KEL Media Release
Daijiworld Media Network - Global
New Delhi, Jan 9: On the concluding day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in New Delhi on Tuesday, January 9, fifteen prominent overseas Indians from worldwide who have excelled in their respective fields were honoured by president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.
The awardees included two stalwarts from the Gulf - Dr B R Shetty, president of the NMC group of companies and Syed M. Salahuddin, managing director of the ETA Ascon.
The largest number - four - of the awardees is from the United States. Two are from the United Arab Emirates and the others from the United Kingdom, Canada, Fiji, Portugal, Kenya, Malaysia, Germany, Jamaica and South Africa.
The other award winners are: Dave Sukhdip Singh Hayer (Canada), Sir Moti Tikaram (Fiji), Sibabrata Roy (Germany), P Jayaraman, Nirmal K. Sinha, Dr M Anirudhan and Gopal Raju (all from the US), Kenneth S. Benjamin (Jamaica), Pheroze Nowrojee (Kenya), Abdool Magid Abdool Karim Vakil (Portugal), Billy Nair (South Africa), Dr. K.R Somasundaram (Malaysia) and Lord Daljit Rana (United Kingdom).
The president praised the overseas Indians for keeping India high in their respective countries and also for their concern and support for their mother India. He spoke on his theme ‘World Knowledge Platform – A Mission’ and provide the overseas Indians with his vision on what he can give as a message to overseas Indians.
He asked the overseas Indians to work unitedly to alleviate the problems of their brethren in their respective countries and work with dignity for the success of their adopted countries. In particular, he mentioned that large number of people of Indian origin living abroad do not have proper education and have no opportunity to upgrade their skills. They don’t have the time to empower themselves to higher education and higher earning potential.
He proposed that while we meet annually in India, we should also select 10 places in different parts of the world and hold a meeting at least once in two years and invite those who cannot afford to participate on their own with their families. Meanwhile, empowering them with education and training must commence immediately. He spoke of launching a World Knowledge Platform to achieve this global objective through collaboration similar to the Bramhos missile project which was achieved in record time through a Indo–Soviet joint venture. The success of the Bramhos project is through the shared expertise of two countries and this product is internationally competitive and is the fastest operational cruise missile existing in the world today and can be launched from any type of platform – land, seas and air and precisely reach the targets either on land or at sea with high lethal effect.
The president highlighted his vision for a Developed India by 2020. He said if this vision is achieved then the people below poverty line will be close to zero and our literacy rate nearly 100%. Every Indian will either have an university degree or quality training with employable vocational skill. E-governance would be in a position for all Government-to-Government (G2G) and Government-to-Citizen (G2C) transactions making the governance system transparent with citizen identity card in position. Tele density will reach over 75%. All our villages will be electrified. The interlinking of the rivers and water bodies will result in equitable distribution of water in irrigation, drinking and navigation and there will be no shortage of water. We will be using more of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind power and thorium based nuclear energy and adding less to the pollution. Through venture capital system and entrepreneurial training both in schools and colleges, we will have more enterprises leading to large number of employment generators rather than employment seekers. The country will become a destination for world citizens coming to India for quality affordable medical attention. The President request all overseas Indians to participate in this mission of Developed India 2020 and to make it a reality by your attitude of give, give and give of the knowledge and experience that they have gained over the years.