In his speech before giving out the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin community awards on Saturday, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi described GOPIO "as one of the major institutions of Indians abroad," and said, "I, as a minister, look to them for advice and support."
The minister then handed out the awards to Charan Gill from Canada, George Abraham from Singapore, Nevin Megchiani from Bahrain, Middle East, and Wahid Saleh from the Netherlands.
Meghalaya Governor M M Jacob, Dr Karan Singh, member of Parliament, and former prime minister I K Gujral were then inducted into GOPIO's honour roll for their services to GOPIO and overseas Indian communities in the last two decades.
Charan Gill founded the British Columbia Organisation to Fight Racism, co-founded Canadian Farm Workers Union, and is the president of Progressive Indo-Canadian Community Services Society among others.
Gill also developed the seniors' housing project and raised funds towards the purchase price.
He was a member of the Task Force on Race Relations, and has also organised a conference on race relations. Gill developed the Colony Farm Project to cultivate 167 acres of land organically and provide a training institute to grow vegetables and fruits organically.
He has won numerous community service awards like the Order of British Columbia, Vandusen Community Service Award from United Way, Human Rights Award from MOSAIC, Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and many more.
According to a GOPIO release, George Abraham has served in various capacities with the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Singapore Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Abraham is chairman of The GA Group, which organises country-focused seminars, conferences and publications; and the Global Indian Business Network Ltd, which assists cross-border trade and investment within Singapore, India and the region. Abraham serves on various government, civic and community organisations, and launched the Global Indian Business Summit in 2006.
Nevin Megchiani has been serving and supporting various educational facilities for the benefit of the NRI community in the Gulf.
He has also served in various capacities in several NRI community organisations.
Megchiani served as vice chairman of the Indian School, Bahrain, the first and the largest community school today with more than 6,000 students.
He has also worked towards helping children from the NRI community get admissions in top universities in India by adding the NRI quota seats.
Megchiani is the director of Birla Institute of Technology (Ranchi), which he succeeded in bringing to Bahrain where it established its first international centre abroad for NRI community children to pursue their degree programmes while living with their parents.
Born in Assam, Wahid Saleh studied engineering in Kerala, Germany, and The Netherlands.
Saleh has served as a board member of The Netherlands-India Association, and guided the creation of the Dutch Indian Youth Association. He has also served in numerous civic, community and cultural organisations in various executive positions.
In April 2002, Saleh was awarded the coveted Dutch honour -- Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau (Knighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau ).
Saleh also authored the book Indiawijzer-India in Nederland, a reference guide on Indian culture in The Netherlands.
For his services to the PIO/NRI community, Saleh was presented with Foundation for Critical Choices for India Silver Jubilee Award.
He established the Anwar Qadir Mohammed Salehuddin and Najmun Nisa Memorial Trust for Higher Education in Assam, and donated funds for this trust.