Miss India Worldwide

Miss India Worldwide

Formation	1990
Founder	Dharmatma Saran[1]
Founded at	New York, USA
Type	Beauty Pageant
Headquarters	New York
Location	United States
Official language	English
Chairman	Dharmatma Saran
Key people	Neelam Saran
Parent organization	India Festival Committee[1]
Website	Official Websire

Miss India Worldwide is a beauty pageant which draws contestants from India and from among members of the Indian diaspora residing in other countries.^[2]

History

20th century

The pageant started in the year 1990. Simmi Chadha from the United States was crowned the first ever Miss India Worldwide in New York. Simi was the winner of Miss India USA pageant of the year 1990. The pageant was held in the USA till 1996. In 1997, the pageant was hosted in India. Poonam Chibber of Canada became the first Miss India Worldwide winner to get crowned outside the United States. It was the first time that the pageant moved out its home turf and held in the Asian continent. The very next year in 1998 the pageant moved to the South east region of Asia and was held in Singapore. Once againg, Canada's representative Melissa Bhagat was crowned the Miss India Worldwide 1998 by outgoing titleholder Poonam Chibber of Canada as well, giving Canada a rare back to back victory at the pageant. Canada is one of the two countries to have a back to back victory. Other one being USA.

21st century

The pageant moved back to the United States in 2000 and was held in Florida. Rita Upadhyay of USA was crowned Miss India Worldwide 2000 and became fourth woman from the United States to win the crown.

The pageant

The pageant is for the women of Indian origin living in different countries. The pageant is conducted by India Festival Committee (IFC), founded and headed by Dharmatma Saran in New York, USA.^[1]

Titleholders

Year	Country	Miss India Worldwide	National Title	Location	Notes
1990	USA	Simmi Chadha	Miss India USA	New York City, New York,  USA
1991	USA	Bela Bajaria	Miss India USA	New York City, New York,  USA	Bajaria would go on to become an executive at Universal Television.[3]
1992	USA	Icha Singh	Miss India USA	New York City, New York,  USA
1994	India	Karminder Kaur Virk	Miss India Worldwide India	New York City, New York,  USA	The first of five wins for a Miss India Worldwide India titleholder. This was the first year in which Hong Kong sent a delegate to the worldwide pageant, Puja Venkataraman who was Miss India Hong Kong winner, which was held in New York; local businessman Hari Harilela was one of the judges.
1995	Hong Kong	Nirupama Anand	Miss India Hong Kong	New York City, New York,  USA	First winner from Hong Kong.[4][5]
1996	India	Sandhya Chib	Miss India Worldwide India	New York City, New York,  USA	Also became a semi-finalist in Miss Universe 1996[6]
1997	Canada	Poonam Chibber	Miss India Canada	Mumbai, Maharashtra,  India	The first win by a Miss India Worldwide Canada titleholder. Chibber would go on to become a Bollywood actress.[7][8]
1998	Canada	Melissa Bhagat	Miss India Canada	Singapore City,  Singapore	Bhagat went on to work for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada under Minister Jason Kenney.[9][10]
1999	India	Aarti Chabria	Miss India Worldwide India	Rahway, New Jersey,  USA	Third winner from India[11]
2000	USA	Rita Upadhyay	Miss India USA	Tampa, Florida,  USA	Held in November 2000. Upadhyay was age 23 and a New York-based staff writer for Time magazine then.[12]
2001	South Africa	Sarika Sukhdeo	Miss India South Africa	San Jose, California,  USA	Originally scheduled to be held in Durban, South Africa, it was later delayed until March 2002 and moved to San Jose, California. Nevertheless, Sarika Sukhdeo of Durban garnered the first win for a Miss India Worldwide South Africa titleholder after ten years of South African delegates to the worldwide pageant.[13][14][15]
2002	UAE	Santripti Vellody	Miss India UAE	Durban,  South Africa	Held in November 2002[16][17]
2003	India	Purva Merchant	Miss India Worldwide India	San Francisco, California,  USA	Held in September 2003[18][19]
2005	United Kingdom	Amrita Hunjan	Miss India UK	Mumbai, Maharashtra,  India	Held in February 2005; the fourteenth edition of the Miss India Worldwide pageant.[20][21]
2006	USA	Trina Chakravarty	Miss India USA	Mumbai, Maharashtra,  India	[22]
2007	Suriname	Fareisa Joemmanbaks	Miss India Suriname	Fords, New Jersey,  USA	Held in April 2007. Joemmanbaks would later go on to a career in Mollywood.[23][24]
2008	India	Shagun Sarabhai	Miss India South Africa	Johannesburg,  South Africa	Held in February 2008. Prizes included $5,000 in cash, jewellery, clothing, and a notebook computer.[25]
2009	USA	Nikkitasha Marwaha	Miss India USA	Durban,  South Africa	Held in February 2009. Marwaha was age 20 and a drama student at the time. She went on to star in the Indian television series 24.[26][27]
2010	South Africa	Kajal Lutchminarian	Miss India South Africa	Durban,  South Africa	Held in March 2010. Lutchminarian was age 21 and a medical student at the time.[28]
2011	Australia	Ankita Ghazan	Miss India Australia	Emirates Presidential Palace, Abu Dhabi,  UAE	Held in May 2011; the twentieth edition of the pageant. Ghazan was age 19 and a university student at the time.[29][30]
2012	Guyana	Alana Seebarran	Miss India Guyana	Paramaribo,  Suriname	Held in February 2012. Following her crowning, Seebarran had various conflicts with the organisers, and was not invited to the following year's pageant in Malaysia to crown the new winner.[31][32]
2013	United Kingdom	Nehal Bhogaita	Miss India UK	Kuala Lumpur,  Malaysia	Held in May 2013. Bhogaita was the first deaf contestant in the pageant's history.[33]
2014	USA	Monica Gill	Miss India USA	Dubai,  UAE	Held in June 2014. Prizes included $8,000 in cash, as well as photo assignments and modelling sessions.[34][35]
2015	Oman	Stephanie Lohale	Miss India Oman	Mumbai, Maharashtra,  India	First winner from Oman. Pageant held in September 2015.[36][37]

