Here they are: The NRI Leadership Award Winners

-by gasper crasto / Kuwait

Supposed to be one of the most prestigious awards given to Goan NRIs, reading views on the net about the credibility of the winners (especially by Dubaikars) is a bit baffling. It’s always a shame when a prize becomes a popularity contest.

Just because one is unaware of or do not like the contributions of certain people do not mean that they have not done ‘outstanding’ things.

It should be comparatively unimportant who agrees and who does not that the recipient is the best; but the aim should be that most people accept him/her as a good, inspiring model. To better know the awardees I have uploaded photos of all the winners with a brief profile. They do fully seem deserving of the recognition on paper – but ofcourse different individuals in the rest of the countries have a different view. A complete summary on the individuals is being covered by Gulf Goans e-Newsletters of www.goa-world.com/

Many of us could be wrong in judging, as the saying goes: A prophet is not recognized in his own land. This can be true of Kuwait as well, for, none have openly hailed the winners from Kuwait. Or, is it alright for us to applaud when someone wins an award which they themselves claim not to have been invented?

One of the theories of the Community Service Leadership Awards (as it looks) is that these awards generate publicity about merit. This insight will help to boost the winners to do something extraordinary in future than what they have done so far for in their community. But certainly, if there are no suitable nominations, it is better not to give any award at all than to give it to undeserving people. The prize will become more relevant if the prize committee changes its ‘suspected’ prejudiced behavior.

Once again, those who comment on the net (the Goa Net in general, of which I count myself a member) put their myopia, narrow-mindedness, bitterness and irrelevancy on open display. No need to even reference previous posts; just read back and praise the ones who have been lucky enough to have been awarded.

You could argue in the same way that the Nobel Prize in economics is sometimes won by non-economics people.

:::Here’s a list of the Winners with photos:::

The awards were presented on March 29 at Hotel Mandovi, Panaji, Goa during the Conference on ‘Indian expatriates in the Gulf countries’. Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi presented the awards. The function was presided by Commissioner of NRI Affairs Shri Eduardo Faleiro while Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Digambar Kamat was the chief guest.

The honored recipients:

Click for photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rafacrasto/LeadershipAwards/photo#s5184335599600671378

BAHRAIN:
1. Mr. Francis Correia
President, Young Goans Club, Bahrain

2. Gabriel R. Crasto
Chairman, Bahrain Goans Football League, Bahrain

3. Mr. Alfred D’Souza
Honorary Vice Chairman, Migrant Workers Protection Society, Bahrain

KUWAIT:
4. Dr Jaganath Ramnath Chodankar
President, NRI Club 9, Kuwait

5. Mr Alex Wilson Coelho
President, Goan Welfare Society, Kuwait

6. Mr. Carmo Santos
Chairman, Goan Cultural Centre, Kuwait

OMAN:
7. Dr Mario Carmo de Souza
Secretary, Goan Community of Oman

8. Mr Celso Fernandes
Vice President, Goan Community of Oman

QATAR:
9. Mr Simon D'Silva
President, Goan Welfare Association, Doha, Qatar

UAE:
ABU DHABI
10. Mr. Ramnath Arjuna Mavlingcar
President, Abu Dhabi Goan Association

DUBAI
11. Mr Rockson Rufus Rodrigues
Coordinator, The Marriage Encounter of UAE, Dubai

DELHI:
12. Ms Suman Anand Kurade
President, Goenkarancho Ekvott, Delhi
"Photo courtesy Atish Naik - Gomantak Times"
Special arrangements: Cecil Pinto cecilpinto@gmail.com


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