The spirit of greater connection among global Indians was lauded in a recent meeting of members of different chapters of Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in New Zealand.
The dinner meeting held on Monday, April 02, at the Indian Accent restaurant in Botany, was organised to facilitate the visiting GOPIO Oceania Coordinator Jagdish Lodhia and celebrate the completion of 10 years in New Zealand.
The MC of the event was Shefali Mehta, President, Auckland Central Chapter, who welcomed guests and started with a brief overview of the history of the organisation, and contributions of several key members in promoting the messages and membership of GOPIO in NZ.
Kiwi-Indian MPs, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, Hon. Consul of India, Bhav Dhillon, and Hon. Consul of Fiji, Harish Lodhia attended the event.
The meeting witnessed participation of about sixty members from different chapters of GOPIO in NZ, where different chapter heads presented a brief overview of activities pursued by their respective groups, with some coming from as far as Wellington.
Dr Pushpa Wood (Wellington), Sanjeev Toora (Bombay Hills & Pukekohe), Subodh Seth (Botany), Narinder Singla (Auckland South), Alkesh Sharma (Auckland West) and Shefali Mehta (Auckland Central) enlightened everyone about main activities of their respective chapters.
What is GOPIO?
GOPIO is an international network of global Indians living outside India, which was formed in 1989 in New York, with an overarching aim of pooling together of the professional and financial resources within the wider global Indian community.
The main objective behind this initiative was to develop, promote and foster the immense power of Indian diaspora unleashed in the second half nineteenth century through informal networking, in a way to enhance its leveraging power with both the government of India and the governments of respective countries hosting global Indians.
The unique point of difference that GOPIO offers to the people of Indian origin in New Zealand, from other prominent community organisations, is its international networking and linkages.
Many members of GOPIO, speaking anonymously, concurs that GOPIO through its international footprint can help lobby the Indian Government for issues affecting NRI’s/PIOs as GOPIO international is in constant touch with the Govt. of India and use their good offices to protect the rights of people of Indian origin.
GOPIO has been operational in NZ since 2008.
New Oceania Coordinator
The main purpose of Monday’s meeting was to felicitate the newly appointed GOPIO Oceania Coordinator, Jagdish Lodhia, who is based in Sydney and was visiting Auckland for the first time after his appointment.
Speaking on occasion, Mr Lodhia shared his passion and vision on how this loosely organised networking community of global Indians around the world could further grow and connect with the new immigrants particularly the youths and the younger generation of global Indians.
“The success of an organisation is best judged by its ability to transfer vision and passion to the younger generation,” Mr Lodhia told The Indian Weekender.
“I am calling upon all chapters of GOPIO in NZ to strive to expand their membership and reach out especially to youths in our community,” Mr Lodhia added.
The spirit of greater connection lauded
Indeed, the key emphasis of the evening was to first acknowledge the growing size of Indian diaspora globally and in New Zealand and then to find ways of having a greater connection within that global Indian community.
The size of the Indian diaspora had grown from the likes of 20 million when GOPIO first started in 1989 to about 30 million according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of External Affairs, India – a fact acknowledged by all guest speakers on the night.
“The size of our community has grown considerably in the past 10 -15 years.
“It is great to see that our communities are doing well at all levels, socially and culturally in New Zealand,” Dr Parmar said.
Recalling the first visit of Inder Singh, the United States-based businessman and founder-organiser of GOPIO, to NZ about a decade ago, MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi said, “I am one of the witnesses to how advocacy done by GOPIO, has grown over the years.”
Summing it up, Hon Consul Bhav Dhillon conveyed Indian Government’s newfound commitment towards the Indian diaspora all around the world.
“The Government of India is very focused on supporting our diaspora in every possible way all around the world,” Mr Dhillon said reassuringly.
Mr Dhillon also urged all community organisations to work together, especially on some events of national significance.
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