---------------------------------------------------------- Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goa-net/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Goanet2003/ ----------------------------------------------------------
'We don't want your riches alone': Vajpayee tells overseas Indians >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thursday sought to dispel any notion that the first-ever gathering of the Indian diaspora here had been convened with an eye only on investments. "We do not want your riches, we want the richness of your experience. We can gain from the breadth of vision that your global exposure has given you," Vajpayee said in his inaugural address to the three-day meet, being attended by some 2,000 delegates from 60 countries across the globe. "We do not want only your investment, we also want your ideas," he added. "When you left this country, you carried with you the primary colours of the Indian ethos. A cross-fertilization of cultures over time has added new shades to those vibrant hues. Today we invite you to brush in some of these new colours into the ever-evolving canvas of India's development," the poet prime minister said. He said the Indian diaspora could help project the country to the world in a "credible and effective manner" to correct the "misleading and negative pictures" that are put out due to bias, ignorance or design. "You could project a positive image of India - not as propaganda, but as a true reflection of the reality on the ground," he said and noted India continues to have one of the fastest growing economies when most developed economies have slowed down. Similarly, India's exports grew by 19 percent and the country, which till recently needed to import food grains to feed its population, exported grains worth over Rs. 60 billion to 25 countries last year. He also noted that about a decade ago India had to mortgage its gold to tide over a difficult balance of payments crisis. "Today we have record foreign exchange reserves of nearly $70 billion. "How often have we seen such facts quoted outside the country? It is far more that mindless political gossip or isolated acts of crime and violence would dominate the headlines around the world," he said. --Indo-Asian News Service
