New Delhi: The importance of diaspora in Modi's diplomacy is reflected in the Indian communities related programs since PM Modi had taken the charge of the nation on May 2014. The government launched year-long consultation program on diaspora related subjects. It includes the investment from Indian diaspora members for PM'S flagships projects. This comes just after a month of the tie-up between Ministry of Overseas Affairs and MEA.
The 1st consultation of this series was held on Saturday, including Ministers, senior officials, stakeholders and sovereign people.
The main motto of this plan is to generate various ideas for promoting the schemes like Start Up India, Digital India, cleaning of Ganga, flagship projects and so on along with making people aware of the healthcare, development, and tourism promotion issues.
According to authorities, one consultative meeting will be organized every month to discuss on one such issue related to Indian diaspora. The Saturday meeting was held on the issue of how to carry out the program where money is donated by diaspora timely, sources said.
Modi government uses Non-Resident Indians and Indian diaspora as the key element of foreign policy. They established many Trusts and authorities to focus on diaspora. One such authority is The Indian Development Foundation of Overseas Indians ( IDF-OI ) chaired by Sushma Swaraj, which was established in 2008 to engage NRIs in the development and social projects of India.
IDF-OI connected with Modi government's flagship program like Swachh Bharat and Namami Gange in 2015-16 and also make easy for Indian overseas to contribute to these projects. It is also connected with State governments to present projects of State governments.
Nearly after 12 years of diaspora improvement program, the government in January decided to merge Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with External Affairs Ministry with the principle of minimum government, maximum governance. The merger program was cleared by Modi and following the suggestion from Sushma Swaraj who was earlier holding MEA and MOIA portfolios.(inputs from agencies)