In News :

Context :

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. PM will hold talks with his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth after the inaugural session.
• External Affairs Minister inaugurated the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas The Indian diaspora has dramatically changed the world’s perception of Indians and India.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2019 :

• For the first time, the three-day-long Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is being organised from January 21 to 23.
• The theme for this year’s convention is ‘role of Indian diaspora in building new India’. 
• Mr Jugnauth will be the chief guest at the convention, while Himanshu Gulati, member of the Parliament of Norway, will be the special guest.
• Over 4,000 NRI delegates from about 85 countries are attending the event and many of them will be staying in the tent city, built specially for them.
• A cultural village has been developed in Prayagraj, showing the history from the Indus Valley Civilisation.
• The ‘pravasis’ will be taken to New Delhi on Thursday night and will have a “Delhi darshan” the next day. They will also witness the Republic Day Parade on January 26.
• Uttar Pradesh is the partner state for the event and a novel feature this year is the concept of ‘Varanasi hospitality’ under which local people are hosting the Indians living abroad at their homes as “family guests”.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas :

• The decision to celebrate Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was taken by the late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the first event was celebrated on January 9, 2003. The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is now celebrated once in every two years and provides a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with the government and reconnect with their roots.