FCCI Book release ceremony

New Ambassador of India to the Netherlands, H.E. Manbir Singh launches FCCI Publication
“Foundation for Critical Choices for India” on 18^th May, 2009

Foundation for Critical Choices for India organized a special meeting on 18^th May, 2009, at Kasteel de Wittenburg, Wassenar, The Netherlands, to welcome and introduce His Excellency Mr Manbir Singh, IFS, and Mrs. Manbir Singh, to the Trustees of the Foundation and a cross section of important Dutch citizens and NRIs/PIOs resident in the Netherlands. On this occasion, on the request of the Foundation His Excellency Manbir Singh also launched Foundation’s most recent publication “Foundation for Critical Choices for India: A Quarter Century of Service to India”.

The function took place on 18^th May from 17.00 to 20.30 hrs. The Foundation President, Mr. Jasbir Singh welcomed H.E. and Mrs. Manbir Singh to the Netherlands on behalf of the Foundation and informed the audience about the illustrious background of the new ambassador consisting of ambassadorial assignments in important countries like Iran, UAE, Switzerland, etc. Each one of the Trustees of the Foundation and their spouses were introduced to H.E. and Mrs. Manbir Singh. Mr. Jasbir Singh apprised them briefly of the Foundation’s origin and its services and stated that the Foundation looks forward to a very stimulating and fruitful interaction with H.E. Mr. Manbir Singh during his stay in the Netherlands. He then requested H.E. Mr. Manbir Singh to launch Foundation’s book.

H.E. Mr. Manbir Singh, thanked the Foundation and the members of the audience for the welcome and stated that even before arriving in the Netherlands he was aware of the Foundation and its useful work. Appreciating the peaceful and fruitful interrelationship between India and the Netherlands, he particularly emphasized the significance of the progress made by a small country like the Netherlands and indicated some of the similarities between the two countries. Commenting on the unique nature of the Foundation and the work which it has done on a number of socio-economic critical issues facing India, he launched the publication for release and distribution to individuals and organizations in the Netherlands and elsewhere. He also honoured the four members of the Editorial Committee, Late Dr. D.N. Bhalla, Mr. Ram Lakhina, Dr. Vasant Moharir and Dr. H.U. Qureshi for the excellent work done by them.

To give the audience some feel of the contents of the publication, Mr. Ram Lakhina, former President and Present President Emeritus of the Foundation described how a small group of NRIs in the Netherlands had a vision to set up a voluntary organization as a Think Tank to examine critically some of the important issues facing India in early 1980s and how through its background papers, national and international conferences and an active interaction with opinion leaders in India and with representatives of Indian diaspora in other countries, Foundation tried to mobilize intellectual, financial, technical and other resources of Indian diaspora in the service of India.

Dr. Vasant Moharir, a Former President of the Foundation presented the main aspects of the Foundation as a Think Tank. Commenting briefly on how Foundation performed on various criteria normally used to assess Think Tank performance, he described both the process of selecting critical issues, their analysis and developing feasible solutions for the problems, as well as the nature and scope of more than 30-40 studies done by the Foundation over a period of a quarter century. Emphasizing the difficulties of assessing impact of a voluntary, independent, self-financed Think Tank like the Foundation, he provided some evidence of direct and indirect influence of decisions taken by the Government of India on issues like Unity of India, Nationality and Representation issues of Indian Diaspora, policy and institutional set up of Govt. of India on relationship with Indian diaspora.

Dr. H.U. Qureshi, Foundation Secretary-General narrated briefly the pangs and the joy of the process of preparing the publication. In this context he emphasized that the work of collecting and editing various papers was quite time consuming and thanked all trustees, friends of Foundation and government agencies in India for the cooperation and help extended by them. He emphasized that the publication is in a way is also a record of major work done by the Foundation over a quarter century and is different in nature than only an academic analysis of the problems.

Mr. Harjit Singh. Program Vice President for of the Foundation presented an interesting and attention capturing audio-visual account of the total contents of the publication starting from Table of Contents to the account of the last activity of the Foundation before going to the Press.

The invited Chief Guest and the audience were then treated to an exuberant demonstration of fusion dance and music by Ms. Asha Kiran and her associates as well as the help extended by Ms. Mona Siddiqui.

After the end of the formal program, Mr. Jasbir Singh, President of the Foundation summed up day’s deliberations and invited all to join the reception which Foundation had organized in honour of the new Indian Ambassador.

The details of the publication are as follows:

Foundation for Critical Choices for India: A Quarter Century of Service to India;

Edited by: (Late) D.N. Bhalla, R.L. Lakhina, V.V. Moharir, H.U. Qureshi, Jasbir Singh.

Published and Distributed by Foundation for Critical Choices for India, De Haar 173,

2261 ZB Leidschendam (The Netherlands);

ISBN 978-90-9023362-8;