Speaking at an event on the contribution of Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRGs) in the development of Gujarat, organised by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry NRG Committee, Gujarat Governor O P Kohli said that with a natural instinct for travelling abroad, NRGs while contributing to the economic development of country in which they reside, also remain connected to their motherland and steadily contribute through remittances, social activities, weddings, tourism, educational activities and other development activities.
Dr Neerja Gupta, Advisor and Coordinator of the Study Abroad Programme and Diaspora Studies, Gujarat University and Global Chair of Academic Council, Global organisation of People of Indian Origin, addressed the participants saying how tremendous the NRG contribution to the development of the state was. The Gujarati community tends to never drift away from its culture and tradition.
In his introductory remarks, KH Patel, Chairman of NRG Committee of GCCI, said that almost 6500,000 Gujaratis resided abroad out of the 25 million NRIs, and that they were law abiding people who made an excellent contribution to the country of their residence. Major concentration of NRGs are in USA, UK, Canada, East Africa, South East Asia and in the Gulf countries. While majority of them are in business and industry, a good number of them are professionals in the fields of engineering, medicine and information technology etc.
While contributing handsomely to the motherland, NRIs and NRGs had a dominating presence in the hotel industry. Hotels were like honeycombs for them. Medical Tourism was a major attraction for the NRIs, NRGs and even foreign nationals not because the medical services were cheap but because of our concept of Atithi Devo Bhava.
The state government after establishing a NRG department had taken a number of initiatives such as issuing OCI cards, Gujarat Card etc. The NRG Wing of GCCI since its establishment in 2008 had conducted many programmes for the benefit of local Gujaratis as well as NRGs. Bipin R Patel, President GCCI, welcomed the guests and Shailesh Patwari, Sr. Vice President, GCCI proposed a vote of thanks.
