Connect India 2025
Status : Ended
Connect India is the first event IAM holds to bring in all our partner organizations from the state of MN, who have connection to our roots in India, under one roof. These organizations are our local regional, cultural and service partners who work with our Asian Indian communities in the state of Minnesota. IAM brings them together to share our missions and goals, and to explore areas where we as a community can cooperate and collaborate.
Elected officials from the state senate and house are also invited, along with Consul General of India – Chicago, to provide an interactive platform to the invited community leaders with these officials.
IAM also gives out the annual awards like the Lifetime Achievement and Person of the Year (for the past year) awards after seeking nominations from the community and going through a rigorous evaluation process.
Awards are also given out to the organizations that win the three traditional categories of judging at the IndiaFest from the previous year.
The community members getting awarded this year at Connect India are:
In additionally, moving away from the tradition, the following individuals are being recognized with Honorary Awards in their areas of expertise and contributions to the community:
This year, we have the privilege of Consul General of India, Chicago Mr. Somnath Ghosh being amidst us for the event.
Bio of Consul General Somnath Ghosh
A career diplomat, Ambassador Ghosh joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1997.
In a span of his career over 26 years, he has been Ambassador of India to Republic of Tajikistan (2016-19) and to Mongolia (2014-16). Prior to that he was the Assistant High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh with consular jurisdiction of Chittagong and Sylhet divisions, constituting eastern part of Bangladesh. In his career, apart from important assignments in New Delhi, he has worked in Moscow, Brussels (European Council and European Parliament) and spent considerable time in Central Asia.
Prior to joining as Consul General of India in Chicago with consular jurisdiction of seven Midwest States, Ambassador Ghosh was heading (September 2019 to September 2022) the International Cooperation work in the Ministry of Defence of India. In that capacity, he oversaw defence policy and negotiations with USA, Russia, France, UK, major multinational organizations and India’s land and maritime neighbourhood.
Ambassador Ghosh earned his MSc from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He speaks Bengali, Hindi, English and Russian. He lives in Chicago with his wife, who is a Doctorate in Economics and two sons (15 and 13 years) who are proud Chicagoans.