Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday paid rich tributes to Pravasi Indians, saying NRIs like astronaut Kalpana Chawla epitomised Indian values overseas and strove to become universal citizens.
Congratulating those honoured with Pravasi Samman in 2004, Vajpayee said Chawla, the US-based astronaut who died last year, was being conferred the honour for epitomising Indian values overseas.
"She was a citizen of the United States but wanted to become a citizen of the universe. The Pravasi Bhartiya Samman honours the entire Indian diaspora overseas," he said while inaugurating the second Pravasi Bhartiya Sammelan in New Delhi.
Chawla was killed in February last year during NASA's space shuttle Columbia's re-entry into earth after a 16-day space mission.