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Pravasi Bharatiya award for Kalpana Chawla

Last updated on: January 08, 2004 19:35 IST

The Government of India on Thursday awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (award) to astronaut Kalpana Chawla and eleven other Non Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin.

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Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2004


Chawla was killed when space shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas at on February 1, 2003. Six other astronauts
on board were killed. Chawla was the Columbia's space engineer and it was her second voyage into space.

Other who have been selected for the award are:

The names were announced by J C Sharma, secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, on Thursday at a press conference in Delhi.

The awards will be presented by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday after the inauguration of the three-day second Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The award comprises a gold medal and a citation.

Sharma said over 100 names were considered for the award by a committee headed by Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. He said over 1500 delegates have already registered for various Pravasi Divas programmes.

"We are expecting the number to go up by morning tomorrow. As of now we have over 60 countries represented. This number too may go up," he said.

Pankaj Upadhyaya in Delhi