GOPIO NEWS BULLETIN
January 2007
NOTE: GOPIO News is
a monthly newsletter of GOPIO International, based in the
CONTENTS
GOPIO CONVENTION 2007 IN
Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO)
International
GOPIO CONVENTION 2007
January 5th & 6th,
2007
In Conjunction With
PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS
2007
Venue: Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Conference Room, Federation
House, Tansen Marg, New
Delhi
(Tel:
91-11 2373876070)
THEME
OVERSEAS INDIANS: Identity Preservation
& Adoption of New Values in Pluralistic Societies
Friday, January 5th,
2007
FICCI Conference Room,
9:30 am to 11:00
Noon GOPIO Executive Committee Meeting (Not open to public)
11:00 am to
5:30pm Registration
11:00 am to 1:00
pm GOPIO General Council Meeting (Not open to public)
1:00 pm. Lunch
2:00 pm to 3:00
pm GOPIO COUNCIL REPORTS (Open
to Public)
GOPIO
CHAPTER NRI/PIO AREA REPORTS (Open to Public)
North America
Dr. Piyush Agrawal, GOPIO
Coordinator, USA and Radha Krishan,
Incoming President, National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA),
USA
South America and Caribbean Yesu Persaud,
Executive VP GOPIO Intl., Ambassador Krishna Nandoe,
President of GOPIO Suriname and Dr. Arnold Thomas, St. Vincent
Raj Lakha, President GOPIO
Middle East
Sunny Kulathakal (
Pacific/Ocenia Noel Lal,
GOPIO
Far East K. Sital, GOPIO South East Asia Coordinator,
Africa Sagie Naidu, GOPIO
South Africa Coordinator
3:30 pm to 6:00 pm Indian & PIO MEDIA
CONCLAVE
THEME: India & PIO Media Exchange
and Deliberation
Chief Guest: To be announced
Moderator & Chair:
Munish Gupta
Chairman, GOPIO Media Council, Journalist, Media Entrepreneur, created
Co-Chair: San Jay
Reddy MD & CEO,
RJR BANCORP, GOPIO Los Angeles Chapter
President
Inauguration by Minister for
Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi
Keynote Address by Minister
for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Das Munshi
Session
A: 3.30 4.50 PM
India &
Indian Media Today - Rapid and dynamic changes in Indian Media, its influence
on politics, economy, socially & culture
Panelists:
K.
S. Sarma - Former CEO Prasar
Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of
Shekhar Gupta - Editor, Indian Express Group,
Anil Srivastava Chief Operating
Officer, Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd. (India Today group) and a successful
former Radio entrepreneur and RJ from
Manoranjana Sinh Chairperson & MD
of Northeast Media Group (Private satellite and cable television and FM Radio
channels group)
S.
Mitra Kalita Currently on
leave of absence from The Washington Post helping set up a new business
newspaper in
Session B: 5.10 6.30 PM
PIOs in Media. Their
Perception of India & Indian Media, and, their role in the global
perception of
Panelists:
Indira Somani Former CNBC TV News
Producer from
Raakhee
Tarun Basu Chief Editor, Indo-Asian
News Service,
Nawab Khan, Editor, INEP,
Vinod Dhawan, Chief of Bureau in
Other Participants:
Overseas:
Steve Agarwal News
Correspondent, Page 3 Tabloid,
Gunjan Taneja Marketing Manager,
Nirvana Woman
Karan Bhatt Nirvana Woman Magazine,
Raghbir Goyal
Basharat Ahmad, Deputy Director General, Doordarshan
International.
Baleshwar Agarwal, Anthar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad
Dr. Ved Pratap
Vaidik, Community activist and leader
Dr. Kanak Sen Deka, Editor, Agradoot, Assam.
Rajendra Prabhu Veteran Technology Journalist &
Columnist.
Shivaji Sarkar, Professor of Journalism, IIMC,
K G Suresh PTI
Vinay Thakur The
Hindu
Narendra Bhandari Jansatta
Arvind Singh Haribhoomi
Tapan Roy CEO, ATN Bangla
Atul Saraf
CEO, Seven Star Health Channel
Guptas Sadhna TV
Subhash Sinha Media Advisor, Gujarat Samachar
O. P. Mehra
7:00 pm to 8:00
pm Formal Inauguration of GOPIO Conference 2007
Guest of Honor: Dr. L.
M. Singhvi, Former Chairman of the Indian Diaspora
Committee
Welcome: K.N.
Gupta, Conference Chair and President GOPIO India,
Welcome: Inder Singh, President, GOPIO International
Greetings: Dr.
