Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), left, presenting a special Congressional citation to Dr. Sambhu Banik, right, at an event hosted by the World Business Forum, Inc. on Capitol Hill on Sept. 9. (Photo: Courtesy, Rajan Devadas)

WASHINGTON: Dr. Sambhu Banik, a well-known psychologist, philanthropist, statesman and a community worker was awarded ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ for his “untiring efforts to serve the Indian-American community.”

He was honored at an event hosted by the World Business Forum, Inc. New York, on Capitol Hill on Sept. 9.

Governor of Maryland Hon. Robert L. Ehrlich, presented Banik with a citation for this services and leadership to the people of State of Maryland.

Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) presented a special congressional citation on behalf of U.S. Congress to Dr. Banik for his services to the community.

Banik, who received his doctorate degree in Psychology from the University of Bristol, U.K., in 1964, came to the U.S. soon after on a post-doctoral Fellowship at Norwich Hospital in Connecticut. After this, he spent a year in Des Moines, IA, from where he moved to Saskatoon, Canada, to join the University Hospital as the Director of Training of Mental Health and Assistant Professor of Psychology.

In 1971, Banik moved to the Washington, D.C., area and joined the mental health administration of the government of the District of Columbia and worked in various capacities for 20 years, from chief psychologist to the chief of the South Community Mental Health Center.

Banik was one of the first Indian Americans to be appointed by the Reagan administration to be a member of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse in the Department of the Health and Human Services where he served for five years.

He also had the honor of being the first Indian American to be appointed in 1989 by President George Bush (senior) as the Executive Director of President’s Committee on Mental Retardation.

Since then, he has served on several boards and commissions, including the Maryland State Human Rights Commission and the Commission on People with Disabilities.

World Business Forum, Inc. organized a seminar to coincide with the awards ceremony.

The topic was ‘Challenges of Indo-American Economy’ and broadly encompassing growing Indo-American relation.

Co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), addressed the seminar.

Rep. Crowley spoke about the recently held general elections in India for the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) and was pleasantly surprised that a vast country like India was able to use electronic voting machines for a “mind-boggling” 700 million people to vote.

Congressman Wilson said that in fight against terrorism, India gave its full support and Indian pilots showed their unique capacity during Indo-American air exercise in Agra earlier this year. Indians are contributing a great deal to American society through their highly-specialized knowledge in medicine, computers and science.

President and CEO of World Business Forum Kiran Mehta said his organization was committed to promote Indo-American business relationship and facilitating venture capital for Indian businesses which is one of the major objectives of his company.

Among the prominent personalities present at the event were: Padmashree Rajan Devdas; chairman Partha Sarathy Pillai; former President of Federation of Indian Association Washington, D.C., Metro chapter N. Pillai; K.S. Venkatraman (former World Bank senior economist); Dr. Joyce Thomas; Dr. Mahadev Rathnam; Dr. Har Swarup Singh and Elisha Pulivarti.