Incredible India

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2005

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Samman Awardees

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Shri M. Arunachalam

As Chairman of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and President of the Asia Pacific Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he has made significant efforts to promote trade and investment between Hong Kong and India as also between China and India. In that context, he has led several delegations of Indian and Chinese businessmen to India. He has also hosted several delegations from India. He was a member of the Trade and Industry Advisory Board, Hong Kong,

He has been promoting Indian culture in Hong Kong by organizing performances of artistes from India. He has been liberally contributing to various organizations in India.

Shri Arunachalam is recognized for his outstanding contribution towards India's commercial relations with Hong Kong and China and in enhancing the image and understanding of India.


Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati

An economist of international renown, he has published more than 300 articles and 50 volumes. He has received three festschrifts in honour besides several prizes and honorary degrees. He writes frequently for internationally renowned newspapers and journals such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New Republic and The Times. He is counted amongst the most creative international trade theorists of his generation. His most recent book, ' In Defense of Globalisation' has attracted worldwide acclaim.

Currently University Professor at Columbia University and Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, Prof. Bhagwati has been Economic Policy Advisor to the Director General GATT (1991-93) and has also served as Special Advisor to the UN on Globalization and External Advisor to the WTO.

Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati is recognized for his immense contribution to economic thought and for enhancing the understanding of India through his academic work.


Ms. Amina Cachalia

Born in South Africa, she was anchored in political activism dating back to her father's close association with Mahatma Gandhi and the first passive resistance campaign of 1907. Her championing of political causes and women's rights evolved with a sense of familial preordination.

She founded the Women's Progressive Union to foster training, development skills and financial independence of women. Actively involved with the ANC and other political movements, she suffered continuous ban orders from 1963 to 1980, which ran concurrently with her husband Yusuf's 27 years ban order and 10 years of house arrest. She was an ANC candidate elect for the National Assembly after the first democratic elections in South Africa and was offered diplomatic assignments, which she did not accept due to family commitments.

Ms. Amina Cachalia is recognized for her outstanding contributions towards enhancing the image and understanding of India through her sustained activities in the political field and for her lifelong dedication towards emancipation of women and the disadvantaged.


Sir (Dr). J.K. Chande

He has held innumerable high positions in Tanzania and received several awards. He was elected to the Court of Honorary Members of International Management Centres, Buckingham and nominated International Man of the Year 1998/99 by the International Biographical Centre, England. He received the 'Service above Self Award of Rotary International in 1998.

He is presently Chancellor of International Medical and Technological University in Dar es Salaam and Trustee of Tanzania-India Friendship Association. He is also Chairman of Tanzania Railways Corporation and has actively promoted India's business interests in the railways sector in Tanzania, as well as in the areas of aviation, shipping, industry and tourism. He is the Trustee of Indian School in Dar es Salaam and Gandhi Memorial Academy Society of Nairobi.

Sir (Dr.) J. K. Chande is recognized for his contribution in fostering better understanding of India and for promoting India's interests in East Africa.


Prof. Alokeranjan Dasgupta

He has been actively engaged in translating Bengali poetry to the German language and vice-versa. He has been closely associated with the Deutsche- Indische Gessellschaft (DIG), which is a premier institution for promoting close links between India and Germany. He had taught at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg where he continues as visiting Professor.

He is a recipient of a number of Indian and German awards and is respected among academic circles in Germany and India. A poet-philosopher, he has been awarded the Goethe Prize from the Goethe Institute and received the Rabindranath Tagore Prize for literature from Indo-German Association, Stuttgart. He was appointed Cultural Advisor to Bildungnund Wissen Verlag, Nurenberg, Germany and received Sahitya Academy Award. He has been awarded Rabindra Puraskar, the highest literary award of Bengal.

Prof. Alokeranjan Dasgupta is recognized for his contribution to strengthening Indo-German relations particularly in the field of culture, through the medium of literature.


