This was no ordinary Friday. The ASEI Michigan Chapter (The American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin) was being graced by Mr. Hari Bindal. It was an honor and a great opportunity to meet the founder of ASEI, who has been awarded with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA), which is the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians. It is India’s highest Civilian Honor for NRIs.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award PBSA is conferred by the Hon’ble President of India as a part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Conventions organized annually since 2003 on Non-Resident Indians in recognition of their outstanding achievements both in India and abroad.
The 14th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention was held in Bengaluru from 7-9 January, 2017. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards were conferred by the Hon’ble President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, in an impressive ceremony held in the valedictory session of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations
A 11-member Jury-cum-Awards Committee, with Hon’ble Vice-President as Chairman and Hon’ble External Affairs as Vice-Chairman and nine other distinguished members from various walks of life, considered the nominations for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards, 2017. The 30 recipients of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards from among the 1800 NRIs in attendance from 72 countries include six Indian Americans: Dr. Sampat S. Shivangi, Dr. Bharat Haridas Barai, Nisha Desai Biswal, Dr. Mahesh Mehta, Ramesh Shah, and Hari Babu Bindal.
Mr. Hari Bindal was awarded in the field of Environmental Engineering. He made expert suggestion on cleaning of Ganga to Hon’ble Prime Minister and Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Mr. Bindal’s leadership qualities and patriotism are shown through his film ‘Akanksha’, promoting Hindi language in USA, founding ASEI, and establishing scholarships in schools in India to encourage education in rural India.
Mr. Hari Bindal retired after serving the US Government (Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard) for 26 years. He is a PhD in Environmental Engineering Management, Masters in Environmental Engineering and another Masters in Public Health Engineering. Prior to coming to USA in 1974, he served UP Jal Nigam as an Assistant Engineer for 2 years and as Lecturer in Madhav Engineering College for 6 years. Mr. Bindal served many social, political, cultural, and religious organizations at local and national levels, including ILA, ICCC, IAFPE, IHA, VHP-A, HAF and UHJT.
It was undoubtedly an enriching evening. Mr. Bindal not only shared his experience of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and the prestigious award that he was honored with, but he also went down the memory lane to talk about how he founded ASEI.
The American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI) was founded in Detroit, Michigan by Mr. Bindal with the objective of exchanging and collaborating technologies between India and USA. In 1983, Mr. Bindal contacted more than 50 engineers across the US to obtain their consent by conducting a signature campaign and received some 150 signatures of approval. He then organized a meeting and after much deliberation, a resolution was passed to form an organization of engineers from India. On 5th May 1983, the name ‘American Society of Engineers from India – ASEI’ (the name was changed to American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, retaining the acronym as ASEI, in 1992) was selected from the various names proposed by floor members. Some seed money was collected and an ad-hoc committee was formed to plan an inaugural meeting. ASEI was formally inaugurated on 9th September 1983 by Mr. Bagla, Minister for Economics, India in Washington DC.
A very proud moment for ASEI…something that will continue to inspire and be cherished by the ASEIans for a very long time.
