President Dr Irfaan Ali will be bestowed with the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians– Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) – for the year 2023.
President Ali joins 26 other persons of Indian origin / non-resident Indians who have been recognized by the Government of India for their outstanding achievements both in India and abroad.
The 17th PBSA will be conferred by the President of India as part of the upcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention (Indian Diaspora Day) to be held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, from 8-10 January 2023. The Award will be conferred during the valedictory session of the Convention on 10 January 2023. President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has been invited as the Chief Guest for the upcoming PBD Convention and will be travelling to India with a high level delegation comprising of both official and private sector representatives.
A Jury-cum-Awards Committee, with Hon’ble Vice-President of India as the Chairman, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister of India as the Vice-Chair and other distinguished members from various walks of life considered the nominations for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards, 2023 and unanimously selected the awardees. The awardees represent the excellence achieved by the Indian Diaspora in various fields.
Following is the list of Awardees recommended by Jury-cum-Awards Committee for conferment of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award 2023:
Sr. No. Name Country Field
1. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali Guyana Politics/Community Welfare
2. Prof. Jagadish Chennupati Australia Science & Technology/Education
3. Prof. Sanjeev Mehta Bhutan Education
4. Prof. Dilip Loundo Brazil Art & Culture/Education
5. Dr. Alexander Maliakel John Brunei Darussalam Medicines
6. Dr. Vaikuntam Iyer Lakshmanan Canada Community Welfare
7. Mr. Joginder Singh Nijjar Croatia Art & Culture/Eduction
8. Prof. Ramjee Prasad Denmark Information Technology
9. Dr. Kannan Ambalam Ethiopia Community Welfare
10. Dr. Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay Germany Community Welfare/Medicine
11. Ms. Reena Vinod Pushkarna Israel Business/Community Welfare
12. Dr. Maqsooda Sarfi Shiotani Japan Education
13. Dr. Rajagopal Mexico Education
14. Mr. Amit Kailash Chandra Lath Poland Business/Community Welfare
15. Mr. Parmanand Sukhumal Daswani Republic of Congo Community Welfare
16. Mr. Piyush Gupta Singapore Business
17. Mr. Mohanlal Hira South Africa Community Welfare
18. Mr. Sanjaykumar Shivabhai Patel South Sudan Business/Community Welfare
19. Mr. Sivakumar Nadesan Sri Lanka Community Welfare
20. Dr. Dewanchandrebhose Sharman Suriname Community Welfare
21. Dr. Archana Sharma Switzerland Science & Technology
22. Justice Frank Arthur Seepersad Trinidad & Tobago Community Welfare/Education
23. Mr. Siddharth Balachandran UAE Business/Community Welfare
24. Mr. Chandrakant Babubhai Patel UK Media
25. Dr. Darshan Singh Dhaliwal USA Business/Community Welfare
26. Mr. Rajesh Subramaniam USA Business
27. Mr. Ashok Kumar Tiwary Uzbekistan Business
High Commissioner of India to Guyana Dr. K J Srinivasa has officially congratulated H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali on being the recipient of the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award calling it a recognition of the outstanding contributions of President Ali to Guyana and his efforts to bring about the rapid and equitable development of Guyana.
High Commissioner also expressed hope that the upcoming visit of President Ali to India for the PBD 2023 and subsequent interactions with the top political hierarchy including H.E. President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu, Hon. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi, Hon. External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S. Jaishankar and other dignitaries along with high level interactions with the business/private sector of India especially pertaining to Agriculture, Agro-processing, Health, Pharmaceuticals, Infrastructure, Information Technology and Energy sectors will provide the necessary impetus for further strengthening bilateral partnership between India and Guyana. In his New Year’s message for 2023, High Commissioner Dr. K J Srinivasa had called upon the Guyanese to work for the growth and success of Guyana and to play an active role in fulfilling “Guyana’s unique destiny”.