Thomas Abraham, Chairman, GOPIO International
Inauguration
Ceremony: Lighting of the Lamp
Chief Guests
Speech
Release of the
Conference Souvenir
Release of the
book by Anand Mulloo
Recognition of
Sponsors
Note of Thanks: Ashook Ramsaran, Secretary
General, GOPIO International
8:00 pm
to 9:00 pm Reception
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
FICCI Conference Room,
Conference
Theme:
OVERSEAS INDIANS: Identity Preservation & Adoption of New
Values in Pluralistic Societies
9:30 am Registration
Coffee/Tea
10:00 am to 11:15 am - Session I DIASPORA ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES
Chair: Dr. Jagat Motwani, Chairman, GOPIO Academic Council
Co-Chair: Prof.
Adesh Pal,
Speakers:
Dr. Kavita Sharma: "Limping marriages and holiday wives."
Dr. Gulshan Sharma "Breakup of NRI Marriages What role can community
play?"
Ms. Sandhya Sinha,
Chairperson, Political Forum for Women: "Diasporic
influence on Indian
women."
Sunny
Prof. Anand Kumar, JNU, "Diasporic
Course and Research in Indian universities."
Dr. M.K. Pandey, Prasar Bharti: "Indian Perceptions of NRIs,
and Indians as
perceived by NRIs"
11.15 am to 11.30
am Coffee/Tea Break
11.30 am to
12.45 pm Session II - INDIAN
DIASPORA - ASSIMILATION
& PLURALISM
Chair:
Ambassador Krishna Nandoe, President of GOPIO
Co-Chair: Dr.
Shekhar Tiwary, Co-Chair GOPIO Roots Committee
Speakers:
Anand Mulloo, Diaspora in Plural societies
Prof. Parmatma Saran/Dr. Rupam Saran, Author and Professor of Sociology,
George
Abraham,
Lord Diljit Rana, House of Lords,
Dr. Arnold
Thomas, St. Vincents Indian Heritage Foundation
12:45 pm to 1:45
pm Lunch
2:00 pm to 3:15
pm Session III - The NRI-PIO DIVIDE HOW TO BRIDGE THE GAP?
Chair: Ashook Ramsaran, Secretary General, GOPIO International,
Co-Chair: Dr.
Chandrashekar Bhat, Prof. of Sociology and Director, Indian
Diaspora Institute,
Speakers:
Prof Mohan Gautam,
Prof Ganesh Chand,
P.S. Sahai,
Former Ambassador of
Ms. Janis Darbari,
3.15 pm to 3.30
am Coffee/Tea Break
3:30 pm to 4:45 pm Session IV - NRIs/PIOs
AND
Chair: Prof. Jai Rup Singh Ph.D,
Vice Chancellor, GNU,
Co-Chair: Prashant Gupta, Chairman, GOPIO.Connect,
Speakers:
Madhu Yaskhi M.P., Member of Lok Sabha, New Delhi - "Overview and Perspective from a
Law Maker"
Dr. Y.S.
J.C. Sharma,
Former Secretary, MEA and currently Executive Trustee of Chiranjiv
Bharti Trust, "NRIs/PIOs
Networking with Business, Civic and Community Organizations in
Dr.
Srinivasa Rao, Editor, The Catalyst,
4:50 pm to 5:30
pm Wrap-up
and Adoption of Resolutions
Chair: Dr. Piyush Agrawal,
7:30 pm to 10:30
pm
Reception and Grand Awards Banquet with the Presentation of GOPIOs Pravasi Community Service
Awards
7:30 pm to
11:00 pm
Reception, Entertainment and Grand
Awards Banquet with the Presentation of GOPIOs
Pravasi Community Service Awards
Venue: Ashoka
Hotel
Diplomatic Enclave
Chanakaypuri,
Telephone 11-2611-0101,
11-2611-6161
GUEST OF HONOR Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi
GOPIO Community Service Awards will be
presented to:
Recipients of GOPIO 2007 Pravasi Community Service Awards
Charan Gill founded
British Columbia Organization to Fight Racism, co-founded Canadian Farm workers
George Abraham has served in various
capacities with the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the
Singapore Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the ASEAN Chambers of Commerce
and Industry. He is Chairman of The GA Group which organizing country-focused seminars,
conferences and publications; and the Global Indian Business Network Ltd, which
assists cross-border trade and investment within Singapore, India and the
region. Abraham serves on various government, civic and community
organizations, and launched the Global Indian Business Summit in 2006.
Nevin P. Megchiani,
Nevin Megchiani has been serving and supporting various
educational facilities for the benefit of the NRI community in the Gulf,
serving in various capacities in several NRI community organizations He has
served as Vice Chairman of the Indian School Bahrain, the first and the largest
community school today with more than 6000 students. He also worked towards
helping the NRI community children to get admissions in the top class
universities in
Wahid
Saleh, The
Born in