Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Award) is an award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-resident Indian Day), to honor exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen field/profession. The award is given by the President of India.

The official list of awardees can be found on the website of the Indian Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

Awardees for 2009

Country	Name	Description	Field of Merit
Netherlands	Ram Labhaya Lakhina	Founder and Executive President of the Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce and Trade (NICCT)	Community Affairs
Netherlands	Sumit Arora	Nucleus Software

Awardees for 2008

Country	Name	Description	Field of Merit
Bahrain	Dr. Ravi Pillai	Managing director Nasser Al Hajri Corporation	Business
Mauritius	Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam	Prime Minister Mauritius	Public Affairs
Australia	Neville Joseph Roach	Chairman of TCS-FNS
Japan	A. P. S. Mani	Founder and coordinator of Indian Community Activities in Tokyo
New Zealand	Judge Ajit Swaran Singh	District Judge in New Zealand
Saudi Arabia	Dr. Rafiudin Fazulbhoy	Founding member of the Indian school at Jeddah and the Indian Pilgrims' Welfare Forum
Sweden	Bicky Chakraborty	CEO Elite Hotels, Sweden
United Arab Emirates	Krishnamurthy Kumar	Founding governor of the Indian Business and Professional Council
United Kingdom	Lord Karan Bilimoria	Chancellor Thames Valley University
United States	Dr. Thomas Abraham	Founder chairman Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO Inc.)
United States	Joy Cherian	Commissioner at the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Trinidad and Tobago	National Council of Indian Culture	NGO dedicated to the promotion of Indian culture in Trinidad and Tobago

Awardees for 2007

Country	Name	Description	Field of Merit
United States	Gopal Raju	journalist, founder-editor India Abroad	Media
United Kingdom	Lord Diljit Rana	Hon. Consul Belfast, Managing Director Andras House	Business
Canada	Dave Sukhdip Singh Hayer	Member of Legislative Assembly of British Columbia	Public Affairs
United States	Dr. Madhavan Anirudhan	President Essen Nutrition	Business
South Africa	Billy Nair	Member of Parliament, ANC South Africa	Public Affairs
Kenya	Pheroze Nowrojee	Advocate, Human Rights Activist	Community Affairs
United States	Nirmal K. Sinha	Community Leader, Significant contribution to fostering friendship between India and USA	Community Affairs
Malaysia	Tan Sri Dato K.R. Somasundram	Executive Chairman, National Land Finance Co-operative Society	Public Affairs
Jamaica	Kenneth S. Benjamin	Founder and chairman of the Guardsman Group	Business
Germany	Sibabrata Roy	President Indo-German Society Hamburg, Promoter of Indian Culture in Germany	Community Affairs
United Arab Emirates	Syed M. Salahuddin	Managing Director, ETA-Ascon Group	Business
United Arab Emirates	Dr.Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty	Businessman Pharmaceuticals, Chairman Board of Governors Abu Dhabi Indian School	Business
Fiji	Sir Moti Tikaram	Justice, National President Fiji World Jurist Association	Public Affairs
Portugal	Dr. Abdool Magid Karim Vakil	President Comunidade Islamica de Lisboa	Business
United States	Dr. P. Jayaraman	Writer, Promoter of Hindi language and literature	Culture

Awardees for 2006

Country	Name	Description
Thailand	Shivnath Rai Bajaj
Israel	Eliahu Bezale
Mauritius	Abdool Raouf Bundhun
Philippines	Pratima Kale
Saudi Arabia	Majid Uddin Kazi
Qatar	C.K. Menon
United Kingdom	Gulam Kaderbhai Noon
United States	Sudhir Parikh
Guyana	Yesu Persaud
Seychelles	V. Ramadoss
South Africa	Sisupal Rambharos
United States	Niranjan S. Shah
Hong Kong	Rusy M. Shroff
Réunion	Jean-Paul Virapoullé
United States	Fareed Zakaria	journalist, editor of Newsweek International

