For quite some time, India has been emerging as a major player on the international stage. Narendra Modi’s impressive election victory and India’s successful launch of the Mangalyan Mission to Mars has given a big boost to this third largest economy in Asia. A boost to India’s image is a matter of great pride not only for the people of India but also for the Indian diaspora spread throughout the globe. In a number of countries ,especially in the west, Australia and New Zealand, people of Indian heritage have made huge strides in every area. This is more so in the political arena.
In counties like Canada, U.S., and U.K., people of Indian heritage have achieved very prominent positions not only at the local and provincial levels but also at the federal levels. For example, in Canada, large provinces like British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario have a history of Indo-Canadians as legislatures and members of the cabinets. B.C. had also the distinction of electing an Indo-Canadian, Naranjan Singh Grewal, as mayor in Mission, in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia in 1950s. Again, in British Columbia, Moe Sihota was the first person of Indian heritage elected (in 1986) to a provincial legislature in Canada and Ujjal Dosanjh had the honour of occupying the premier’s chair in 2000. Again, B.C. led the country in electing Herb Dhaliwal as a member of Canadian parliament (in 1993) who was later elevated to cabinet. Since then, a large number of Indo-Canadians have been elected to all three levels of government as councillors, mayors, MLAs, MPs and ministers.
Turning to our neighbours to the South, in the United States, Dalip Singh Saund made history by getting elected as a member of the U.S. Congress in 1950s. Again, history was made when two persons of Indian heritage –Bobby Jindal and Nikki (Randhawa) Haley- were elected as governors of two American States. In addition to that, a lot of Indo-Americans and Indo –Canadians are occupying positions of prominence in government and private sector. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, people of Indian background have reached positions of prominence in both government and industry. Same goes for many other countries like Australia, New Zealand, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, Fiji and Malaysia etc. This is as a result of hard work and dedication of these people who have made a name not only for themselves and their adopted countries but also for the birthplace of their ancestors-India.
Other than politics, people of Indian heritage have been making huge strides in almost every area, be it education, business, farming, technology sports, media, diplomacy and academia. There are countless examples of the proud achievements of these individuals. Just recently, two prominent members –an Indo-American and an Indo-Canadian –have been appointed as the highest ranking representatives of their countries to India. U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Richard Verma as the American Ambassador to India. Similarly, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed Nadir Patel as Canadian High Commissioner to India. Perhaps it is a co-incidence of history that the two North American neighbours-U.S.and Canada- will be represented by two renowned career diplomats of Indian heritage in India.
People of Indian heritage have also been excelling in academia. In a number of places of higher learning there are people with their roots in India occupying positions of prominence as deans, vice presidents and presidents of colleges and universities. The appointment of Jalandhar (Punjab) bore Arvind Gupta as president of British Columbia’s oldest and largest universities (U.B.C.) is another example of the Indian diaspora reaching the top. People of Indian heritage are now champion wrestlers, sports personalities and top notch journalists. Not only that, the Indian diaspora is also well known for its generosity. Whenever and wherever there is need, people of Indian heritage worldwide are in the forefront donating millions upon millions of dollars and getting into the trenches helping the needy. Furthermore, they send billions of dollars to India each year to help their relatives, friends and numerous human welfare projects and causes. In short, the Indian diaspora around the globe has now become a very powerful, resourceful and reliable asset not only for their adopted countries but also for the country of their origin-India.
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