RIYADH — Samanwaya recently conducted a program to welcome and felicitate well known scholar and columnist Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who is the member of parliament for Rajya Sabha (upper house) representing Maharashtra. He is also the national vice president of BJP and president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Dr. Vinay was visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in relations to the Janadriyah Festival, in which India was the Guest of Honor this year. The program started with the customary lighting of the lamp by Dr. Vinay, Vijayalakshmi Masilamani, Yoga enthusiasts Ms. Noora, Hari and Sreejesh. This was followed by the welcome address from Samanwaya Vice President Magesh Prabhakara. The chief guest was honored with bouquets and shawls by Samanwaya President Sreejesh and community members Muralidaran, president — Bala Bharathi, Pradeep, president — Samanwaya Family, Raji Hari also from Samanwaya Family, Yashpal from Samanwaya Punjab, Vijayalakshmi Masilamani from Samanwaya Tamil Nadu, Padma Shankar from Samanwaya Karnataka and Nandhini Ramesh, from Women Samanwaya. The following from the Indian community, who are eminent personalities in their field of works, were also honored for their services to the community. Shihab Kootukkad for social service, Rafi Pangodu for social service, Maasilamani in the field of education and research, Narayanan for community support, Suresh for community support, Ms. Noora in the field of yoga, Rudresh, ICCR for yoga, Dominic as an RTI activist, Hari for community support, Vinodh for humanitarian services, Swapna Magesh for humanitarian services and Yogacharya Sowmya Sudhir for her services in the field of yoga. This was followed by Dr. Vinay’s addressing the gathering. He spoke on how Modi’s government has changed the grammar of governance in the past few years. Dr. Vinay said every month on the last Wednesday, the PM himself is reviewing every infrastructure project in all states and the Union Territories. He said it’s a proof of PM’s commitment to the deliverance of Infrastructure projects and in its reach to the public. He talked of the government’s e-market portal, which ensured direct participation from all instead of a privileged few. The My-Government portal and Swatch-Bharath movements, all ensured public participation in the governance of the country and how Indians around the globe can participate in the government through their interaction with the government. He said government has placed special importance on project implementation and this can be seen in the fast implementation of many projects including the rail and road projects. Dr. Vinay concluded his speech, saying Inspiration, Innovation and Implementation has been the three important aspects that the government is and has been concentrating on. Dr. Vinay interacted with the people at the gathering. This was followed by yoga demonstration. The program concluded with vote of thanks from Madhu, general secretary of Samanwaya. The program was anchored and presented by Swapna, secretary of Samanwaya. — SG