GOPIO NEWS BULLETIN
DECEMBER 2004
NOTE: This is a monthly newsletter of
GOPIO International, based in the USA. If you do not like to receive
this newsletter in the future, please go to the bottom and click the
unsubscribe URL. If you feel the information contained here are useful, please
forward this e-mail to your friends and relatives. One could also subscribe
this newsletter by visiting www.gopio.net and
type in the e-mail address and other details.
CONTENTS
- GOPIO FINALIZES CONFERENCE-2005,
JANUARY 5-6, MUMBAI
- THIRD PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS,
JANUARY 7-9. MUMBAI
- PROCESS OF DUAL
CITIZENSHIP BEGINS
- DIWALI AND EID CELEBRATED BY
THE US
AND CANADA
- WHITE HOUSE CELEBRATES DIWALI AND EID
- CANDIAN PM LIGHTS DIWALI LAMP IN PARLIAMENT
- NRIs/PIOs ACHIVE
o
LORD
DHOLAKIA TO BE DEPUTY LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORDS IN UK
o
INDIAN
AMERICAN CANDIDATES WIN ELECTIONS
o INDIAN NAMED OUTSTNADING YOUNG PERSON
- GOPIO CHAPTER NEWS
- GOPIO FRANCE
PRESIDENT REPRESENTS FRENCH INDIANS DIASPORA AT THE COMMEMORATION CEREMONY
- GOPIO BAHRAIN
CHAPTER INITIATED
- GOPIO NEW YORK SCHEDULES DINNER/TALK INDIA
UNTOUCHED
- GOPIO-BELGIUM RE-ELECTS SUNIL PRASAD AS
PRESIDENT
- IRRESPONSIBLE STATEMENT BY
FORMER DICTATOR RABUKA OF FIJI
- GOPIO LIFE MEMBERSHIP AND
CHAPTER FORMATION
- EDITORIAL BOARD
GOPIO FINALIZES
CONFERENCE-2005 JANUARY 5-6, MUMBAI
GOPIO CONFERENCE - 2005
IN CONJUNCTION
WITH
PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS 2005
THEME
INDIA AND NRIs/PIOs ROLE, RELATIONSHIP AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Place:
Taj Mahal
Hotel and Taj
President Hotel, Mumbai
Date and Time: Wednesday, January 5th
and Thursday, January 6th, 2005.
Program
Wednesday, January 5th, 2005
Taj Mahal
Hotel, Mumbai
10.00 to 12.00 a.m. GOPIO Executive Committee Meeting
(Not open to general
public)
12.00 noon to 1.00 p.m. Lunch
1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. PIO/NRI
COMMUNITIES AREA REPORTS (Open to Everyone)
N orth America Radha Krishnan, President-Elect,
The national Federation of Indian
American Associations (NFIA) and President of GOPIO Detroit,
USA
South America
and Caribbean Harold
Ramdhani, Secretary General,
GOPIO Suriname
Europe Sunil
Prasad, President, GOPIO Belgium
Midd
le
East Sunny Kulathakal
(Bahrain),
GOPIO Intl. VP for
Middle East
Far East and South East Asia To be decided (TBD)
Pacific TBD
Africa - TBD
3.30 p.m. 4.00 p.m. Coffee Break
4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. INDIA-NRI/PIO
MEDIA CONCLAVE
Speakers to be announced soon.
Chair: K.N. Gupta, President of GOPIO-New Delhi,
India
6.30 p.m. to 7.30 F
orma
l
Inauguration of GOPIO Conference 2005
Dignitaries to be announced soon
7.30
p.m. to 8.3 0 p.m. Reception
Thursday, January
6th, 2005
Taj President
Hotel, Mumbai
9.00
a.m. to 10.00 a.m. Registration/Coffee/Tea
10.00
a.m. to 10.45 a.m. Inauguration of GOPIO Academic Council
Chair: Dr. Jagat
Motwani (New York, USA),
Chairman, GOPIO Academic Council
Keynote Address: Honorable Basdoe Panday, MP, Former Prime Minister of Trinidad and
Tobago and
currently
Leader of the Opposition
11.00
a.m. to 12.30 a.m. Session on Indian Diaspora Social, Political and Economic Issues
Chair: Dr. Jagat
Motwani (New York, USA),
Chairman, GOPIO Academic Council
Co-Chair: Dr. Arun
Vakil, Chairman Program Committee, Indo-American
Society, Mumbai,
India
Speakers:
Prof.
