About:
- Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award is the highest honour conferred by the President of India as a part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Conventions.
- Eligibility: it is conferred on a Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Person of Indian Origin (PIOs) or organization or institution established and run by NRIs or PIOs, who have made significant contribution in one of the following fields:
- Better understanding abroad of India; Support to India’s causes and concerns in a tangible way;
- Building closer links between India, the overseas Indian community and their country of residence;
- Social and humanitarian causes in India or abroad; or
- Eminence in one’s field or outstanding work, which has enhanced India’s prestige in the country of residence.
- Posthumous: The Awards shall not be given posthumously except in very rare cases where the person had died within a year preceding the announcement of the Awards.
- Number of awardees: Every year since 2003 till 2015, 15 PBSAs were awarded during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention. Since 2015, PBD Convention is being held Bi-annually and the number of PBSAs have been increased to 30.
- Jury-cum-Awards-Committee: The winners are selected by the Jury-cum-Awards-Committee comprising Vice President of India as Chairman and Minister of External Affairs as Vice-Chairman.
- Award: The Award shall carry a bilingual Sanad in addition to a citation, a gold medallion and a miniature of the medallion in the form of a lapel pin.
List of prominent awardees (2019):
- Gita Gopinath, IMF chief economist.
- Nihal Singh Agar, founding president of VHP in Australia between 1990-2005.
- Ramesh Chotai, former president of Hindu Mandir and Cultural Centre in Canada.
- Swami Saradaprabhananda, president, Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa (Phoenix).
- Himanshu Gulati, a Member of Parliament in Norway, and Shamim Parkar Khan of the UAE were honoured for public service.
- Veteran South African diplomat Anil Sookal was conferred the award in the field of diplomacy.
- Two organisations — Indian Community Association of Egypt and Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha — got the award for community service.
