Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a special train, the Pravasi Bharatiya Express, to connect with the Indian diaspora.

The launch of this special train comes in the backdrop of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention that began in Bhubaneswar, in the state of Odisha, on Wednesday.

For India, and especially PM Modi, this reaching out to the Indian diaspora has been a priority of his government. It is important to note here that PM Modi has made it a point to meet and interact with members of the Indian diaspora on all his foreign tours. This has evolved into a hallmark of the Modi foreign policy.

The train was launched on January 9 – a day that marks the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s return from South Africa to India in 1915.

Some of the special features of the Pravasi Express train are: The Pravasi Bharatiya Express is a special state-of-the-art tourist train. It has been exclusively designed and built for the Indian diaspora, and ideally for the age group between 45 and 65 years.

Starting from its launch day of Jan 9, the train will travel to multiple destinations across the country, including prominent tourist and religious places, for a period of three weeks.

The travel destinations of the Pravasi Bharatiya Express include Ayodhya, Patna, Gaya, Varanasi, Mahabalipuram, Rameswaram, Madurai, Kochi, Goa, Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), Ajmer, Pushkar, and Agra.

Additionally, the train can accommodate 156 passengers. This three-week-long tour is being organized under the Ministry of External Affairs ‘Pravasi Teerth Darshan Yojana’ (PTDY) scheme, in collaboration with the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Indian Embassies across the world had invited applications from participants, giving a preference to Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs) belonging to the low-income category who would otherwise not be able to afford to visit India on their own.

A statement issued by the ministry said that it will bear all expenses for the aforesaid conducted train tour besides, also bearing 90 per cent of the return airfares for the eligible people from their countries of origin to India.

The participants need to bear only 10 per cent of their return airfares. The travellers will be accommodated at 4-star or similar category hotels as per the tour itinerary.

India is celebrating the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention this year in partnership with the State Government of Odisha from 08-10 Jan. The theme of this convention is “The Diaspora’s Contribution to a Viksit Bharat”. A large number of Indian diaspora members from over 50 different countries have registered to participate in the convention.

On Wednesday, External Affairs minister S Jaishankar said that India has moved from the attitude of ‘chalta hai’ to ‘hoga kaise nahin’ as its makes rapid strides towards becoming Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The minister made these remarks while inaugurating the Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2025. He said this is the period when the youth will move to the front ranks of the society and lead the nation. “A large part of our efforts is to give the right motivation to the younger generation to accelerate their efforts,” he said.

He said, while development itself is a very complex task, it becomes much easier when there is confidence that nothing is beyond us. The EAM said India was on its way to address longstanding challenges to build modern, inclusive and a progressive society.

As propounded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the mantra of that journey is to advance on the two legs of technology and tradition. The youth would be the defining factor in the pace of that endeavour and the realization of the goals, he said.

The PBD annual convention aims to connect the growing Indian diaspora with its Indian roots. With time, and with the rising success of Indians globally, this connect has become even more significant. The Pravasi Express is the latest in a series of such initiatives to keep India and its Indian-origin people closely connected. – Simran Sodhi is Executive Editor of nrifocus.com