New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS): On the occasion of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) on January 9, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will address a virtual youth PBD conference on 'the role of Indian diaspora' with regard to innovation and new technologies.

Other notable speakers at the event will be Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart; Kundan joshi, founder CEO of TheAppleLab; Amit Sodani, founder CEO of kupos.com; Rahul Jain, co-founder and CEO of peach payments and others.

PBD is celebrated once in every two years to strengthen the engagement of the Indian community overseas with the India government and reconnect them with their roots. It is celebrated to mark the contribution of the Indian living abroad in the development of the land of their ancestors.

January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since, in 1915, Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, had returned to India from South Africa, on this day, and led the country's freedom struggle which changed the lives of Indians forever.

The 16th PBD Convention on "Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat" was held virtually in New Delhi last year.

Started in 2003, these conventions provide a platform to the Indian community overseas to engage with the government and the people from the land of their ancestors, for mutually beneficial activities. These conventions are also very useful in networking among the overseas Indian community residing in various parts of the world and enable them to share their experiences in various fields.