References

1. "About us". worldwidepageants.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
2. "Square Entertainment to host Miss India Worldwide India 2015". Zee News. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
3. Waraich, Sonia (1 July 2015). "Rising Indian American Executive Now Head of Universal Television". India West. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
4. "Miss India Worldwide Mauritius: la couronne à Shyanshini Sunnassee". L'Express. 6 April 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
5. "Territory's Miss India pageant crowns future hopes for charity". South China Morning Post. 10 April 1995. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
6. "About Us". Square Entertainment. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
7. Brown, Rob (25 March 2010). "South end beauty off to South Africa". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
8. Correia, Eugene (27 July 2010). "The Canadian Indian infatuation with beauty". Rediff. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
9. "Canadian wins Miss India pageant". The Straits Times. 5 December 1998. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
10. "Look: Miss India-Canada 2010 crowned". Rediff. 25 August 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
11. "Pardesi pageant: NRIs go traditional at Miss India Worldwide pageant in New Jersey". India Today. 13 September 1999. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
12. Renuka, Methil (18 December 2000). "Miss Perfect: Miss India Worldwide 2000 Ritu Upadhyay is 'not like the others'". India Today. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
13. Hassen, Fakir (30 July 2001). "South Africa to host Miss India Worldwide". Rediff. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
14. Laganprsad, Monica (10 March 2002). "Durban woman wins Miss India pageant". Independent Online (South Africa). Retrieved 9 September 2015.
15. "A world Of Indian beauties". India Abroad. 22 March 2002. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
16. "'Love for India' manifest at Miss India Worldwide". Apunka Choice. 1 November 2002. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
17. Raha, Sonali (7 November 2002). "Beautiful hopes". Gulf News. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
18. "Vimala is Miss India Australia". Hindustan Times. 25 October 2004. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
19. "Briefly". The Tribune (Chandigarh). 30 September 2003. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
20. "Dentist crowned Miss India Worldwide". BBC News. 10 February 2005. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
21. Gahlaut, Kanika (7 February 2005). "Miss India UK Amrita Hunjan wins Miss India worldwide crown". India Today. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
22. "Trina Chakravarty crowned Miss India 2006". The Times of India. 29 January 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
23. Chopra, Parveen (9 April 2007). "Suriname girl crowned Miss India Worldwide in New Jersey". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
24. Sidhardhan, Sanjith (12 May 2012). "Fareisa Joemmanbaks' Mollywood debut". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
25. Hassen, Fakir (24 February 2008). "Shagun Sarabhai is new Miss India Worldwide". Hindustan Times.
26. "Chicago girl wins Miss India worldwide 2009". The Economic Times. 15 February 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
27. "This American beauty queen is an assassin on a TV show in India". American Bazaar. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
28. "South African Kajal Lutchminarian is new Miss India Worldwide". Deccan Herald. 28 March 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
29. "Ankita Ghazan, Miss India Australia, wins Miss India Worldwide 2011". Miss India Magazine. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
30. "Miss India Worldwide crowned in Abu Dhabi". Arabian Business. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
31. Sinha, Sanskrity (27 February 2012). "Miss India Worldwide Pageant 2012 Full Coverage - From Contestants' Talent Show to Winner's Crowning Moment". International Business Times. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
32. "Alana Seebarran sues Miss India franchise holder". Kaieteur News. 5 May 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
33. "Hearing impaired Nehal Bhoghaita crowned Miss India Worldwide". Indian Express. 4 May 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
34. Pennington, Roberta (22 June 2014). "American Monica Gill wins Miss India Worldwide in UAE". The National (Abu Dhabi). Retrieved 9 September 2015.
35. "Monica Gill from US is Miss India Worldwide 2014". The Times of India. 21 June 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
36. "18-year-old set to represent Oman at Miss India Worldwide pageant". Muscat Daily. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
37. Waraich, Sonia (8 September 2015). "Oman's Stephanie Lohale Crowned Miss India Worldwide 2015". India West. Retrieved 9 September 2015.