PBD Remarks of Satish Thakkar on Jan. 09, 2011 at Concurrent Session-II of PBD2012, Jaipur: Meeting with Diaspora Organizations
Ambassador Sreenivasan and fellow panelists,
I am grateful to the organizers for inviting me to be a Panelist in this important concurrent session which is being moderated by such a knowledgeable person as distinguished Ambassador Sreenivasan. I have the privilege to be the President of Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, a 35-year-old institution that fosters bilateral economic ties between Canada and India. We are also the largest Indian Diaspora organization in Canada. We have a coast-to-coast presence across Canada, the second largest country in the world and having the longest coastline. The two governments recognize that the potential of Indian Diaspora for forging comprehensive economic partnership between Canada and India is real, and that Diaspora can play an effective role for building economic bridges between the two countries. ICCC has been bringing sizeable delegations to PBDs since 2005. More recently, together with MOIA, it organized a Regional PBDCanada2011 last June on the theme of “Building Bridges: Positioning Strategies for the Indian Diaspora”.
This was one of the biggest conventions of, and for, the Indian Diaspora. ICCC reached out to other fraternal organizations in a deliberative and systematic way, inclusive but strategic. It attracted over 800 participants and over 80 eminent experts in diverse areas of human endeavor. It was adjudged as the best PBD organized anywhere outside India. And it is the only one whose full report has been documented in detail and can be accessed on the website http://www.iccc.org/file/PBDCanada2011_Official-Report_v7_FULL_FINAL_bleed1.pdf
An action-oriented approach taken by ICCC resulted in the preparation and publication of its Report within 100 days of the event. Our goal was to document our experience and lay the foundation for future PBDs to build and improve on the Canadian example. ICCC will be happy to provide a printed copy to those who wish to have one.
I would urge fellow panelists and delegates attending PBD2012 in Jaipur to take time to study the report because it contains thought-provoking insights from the different sessions of the two-day convention which resulted in several important recommendations. In fact, PBDCanada2011 had two concurrent sessions on Innovation, Science and Technology; and Innovation and Economic Development whose recommendations are relevant to our discussions in this session.
Friends, innovation is now universally recognized as the major driver of economic development. Innovation is dependent on the ability to anticipate developments in the science and technology sector and capitalize on market trends. Successful innovation goes through several steps: research and development, commercialization, piloting, market entry and marketing phases. Thus there is a clear relationship between innovation and economic development and an equally strong relationship between successful innovation and the presence of the right environment. In the Indian context, innovations in India must answer the needs of the environment and society.
Social innovation is in the public policy sphere and in public-private partnership. The government through the effective implementation of a public-private partnership ushers in this type of innovation. And it has a crucial role to play in involving the Indian Diaspora’s abilities and expertise to harness the innovations.
Following the regional PBD that we had organised in Toronto, our Chamber has worked hard to build bridges with the local, municipal level organisations. This effort has resulted in our collaboration with the Town of Markham in leading a trade mission to Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune in India and the UAE. Markham is fast emerging as the Silicon Valley of the North, or as we would prefer to call it – the Bangalore of Canada. It has a sizeable concentration of the Indian Diaspora and has a tremendous interest in establishing ties with India including in the field of Innovation.
On the business side, ICCC's focus is on cooperation between Canada and India in Small and Medium Enterprises and on fostering people-to-people contact promoted by both members of the Indian diaspora and "India watchers”. This combination is evidenced in the make-up of ICCC's delegation to PBD. The mission will result in a direct establishment of contact between Indian innovation and Indian Diaspora businesses.
In this regard, I am sure everyone will also agree that the Global Indian Network of Knowledge is an ideal platform whose objective is to bring together innovators in India and the Diaspora outside. There is need for Global-INK to expand exponentially its activity. So far, with the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs acting as an able facilitator, it has done fantastic work in engaging the Diaspora as Knowledge Partners, the institutions in India as Stakeholder Partners, broader audience as the Knowledge Seekers.
With time, the Global-INK can and will develop into an institutional platform providing the much-needed impetus to channelizing indovation and institutionalizing its gains. ICCC will be delighted to extend all possible support to Global-INK and organize some events in collaboration with other interested organizations aimed at promoting cooperation between North America and India in the field of Innovation. Here, I would like to quote one recommendation from the Executive Summary of the Report which is relevant to this session. It says “A North American Chapter of Global Indian Network of Knowledge is the key to develop professional level contacts. It will also facilitate exchange of intellectual capital between India and countries of their residence in various fields of knowledge economy and needs to be established”.
In conclusion, I would say that by and large, members of the Indian Diaspora, all over the world, have been economically successful. In G-20 countries, they have remarkable records in professional fields. As such, the Global Indians are well positioned to take advantage of India’s substantive economic growth and exploit emerging opportunities as India focusses on inclusive growth. In fact, Global Indians, especially those in G-20 countries, can be key trans-national players and partners of India in areas of international concerns, such as energy security, climate change, food security, healthcare, vocational education and skill development, democracy-building, and good governance. The paramount question which arises is: How should ‘global Indians’ and the Government of India make the needed connections for exploiting to mutual advantage the opportunities referred to above?
Ambassador Sreenivasan had in his presentation at PBDCanada2011 last June averred to the desirability of having an integrated and yet differentiated approach to this matter that is mindful of the specific problems that the Indian Diaspora face in different countries as well as the foreign policy objectives of India. In so far as Canada is concerned, I may refer to the ongoing work of one of our members Dr. Anita Singh whose doctoral thesis on “Stephen-Harper India Policy: The Role and Influence of the Indo-Canadian Diaspora” is germane to the matter. The finalization of detailed PBDCanada2011 report in record time, and now the post-PBD work of ICCC highlight the commitment of ICCC to the diaspora connection.
In my view, time is now ripe to organize comprehensive discussions in a Workshop which may be held on the subject matter of this concurrent session: How Pravasis can leverage Indian talent for joint participation in innovation and research, taking into account the views expressed in this session as well as the deliberations held in the Regional PBDCanada2011on some related questions?
We in ICCC will be happy to join in such efforts which may be organized under the aegis of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA).
