India (Commonwealth Union)_ The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award mainly recognizes the accomplishments of the Indian diaspora in various sectors. As part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, the President presents the PBSA to non-resident Indians (NRIs), persons of Indian origin (PIOs), or organizations founded and managed by NRIs or PIOs in appreciation of their remarkable accomplishments in India and abroad. PBD is organized once in two years to improve the Indian diaspora community’s connection with India and reunite them with their heritage.
The 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention is scheduled to take place from January 8 to 10 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The award will be presented by President Droupadi Murmu during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention. According to the statement from the Ministry of External Affairs, “A Jury-cum-Awards Committee, with Vice-President as the Chairman and External Affairs Minister as the Vice-Chair and other distinguished members from various walks of life considered the nominations… and unanimously selected the awardees”.
Accordingly, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana, and Dr. Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan, a prominent Canadian scientist, are among the 27 winners of the 2023 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest honor bestowed to abroad Indians. Ali, who hailed from an Indo-Guyanese Muslim family, was sworn in as President in August 2020. In addition, he will be the chief guest during the seventeenth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention. Additionally, among the 27 were an educator from Bhutan, a doctor from Brunei, and civil society leaders from Ethiopia, Israel, and Poland.
Another distinguished honoree on the list is Dr. Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan, a scientist and inventor who migrated to Canada in 1974. He showed his passion for community service by sponsoring organizations such as the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce and the Canada-India Business Council. Further, in 2019, he was also honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring clean drinking water systems and a mobile hospital in rural India.
The awards will also be conferred to Amit Kailash Chandra Lath, a 45-year-old Polish businessman from Goa who played a major role in the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine to Poland when conflict with Russia broke out. Other honorees on the list are Rajesh Subramaniam, the CEO of FedEx; Chennupati Jagadish, the Australian economist; and Reena Vinnupati Pushkarna, the Israeli chef. The awardees are selected mainly based on their accomplishments in Philanthropic investments and philanthropic activities across the globe and their contributions towards the development of India.
According to the press release from the ministry, “The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) is the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians. PBSA is conferred by the Hon’ble President of India as part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention on Non-Resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin or an organization / institution organization/institution established and run by the Non-Resident Indians or Persons of Indian Origin in recognition of their outstanding achievements both in India and abroad.”
This year’s list of abroad Indians selected for the award include the following distinguished individuals.
- Jagadish Chennupati from Australia for the fields of science and technology and education
- Sanjeev Mehta from Bhutan for education
- Dilip Loundo from Brazil for the fields of art, culture, and education
- Alexander Maliakel John from Brunei for medicine
- Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan from Canada for community service
- Joginder Singh Nijjar from Croatia for art and culture
- Ramjee Prasad from Denmark for IT
- Kannan Ambalam from Ethiopia for community service
- Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay from Germany for community welfare
- Mohamed Irfaan Ali from Guyana for politics and community service
- Reena Vinod Pushkarna from Israel for business and community welfare
- Maqsooda Sarfi Shiotani from Japan for education
- Rajagopal from Mexico for education
- Amit Kailash Chandra Lath from Poland for business
- Parmanand Sukhumal Daswani from the Republic of Congo for community welfare
- Piyush Gupta from Singapore for business
- Mohanlal Hira from South Sudan for community services
- Sanjaykumar Shivabhai Patel from South Sudan for community welfare
- Sivakumar Nadesan from Sri Lanka for community welfare
- Dewanchandrebhose Sharman from Suriname for community welfare
- Archana Sharma from Switzerland for science and technology
- Frank Arthur Seepersad from Trinidad and Tobago for community welfare
- Siddharth Balachandran from the United Arab Emirates for business
- Chandrakant Babubhai Patel from the United Kingdom for media
- Darshan Singh Dhaliwal from the USA for business and community welfare
- Ashok Kumar Tiwary from Uzbekistan for business; and
- Rajesh Subramaniam from the United States for business.
