BPD REACTIONS AND REMARKS

"Vigilance is the price of liberty." Liberty is the foundation of any democratic polity. But unfortunately, the history of democracy is tainted by a few violating its fundamental tenets vitiating it with corruption and injustice. Undoubtedly however better economic opportunities and growth of public opinion as well as freedom of press are gradually making democracy increasingly effective.
India is among those democracies which could not escape the tentacles of corruption and nepotism, as a legacy of its governance over the centuries through the power of kingship, which subsequently almost institutionalized through the "Baksheesh" system adopted by British Raj and continued unabated after independence through powerful bureaucracy, taking full advantage of illiteracy, ignorance and intimidation.

One such event that fell pray to this all pervading corruption, which has become a norm of life in India, is the Pravasi Diwas Celebration, which began with great fun fare, enthusiasm and noble thoughts. The celebration is indeed in its nascent stage, but already NRIs for whose recognition and honor that began has started crumbling because of the official apathy and corrupt practices of the people at the helm of affairs back in the corridors of power in New Delhi. The entire event lacked transparency, according to many observers. An event like honoring the distinguished NRI for their outstanding contributions needed better communications consistent with the mutual understanding and consent on many important issues. Everything in this instance seemed to have been conducted arbitrarily by the Ministry of Overseas Indians, without consulting the related overseas governmental agencies, or the NRIs.

Chicago : NRI Press club, a recently formed body of Indian American journalists here, has taken a verydim view of the way the PBS Awards are given, especially the way the awardees are nominated and selected, and has decided to make a strong representation to the Indian government to streamline theentire process before this prestigious recognition degenerates from Sanman iinto "Prabasi Bhartiya Stinking" awards.Madhu Patel, president of the Club, said that the entire process of selecting the nominees as well as the finalizing the names of recipients smack of personal whims and favoritism of one person and that persons is none other than Vylar Ravi, the Minister of Overseas Affairs. He said that this is not a "wild" charge as a good number of leading NRI s contacted by the Club have viewed with concern and dismay the way the names of the nominees are taken and the final election is made. "Has the Minister or the Ministry laid down any objective criteria or guideline to be followed?

Has he or his Ministry gathered data from different reliable sources as well asthe views of the local Indian government representatives about the nominees, and if yes, howmuch weightage is given to this data? We the Indians in India and Indians abroad need to know this so that only the right people like Sam Pitroda, B.R. Shetty, Niranjan Shah to name a few get the awards," he said.Citing a specific example, he said that last year names of two prominent Indian Americans from Illinois and Indiana were recommended by the Indian government representations here and both were ignored by the Ministry. In fact, informed sources state that the concerned Minister had even perosnally pitched for getting recommendations of a person of his choosing.Following the lead given by NRI Press club, India Post conducted its own investigation talkingto a cross section of the Indian American community and consensus emerged that there should be objective guidelines and criteria set up in selecting and processing the data about individuals considered for the PBS Awards. It is reported that Vice president of India who happens to be part f the selection process was kept out of it till the last moment and had to acquiesce with the fait accompli. It happened, it is reported, not only this time when Mohammed Ansari is the vice president but it happened even in Bhairon Singh Shekhavat time.

Iftekhar Shareef, the president of a national umbrella organization the Federation of Indian Association, felt that the Indian government, more importantly the Ministry of Overseas affairs headed by Vyalar Ravi, should all the time follow a due diligent process and sift available data on the candidates before announcing the names of the PBS Awardees.

It appears that the process has not been following for the past two years. Citing specific examples, he said that one of the potential Awardees from Chicago who had worked hard lobbying successfully for Nuke deal with USA was side tracked in preference of somebody else. The Indian Consulate and the Indian Embassy in Washington DC are also said to be side tracked.

My understanding and information is that this year the list of Awardees was set up by the Ministry of Overseas affairs and the Vice president of India, M.Hamid Ansari, who happens to be the Vice Chair of the Committee overlooking the selection processes was blissfully unaware of the names of the awardees till the last moment. It was a fait accompli for him.

This Ministry should set clear guidelines selecting the Awardees. PBS Awards should really be given to those who really deserve them and not to any Tom, Dick and Harry with direct access to the Ministry. The Government earlier gave awards to Sam Pitroda, Niranjan Shah Dr. Jain, Dr. B.R. Shetty and all of them and others too deserved them. Let the Awards be prestigious recognition of Indians abroad, who have distinguished themselves in the fields of business, community services, education, science and arts.
Dr. Bharat Barai, leading NRI from Indiana also expressed his increasing disenchantment with the celebrations of Indian Pravasi Diwas. According to him the PBD is losing its charm, because clearly it lacks the enthusiasm and the idealism with which it was founded by illustrious people like Dr. Sanghvi and others.

This has become more of a "Show and Tell" affair than a meeting of Indian Diaspora gathering in their country of origin showing their love and affinity with a commitment to contribute to the progress of India. "The program according to me reflected complete disregard to the original philosophy and intent of the founders. I hope NRIs as well as people in India will take note of this and take remedial action to stop the fall of a noble ideal," he said. He added that instead of awarding the people with equanimity, choice was made with regional bias; as a result many Keralites received awards completely ignoring the talents and contributions of the NRIs from other regions. The complaint is not against persons, but the number that represent major portion of the awardees. "This nepotism does not augur well to the unity of the people. One should respect wisdom from all directions, but showing preference was not conducive to a harmony," he lamented.

Nand Kapur, Vice President of Association of Indians in America, National Office, also expressed his opinion which echoed the popular sentiments. According to him BPD celebration is losing its attraction and NRIs not enthusiastic any more. "Please think that the awards, in particular, are not given to deserving people. The awardees this year are two individuals from New York area and both are from the State of Kerala. Does this indicate any favoritism? Last year also the awardees dominated the State of Kerala, which only implies regionism and chauvism dominated the consideration. Nobody can deny this considering that the Vyalar Ravi is from Kerala, and obviously therefore his choice went to his fellow-Keralites. This is a bad precedent to set and does not auger wll with the spirit of United India."
Rohit Maniar, a prominent banking executive from Chicago's Devon Avenue was highly critical of the whole procedures and policies at present followed by the Ministry of Overseas Indians and clearly indicated that they were not acceptable to the NRIs in the U.S. A government body, who are not acquainted with the people of Indian origin in distant lands are not qualified to consider about the people deserving such honor.

He suggested that generally accepted methods of selection must be adopted in order to make these awards impartial and determination appropriate. The local association, and widely reputed men and women of public recognition for their achievements, e.g., persons like Dr. Bharat Barai, Niranjan Shah, Pitroda and others of like integrity should be consulted and their suggestions must be taken. He further recommended that this should also be in public knowledge, so that necessary publicity must be given in all local ethnic Indian media so that not only people of accomplishments but also common NRI should be made involved in the process. Let the government agencies come out of this and let the people decide in a spirit of democracy, liberty and free will their choice of persons deserving this honor after gaining adequate information of each individual, rather than reducing this noble objective a laughing stock or as an issue of controversy. All right thinking men and women.

-by Durinder Ullal