November 20, 2007
Queens, N.Y. -
A group of faculty members, administrators and students joined
Dr. Alina Camacho-Gingerich, Chair of the Center for Latin American
and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at St. John’s University, in honoring
Ashook Ramsaran, Secretary General of the Global Organization of
People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), for his global commitment to human
rights on November 15.
At the luncheon, where Ramsaran was presented with a plaque
recognizing his “tireless work on behalf of human dignity and
respect for human rights among all peoples,” and his commitment to
St. John’s CLACS, Ramsaran announced his decision to annually
donate $1,000 to CLACS for a scholarship given to a deserving
student in Latin American and Caribbean studies.
Born in Guyana (formerly British Guiana), Ramsaran is third
generation of Indian parents who were brought to Guyana as
indentured laborers from India. He worked in Guyana as a school
teacher and then in the courts before immigrating in 1968 to the
United States to pursue higher technical education. Ramsaran was
educated in the U.S. (BSEE, MSEE) and worked as an electronics
engineer after graduation. Later, he established Ramex, Inc., his
own electronics manufacturing enterprise in College Point, NY.
Ramex has been named among the Top 100 Indian Owned Businesses in
the USA for 10 consecutive years.
Ramsaran is the Secretary General of the Global Organization of
People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and Chairperson of GOPIO’s Tracing
Our Roots Committee. He is also the Co-Founder and Director of the
Guyanese East Indian Civic Association, and Director of the
Caribbean Business Council. He is an ardent advocate of universal
human rights and observance of the rule of law in the Indian
Diaspora, and collaborates with St. John’s University’s CLACS on a
continuing series of seminars, conferences and workshops.
Ramsaran also collaborates with New York City Mayor’s Office of
Immigrant Affairs on annual events on immigrant experiences in New
York City. He has been honored as the “Outstanding Immigrant” by
New York City Council and served as the “Annual Principal for the
Day” in the New York Public School System. He is very active in his
local New York community civic, political and cultural groups,
contributes generously to causes on behalf of the needy, and has
written extensively on issues of interest and concern affecting
people of Indian Origin in the global Indian Diaspora. He initiated
and chaired the first “Tracing Our Roots” session at Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas 2005 (PBD2005), PBD being an annual event of the
global Indian Diaspora.
Ramsaran was joined by his wife Camille Ramsaran, his son Arnold
Ramsaran, and daughter-in-law Nadira Ramsaran. Also in
attendance were Dr. Jagat Motwani, of the Global Organization of
People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), and Mr. Deo Gosine, from the Indo
Caribbean Council.