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

Ramesh Chotai honoured with Award

The Pravasi Bhartiya Samman The Government of has honoured Ramesh Chotai with the Pravasi Award is a well-deserved Bharatiya Samman Award, highest civilian award bestowed upon overseas recognition for Mr Chotai's Indians. The His Excellency Hon. Ram Nath Kovind decades of service to the presented Mr. Chotai with the award on January 23, 2019 in on the community. concluding day of the , the annual conglomeration of Vikas Swarup, High the Indian diaspora. India’s Minister of External Affairs, Hon. Sushma Swaraj; the Chief Minister of Hon. Yogi Adityanath; and the Commissioner of India to Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Hon. Ram Naik, were present at the award presentation ceremony. “I am delighted and humbled to receive the Parvasi My heartiest congratulations Bharati Saman from the President of India, H.E Ram Nath Kovind ji. I am to Mr. Ramesh Chotai on very thankful to the community and particularly to my wife Krishna Chotai, a being conferred the well- woman who stood beside me in this journey of community service,” Mr. Chotai said upon receiving the honour. deserved Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, by the The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Honour/Award) is an Hon’ble President of India, on award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of 23 January 2019. The India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-Resident Indian conferment of the Award on Day), to honour exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen Mr. Chotai recognises his field/profession. The Award carries a bilingual Sanad under the hand and the contribution to the Indo- seal of the President of India in addition to a citation and a gold medallion. Canadian community Mr. Ramesh Chotai, received the honour in the business and philanthropy activities. category. He is the President of Bromed Pharmaceuticals.

Dinesh Bhatia, Consul General of India in • Continued on Page 8 CIF’s India Mission 2019 & Higher Education Forum – India New

16 January 2019 Meetings with • High Commission of Canada in India • Confederation of Indian Industry • Hon. Anurag Thakur, MP • Research and Information Systems

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

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

17 January 2019 Higher Education Forum • Education and Skills Development • International Best Practices of Academia Corporate Interface in Research and Innovation

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. Panellists

Dr. Jitendra Das Director, FORE School of Management

Moderator Mr. Ajay Mohan Goel Mr. David Agnew Consultant, INSCOL Healthcare Pvt. Ltd President, Seneca College

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

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. Panellists

Mr. Arunachalam Karthikeyan Country Head sequa gGmbH - LO (India), Head of iMOVE Moderator Office in India Mr. Nirav Bhatt Barrister & Solicitor Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu Astha Lawyers York University

Dr. Satish Modh Vivekananda Institute

Dr. Anita Lal Fore School of Management

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

18 January

• Higher Education Forum

International Universities Conclave 2019 • Dinner reception with Mayor of Ahmedabad, Bijal Patel

Internationalization of Higher Opportunities for Cooperation between Education Indian and Foreign Universities

Session Chair Prof. Sudhir Jain Director Session Chairman IIT - Gandhinagar Prof. Shirish R Kulkarni Vice Chancellor Session Moderator Sardar Patel University Prof. Himanshu Pandya Vice Chancellor Session Moderator University Dr. R. K. Gajjar Principal, Panelists: VGEC Prof. Stan Scott Dean Internationalization Panelists Queen’s University, Dr. Paul Jensen Belfast Dean LeBow College of Business Mr. David Agnew Drexel University President Seneca College Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr. Vice Chancellor Prof. Ramaswamy Nagarajan Troy University Professor UMASS, Lowell Prof. Liesl Folks

Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dr. Alan Snyder University at Buffalo, State University of New York VP & Associate Provost Lehigh University Dr. Nivedita Das Kundu Research Associate, York University

Dinner reception with Mayor of Ahmedabad, Bijal Patel

19 January • MoU with Gujarat Chamber of Commerce

• Meeting with Gujarat CM Hon. Vijay Rupani & Deputy CM Hon. Nitin 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 and “ joined ICI Pharmaceuticals in Kampala, . He came to Canada in 1972. Starting as a Pharmacist/Manager at an I extend my heartiest Oshawa Pharmacy, he has built a successful group of companies that congratulations to Ramesh manufactures and distributes medical and healthcare products around the Chotai for having been world. awarded the prestigious His company Bromed Pharmaceuticals became one of the leading Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Pharmaceuticals company with a turnover of multi-million dollars, bringing Award by the Government of employment to several individuals and becoming one of the leaders in India. As a former recipient of pharmaceutical formulation technology. the Pravasi Bharitiya Samman, Mr. Chotai is a co-founder of Canada India Foundation (CIF) and under the I can say that this award is a auspice of CIF many successfully entrepreneurs joined to champion the bi- singular honour to be proud of lateral trade relations and sector-based public policies between Canada and and to cherish. I am proud of India. Ramesh Chotai’s many accomplishments ever since Mr. Chotai was CIF’s Chair during 2009-2011 and under his leadership, many strategic initiatives were organized such as Canada India Energy arriving in Canada in 1972. Forum and Canada India Mining and Metals Forum. He was also member of This award recognises his hard two delegations led by Premiers of Ontario to India. He was also the Co- work and innovativeness in chair of Canada India Health Care Summit which was held both in Canada building trade and cultural and India. bridges between Canada and India. I wish him all best as he Community builder and a philanthropist, he is the past President of the continues his good work. Hindu Mandir and Cultural Centre. Mr. Chotai is the Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Museum of Indian Civilization, President of Vraj Canada Deepak Obhrai, Member of Community Centre and Canada Serves, and a former President and an Parliament, Conservative Party Advisory Board Member of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. He has of Canada, Calgary Fair Lawn 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.