BY RAVI R PONANGI
Atlanta, GA: India’s President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award to Atlanta based community leader Subash Razdan on Wednesday, Jan 09 at the concluding session of the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD). The annual convention of was held from Jan 7 to 9 in Kochi, Kerala. Thirteen eminent overseas Indians from different walks of life and two overseas Indian organizations also received awards.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) is the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians. PBSA is conferred by the President of India as a part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Conventions organized annually since 2003, on a Non-Resident Indian, Person of Indian Origin or an organization or institution established and run by the Non-Resident Indians or Persons of Indian Origin, who has made significant contribution enhancing the prestige of India.
Subash Razdan is a graduate from IIT, New Delhi and a resident of Atlanta for over 30 years during which he has been actively providing leadership to the Indian community. He is a recipient of several citations including the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2003. Razdan is known for speaking up for the community. He is the chairman and co-founder of Gandhi foundation of USA which promotes the philosophy of peace and non violence as pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Razdan served as the president of India America cultural Association (IACA) and president and vice president of National Federation of India Associations (NFIA). His efforts and leadership resulted in the installation of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site, Atlanta.
Razdan is counted among the 500 most influential Asian Americans in USA. He is also recognized for enhancing the prestige of India and for his contributions to the public and the Indian community.
Rajkeswur Purryag, the president of Mauritius, who was the Special Guest of Honor at the PBD 2013 was given an award for his achievements in public service while the Australia India Society of Victoria was given the community service award.
Others who received community service award were Mr Ashok Vaswani based in Guinea, Indian Doctors Forum, Kuwait, Tan Sri Ravindran Menon, Malaysia, Dr Salendra Singh, New Zealand and Mr Bava Pandalingal of UAE.
Other recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award were Prof. Gursharan Chhatwal of Germany, for Science, Mexico based Dr Rasik Joshi for Literature, while awards for Business went to the duo of Mr Gilbert Moutien of Reunion Island and Mr Mohammed Karuvanthodi of Saudi Arabia.
Public Service award recipients were Mr Ismail Ebrahim of South Africa and Mr Subash Razdan of U.S. while Ms Patricia Rozario of UK got an award for Music while Dr Narendra Kumar, president of U.S. based AAPI bagged Healthcare award.