Pravasi Bharatiya Divas: Swaraj, Adityanath launch website

Uttar Pradesh is hosting the event this year, at two venues—Varanasi and Allahabad

pbd-website-launch-arvind-jain External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launch the website for the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, in New Delhi | Arvind Jain

A chance to experience the ancient city of Varanasi, which is also Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency. A good dose of devoutness at the Kumbh Mela, which has recently got the UNESCO tag of 'Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity'. The 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. A tableau of patriotism at the Republic Day. And diaspora from all across the globe. Could the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) get any bigger or better?

As External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath threw open the PBD 2019 website on Saturday afternoon, registrations started, and they will continue till November 15.

Uttar Pradesh is hosting the event this year, at two venues—Varanasi, where the main events will take place, and Allahabad, where the delegates will get to take a holy dip in the Ganga and soak in the vibrancy of an ancient heritage of which they, too, share. The delegates will then be brought to Delhi, where they will be special guests at the Republic Day parade.

Swaraj said that the ministry received many requests to shift the PBD, which is held on the fixed date of January 9 (the day Mahatma Gandhi, the most famous pravasi bharatiya, returned to India from South Africa) to accommodate participation in the Kumbh Mela, which starts on January 15, as well as to attend the Republic Day parade. “We have shifted the events this year to January 21 to 23, which will be in Varanasi. On January 24, they will be escorted to the Kumbh Mela and on January 25, special trains will take the participants to Delhi. Indian Railways will be running special trains for this occasion, free of charge for the participants,'' explained Swaraj.

Adityanath added that residents of Allahabad have expressed interest in hosting the delegates at home, to give them an immersive Indian experience. Accommodation is being arranged at other places, too.

Member of Parliament from Norway, Himanshu Gulati, will be the chief guest at the Youth PBD on January 21. Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth will be the chief guest at the main PBD while Kanwaljeet Singh Bakshi, MP from New Zealand, will be special guest.