Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has received several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. Seth's collections of poetry such as Mappings and Beastly Tales are notable contributions to the Indian English language poetry canon.
Neena Gill, is a British Labour Party politician. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands first from 1999 to 2009, and then from 2014 to 2020.
Dame Sukhinder Kaur Gill Turner, commonly known as Sukhi Turner, is an Indian-born-New Zealand politician who served as the Mayor of Dunedin, New Zealand, from 1995 until her retirement from the position in 2004. She was also regarded by some as New Zealand's most prominent politician from the country's Indian community.
Roxanna Panufnik is a British composer of Polish heritage. She is the daughter of the composer and conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik and his second wife Camilla, née Jessel.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is an award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to honour exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen field/profession. The award is given by the President of India. Since 2016, the Government of India has doubled the number of awardees each year to 30 after a decision to grant the award once every two years.
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed on 9 January by the Republic of India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community towards the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915.
Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, is a South African peace activist and was a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994 to 2004, where she aligned with the African National Congress (ANC) party representing the Phoenix area of Inanda in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Her parliamentary committee assignments included the Welfare, and Public Enterprises committees as well as the ad hoc committee on Surrogate Motherhood. She was an alternate member of the Justice Committee and served on Theme Committee 5 on Judiciary and Legal Systems.
Gulliver Ralston is a British musician living in Oxford, England.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) was a ministry of the Government of India. It was dedicated to all matters relating to the Indian diaspora around the world.
Raghunath Manet is an Indian classical musician/music composer and dancer/choreographer born in the Union Territory of Puducherry. He is trained in Bharathanatyam and plays the Veena, a Carnatic instrument. He has collaborated with American Jazz musician Archie Shepp, American dancer Carolyn Carlson, French performers such as Richard Galliano, Didier Lockwood and Michel Portal.
Lata Pada, CM is an Indian-born Canadian choreographer and Bharatanatyam dancer. Pada is the founder and artistic director of Sampradaya Dance Creations, a dance company that performs South Asian dance. She is also the founder and director of Sampradaya Dance Academy, a leading professional dance training institution that is the only South Asian dance school in North America affiliated with the prestigious, UK-based Imperial Society for Teachers of Dancing. Pada founded the dance company in 1990; Pada said that she founded the company because she wanted to showcase Bharatantyam dance as an art form throughout the world. Pada is known as an influential figure in South Asian-style dance in Canada.
M. Arunaachalam is a Hong Kong-based businessman and entrepreneur, born and educated in India. He has previously been the chairman of The Indian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, and as of 2009, he has been a member of its General Committee. Arunaachalam is also the chairman of the Indian Chamber Fiftieth Anniversary Education Trust and the Disaster Relief Fund for India.
Azad Moopen is an Indian healthcare entrepreneur, physician, and philanthropist. He is the developer of many healthcare facilities in Asia-Pacific. He is also the chairman and managing director of Aster DM Healthcare, a healthcare conglomerate in the Middle East and India founded in 1987. In 2010 and 2011, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman and Padma Shri by the Government of India, respectively. Forbes ranked him 6th in the "Top 100 Indian Leaders in UAE" list, and according to Arabian Business named him as 29th in the "50 Richest Indians in the GCC".
Padma Sachdev was an Indian poet and novelist. She was the first modern woman poet of the Dogri language. She also wrote in Hindi. She published several poetry collections, including Meri Kavita Mere Geet, which won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1971. She also received the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award in 2001, and the Kabir Samman for poetry for the year 2007-08 given by Government of Madhya Pradesh, Saraswati Samman for the year 2015, Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2019.
Priyanca Radhakrishnan is a New Zealand politician who has been elected to the New Zealand parliament since the 2017 general election as a representative of the New Zealand Labour Party and is currently Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector.
Sant Singh Virmani is a US-based Indian plant breeder, rice scientist and a former Principal Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He served IRRI from 1979 to 2005 and retired from its service as the deputy head of the Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry Division.
Panchapakesa Jayaraman is an Indian writer, scholar, vedic priest and a former executive director of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA. He is a known academic in Vedic Studies and Indian philosophy. He has edited six and authored 12 books including, Subrahmaṇya Bhāratī: Bhārata sapūta, published in 1967 by Kshitija Prakāśana.
Valavoor Kizhakkathil Rajasekharan Pillai or VKR Pillai is an Indian businessman from Kuttamperoor, Mannar in Alappuzha district of Kerala, living in Bahrain. He is the Chairman of Bahrain headquartered national group of companies in Bahrain. He has been awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award 2017, the highest honor conferred on non-resident Indians by the President of India.
Rajni Kanabar was an M.B.B.S. doctor and philanthropist belonging to the third generation of an Indian-origin family in Tanzania. He was the founder-chairman of Regency Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam, and the initiator-convenor of the Tanzania Heart Babies Project, which he established in the year 1979. Born in Mwanza, he was presented with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award as a person of Indian origin, from the Government of India in 2010, for facilitating the surgeries of children in Tanzania suffering from congenital heart diseases. He also received the PBS Award Label from the High Commission of India in Tanzania in 2013, and the Order of the United Republic of Tanzania Medal in 2014.