Shri Ahmed Kathrada

Contemporary and comrade in-arms of the legendary South African leader Nelson Mandela, he has been a veteran leader in South Africa's struggle for freedom and against apartheid. He has enjoyed close links with the Indian political leadership. He was actively involved with Mandela in the defiance campaign against racial laws and along with Mandela was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1989, Mandela was elected President and Shri Kathrada served in his Cabinet. He was elected MP in 1994. He has received the highest honour awarded by the people of South Africa, through the ANC to those who have made outstanding contribution to the liberation struggle. He had also served as Secretary of Central Indian High School Parents' Association.

Shri Ahmed Kathrada is recognized for his outstanding contribution in enhancing the image and understanding of India through his incessant support of the freedom struggle and campaign against apartheid in South Africa enshrining Gandhian values of peace and non-violence and for building permanent bridges between India and South Africa.


Prof. Sunil Khilnani

Currently serving as Professor of Politics and Director, South Asia Studies at the John Hopkins University in Washington DC, he has been a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge and a visiting Professor at Seikei University, Tokyo. A globally renowned political scientist, he also held the Leverhume Fellowship (1998-2000) and was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC.

He has a number of publications to his credit, the most recent and acclaimed being 'Idea of India' where he has meticulously argued in favour of unity in diversity for India.

Prof. Sunil Khilnani is recognized for his stellar contribution to political thought and for fostering the understanding of India through his scholarship.


Shri Basdeo Panday

One of the most charismatic and respected leaders from the Indian community in the Caribbean, Shri Panday is the only person of Indian origin to have ever served as the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. As a fearless freedom fighter, he has played a notable role in the island country's national liberation movement. As Prime Minister, he has contributed substantially to the all round socio-economic development of the nation and to strengthening friendship and cooperation with India. He is presently the Leader of the Opposition.

He has provided the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago, a great sense of confidence. As a result of his steadfast and painstaking efforts over the last several decades, first as a Trade Union Leader and then as head of the dominant political party, the Indian community has begun to play an active role in the governance of the country.

Shri Basdeo Panday is recognized for his immense services to the Diaspora for creating better understanding of India through his lifelong public service and for contributing to the growth of relations between India and Trinidad and Tobago.

Lord Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh

He is a Labour Member of the House of Lords and has made enormous contribution to political studies in Britain and India. He is an activist serving on several Commissions and Trusts, bringing his understanding and ideas to bear on a range of issues in promoting a more liberal and tolerant society. He has also served as Trustee of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Anne Frank Trust and the Gandhi Foundation. He has chaired the Commission on Future of Multi-ethnic Britain. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy.

His deep commitment to India was reflected in his decision in 1981 to return to his country and serve as Vice Chancellor of University of Baroda for three years. He has set up a charitable foundation in memory of his father and endowed a Chair in Indian politics at the University of Hull and visiting Fellowship in Indian studies at the University of Oxford. He won the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize (2003) by the Political Studies Association, UK, Life Peer (2000) and BBC's Special Lifetime Achievement Award for Asians (1999).

Lord Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh is recognized for social activism and liberal values, his substantial role in increasing the understanding of India and for his salutary services to the Diaspora.


Dr. Sam Pitroda

He ushered the telecom revolution in India. His vision and technology helped connect India and provide telephone access to a billion people. Ironically, Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Sam Pitroda, first used a telephone only after moving to the USA to study electrical engineering.

Born in Orissa, he has been a crusader. He battled the conventional thought that questioned the need for telecom for impoverished people. After his Masters in Engineering from USA, he worked there for a few years and then returned to India and founded the Centre for Development of Telematics. In 1987, he became the Chief Technology Advisor to the Prime Minister of India and was given the responsibility of spearheading several Technology Missions to enhance quality of life, basic amenities and connectivity in the rural sector. In,1989, he was elected the first Chairman of India's Telecom Commission. He has been Chairman and founder of several high technology start-up companies in India, USA and Europe and is the advisor to the UN Secretary General.