Anand Mulloo, Mahatma Gandhi Institute,
Mauritius
Dilip Mehta, CEO, Rosy
Blue,
Antwerp,
Belgium
Dr.
Chandrsekhar Bhat, Director, Center for Diasporic Studies, University of Hyderabad, India
Dr.
Mohan Gautam,
Social
Scientist, University of
Leiden, the
Netherlands
Prof.
Adesh Pal, Center for Indian Diaspora and Cultural Studies, Hemachandracharya
North Gujarat University, Patan, Gujarat, India
12.30
p.m. to 2.00 p.m. Lunch
(Sponsored by Chander Khurana, President of ACS Telcom, New
York)
2.00
p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Session on GOPIO Connect Helping in Developmental, Philanthropic and Educational Activities
Chair: Prabodh Gupta (New Delhi),
Chairman, GOPIO Philanthropic Council
Co-Chair: Satish
Sahney, CEO, Nehru
Center, Mumbai
Coordinator: Prashant
Gupta (Chicago,
USA),
Chairman, GOPIO.Connect
Speakers:
Prof. Manubhai Shah, Chairman Emeritus, Consumer Education and
Research
Center,
Ahmedabad, India
Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute (New Delhi)
Dr. Awtar
Singh, Philanthropist and CEO of Lockwood-Singh Inc.,
Los Angeles, CA
Presentation on GOPIO.Connect Prashant Gupta
3.30
p.m. to 4.00 p.m. Tea Break
4.00
p.m. to 5.30 p.m. Session on Business, Technology and Investments
Chair: Dwarkesh
Shah (Stuttgart,
Germany),
Chairman, GOPIO Business Council
Co-Chair: K.S.Neela Kandan, Convener, Management
Development
Forum of
Indo-American Society, Mumbai
Speakers:
Technology Amitav Mallik, Former Director, Defense Research & Development Organization and member
of National
Security Advisory Board, New Delhi
Technology Transfer Dr. Muhammed Majeed, Chairman, Sami Labs, New
Jersey (USA) and Bangalore,
India
Investments - Lalita Gupte, Joint Managing Director, ICICI Bank, Mumbai
Trading Mr. Bharat
G. Shah, Member of the Board of Indo-Belge Diamantaires Association
Entertainment Industry Vijay Lazarus, President, Indian
Music Industry
5.30
p.m. to 6.00 p.m. Adoption of Resolutions
7.00
p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Reception and Grand Awards Banquet with the
Presentation of PRAVASI BHARATIYA COMMUNITY SERVICE
AWARDS
Honored Guests:
Honorable Jagdish Tytler, Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs
Honorable Mahendra Chaudhry, Former Prime Minister of Fiji
Honorable Basdeo Panday, Former Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
GOPIO
is seeking suggestions for speakers at the NRI/PIO Media Conclave. Please contact GOPIO Chairman
Dr. Thomas Abraham in USA at 203-329-8010
(E-mail: gopio@optonline.net), or send E-mail to GOPIO President Inder Singh E-mail: gopio-intl@sbcglobal.net or K.N. Gupta, President of
GOPIO-New Delhi
at (11) 51642066, E-mail: msinh@del2.vsnl.net.in
Conference
Registration
Convention Registration Fee: $25 or equivalent foreign currencies
or Rs. 1,000. Total registration
will be limited to 200 delegates. So contact
early to avoid
disappointment.
Those from outside
India,
please contact
GOPIO Secretary
General Ashook Ramsaran in the US
at 718-353-1900 E-mail: ramsaran@aol.com.
The convention in Mumbai will be coordinated by GOPIO-Mumbai Coordinator Mr. V. Balachandran,
Tel: (91)
22-24964827, E-mail: smisan@vsnl.net. Sponsor opportunities are
available for Indian businesses interested to reach out PIOs/NRIs. Limited number of
Tabletop Booths
will also be available at the venue on January 6th. Contact Mr. Balachandran.
