently waited to start his show as part of the opening day entertainment. Members of the event management company that helped put the conference together were heard muttering in frustration as the organisers took time to get the event underway.

A Note To Organisers

It was clear to all those who attended that while it was an excellent opportunity to network, PBD Sydney could perhaps have been better thought through.

A press release by the organisers sent out upon the conclusion of the conference described it as “a very successful first-ever Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in Sydney”. They can continue to live with the delusion that it was “very successful,” or consider some of the following as suggestions. If they are not already doing such analyses, the community out there definitely is, and these suggestions are compiled from them.

The costing should have been reconsidered. Daily pricing or separate pricing for attending relevant forums would probably have brought in more attendance. A more suitable venue could have kept the prices down. Would a weekend PBD have been better? A solid publicity plan should have been put in place, much in advance, to ensure the message of the PBD got through clearly to the community at large. A more transparent way of working and organising the conference ought to have been adopted, rather than isolated decisions taken on the advice of a few who are largely not connected with the local community. Other minor plans to create goodwill in the community could have been implemented, such as free entry to attend the cultural performances (rather than have the maestros perform to empty halls).

The implications of sydney PBD

The message that the Indian government will probably get out of the Sydney PBD, is that the Indian community in Australia (and the region) is too small, and/ or too uninterested, for them to bother with.

Deplorably, this is far from the truth. The Indian community is strong and fully capable of making a difference, as mainstream politicians in Australia have already found out. Their strength, and this is not just in their numbers, but also in terms of their influence, is set to grow in the very near future. The Indian government has been slow in engaging with Australia, and a strong Sydney PBD would have indicated to them that the diaspora here could be relied upon to help them take the relationship further. Regrettably, this opportunity was missed. On the other hand, the message that the Australian government will get out of the event, is that the organising committee could not engage the Indian community here. Both sides of the political divide are constantly on the lookout for strong Indian figures that they can count on to reach the community, a viable votebank. Perhaps the organisers were not those that the local diaspora look to as the true leaders of the community?

And finally, the message that the Indian community is going to take away from the Sydney PBD is this: the powers-that-be within the Indian government representatives here, as well as those within the community, need to be better in-touch with the community they serve, or hope to represent.

PBD sydney: an opportunity lost

It is heartening to know that the Indian Government has a separate ministry for overseas Indians and also makes an enormous effort to recognise the contribution of the overseas Indians to their motherland India, by conducting Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) every year. The regional meet of PBD held in Sydney on 10, 11 and 12 November presented a great opportunity to address some of the major problems facing people of Indian origin living in Australia.

We always talk about three Cs which bind Australia and India: Curry, Cricket and Commonwealth, but most recently another C has been added which is commerce. Yes, the PBD platform is used to promote commerce between India and other countries which have benefited from Indian migration like Australia. Most of the Indian migration, especially to western nations including Australia is through skilled migration, bringing doctors, engineers, IT professionals, accountants and business brains. Australians of Indian background are generally well educated and belong to the top economic strata of society and hence they are not only able to look after themselves but also look after and help disadvantaged people in their community.

The disadvantaged people in our community are those people with Indian passports who travel to this country like the senior citizens who come to live with their children, Indian international students, and Indian workers on short term work visas who work in farms etc. These disadvantaged people are doing it tough and they need the help of the Indian High Commission/Consulates in major cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. However, such help can be delivered only with the help of the host i.e., State and Federal Governments of Australia. It is in this context that the Australian citizens of Indian heritage can play the role of ambassadors of India in Australia and have the power to lobby with politicians to make those policy changes necessary to make the life of Indian seniors/ students/workers a bit easier and happier.

PBD Sydney presented a perfect opportunity to make those points with the policy makers because they had the ears and eyes of the highest office in States, the Premiers and some of the highest offices at the Federal level like the Immigration and Trade ministers. Unfortunately no such attempt seems to have been made to lobby for change in policies which affect Indian seniors/ students/ workers.

For example, the Indian seniors do not have Medicare cover, travel concessions or seniors’ card facilities, which results in a huge drain on those young immigrants who are trying to find their feet. Indian international students are being used as cash cows. Indian workers who are on work visas are being exploited by their employers in farms and factories. What did PBD, Sydney do to address these problems? I am afraid nothing, unless I am proved wrong.

While there were some highlights like NSW & SA Premiers’ and Immigration & Trade Ministers’ speeches, Steve Waugh’s address and the Pallavi Sharada interview, I think the following shortcomings were too many to ignore:

• To start with the high registration fee discouraged many interested non-resident Indians to participate.

• The registration fee could have been waived for Indian seniors, students and workers to ensure their participation, thus providing an opportunity to tell their stories and seek solutions to their problems.

• Publicity was totally lacking and 90% of the non-resident Indians in Sydney, I spoke to were completely unaware of PBD Sydney.

• Although there were many eminent speakers, it was evident that merit was not the criteria for selection of most speakers. It was apparent that personal preferences and favours played a part in the selection.

• I found very little scope for interaction between the Indian Government delegates, including the Minister for Overseas Indians, who mostly kept to themselves and the participating non-resident Indian delegates, with exception of a privileged few.

• PBD Sydney was a good idea but poorly executed.

Raj Natarajan

OzIndTV Sydney

Disappointing turnout

I think the program outline and the calibre of speakers at the Sydney PBD were fantastic, especially at the breakout sessions. Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma’s santoor recital and the exhibition on Indian migration to Australia were my personal highlights, and also the fact that I met a lot of people for the first time – people I had previously only heard of or known of, but had never met in person. It was disappointing to see the low turnout though – the large venue seemed to swallow up the small-ish audience quite easily. Also, having attended the PBD at Kochi in January this year, I had expected the RPBD to have a much stronger focus on local community concerns, people’s issues and diaspora matters than it did – the Sydney convention seemed to focus more on business instead. That said, perhaps the objective of holding the RPBD was not clearly understood by most of the attendees, and only the organisers can tell us if they were able to achieve what they set out to. All in all though, it was a good experience and a great networking opportunity for those who attended.

Manpreet K Singh

Executive Producer Punjabi Program

SBS Radio

B2B, not P2P

After months of preparation, pooling of enormous resources and publicity hype, one was expecting PBD to be a huge celebration of people of Indian origin in the Oceanic region. As it turned out it did attract some politicians, a few businesses, the education sector and large Indian delegations exploring business opportunities with Australia. 1,000 delegates were expected to attend the PBD at the prestigious location of Darling Harbour Convention Centre, but only 500 plus enrolled, out of which over 1/3 were speakers or invitees. The plenary sessions were attended by not more than 250 people at any given time in a hall that had around 3,000 capacity. The show went on but the audience was missing. It was a well organised event but lacked lustre. AIBC was heavily involved in the planning and execution of the event along with the Indian High Commission and dominated most of the sessions.

This makes one wonder as to what was the objective of this whole exercise? If the purpose of the PBD was to promote B2B business and bilateral relationships between governments, then yes, it did achieve that objectively to