Latest news with #IndiasporaForumforGood
Khaleej Times
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
From Abu Dhabi to Dubai: Didi Krishna's message of growth and purpose inspires change
Following the highly successful Indiaspora Forum for Good (IFG) held in Abu Dhabi from February 23-25, where Indian diaspora leaders gathered to address humanity's most pressing challenges, one of the forum's most inspiring speakers has continued to captivate audiences across the UAE. Didi Krishna, head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, delivered a powerful speech at IFG's closing plenary session last week on the central theme of 'goodness'. Present at the session were distinguished guests from across media and industry including Ajay Piramal, Kailash Satyarthi, Kris Gopalakrishnan, M.R. Rangaswami, and actor Vivek Oberoi, among others. Didi Krishna shared complementary wisdom on achieving goodness through self-awareness, gratitude, forgiveness, love, and soul nourishment. Audience members expressed profound appreciation for Didi Krishna's practical approach to personal development. As the event concluded, several industry leaders were seen engaging with Didi Krishna, discussing how her principles could be applied within organisational contexts to foster more positive, productive environments. Following IFG, Didi Krishna has come to Dubai to share her words of wisdom with this community as well. Didi Krishna most recently delivered a thought-provoking talk at the Dubai India Club on February 28th. The talk expanded on Didi Krishna's philosophy of personal empowerment and responsibility, offering practical guidance on how individuals can take control of their destinies rather than feeling at the mercy of circumstances. "It is better to design your own destiny than to know what is going to happen to you, or to feel as if you do not have any control over your fate," Didi Krishna emphasised to an audience of over 700 people. At the core of her presentation were six actionable strategies for personal transformation and growth. She advised attendees to be mindful of their thoughts, explaining how positive thinking attracts wellness while negative thoughts lead to illness and rob us of our natural state of happiness. "With every thought we think, we are building the edifice of our lives," she noted, illustrating this concept with a compelling story about a tortoise and two circles that demonstrated how destiny is "not a matter of chance but of choice." The talk continued with guidance on living in the present moment rather than dwelling on past regrets or future anxieties, connecting with inner sources of strength, letting go of emotional burdens through forgiveness, developing compassion by becoming "givers, helpers, and healers of humanity," and maintaining faith in life's journey.
The National
26-02-2025
- Politics
- The National
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi urges global action to stop child exploitation
Indian Nobel peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi has issued a powerful rallying cry to people around the world to join the fight against child labour and trafficking. The children's rights activist, who is in Abu Dhabi this week for the Indiaspora Forum for Good, has launched a movement encouraging compassion. He believes people would take action if they understand the impact of exploitation if their family or friends were affected. 'What if this were your daughter or son? You would not sit quiet. You would act, we must all work and lead efforts to stop child slavery,' he said as he addressed the forum. Mr Satyarthi, 71, and his team of volunteers in India have rescued more than 130,000 children from trafficking and illegal work in factories over four decades. In his autobiography Diyasalai (matchstick), published last month, he talks of the power of education to rehabilitate children. 'The diyasalai looks very small but it has enormous power, light because it can ignite one candle and that candle can ignite so many more, it's the source of light,' he told The National in an interview. 'I have launched a worldwide movement for compassion because I'm an optimist. I believe we must find new ideas, strategies to make a difference. Compassion is innate, I cannot teach compassion. We have to just dig it out of people.' He was recognised for the Nobel Peace Prize along with Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai in 2014 for his decades of work defending children's rights. Mr Satyarthi and his team have been beaten up by armed guards at factories and workshops during their work to expose units that forced children to work as bonded labour. 'There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the joy of freedom on the faces of children and the look on the faces of mothers and fathers who had lost all hope that they would ever hug their children,' he said. 'My colleagues and I have been beaten, attacked but when we return the children to their families and see them cry out of joy, that is all we like to remember.' In the balashram, or children's home, he founded in Rajasthan, western India, about 100 rescued teenagers receive vocational training ranging from electrical to computer education. Many go on to work overseas, including in the Gulf region. Mr Satyarthi told the story of Kenshu Kumar, 28, once a child car cleaner, and head teacher Ram Kripal, who he rescued in the 1980s from stone quarries in northern India. Mr Kumar was eight years old when he was rescued, went on to graduate in engineering and has returned to teach children in the balashram. 'Kenshu Kumar, now he goes to other villages to motivate girls to study, create awareness against child labour, child marriage, child trafficking,' Mr Satyarthi said. 'Ram Kripal is like a father figure and has taught several hundred children. The teenagers get training so they can get a job and become independent. 'Many of them work in the Gulf but they still call us, sometimes in the middle of the night, just to talk.' It all started when Mr Satyarthi, an electrical engineer, left his job to start a magazine to give voice to the oppressed. In 1981 a father in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, contacted him for help to stop his teenage daughter being trafficked. Although Mr Satyarthi and his team were unable to rescue her, he filed a legal case that helped free 36 children, men and women. Children are often kidnapped and trafficked to work in factories or brothels. He began the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save Childhood Movement) and lobbied for laws in India to protect children. His campaigning resulted in 2006 legislation that made it illegal to employ children under 14 in restaurants and hazardous industries ranging from cigarette to jewellery factories. Mr Satyarthi's activism also extended overseas when he headed a global march against child labour in 1988, and children rescued from bonded labour in Asia, Latin America and Africa were among 1,000 demonstrators in Geneva. The International Labour Organisation approved an accord a year later to protect children from jobs that exposed them to danger and exploitation. He says the problem remains deep-rooted and companies around the world continue to use children to make carpets and footballs, for example, and to work in mines 'We must not continue to fail our children,' he said. 'The government [in India has] launched several agencies and rescue programmes but more work is needed, and also around the world.' About 160 million children continue to be exploited as child labour and 250 million children do not attend school, according to United Nations figures. Mr Satyarthi repeated his call for action in the UAE before an audience of hundreds of Indians from technology, startup, education and non-profit organisations. 'In compassion, there is an inherent power to solve problems and suffering of other people,' he said. 'We have to use this transformation power. We all have the moral responsibility to bridge this gap which is growing to help those who are suffering.' He said that while the world was divided by war and conflict, there were people across the police, the judiciary, education, government, media and private companies who could help children. 'What could be a bigger crime that children so exploited and overworked that they have no time to dream?' he said. 'The world has never been so wealthy, so well informed. We have all the technological know-how but in spite of this, millions of children are suffering. 'We must build compassionate leaders in all walks of life. I have hope for the world to join this movement and work to shape a world of good where every child can be safe.'
