The Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi speaking to the overseas Indian youths, here on Tuesday said : 'This is the age of globalisation with greater trade and business links between nations. It is my wish that Indian youth and their diaspora counterparts should come together in developing strong networks which would lead to partnerships in trade, industry, entrepreneurship and social work. This will lead to creation of wealth and employment, which will benefit the masses at large. Our goal should be to build a strong global connect of youth for this purpose. This is my message to all of you today.'

Explaining the theme the year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas - Engaging Diaspora : Connecting Across Generations - the Minister said that his ministry has been in the forefront in engaging the youth diaspora residing in various countries by introducing various schemes and projects like Know India Programme (KIP) which facilitates youth diaspora to visit India on a specific programme, Study India Programme (SIP) and Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children (SPDC).

The Minister of State (Independent charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports, Jitendra Singh said his ministry through the new National Youth Policy would promote 'social entrepreneurship' as an attractive employment proposition and create an enabling policy regime for setting up of venture funds and provide angel investment that social entrepreneurs require. This would facilitate setting up of social ventures in India by the Overseas Indians.

Singh said that the two youth volunteer networks created by his ministry with pan-India presence, namely, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and National Service Scheme (NSS) can play a very crucial role. NYKS currently has about 8 million non-student youth volunteers enrolled through about 280,000 youth clubs across rural India. NSS has about 3.25 million student volunteers in senior secondary schools and colleges all over the country. These networks promote social values and the spirit of community service.

In India 27.5% of the population belong to the 15-29 year age group while 41.3% are in the 13-35 year age group. By the year 2020, the population of India is expected to have a median age of 28 years only as against 38 years for US, 42 years for China and 48 years for Japan, making India one of the youngest nations in the world. 'This demographic dividend is a fantastic opportunity which we must capitalise on,' Singh said.

'A significant section of Indian diaspora consists of highly skilled young professional,' he said and added ; 'A recent trend in the past few years has been that a number of young Indians have started returning home - attracted by opportunities created by fast growing Indian economy.'
The Youth PBD Conclave has one plenary session with the theme - Aspirations of Diaspora Youth - and two concurrent sessions with themes 'Sharing a Common Heritage : The Emotional Connect' and 'Young Achievers.

Chairing the session on Aspirations of Youth Diaspora, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari said the advancement of technology, particularly the internet technology, has enabled global conversation. World over the youth have one common aspiration - learn to live with dignity.

Tewari assured that his ministry would work to remove the problems of downloading the programmes of India's public TV broadcaster, Doordarshan in foreign countries, particularly in Africa.

Delivering his keynote address in the session on Young Achievers, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, KC Venugopal suggested setting up of a government umbrella for Young Overseas Indians. Such a body will have to extract data regarding investment potential in each sector, may tie up prospective cash flow for various PPP models, may ensure single window clearance for investments by Overseas Indians.

He said that Air India as the national carrier Air India's Air India Express operates special services for Gulf countries. The maximum baggage limit per passenger flying from India to Gulf countries on Air India will be increased to 30 kg from January 15, this year.