Canada India Foundation has triggered off planning activities for its Annual Award Gala with a Press Conference to announce Allstream Centre as the venue of the Gala and renowned author and speaker, Deepak Chopra, as the recipient of the CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award. Ajit Someshwar, past National Convener and Chair of this year’s Gala, recollected the origins of the Award and the conversation between him and the Award’s primary donor, Vasu Chanchlani, who committed an endowment of $1 million for the fund, complemented by monetary commitments from several CIF Charter Members. “Apart from the obvious individual accomplishments, the main criteria for the Award recipient would be that he/she makes the global Indian diaspora proud”, he said. Deepak Chopra will be the fourth recipient of the Global Indian Award, after Sam Pitroda, Tulsi Tanti and Ratan Tata. A strong proponent of alternative medicine, he is one of the world’s most respected speakers and writers on human empowerment and has been recognized as one of the 100 Heroes and Icons of the century. As with previous Award recipients, Mr. Chopra will receive a trophy, on display at the Press Conference and custom designed for CIF, along with a cheque for $50,000, payable to a charitable institution of his choice. Honorable Harinder Takhar, Ontario’s Minister for Government Ser-vices and Mrs. Preeti Saran, Consul General of India in Toronto headed the list of distinguished guests who attended the Press Conference. In addition to CIF Charter members, some of the other prominent attendees included Satish Thakkar, President of Indo-Canada Camber of Commerce, Douglas Goold, Director, Asia Pacific Foundation Canada and Vinod Munshi, President of the IIT Alumni Association. The event was covered by CP24 and Omni Television as well as a number of Indo-Canadian print media. Individual and group tickets for the CIF Award Gala can be purchased online at the CIF website www.canadain-dia.org.