New Delhi: As the chief guest for Pravasi Bharatiya Divas—the central government’s flagship event to engage with the overseas Indian community—Christine Carla Kangaloo, the President of Trinidad and Tobago, will address the convention in Bhubaneswar virtually on 9 January. Her country is currently under a state of emergency following a spate of murders in the last few days of December.
The chief guest at the last Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January 2023 was President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana, who was physically present at the convention in Indore.
Kangaloo declared a state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago on 30 December, 2024 on the advice of Prime Minister Keith Rowley, after a series of murders on the weekend of 28 and 29 December. The murders in the last week of the year pushed the number of homicides in the country to 620 in 2024, a record tally since data began to be compiled in 2013.
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The country, with a population of roughly 1.5 million people, has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean along with Jamaica and Haiti, according to the US’s Government Accountability Office (GAO). The rate of violent deaths in the Caribbean is three times higher than the global average.
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According to media reports, a number of killings in Trinidad and Tobago are linked to gang-related violence. The country is also gearing up for elections, which have to be held by the summer of this year.
Born to an Indo-Trinidadian family, Kangaloo will also be conferred with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour for overseas Indians, the Ministry of External Affairs announced last week. She is a descendant of indentured Indian labourers who went to the Caribbean islands in the 1800s.
A total of 27 individuals will be given the honour during the convention, which is scheduled to be held from 8 till 10 January.
“The 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 January. Christine Carla Kangaloo, the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, will be the chief guest and she will be virtually addressing the convention,” said Arun Kumar Chatterjee, secretary consular, Passport and Visa division (CPV) and Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA) at the MEA, at a special briefing in Bhubaneswar.
Chatterjee added there would be ministerial-level delegations from Mauritius, Malaysia and South Africa at the convention this year. Groups from the Indian community in Mauritius, Oman, Malaysia, Qatar, UAE, the UK and the US would also be present at the event.
The event is held once every two years, with past conventions held in other cities including Gandhinagar, Varanasi, and Bengaluru.
There are four exhibitions at this year’s event, including on the legacy of the Ramayana, the contribution of overseas Indians and the community abroad, the culture and heritage of Odisha and the evolution of the Indian community abroad.
There will be five plenary sessions, with a number of Union ministers participating in those three days. It is the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas hosted by Odisha.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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Publish date : 2025-01-06 18:57:00
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