PRAVASI BHARATIYA SAMMAN

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.