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Diaspora award winners have rich, varied background >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will honour 10 persons of Indian origin, including Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth, at the inauguration of a three-day Indian diaspora conference beginning here Thursday. Following are the brief profiles of those who will receive the "Pravasi Bharatiya Samman" (Indian Diaspora Awards). Sir Anerood Jugnauth: Jugnauth is leader of the Mauritius Militant Movement. A lawyer by profession, he was first elected to Parliament in 1963. He was state minister for development in the government of Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam from 1965 to 1966 and was promoted as labour minister in November 1966. He joined the Mauritius Militant Movement in the early 70s, becoming its president. He was re-elected in the 1976 elections and served as the opposition leader from December 1976 to June 1982. In 1982, he became the prime minister in a dramatic election in which his radical left-wing alliance won every single seat in the legislative assembly. He has presided over the country's rapid industrialisation, the Mauritian economic miracle, which is the envy of so many countries. Lord Navnit Dholakia: Dholakia was born in 1937 and was raised to peerage as Baron Dholakia, of Waltham Brooks in the Country West Sussex in 1997. Lord Dholakia was educated in Indian public schools and in Tanzania. His extensive career background includes heading the administration of justice section of the Commission of Racial Equality as well as senior development office of the Community Relations Commission. Within the House of Lords, Dholakia is a member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and is the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Home affairs. He has published various articles on criminal justice matters. Rajat Gupta: Gupta is the MD of McKinsey & Co. Inc. - Worldwide. He joined the firm's New York office in 1973, assumed leadership of its Scandinavian offices in 1982, and joined the Chicago office in 1987. He took over the role of Office Manager there in 1989, was elected managing director of the firm in 1994 and re-elected twice, once in 1997 and again in 2000. Gupta is chairman of the board of the Indian School of Business and is associated with many professional and business affiliations, including a trustee of the University of Chicago and associate of the Harvard business School, advisory board at the Kellogg School of Management. Gupta holds a bachelor of technology degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and is an MBA from Harvard Business School. Professor Fatima Meer: Meer was born in Durban where her father was the editor and publisher of the Indian weekly, India Views (1914-1965). She has directed and organised a number of concerts to raise funds in the 1940s and '50s for famine relief in Bengal, the 1946 Passive Resistance Campaign and the 1956 Treason Trial. She has also raised funds and written the script for the film, "The Making of the Mahatma", which has won several international awards. She is the recipient of a number of awards and honorary degrees nationally and internationally. In 1999, Indian magazine Femina elected Meer as one of the "Top 100 Women Who Shook South Africa." She has been banned or detained repeatedly for varying periods for her support to the anti-apartheid movement and has suffered two bomb attacks and survived an assassination attempt. Kanakshi Gokaldas Khimji: Khimji, popularly known as Kanakbhai, took over the reigns of the Khimji Ramdas Group of Companies (KR) in 1970 from his late father Gokaldas Khimji. Khimji is one of the top business houses in Oman. In 1975, under his leadership, the Indian Merchants Body in Oman established the first-ever English medium school in Muscat. Today there are 14 schools set up by the organisation in the sultanate. Free land and a substantial amount of funds were generously given by Sultan Qaboos Bin Said to set up the schools. During the Gujarat earthquake, Kanakbhai with the help of the merchant community in Oman despatched three shiploads of food, blankets, tents and other items worth over Rs. 5 million, apart from an equivalent amount of cash contribution to the victims, through NGOs in Gujarat. Ujjal Dosanjh: Dosanjh has the distinction of being elected first Indo-Canadian premier in Canada when he became British Columbia's 33rd Premier on February 24, 2000. He had previously served as attorney general and minister in charge of various subjects, including multiculturalism, immigration, human rights and sports. Born in India in 1947, he migrated to England at the age of 17 and to Canada four years later. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University, followed by a law degree from the University of British Columbia. In 1979, Dosanjh established a law practice in Vancouver. S. Samy Vellu: Born on March 8, 1937, Vellu is a qualified architect and has been a senior member of the Malaysian cabinet since 1978. He has been president of the Malaysian Indian Congress, a partner in the ruling National Front Coalition since 1979, and a member of the House of Representatives of the Malaysian Parliament since 1974. He has to his credit several successful public projects, most notable among them being the successful construction of the 13.6-km Penang Bridge, linking the mainland with Penang Island and introducing the privatisation concept in highway construction, culminating in the successful completion of the 900 km North-South Highway. He also conceived the need for Malaysia to have its own satellite launched in 1995. Sir Shridath Ramphal: Ramphal, a former Commonwealth secretary-general, is co-chair of the Commission of Global Governance, President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and chair of the international steering committee of the Rockefeller Foundation's leadership in environmental and development programme. Ramphal was chair of the West Indian Commission whose report, provided to Caribbean heads of government in 1992, made detailed recommendations for the future of the region. In 1991, he was a special advisor to the U.N. secretary general on the Conference of Environment and Development (UNCED). He was chancellor of the University of Guyana from 1990 to 1992 and is currently chancellor of the University of the West Indies and the University of Warwick in Britain. Manu Chandaria: The king of the African business jungle, Chandaria was recently hailed as one of the most respected CEOs of Kenya. Involved in aluminium, computer hardware, software, plastics and steel, his Comcraft Group has interests in Africa, India, Australia, and South America. Chandaria's father shifted to East Africa in 1916 and started a retail trade in provisions. This initial foothold is what paved the way for the Chandaria business to expand into a global conglomerate. He was educated in India and the U.S. to become a qualified engineer. He returned to Kenya and got involved in the family business. The Chandarias then slowly started acquiring properties, which helped them to step into the manufacturing industry. In 1950, the family undertook manufacture in steel and aluminum. Bob Naroomal Harilela: A noted businessman of Hong Kong, Harilela's rags-to-riches story began in 1922 when his father, Naroomal Harilela, left his hometown of Hyderabad (Pakistan) and journeyed to Canton (China) in search of fortune. The Harilela Group of companies is a conglomerate that has interests in hotels, travel agencies, real estate, restaurants, retail stores as well as seats on the stock exchange. While Hari has toiled to build the family business, he has worked equally hard doing community work and received the Order of British Empire in 1969 in recognition of his contribution to society. The other civic honorary activities to his credit include the past chairmanship of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong, and founder-president of the Indian Arts Circle. On July 15, 1993, India presented him the Hind Rattan award for outstanding achievements as NRI. --Indo-Asian News Service