Dr. Sam Pitroda is recognized for his sterling contributions to addressing India's causes and concerns and his dedicated and inspirational services to the Diaspora through his manifold activities, particularly in the field of telecom and entrepreneurship.


Shri Vikram Seth

A toast of the literati, he has enjoyed phenomenal adulation among readers and critics alike for his substantial body of literary works.

His magnum opus 'A Suitable Boy' won the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. 'The Humble Administrator's Garden', a poetic work won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia). He has authored several novels, collections of poems, short stories and travelogues, which have been acclaimed worldwide.

Shri Vikram Seth is recognized for his immense literary talent and prodigious output which have enhanced the understanding of India worldwide.


Shri Manoj Night Shyamalan

An internationally acclaimed Film Director, he displayed passion for filmmaking at a very young age. At the age of 10, inspired primarily by Steven Spielberg's films, he began making films with his father's 8 mm camera and by the age of 16 had made over 45 short films.

His third directorial effort, the supernatural thriller 'The Sixth Sense' released in 1999, was one of Hollywood's biggest box office hits ever, fetching six Academy Award nominations. The film also bagged two Golden Globe nominations and the 26 lh Annual People's Choice Award. His recent film, 'The Village', again a supernatural thriller, has also been a runaway hit. These phenomenal successes have made him the most recognized Indian name in Hollywood.

Shri Manoj Night Shyamalan is recognized for enhancing the image and understanding of India at such a young age through his widely acclaimed films.


Shri Vijay Singh

He was born in Fiji and learnt the game of golf from his father, an airplane technician. He began playing professional golf in 1982 and won several international victories. In 1993 he won his first PGA tour event and has not looked back. He has so far won three Major PGA tournaments - the Masters in 2000 and the PGA Championship in 1998 and 2004.

He has been playing some of his best golf in the last two years. In 2003, he won four tournaments and had 18 top-10 finishes. In 2004, he had a career-best of nine victories and 18 top-10s and a record $ 10.9 million in earnings. He was named the PGA Tour's and PGA of America's Player of the Year. In September 2004, he overtook Tiger Woods as the number one golfer in the world, ending Tiger's unbeaten run of 264 weeks. He has been participating in Golf tournaments in India and donating sponsorships to worthy causes.

Shri Vijay Singh is recognized for his stellar achievements in the highly competitive field of international sports and for having made India and its Diaspora, to which he belongs, proud.


Dr. Sant Singh Virmani

An internationally renowned rice scientist, he has been working with the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) earlier in Nigeria and currently in Philippines, for the last thirty years and has conducted pioneering research work on hybrid rice for tropical countries. He has also been closely associated with hybrid rice research and development program in India since 1981 and has provided several consultancy services on behalf of IRRI and FAO for development and dissemination of such technology in India.

He was invited to become chief consultant of ICAR-UNDP project on Development and Use of Hybrid Rice Technology in India and FAO Technical Cooperation Projects in Vietnam and Philippines. He has received several awards, commendations and medals for his work on Hybrid Rice Technology. Due to his research, hybrid rice has become a commercial reality in several tropical countries of South and South East Asia. His research has had significant impact on global food security, environment protection, rural employment opportunities and poverty alleviation.

Dr. Sant Singh Virmani is recognized for his efforts to assuage India's concerns, food security and related issues.


Shri Yusuffali M.A.

A renowned entrepreneur, his business activities have extended beyond UAE to several other countries of the Gulf and Asia. He is also involved in many social and charitable activities.

His business interests include a chain of hypermarkets, food processing, IT education and training. He is a founding member of the Indian Business and Professional Group and is a trustee of various educational and training establishments in India as well as in the Gulf. He has received several awards including the APEDA Award for best processed food exporter (1998 and 2001) and the Best Exporter Award from Ministry of Commerce (1998 and 2003).

Shri Yusuffali is recognized for his valuable services to the Diaspora and for creating awareness and understanding of India through his multifarious activities.

posted by TILAK @ 12:06 AM