US: 4 Indian Origin persons to be honoured

The Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin will give away the awards on January 6, which coincides with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

The four persons to be honoured are Charan Gill from Canada, George Abraham from Singapore, Nevin P Megchiani from Bahrain and Wahid Saleh from the Netherlands. The awards will be presented by Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi.

GOPIO will also induct Meghalaya Governor M M Jacob, Dr Karan Singh, MP and former Indian Prime Minister Inder K Gujral in its honour roll for their services to the causes of Indian communities abroad. Gill had founded British Columbia Organisation to Fight Racism and co-founded Canadian Farm Workers Union. He is President of Progressive Indo-Canadian Community Services Society. Besides, he was the brain behind senior's housing project for senior citizens.

Abraham has served in various capacities with the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Singapore Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He is Chairman of The GA Group which organising country-focused seminars, conferences and publications; and the Global Indian Business Network Ltd, which assists cross-border trade and investment within Singapore, India and the region.

Megchiani has been supporting various educational facilities for the benefit of the NRI community in the Gulf. He has served as Vice Chairman of the Indian School Bahrain, the first and the largest community school today with more than 6,000 students.

He also worked towards helping the NRI community children get admissions to top class universities. Born in Assam, Wahid studied engineering in Kerala, Germany, and the Netherlands. He has served as a board member of the Netherlands-India Association, and guided the creation of the Dutch Indian Youth Association. He has also served in numerous civic, community and cultural organisations in various executive positions.

In April 2002 Wahid was awarded the coveted Dutch honour, Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau (the Knighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau). Saleh also authored the book, Indiawijzer-India in Nederland, a reference guide on Indian culture.