Time is ripe to invest in India: Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Indian National Human Rights Commission member and former Consul General

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Dr. Dnyaneshwar Manohar Mulay, member of India’s National Human Rights Commission and former Consul General of India in New York, urged Indian-Americans and others to invest in their motherland’s growth and prosperity.

Speaking to Padma recipient Dr. Sudhir Parikh, chairman of Parikh Worldwide Media and ITV Gold, Jan. 8, 2022, at the ITV Gold studio, Mulay appreciated the help Indian-Americans  sent to India in 2021, and continue to provide to the homeland during the Covid-19 crisis. He also praised frontline medical personnel of Indian origin in the United States.

Mulay, who has a storied career in the Indian Foreign Service since 1983, and was among the most popular Consul General’s to serve in the U.S. He has worked in India’s Ministries of Finance, Commerce, External Affairs and at the Cabinet Secretariat. Among the many languages he is proficient at are Hindi, Marathi, English, Sanskrit, Kannada, Japanese, Russian, and Punjabi. He is an author with more than 15 books to his name, and a columnist along with being a diplomat.

Seen as a ‘Renaissance Man’ by many for his depth of knowledge in numerous fields and his experience locally and globally, Mulay has worked to highlight the issues faced by Indians living abroad, and helped grow the Indian Government’s presence abroad, increasing the number of passport and visa offices, and helping ease of business for investors abroad.

Following are excerpts, transcribed into English and edited for style, from a Q & A held Jan. 8, 2022, with Ambassador Mulay on ITV Gold —

Dr. Sudhir Parikh: I am highly privileged and proud to welcome my very close friend Mulay sahab. He was our very accomplished and very popular diplomat who served here between 2013 to 2016. And he was so popular. And he was, in other words, considered as a Community Consul General. He was a friend of the community, always very easy to access and very helpful to the community, (there) for each and every event and each and every topic of concern.

And I must personally thank you, Mulay sahab — because of your guidance, because of your encouragement, because of your ideas, I am doing this public service, and connecting our second generation Indian-Americans to India, and also to the Americans of America, to show them our culture, our heritage, as well as the current success of the country, economically and otherwise.

So thank you very much. I’m really obliged and indebted for your advice. And please keep giving me advice and (showing me) (the) right path, to take things to the next level. Thank you.

(Dr. Parikh has been involved in urging Indian-Americans, particularly youth, to get closer to India, including in the business sector. He recently presented a documentary, “To New India With Love” made by Tirlok Malik, an Emmy-nominated film-maker, which was released on the occasion of the 75^th Independence Day of India. It outlines the opportunities available for small business and industries in India and encourages young Indians living in India to avail of them, to stop the brain drain.)

Dnyaneshwar Mulay: Thank You.

My Indian friends settled in America, my colleagues, I am happy to come again to America to talk to you. I know these are Covid-times and please keep safe, all of you.

I also know that all of you together helped during the Covid wave in India last year, specially sending Oxygen Concentrators to India, was very priceless, was used at the proper time, and saved many lives.

At the same time, living in this country, the work that you all are doing, and did during the Covid times, is also commendable. You all have done a lot for the needy. I understand that time has come now that you also collaborate and help improve the relations between India and the U.S.

India is open to investment. India has only recently announced a new Education Policy under which a lot of opportunities are available to all of you. On top of that, you must be aware that many new universities in Business sector are coming daily to India. Be it Start Up, or Stand Up, be it Micro, Medium or Small Industries, the opportunities are increasing so much that this is the right time if you want to collaborate with India, or if you want to invest in India, or if you want to establish relations with India.

I understand that if the 30 million Indians living outside of India in foreign countries, connect to India, then it will not take time to realize the two dreams of our Prime Minister that India become ‘Vishwa Guru’ (World Teacher) and that India become a $5 Trillion economy.

I am always happy to meet you. I will be back soon to see you because New York and New Jersey have become my second home due to the love and respect that all of you gave me. I am thankful to all of you.

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During his tenure as Consul General of India in New York (April 2013 to February 2016), some of Mulay’s major accomplishments (listed on nhrc.nic.in) included: Outreach initiatives to the Indian diaspora and mainstream American society; Coordinating the  Madison Square Garden event of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, 2014; Launching the “Consulate At Your Doorstep” program to deepen understanding with the U.S. decision-makers on India-US relations and addressing the concerns of the community on passports, visas and other matters; Introducing a monthly lecture series called ‘Media India 2014’, which became very popular; Introducing a lecture series focusing on the Indian States named India-State by State’.

Mulay also appeared on the U.S. mainstream show, Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with John Stewart” in an episode based on India’s elections in 2014.

In response to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mulay initiated a Swachh Consulate Campaign in New York. This holistic cleansing campaign set a model of Swachh Consulate campaign for other Indian missions abroad.