GLOBAL ORGANIZATION OF PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN
GOPIO International, PO Box 1413, Stamford, CT 06104, USA
Phone: (818) 708-3885, Email: gopio-intl@sbcglobal.net
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NEWLY ELECTED GOPIO INTERNATIONAL TEAM SEEKS CLOSER DIASPORA
TIES WITH INDIA
Global
Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) elected a new international
executive council at a warmly contested election,
conducted electronically for the first time, where 208 of the
223 international delegates from 21 countries cast votes, electing Mr. Niraj Baxi of Silicon Valley
(USA) as its President. Other elected officers are: Mr. Noel Lal
(Sydney, Australia) as Executive Vice President, Mr. Ram Gadhavi (New Jersey, USA) Vice President, Dr. Rajeev
Mehta (USA), Dr. Pradip Sewoke
(France), Mrs. Suman Kapoor (New Zealand), and Mr. Rajidre
Tiwari (The Netherland) as International Coordinators. The election
process was supervised by GOPIO Chairman Inder
Singh who will continue in that position.
Formed in 1989 at the First Global Convention of People of Indian
Origin, GOPIO has now reached most countries with
a sizable Indian Diaspora population. Past GOPIO elections
were generally held at its biennial conventions wherein only a
fraction of the international delegates could participate. However,
with new technologies being available, the present election was held
electronically with a record participation by 93% of the
international delegates.
With India at the threshold of accepting new technologies and
business investment, the new team has come up with a motto, “GOPIO Means
Business” so as to attract Indian Diaspora entrepreneurs and businessmen to
take more interest in investing in India in all spheres, in business,
philanthropy, education healthcare and social causes.
“With an investment and business friendly government in India, we
see a lot opportunity for the Indian Diaspora to invest and actively
participate in India’s development,” said President Niraj
Baxi.
GOPIO Executive Vice President Noel Lal said that GOPIO would reach
out all countries where we have the Diaspora presence.
Vice President Ram Gadhavi
who has brought Gujarati Diaspora writers on a common platform in the US, plans
to extend it to all Indian writers on a global GOPIO forum.
GOPIO Founder President Dr. Thomas Abraham, who also serves as the
Executive Trustee of GOPIO Foundation said that GOPIO will increase its social
and philanthropic activities in India as well as in countries with a large
Indian Diaspora population.
Baxi
further said that he would
work towards making GOPIO the voice of any and all NRIs and PIOs and would take
initiatives in growing GOPIO all countries and regions of the world.
“In all our internal and external activities, we want to bring
about fairness, transparency and accountability; there are many challenges
that lie ahead of us and we need good wishes and continued hard work from
everyone,” Baxi continued.
GOPIO elected officers are as follows:
President - Niraj Baxi
(Silicon Valley, CA, USA)
In 1984, Niraj visited various
countries, becoming the first emissary of the National Federation of Indian
American Associations (NFIA), which sponsored the First Global Convention of
People of Indian Origin in 1989. He coordinated NFIA and GOPIO organized
the 90th Anniversary of Gadar in San Francisco. Niraj has served as Regional Vice President of GOPIO. Niraj has served in several positions
at NFIA and became its President in 2003. He is also active in
many civic, political and community service Associations. Professionally, Niraj is a third generation insurance and financial
services professional.
Executive Vice President - Noel Lal
(Sydney, Australia)
Originally
from Fiji, Noel came into GOPIO at the 2000 GOPIO Convention in
Zurich, Switzerland. Noel served as the Regional VP and International
Coordinator for the Oceania region. Noel is also a current
Trustee of the Foundation for Educating Needy Children in Fiji. A Justice
of Peace in Australia, Noel is an engineer by profession is currently the
Managing Director of South Pacific Engineering Pty Ltd.