Awardees for 2005

Country	Name	Description
Hong Kong	M. Arunachalam	President, Asia Pacific India Chambers of Commerce
United States	Jagdish Bhagwati	Indian American economist
South Africa	Amina Cachalia	Women's activist, politician
Tanzania	J.K. Chande	Chancellor, International Medical and Technological University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Germany	Alokeranjan Dasgupta	Poet, philosopher, academic
South Africa	Ahmed Kathrada	South African anti-apartheid activist
United States	Sunil Khilnani	Political scientist, writer
Trinidad and Tobago	Basdeo Panday	Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
United Kingdom	Bhikhu Parekh	member, British House of Lords
United States	Sam Pitroda	Indian American entrepreneur and Indian communications policymaker
United Kingdom	Vikram Seth	Novelist and poet
United States	M. Night Shyamalan	Indian American film screenwriter, director and producer
Fiji	Vijay Singh	Indo-Fijian golfer
	Dr. Sant Singh Virmani	Rice scientist
United Arab Emirates	Yusuffali M.A.	Owner of EMKE Group (Abu Dhabi based Indian congleramate)

Awardees for 2004

Country	Name	Description
Thailand	Dipak Jain	Dean, Kellogg School of Management
United States	late Kalpana Chawla	Astronaut
Zimbabwe	Justice Ahmed Moosa Ebrahim
Guyana	Bharrat Jagdeo	President of Guyana
Fiji	Mahendra Pal Chaudhry	Fmr. Prime Minister of Fiji
Kuwait	Dr. Marian Chisti
United Kingdom	Lord Meghnad Desai	Economist, Writer, Labour politician
United States	Narinder Singh Kapany
United States	Shashi Tharoor	Writer
New Zealand	Sukhi Turner	Fmr. Mayor of Dunedin, New Zealand

Awardees for 2003

Country Name Description Mauritius Rt. Hon’ble Sir Anerood Jugnauth Prime Minister of Mauritius.

South Africa Prof. Fatima Meer she took active part in political, social and philanthropic causes, deeply influenced by the Gandhian values and approach

Hongkong Dr. Hari N. Harilela business ventures and community welfare activities, he has been long considered the standard-bearer and the most recognizable symbol of the Indian Diaspora in Hong Kong

Oman Shri Kanaksi Gokaldas Khimji The Khimjis have utilized their proximity to the ruling family in the cause of the Diaspora and strengthening links between India and Oman.

Kenya Shri Manilal Premchand Chandaria Shri Chandaria has used his resources to propagate Indian ethos and values. He helped set-up Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Academy Society and Gandhi Smarak Nidhi Fund in Kenya.

United Kingdom Lord Navnit Dholakia Lord Dholakia made significant contributions in the fields of community care and issues relating to ethnic unrest. He played an important role in addressing the sensitive issue of racial discontent.

USA Shri Rajat Gupta Shri Gupta has embarked on work relating to community welfare and social and Philanthropic causes. He played a key-role in the establishment of the Indian School of Business at Hyderabad.

Guyana Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal Sir Ramphal is a distinguished Jurist having been Solicitor General and AttorneyGeneral of Guyana and Member of International Commission of Jurists. Sir Ramphalalso held positions of responsibility in international organizations such as Independent Commission on International Development Issues, IndependentCommission on Disarmament and Security Issues, Independent Commission ofInternational Humanitarian Issues and World Commission on environment andDevelopment, Chairman UN Committee for Development Planning and President,World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Malaysia Dato’ Seri S. Samy Vellu Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing (1978-79); Minister for Works (1979-85) and Minister of Energy, Tele communications & Posts, Malaysia (1989-95). He has been a Member of the House of Representatives of the Malaysian Parliament since 1974.

Canada Shri Ujjal Dosanjh In 1991 Shri Dosanjh was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly in the Vancouver Kensington constituency and then as Caucus Chair. He became the Minister for Human Rights, Multiculturalism, Sports and Immigration in 1995 and then was appointed the Attorney General of British Columbia. In a historic development, he was elected as the 33rd Premier and President of the Executive Council of the British Columbia, first for a person of Indian origin in Canada.

External links

• List of Previous Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Awardees MOIA website
• Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, Official webpage at Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA)
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Official website