Melb Indian org home Pravasi B

Tbetterment, an unexpected phone call spurred a flurry of activity for Melbourne’s Dr. Gurdip Aurora, President of the Australia India Society of Victoria. He was informed that the AISV had been nominated for the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for community service.

The award is the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians as part of the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention sponsored by the Overseas Indian Affairs Government of India knowledge society.

The phone call was to invite Dr. Aurora to Kochi in Kerala, where the 11th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention was to be held between 7-9 January, 2013.

According to the citation, ‘The Australia India Society of Victoria was recognised for its role in protecting the rights of Indian migrants and establishing a network of welfare activities’.

“It was a great honour to receive the award, on behalf of AISV, from the President of India,” Dr. Gurdip Aurora said as he shared his PBD experience with Indian Link upon his return.

“I did not have a lot of prior knowledge of this event and I certainly did not expect it to be as big as it turned out to be. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and impressed by the way everything was arranged for me including travel, accommodation, meals, transport and use of a chauffeur driven vehicle in India,” claimed Dr. Aurora.

All the awardees were booked into Hotel Le Meridien in Kochi and the host spared no expense in making sure that their stay was comfortable, according to Dr. Aurora.

South Africa. The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) was the organising partner of the summit this year. The Government of Kerala was the State partner of this event and the enchanting city of Kochi with its natural beauty of backwaters and monuments of gods offered a warm welcome to the hundreds of delegates, media and dignitaries from various parts of the world.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh formally inaugurated the three-day event on January 8 and released a stamp commemorating the Gadar Movement. In his address to the audience the Prime Minister said that safety and security of overseas Indian communities was uppermost in mind in the backdrop of turbulence in many parts of the world. Though the primary responsibility of safety and security of overseas Indian communities rests with the host nations, “when needed, as was the case last year in Libya, our government will provide prompt and necessary assistance”, the Prime Minister said.

He said last year’s record remittance of $67 billion from overseas Indians was a testimony to both the emotional attachment and the fulfilment in investing in India’s strong economy.

“I also wish to see the Indian diaspora as a stronger partner, not only in India’s economic growth, but also in building India’s knowledge society, while continuing to engage culturally and emotionally, and serving as the effective ambassadors that they have been for this country,” the president said.

The Indian diaspora makes up over 20 million people. There are at least five heads of state or government, and over 70 senior political leaders such as deputy heads of state, speakers, ministers in various countries, who can trace their roots to India.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards at the valedictory session on January 9. Mauritius

Samman Award for public services.

The award was also given to: Prof Gurusharan Singh Chatwal, Germany (Science); Dr. Satendra K. Singh, New Zealand (Community service); Ismail E. Ebrahim, South Africa (Business); T.S. Ravindra Menon, Malaysia (Community service); Dr. Rasik V.Joshi, Mexico (Literature); Gilbert. C. Moutien, Reunion Island (Business); Mohammed R. Karuvanthodi, Saudi Arabia (Business); Bava Pandalingal, UAE (Community service); Dr. N.R.Kumar, US (Health care); Subhash Razdan, US, (Public service) and Ashok S. Vaswani, Guinea (community service).

The AISV from Victoria and the Indian Doctors Forum from Kuwait were the only two organisations to win the PBDS community service award this year.

Since its inception in 2003 only two Australians have been conferred with this award: well known ICT industry leader Neville Roach AO and scientist Veena Sahajwalla (of UNSW) who also appeared on the TV show The Inventors. Dr. Aurora felt delighted that AISV were to join this elite club.

“I do not know who nominated after our 50th anniversary” said Dr. Aurora as he proudly displayed the gold medal and certificate to Indian Link in his Scoresby clinic recently.

The australia India society of victoria aIsv Prof. Alexander Boyce Gibson, the head of the Department of Indian Studies at the University of Melbourne, established the Australia India Society of Victoria in 1963. AISV was initially created with an objective to create interest in Indian history, arts and culture. All the past Presidents, and the present committee led by Dr. Gurdip Aurora, have helped in shaping the organisation over the years by playing an active role in issues affecting the Indian community. According to Dr. Aurora AISV has sought to improve and strengthen the quality of relations between Australia and India through their interactions with the Government, the media and the people who are directly affected by these issues.

The major achievements of AISV, as listed in their 50 years’