Vice
President - Ram Gadhavi
(Wayne,
New Jersey, USA)
For
four decades, Ram Gadhavi has been involved in
various community activities, starting with the India Cultural Society of
NJ where he served as its Chairman, helped build the Gandhi
Mandir, was Secretary/President of the
Federation of Indian Associations (FIA of CT, NJ & NY) where
he organized the 1st India Day Parade, President
of Gujarati Literary Academy of NA, Secretary of Bharatiya Vidyà Bhavan (USA), and as founding Co-Convener of
the first GOPIO Convention in 1989. A chemical engineering project manager
of Lummus Co., Ram, after retirement, started a home
building and re-modelling company.
International Coordinator for North America -
Dr. Rajeev Mehta
(Piscataway, New Jersey, USA)
Dr. Rajeev Mehta is the Founder President of GOPIO-Central
Jersey (and served in this capacity 2008 to 2012). He
also served as Co-chair of the GOPIO Health Council
(2010-2014), Co-Convener of the 2011 GOPIO International Biennial
Convention held in New Jersey, and Chair of GOPIO
Health Council 2014 onward. He has organized several health
camps on behalf of GOPIO Central Jersey. He is a researcher, clinician
and professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
in New Jersey.
International Coordinator for Europe - Dr. Pradip Sewoke (Belfort.
France)
Founder and President of GOPIO Belfort and Borders of East France
(Switzerland, Germany), Pradip attended GOPIO
International Convention in New Delhi and New York. Support the development of
GOPIO Chapters in the francophone countries (Europe, Canada, Africa, Islands of
Mauritius, Reunion, Antilles, etc.). Professionally, Pradip
is an interventional cardiologist and Co-Director at Diaconat Clinic, Mulhouse, France.
International Coordinator for Oceania - Suman
Kapoor
(Waikato, New Zealand)
A founder President of GOPIO’s first chapter in New Zealand, Suman
served as chairperson of GOPIO’s Women's Council and Cultural council. She was
conferred
Uttar Pradesh NRI Samman
Award
in Jan 2016 and several other awards including Bharat Gaurav, Hind
Rattan and NRI of the year (Times Now). She has been often referred to as GOPIO
LADY in her local community, is very widely traveled globally and
has participated in International conferences including PBDs in
India, Europe, Australia, Fiji, etc.
International Coordinator-at-Large - Rajindre Tewari
(Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Rajindre
served as Chapter
president of GOPIO-Amsterdam followed by Country Coordinator, then EU
coordinator, and later served as International Coordinator for Europe in the
GOPIO Executive Council 2012 onward. Rajindre Tewari is the MD of an Investment Company with a strong
focus on private equity & emerging market investments and chairs the India
Business Council of the Dutch Council for Trade.
As a Dutch
PIO with roots in UP, he studied in Delhi, Antwerpen
and Leiden, and comes from a family that was performing Seva
for generations.
GOPIO is a non-partisan, non-sectarian and
secular global organization with 65 chapters, over 200 life members in over 24
countries. It actively promotes the interests of people of
Indian origin worldwide by monitoring and addressing current critical issues of
concern, and by enhancing cooperation and communication between groups of
Indians living in various countries.
The new GOPIO team seeks your suggestions and
participation. If you have an issue of our Diaspora community to be taken up
by, please bring it to our attention. We are are here
to serve you. Please contact GOPIO President Niraj Baxi at email president@gopio.net or
408-307-9845or visit
www.gopio.net
**
Note: as a premiere Indian
Diaspora organization, the GOPIO Election got extensive coverage in the various
media as follows:
https://dcdesi.com/niraj-baxi-of-california-elected-new-president-of-gopio-international/
http://www.joychenputhukulam.com/newsMore.php?newsId=55469
https://in.news.yahoo.com/global-diaspora-body-seeks-closer-ties-india-081203577.html
http://www.siasat.com/news/diaspora-actively-engage-indias-development-gopio-935627/
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Photo above: GOPIO 2016 Officers: From top left clockwise, | Register for GOPIO email updates |