Newly-elected GOPIO International team sworn-in virtually

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The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) conducted its election in February and the new team was sworn-in on March 4, 2023, at a virtual Zoom ceremony.

Community leader from New York Lal Motwani, a founder and life-member, since GOPIO’s inception in 1989, was named president. Motwani served in the past as International Coordinator-at-Large and later as Executive Trustee of GOPIO Foundation, a March 15, 2023, press release from GOPIO, said.

Others sworn in at the ceremony are media and community leader Umesh Chandra from Brisbane, Australia as Executive Vice President; Los Angeles area community leader Kewal Kanda as Vice President; New Jersey businessman Prakash Shah as Global Ambassador; and former IBM official and community activist Jasbir ‘Nami’ Kaur as International Coordinator-at-Large.

Five more Regional International Coordinators were sworn-in as follows: Businessman Roger Latchman from Johannesburg, South Africa as Africa Coordinator; Engineering Entrepreneur Deo Gosine (Trinidad and New York) as Caribbean Coordinator; Real Estate Investor Ashok Madan of Southern California as North America Coordinator; former engineer Harmohan Singh Walia of Sydney, Australia as Oceania Coordinator; and New Delhi businessman Dhiraj Ahuja as South Asia Coordinator.

The election was conducted according to the GOPIO bylaws by a team of the Interim Committee which was appointed by the GOPIO General Body Meeting held on January 14 consisting of Ram Gadhavi (Wayne, New Jersey, USA), Mahavir Arya (Sydney, Australia), and Mridul Pathak (New York).

“In a spirit of unity, nominees with multiple nominations withdrew from their multiple nominations except one, making it a unanimous choice for all positions,” GOPIO said in the press release.

In the virtual swearing-in ceremony started Devika Gadhavi, a young professional working for the New York Times, sang a prayer song. Dr. Thomas Abraham, chairman of GOPIO welcomed the participants from all continents and provided a brief introduction to the birth of GOPIO and many of its achievements in the last 34 years, as well as the work of its various chapters.

In his acceptance speech, President Motwani said, “We will soon activate those regions which are not active now and we will get all the councils to become active again. We need many volunteers to get involved in the Councils such as Human Rights, Cultural, Academic, Women, Science and Technology, Youth and Young Professionals, Media, Health and Wellness and on Seniors. We will officially launch GOPIO Chamber of Commerce (GICC) in different parts of the world.”

GOPIO-Edison President Pallavi Belwariar performed a Bollywood song to conclude the program.