GOPIO Award
The Fiji Live news service reported on 29 December 2005 that at a conference of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) on 5-6 January 2006, Chand would be one of five people to receive the Pravasi Bharatiya Community Service Award. The others were Diljit S. Rana of Ireland, B.R. Shetty of Abu Dhabi, Sudha Acharya, executive director of the South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS). There was also a special recognition award to Pavan Kumar Darisi of the World Arya Vysya Mahasabha. Chand, an accomplished jazz flautist, performed an abbreviated rendition of the Oscar Peterson standard 'I Love Paris' at the prizegiving reception. The awards, which are granted to persons of Indian ancestry for their contributions to the countries they are members of, were presented by Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde of Andhra Pradesh.
The conference was held as a prelude to the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which ran from 7-9 January. The theme of the conference is "Global Indian Diaspora: Today and Tomorrow". Chand was one of the speakers at the conference, one of many organized by GOPIO since its inception in 1989.
Chand was the second citizen of Fiji to receive this award, the first being Mahendra Chaudhry in 2004. The citation for the award praised him for his role in campaigning for the restoration of democracy in Fiji in the wake of the two coups which deposed the Bavadra government and severed Fiji's links to the British Monarchy in 1987, and also noted his role in the establishment of the University of Fiji to cater for underprivileged students. He was also an accomplished author, the citation said.
Read more about this topic: Ganesh Chand
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