iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
A fresh batch of Indian students from the University of Connecticut joined young professionals, corporate achievers and entrepreneurs at a networking event organised by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin-Connecticut Chapter (GOPIO-CT).
GOPIO-CT, a community service organisation reaching out to Indians and Indian-Americans in the US state, has been organising the event for over 12 years.
The initial thrust of GOPIO, founded in 1989, was fighting human rights violation of people of Indian origin.
“America is the greatest country which provides opportunity to open up your mind and you can be whatever you want to become, whether a professional in a large corporation, or help to manage a hedge fund or as a scientist or professor or as an entrepreneur, so, go and grab the opportunities awaiting you,” GOPIO International Chairman Dr Thomas Abraham said while welcoming the new students.
GOPIO-CT President Ashok Nichani told the students that the Indian-American community is their host family in the US and that chapter will always stand by them.
The weekend event, held at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Stamford, also served as an interactive session with a high-profile panel of Indian-American corporate achievers and entrepreneurs, including 3Lines COO Nandu Kuppusamy, Maganti IT Resources President Prasad Maganti, eNcloud Services President Chandra Sekhar Nallam, Immigration Attorney David Nachman and Entain CIO Joseph Simon.
GOPIO-CT — Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (Connecticut) — serves as a non-partisan, secular, civic and community service organization, promoting awareness of Indian culture, customs and contributions of PIOs through community programs, forums, events and youth activities.
GOPIO was founded at the First Global Convention of People of Indian Origin in New York City in 1989. The name GOPIO was adopted by the Steering Committee formed after the First Global Convention. The initial thrust of GOPIO was fighting human rights violation against people of Indian origin.
Although this has been improved in the last decade, human rights violations continue to be a major issue for PIOs living outside India. GOPIO has now set its priorities in pooling its resources, both financial and professional, for the benefit of PIOs, the countries they come from and India.
GOPIO’s Founder President is Dr. Thomas Abraham who served since inception till 2004. Inder Singh took over as president in 2004 and served till 2009 when Lord Diljit Rana, a member of the House of Lords in London was elected. Lord Rana was followed by Ashook Ramsaran who served from 2011 to 2016. Niraj Baxi of Silicon Valley, California served from March 2016 to December 2017.
The incumbent president of the GOPIO is Sunny Kulathakal from Bahrain. The Founder President was elected again as the Chairman of GOPIO in 2016. In 2009, GOPIO launched GOPIO Foundation For People of Indian Origin with Dr. Thomas Abraham as its first Executive Trustee.
A person of Indian origin (PIO) was a form of identification means a foreign citizen (except a national of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and/or Nepal), who:
- at any time held an Indian passport (but not currently) or
- either of their parents/grandparents/great-grandparents were born and permanently resident in India as defined in Government of India Act, 1935 and other territories that became part of India thereafter provided neither was at any time a citizen of any of the aforesaid countries (as referred above) or
- is a spouse of a citizen of India or a PIO.
Prime minister Narendra Modi announced on 28 September 2014 that PIO and OCI cards would be merged. On 9 January 2015, the Person of Indian Origin Card scheme was withdrawn by the Government of India and was merged with the Overseas Citizen of India card scheme. PIO cardholders must apply to convert their existing cards into OCI cards. The Bureau of Immigration stated that it would continue to accept the old PIO cards as valid travel documents until 31 December 2022.