The National
25-02-2025
- Business
- The National
Emirati minister says UAE can be gateway to global success for Indian entrepreneurs
A leading Emirati minister has called on Indian entrepreneurs and business leaders to continue to embrace the UAE as a "gateway to new opportunities around the world" at a major gathering celebrating the long-standing ties between the nations. Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, emphasised the importance of building on the firm foundations in place between the key trading partners in an address made to hundreds of Indian business chiefs, academics, heads of technology start-ups and founders of non-government groups on Tuesday, the second day of the Indiaspora Forum for Good in Abu Dhabi. He told of how Indian ingenuity had been instrumental in the rise of the UAE and said its spirit of enterprise would be pivotal to further growth. 'There is no doubt that India and its global diaspora are at the forefront of the new economy,' Dr Al Zeyoudi said. 'The UAE continues to benefit from the diaspora just as we have since our early days as a nation.' More than 4 million Indians call the UAE their home, have set up thousands of companies across diverse sectors from manufacturing, retail, property to media. Dr Al Zeyoudi said there were many Indians among the more than 6,700 millionaires who moved to the UAE last year who would leave a huge impact on the country. 'Many of our most impressive, enterprising, entrepreneurial success stories have been started by Indian business leaders from the ground up,' he said. 'We really hope Indian-owned enterprises will continue to see the UAE not only as a hub but as a key gateway to new opportunities around the world. 'It's clear that the energy and the ambition of the Indian diaspora will be instrumental to unlock this potential.' The UAE signed its first Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) with India in 2022, following which bilateral trade has surged past $85 billion, making India the largest trading partner of the UAE and the Emirates the third-largest trading partner for India. 'When we launched our Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, India was the first country we approached,' the minister said. 'India was not just the obvious choice, it was our first choice and the fact is we concluded the agreement in just 88 days.' India and the UAE are also part of landmark initiatives including the India Middle East Europe Economic corridor by building a ship-rail network to secure supply chains and benefit countries on the transcontinental trade route. Dr Al Zeyoudi said India's rich history and philosophy were the inspiration for the next generation of leaders. He described the day's final session theme 'The sky is the limit: We can do anything together', as a powerful call to action for people of Indian origin and asked them to continue to enrich the countries they had made their home. 'This is a moment for the Indian diaspora to connect, engage with each other, but it also applies to the nations to which you all contribute so much,' he said. 'By working closely with the public and private sector here in the UAE, we can unlock even greater success. We are more than happy to extend our full support to any expansion plans and look forward to partner this year with many of you.' As the world's fifth-largest economy, India is increasingly exerting an active role in global issues, committed to strengthening multilateral co-operation and contributing to deepening co-operation with the Global South. Former officials speaking at the conference spoke of India's ambition to bring balance to a fractured world as the voice of the South working for the common good. 'Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi has already made it very clear that we believe that this is not an era of war, that we are on the side of peace,' said Harsh Shringla, former foreign secretary of India. 'He invested time to go and meet both [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and [Ukrainian] President {Volodymyr] Zelenskyy in an effort to bring peace.' India held the presidency of the G20 two years ago and is a founder member of the Brics bloc of developing economies that includes Brazil, Russia and China and now also features the UAE. During India's G20 presidency, Mr Modi announced the African Union as a permanent member and also invited the UAE as a special guest of India to the G20 Leaders' Summit in 2023. 'With our [India's] moral authority, ideological balance today we are in a happy position … we straddle that ideological space between North and South, East and West,' Mr Shringla said. 'India is well placed to bring balance into the global order, and contribute in a positive way to bring about peace, tolerance, harmony and coexistence in the world.' Mr Shringla also touched on the country's philosophy of vasudhaiva kutumbakam, a Sanskrit phrase that means 'the world is one family', to make the world a better place for all. 'In the earlier days, we waited for others to take the initiative … like the US, the UK, China. But today the difference is we have proactive leadership, driven foreign policy. We deeply believe in vasudhaiva kutumbakam – the world as one family.' The Indiaspora non-government organisation that organised the conference was founded 13 years ago and aimed to link global leaders of Indian origin to be changemakers. 'Our mission is to be a force for good in society,' said Sanjeev Joshipura, executive director of the Indiaspora. 'We genuinely do believe that entrepreneurship can be and is a force for good. This shines a spotlight on the global capacity of the Indian diaspora and leaders in India, to give back. We serve as a platform where these collaborations can occur.'
