800 delegates to attend PBD-Africa in Durban

NEW DELHI - With 2010 being the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured sugarcane labourers from India, PBD Africa - India’s mini connect with its diaspora - will be held in Durban Oct 1-2 to coincide with Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the apostle of non-violence.

The event will be organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal and the government of South Africa. Around 600 to 800 delegates are expected to participate in the conference.

According to the ministry, the mini-PBD is meant to mark the Durban’s historic links with India and the roots many of its citizens trace to this country.

About 80 percent of the people of Indian origin (PIOs) in South Africa live in KwaZulu-Natal province. The PIO community in South Africa currently numbers around 1.28 million, about 2.5 percent of the country’s population.

The premier of Kwa-Zulu Natal province, the mayor of Durban municipality, PIOs, community leaders, prominent businessmen, dignitaries and other distinguished people from entire African continent will participate in the convention.

The event will commence Oct 1 in Durban’s historical City Hall with a formal inauguration jointly by Premier Zweli Mkhize of KwaZulu-Natal province and Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.

This will be followed by a cultural evening sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) with performances projecting Indian art and culture.

The main sessions of the conference will held on the second day with Gandhi’s invocation prayers and hymns in Durban’s International Convention Centre (ICC), a prestigious venue.

“There would be five plenary sessions Oct 2 beginning with the opening plenary. ‘The Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the 21st Century’ followed by sessions on ‘Business: Opportunity in Africa, ‘Education, Youth and Gender: Leveraging Knowledge and Technology for Social Development’, ‘Diaspora: Heritage in the Context of Globalisation’,” a ministry release said.

It was in South Africa that Gandhi’s transformation from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Mahatma Gandhi took place.

History has it that in 1893 when Gandhi landed in Durban, he learnt of the oppressive atmosphere of racial discrimination against Indians settled in the then white-ruled South Africa. His struggle began with the Satyagraha movement there.

Gandhi’s struggle in South Africa saw success in 1914, before he returned to India, in an agreement between him and the South African government in which the main Indian demands against racial and class discriminations were conceded.

The first mini PBD was held in September 2007 in New York for the Indian diaspora in the US, the second in Singapore in October 2008 for Asia and the third in the Netherlands in September 2009 for Europe.