PRAVASI BHARATIYA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS GOPIO is seeking nominations
from the Indians communities from all over the world to honor those who stand up in providing services to the
NRI/PIO community. Send the nominations with background information by December 6th to GOPIO Inc. P.O. Box 1413, Stamford, CT 06904, USA,
or
E-mail to ramsaran@aol.com The awardees
will be honored on January 6th
evening at the Awards Banquet at Taj President.
Process for Hotel Bookings at the Taj Mahal and Taj President Hotels
Send E-mail to Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Mumbai, Attn. Soheb Desai tmhgroupresv.bom@tajhotels.com
or Taj President Mumbai, Attn.
Peter D'Souza president.mumbai@tajhotels.com
or a fax on 022
56650365 details: Name, Company details, Tel no/ fax no/
e-mail,
Check-in date and Check-out date, Arrival details, Credit card details. Please indicate GOPIO conference
to avail of the
special rate,
i.e. $100 for
single/double plus tax.
COPORATE SPONSORS OF
THE CONFERENCE
Dilip Mehta, Rosy Blue, Antwerp,
Belgium
ICICI Bank Mumbai
Taj Group of Hotels, Mumbai
GRAND PATRONS
Dr. Awtar Singh, Lockwood-Singh, inc., Los Angeles, USA
Chander Khurana, ACS Telcom, New
York, USA
GOPIO New York
PATRONS
Dr. Awtar Singh, Lockwood-Singh, inc., Los Angeles, USA
Haresh Panchal, San
Jose, California,
USA
Dr. M.C. Gupta, Los Angeles, California, USA
THIRD PRAVASI
BHARATIYA DIVAS 2005
Jan 7-9, 2005 in
Mumbai
Please join the largest reunion of the global Indian family at the Third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to be held from January 7-9, 2005 in
Mumbai.
The
Third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be inaugurated by His
Excellency Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and
will have similar high-level participation from the Central and state governments, and
Indian political and business leaders.
Eminent professionals, scientists, innovators from the Indian
Diaspora across
the world will also attend the conference. Apart from providing a
unique networking opportunity, the Third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas would strengthen
India's
engagement with its Diaspora through focused activities across
sectors.
Highlights of The Third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2005 include:
A
three-day conference consisting of (a) Plenary sessions with senior cabinet ministers of India
(b) Special
interactive sessions with select Diaspora leaders (c) Parallel sessions on Knowledge- based industry,
Healthcare,
Education, Finance, Entertainment, Voluntary Sector, Media, Tourism, NRIs in Gulf, Science and Technology etc. (d)
Special
programs
for the younger
generation of the Diaspora (e) Opportunity for delegates to form their own groups and sessions. There
will also be business opportunities and
networking
across sectors;
Interactive sessions with State Governments of India; Two Entertainment evenings
including Bollywood night; A multi-product Exhibition
showcasing India's capabilities; and the Food festival - delectable dishes and cuisines from
various parts of India
His
Excellency Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, President of India
shall confer the Bharatiya Samman Awards on January 9,2005.
For more information and on-line registration, visit www.indiaday.org.
Or
E-Mail to
indiaday@indiaday.org or indiandiaspora@ficci.com.
PROCESS OF DUAL
CITIZENSHIP BEGINS
The
Indian embassies have started the process of granting dual citizenship to PIOs in the 16 selected countries. Once a person
receives certificate of dual citizenship, he will no longer need a visa to
travel to
India.
His/her children will be eligible for admission to educational institutions in India,
including
medical
colleges, engineering colleges, institute of
technology,
etc, contact the nearest Indian Consulate or Embassy/High commission for details.
DIWALI AND EID
CELEBRATED BY US AND CANADA
WHITE HOUSE
CELEBRATES DIWALI AND EID
Indian American community leaders and
Republican
Party activists were invited to the White House celebration of Diwali on November 10th. Briefing on Indo-US Relations was provided by
former envoy to
India
Ambassador
Blackwell. In the evening, President Bush hosted a dinner to
the American Muslim community and diplomats to celebrate Eid.
CANDIAN PM LIGHTS
DIWALI LAMP IN PARLIAMENT
Diwali marked yet
another milestone for Indians when the Prime Minister joined the
celebrations
for the first
time in Parliament
ON November 12th. This
year, Diwal