Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched the Pravasi Teerth Darshan Yojana under which a group of Indian diaspora will be taken on a government-sponsored tour of sacred places in India two times a year.
The first batch of 40 Indian-origin people are at the ongoing 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or Indian Diaspora Conclave and from there they will begin their tour.
With government bearing all the expenses including the airfare from their country of residence, the group will be taken to sacred places of all major religions in India.
All people of Indian-origin aged 45 to 65 are liable to apply and a group will be selected out of them with first preference given to people from ‘Girmitiya countries’ such as Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica.
PM Modi, during his visit for the convention, also inaugurated Centers of Excellence at Deen Dayal Hastkala Sanku.
During his address at the inaugural of PBD, PM Modi said his government is making efforts to ease the processes accompanying their social security, passport, visa, and Person of Indian Origin (PIO), and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards and that work is on to issue chip-based e-passports.
Arriving at the venue directly from the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations, he unveiled a plaque to mark the inauguration of 55 outlets which would serve as Centers of Excellence at the Hastkala Sankul, which is a complex dedicated to the handicrafts of the region.
He also released two books titled ‘Kashi: The Universe of Crafts and Textiles’ and ‘Indian Textiles: History, Splendour, Grandeur’.
He also unveiled a plaque to mark the inauguration of an Integrated Textile Office Complex, at Chowkaghat in Varanasi.
Modi called this year’s PBD the “most successful” event saying the people of Varanasi have taken ownership of the three-day convention.
-Sowmya Sangam
