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Kuhadas Vivekananda, a resident of Sydney, is an entrepreneur of Indian Origin settled in Australia. As Chairman & Managing Director of Alankit Assignments (Singapore) Pte Ltd, he is the head honcho of an enterprise that offers services to the Indian Diaspora, in the form of facilitating express processing of their applications for Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), and also has a role to play in an initiative launched by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs called “Tracing Indian Roots”. The company is incorporated in Singapore.

Kuhadas was a delegate at the recently concluded Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (RPBD) Sydney 2013, which took place between the 9th and 11th of November this year. Kuhadas Vivekananda has a passionate and avid interest in Diaspora traffic, and is currently involved in Indian Diaspora studies with a focus on Ancestry Tourism for Indian Diaspora resident globally. To this effort he brings to the table his rich knowledge of cultural heritage, and expertise in the field of Tourism in the Indian subcontinent. He is also a known authority on the era of British occupation of India starting from the time of the the British Raj starting from the early 19th century till 1947.

According to Kuhadas, Australia and the Pacific Region have the potential to become a vibrant Diaspora connect to Mother India, with a pulsating amalgam of emotional connections with the motherland, and the potential and ability to promote two-way mutually beneficial economic traffic. Now in the regional PBD, it was self-evident that the wholehearted support of the Australian Government, and the large levels of participation by their Ministers in the RPBD was reflective of their desire and commitment to facilitate and enable this connect, that could result in a more vibrant and meaningful relationship.

Furthermore, it is being recognised that communities of both nations could be connected through multiple channels of Art, Culture, History, Heritage, Tourism, Academic-scholar exchange programmes, Youth festivals and literary festivals, to name just a few. The historical common denominator of British Colonialisation and Rule, the common factor of the English language, and myriad other similarities between both countries, one an island continent and the other a subcontinent, makes great fertile soil to root these initiatives in.

All the more so, enhancing people to people contact will be just a first step in creating a conducive ambience for the sharing of each others experiences and knowledge banks, which can also go a long way in bridging the divide between the overseas Indians and those in mainland India.

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