Finance
Guyana President Mohamed Irfaan Ali and renowned Canadian scientist Dr Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan are among 27 recipients of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in 2023, the highest honor bestowed on Indians living in other countries.
President Droupadi Murmu will present the award as part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, which will be held in Indore from January 8 to 10.
Ali, who was born into an Indo-Guyanese Muslim family, took the oath of office in August 2020.
He will also be the honorary chairman of the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention.
Amit Kailash Chandra Lath, a Goan businessman, received the award as well. He assisted in the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine into Poland when war broke out with Russia.
Dr. Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan, a scientist and innovator who moved to Canada in 1974, channeled his passion for community service by supporting organizations such as the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce and the Canada-India Business Council.
He has sponsored clean drinking water systems and a mobile hospital in rural India, and he received the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
FedEx Corporation CEO Rajesh Subramaniam, Australian economist Chennupati Jagadish, and Israel-based chef Reena Vinod Pushkarna are among those who have received the award.
“A Jury-cum-Awards Committee, with Vice-President as the Chairman and External Affairs Minister as the Vice-Chair and other distinguished members from various walks of life considered the nominations… and unanimously selected the awardees,” a Ministry of External Affairs statement read.
Source:OCN
