Volume 12 Issue #1 January & February 2019 www.canadaindiafoundation.com

Ramesh Chotai honoured with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award

The Government of India has honoured Ramesh Chotai with the Pravasi

Bharatiya Samman Award, highest civilian award bestowed upon overseas

Indians. The President of India His Excellency Hon. Ram Nath Kovind

presented Mr. Chotai with the award on January 23, 2019 in Varanasi on the

concluding day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the annual conglomeration of

the Indian diaspora. India’s Minister of External Affairs, Hon. Sushma

Swaraj; the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Hon. Yogi Adityanath; and the

Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Hon. Ram Naik, were present at the award

presentation ceremony. “I am delighted and humbled to receive the Parvasi

Bharati Saman from the President of India, H.E Ram Nath Kovind ji. I am

very thankful to the community and particularly to my wife Krishna Chotai, a

woman who stood beside me in this journey of community service,” Mr.

Chotai said upon receiving the honour.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Honour/Award) is an

award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of

India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-Resident Indian

Day), to honour exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen

field/profession. The Award carries a bilingual Sanad under the hand and the

seal of the President of India in addition to a citation and a gold medallion.

Mr. Ramesh Chotai, received the honour in the business and philanthropy

category. He is the President of Bromed Pharmaceuticals.

• Continued on Page 8

The Pravasi Bhartiya Samman

Award is a well-deserved

recognition for Mr Chotai's

decades of service to the

community.

Vikas Swarup, High

Commissioner of India to

Canada

My heartiest congratulations

to Mr. Ramesh Chotai on

being conferred the well-

deserved Pravasi Bharatiya

Samman Award, by the

Hon’ble President of India, on

23 January 2019. The

conferment of the Award on

Mr. Chotai recognises his

contribution to the Indo-

Canadian community

activities.

Dinesh Bhatia, Consul General

of India in Toronto

CIF’s India Mission 2019 & Higher Education Forum – India

16 January 2019

Meetings with

• High Commission of Canada in India

• Confederation of Indian Industry

• Hon. Anurag Thakur, MP

• Research and Information Systems

New Delhi

Meeting at Canadian High Commission

Meeting with Confederation of Indian Industry

Meeting with Anurag Thakur, Member of Parliament & Chief Whip of BJP in Lok Sabha

Meeting with Research and Information Systems

Education & Skills Development

The impact of technological innovation has transformed education from its pure theoretical underpinnings

to an application-based acquisition of knowledge and skills. The emphasis has shifted to creativity, critical

thinking, problem solving and decision making. It is also about communication and collaboration where

technology paves the way for new ways of working.

Educational institutions are being required to provide skills enhancement programs to students that need

to be fitted into a new industrial and service industry environment that lays more emphasis on skills. The

need for skills development has leapfrogged exponentially across the globe, leading to collaborations

between educational institutions on a global scale. In the panel discussion, panelists will share their

thoughts on the future of work and what efforts they are doing in skilling the leaders of today and

tomorrow, leveraging new and emerging technology in their respective institutions.

Moderator Mr. David Agnew President, Seneca College

Panellists Dr. Jitendra Das Director, FORE School of Management Mr. Ajay Mohan Goel Consultant, INSCOL Healthcare Pvt. Ltd Prof. KS Gopinath Narayan, IA & AS, Professor, National Institute of Financial Management Ms. Neeta Bali Director, and Head of School G D Goenka World School, Gurugram

17 January 2019

Higher Education Forum

• Education and Skills Development

• International Best Practices of Academia Corporate Interface in Research and Innovation

CIF’s India Mission 2019 & Higher Education Forum – India

New Delhi

International Best Practices of Academia Corporate Interface in Research and Innovation

Interface between Industry and Academia plays a central role in the growth and development of a nation.

Industry not only provides employment opportunities for the educated and skilled products of education, it

also engages in solving problems through research and innovation to improve the quality of new products and

services. In India, currently the engagement and collaboration between industry and academia is weak and

incoherent. Collaboration between industry and academia is critical for innovation and technology transfer

and for the promotion of entrepreneurship. The linkages can help to coordinate R&D and exploit synergies

and complementarities of scientific and technological capabilities. Innovation and enterprise have emerged

as two interrelated phenomena that are comprehensively changing the knowledge industry. Technological

advances in spheres such as Advanced Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning are being

adopted across a wide spectrum of all sectors, and this is changing the industry’s need for qualified personnel.

