Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame Honours keeps its promise with community

The Indian Weekender’s Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame Honours has kept its promise with the community of being the biggest formal event of the Indian diaspora in New Zealand in its sixth edition held on Thursday, August 23, at the SkyCity Convention Centre.

About 600-700 distinguished guests and members of the community joined together in celebrating the achievements of some of the most trailblazing individuals amongst us, who continue to inspire the minds and hearts of people with their contributions to the community.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined several ministers, Members of Parliament from all major political parties, and prominent business leaders, on the award night, to witness and participate in the Indian community’s biggest celebrations of recognising contributions made by the most inspiring individuals.

This year the winners of three categories – Community Excellence Award, Young Achiever Award and the Hall of Fame were Jeet Suchdev, Muskan Devata and Dr Sharad Paul respectively.

Dr Sharad Paul, an Auckland based doctor, who many experts believe has revolutionised skin cancer treatment in New Zealand in many ways was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Born in Chennai, Dr Paul first arrived in New Zealand in 1991 and since then had embarked on a journey that not many can boast of by being a creative writer, academic, keynote speaker, philanthropist and award-winning café and bookstore entrepreneur, along with his regular medical profession.

Jeet Suchdev is a name that has become synonymous with Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust – an organisation that comes to the rescue and provides help to numerous people at the time of difficulty and distress – was conferred with the prestigious Community Excellence Award.

The winner of Young Achiever Award was Muskan Devata, who received a standing ovation from the audience when she walked to stage to accept her award.

The glittering award ceremony was interspersed with some engaging performances that included an innovative dance performance displaying a rare fusion of Indian classical and western music, along with an energetic bhangra dance troupe and a mixed band of artists.

Celebrating the Indian-connection

In 2017, the Kiwi-Indian Hall of fame had made some path-breaking connections with India – a country that many in Indian diaspora in New Zealand consider as their original home – with the simple objective of celebrating the success of Kiwi-Indians on a much bigger scale.

In that endeavour, the event had witnessed participation from several high-profile Bollywood personalities and a prominent minister in the Government of India.

This year the event once again kept its promise of celebrating the Indian connection with greater enthusiasm.

A video message from Suresh Prabhu, India’s Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation played at the event expressed his apology for having to cancel his participation at the event owing to some last minute unavoidable reasons.

Mr Prabhu was expected to speak at the event before he had to reschedule his visit at the last minute. He had sent his good wishes to the kiwi-Indian community, the Prime Minister of New Zealand and expressed confidence that the bilateral relationship between India and NZ was progressing well.

The launch of NZ-India 25 Most Influential List

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern launched The Indian Weekender’s 25 NZ–India Most Influential List – a list that recognises the twenty-five most influential people driving bilateral relationship between the two countries.

It is important to note that every bilateral relationship in world politics progresses on the talents, passion, tenacity, advocacy, and exuberance of a few select personalities, which plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of such a relationship.

The Indian Weekender has launched the inaugural edition of this high-powered elite list with a shared objective of celebrating the individual merit of people driving NZ-India relationship forward.

Announceing The Indian Weekender-Republic TV partnership

Continuing the emphasis on celebrating the Indian connection, the Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame award night also witnessed the announcement of partnership between The Indian Weekender and India’s popular news and current affairs channel Republic TV.

“I am excited to announce the Republic TV and The Indian Weekender partnership. This partnership will enable us to bring quality content to the South Pacific Region.

“But above that this partnership will now be a funnel between Kiwi-Indians and their land of origin so as to support, to facilitate and to beam content to one another,” Arnab Goswami, the Founder and the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV said through a video message played at the event.

Welcoming the decision of partnership and explaining the rationale, Bhav Dhillon the Publisher and Managing Director of The Indian Weekender said, “The Indian Weekender was started nine years ago in Auckland with the goal of becoming the voice of the Indian community giving the community back something meaningful, including a sense of self-identity that makes them feel proud of themselves in their new country of residence.

“Toward this goal, The Indian Weekender has always been committed to bringing news about politics, business, culture and entertainment from India.

“Our new partnership with India’s number one news channel Republic TV will bring Mr Goswami’s style of talk-back news journalism to the South Pacific region,” Mr Dhillon said.