IAAC AWARDS NIGHT FLOURISHES INDIA AUSTRALIA RELATIONSHIP

The India – Australia Association of Canberra (IAAC) organised its first Australia India Awards Night ceremony at Albert Hall, Canberra on 25 January 2020 to acknowledge individuals and organisations for their outstanding contributions to ACT multicultural community.

The members of ACT’s wider multicultural communities, senior diplomats and ministers from various nations, members including the speaker of ACT Legislative Assembly and media personnel were present at the event. The President of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Dr Vinay Prabhakar Sahasrabuddhe was the chief guest.

In his speech, Dr Sahasrabuddhe, who is also a Member of Parliament of India and the National Vice President of Bharatiya Janata Party, said Australia and India both countries celebrate their national days on the same day. In Australia, there are several life styles, cultures and sub-cultures stayed together very peacefully- Australians live under one roof. India has unity and diversity- a diversity which is an expression of inner oneness of unity. He stated that democracy and development are the two keys to the relationships between Australia and India. The cultural organisations, such as IAAC, add great value and bring many more dimensions to this relationship. He suggested that centrality of this cultural relationship eventually helps the flourishing of diplomatic, strategic and economic relations between two countries. 

‘The essence of Australia- India relationship is the diversity’, said Indian High Commissioner to Australia, H.E. A Gitesh Sharma. Both countries realise and welcome the value addition from other cultures. Bi-partition nature of support from ACT Government to this event demonstrates the multicultural life of Canberra. This is what that makes Canberra very special, it is a home for each one of us, and we do realise that we are all part of one large family.

Since its inception in 1973, IAAC has been promoting and supporting cultural and social events in Canberra. This year IAAC has accorded individual volunteers and voluntary organizations from Canberra’s diverse community and awarded to the key contributors. Awardees were: Navleen Malhotra, Kui Foon Wong, Sarah Gaid, Leila Cheavin, Praveen Kalliath, Gurjan Singh, Raghbendra Jha, Neeti Chauhan, Delhi to Canberra India Causine, Indian Students Association (INSA) ANU; Canberra Business Chamber and Mother Language Conservation Movement International Inc.

The people that made the IAAC Awards Night a great success were: Sandipan, Rajendra, Amit, Saket, Aman, Preet, Rakesh, Preeti, Smasher, Giovani, Adhyan, Devashi, Laddu, Shanawaz, Rani, Nitu, Samrat, Charlie and Santanu.

Highlighting to the IAAC’s Australia India Awards Night, a community Radio called Ekushey Radio aired its radio program on 30 January from 2xxFM 98.3. This program has been archived and can be listened at https://2xxfm.org.au/.

You can also listen to it on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45fNEMvD4E

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