Moderator Mr. Nirav Bhatt Barrister & Solicitor Astha Lawyers

Panellists Mr. Arunachalam Karthikeyan Country Head sequa gGmbH - LO (India), Head of iMOVE Office in India Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu York University Dr. Satish Modh Vivekananda Institute Dr. Anita Lal Fore School of Management

CIF’s India Mission 2019 & Higher Education Forum – India

Gandhinagar

18 January

• Higher Education Forum

International Universities Conclave 2019

• Dinner reception with Mayor of Ahmedabad, Bijal Patel

Internationalization of Higher Education

Session Chair Prof. Sudhir Jain Director IIT - Gandhinagar Session Moderator Prof. Himanshu Pandya Vice Chancellor Gujarat University Panelists: Prof. Stan Scott Dean Internationalization Queen’s University, Belfast Mr. David Agnew President Seneca College Prof. Ramaswamy Nagarajan Professor UMASS, Lowell Dr. Alan Snyder VP & Associate Provost Lehigh University

Opportunities for Cooperation between Indian and Foreign Universities

Session Chairman Prof. Shirish R Kulkarni Vice Chancellor Sardar Patel University Session Moderator Dr. R. K. Gajjar Principal, VGEC Panelists Dr. Paul Jensen Dean LeBow College of Business Drexel University Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr. Vice Chancellor Troy University

Prof. Liesl Folks Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu Research Associate, York University

19 January

• MoU with Gujarat Chamber of Commerce

• Meeting with Gujarat CM Hon. Vijay Rupani & Deputy CM Hon. Nitin Patel

Dinner reception with Mayor of Ahmedabad, Bijal Patel

20 January

• Presentation at Global Conclave of International Chambers

• Meetings with political leaders from Gujarat

• Continued from Page 1

He pursued his education as Pharmacist in the UK and Switzerland and

joined ICI Pharmaceuticals in Kampala, Uganda.

He came to Canada in 1972. Starting as a Pharmacist/Manager at an

Oshawa Pharmacy, he has built a successful group of companies that

manufactures and distributes medical and healthcare products around the

world.

His company Bromed Pharmaceuticals became one of the leading

Pharmaceuticals company with a turnover of multi-million dollars, bringing

employment to several individuals and becoming one of the leaders in

pharmaceutical formulation technology.

Mr. Chotai is a co-founder of Canada India Foundation (CIF) and under the

auspice of CIF many successfully entrepreneurs joined to champion the bi-

lateral trade relations and sector-based public policies between Canada and

India.

Mr. Chotai was CIF’s Chair during 2009-2011 and under his leadership,

many strategic initiatives were organized such as Canada India Energy

Forum and Canada India Mining and Metals Forum. He was also member of

two delegations led by Premiers of Ontario to India. He was also the Co-

chair of Canada India Health Care Summit which was held both in Canada

and India.

Community builder and a philanthropist, he is the past President of the

Hindu Mandir and Cultural Centre. Mr. Chotai is the Vice-Chairman of the

Canadian Museum of Indian Civilization, President of Vraj Canada

Community Centre and Canada Serves, and a former President and an

Advisory Board Member of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. He has

received many awards from the Government of Ontario and various

community organizations.

In 2001, Mr. Chotai was instrumental to raise $1.6 million in three weeks for

Gujrat Earthquake relief and it created a partnership with Canadian

International Development Agency (CIDA) to match $3.2 million to build

802 homes, 32 schools, 4 community center and 4 medical mobile clinics in

the earthquake-ravaged areas in Gujarat.

“ I extend my heartiest

congratulations to Ramesh

Chotai for having been

awarded the prestigious

Pravasi Bhartiya Samman

Award by the Government of

India. As a former recipient of

the Pravasi Bharitiya Samman,

I can say that this award is a

singular honour to be proud of

and to cherish. I am proud of

Ramesh Chotai’s many

accomplishments ever since

arriving in Canada in 1972.

This award recognises his hard

work and innovativeness in

building trade and cultural

bridges between Canada and

India. I wish him all best as he

continues his good work.

Deepak Obhrai, Member of

Parliament, Conservative Party

of Canada, Calgary Fair Lawn

”