Miss India Worldwide

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] It is conducted by India Festival Committee (IFC), founded and headed by Dharmatma Saran in New York City, USA.^[1]

History

The pageant started in 1990. Simmi Chadha from the United States was crowned the first ever Miss India Worldwide in New York City. Simi was the winner of Miss India USA pageant of the year 1990. The pageant was held in the United States 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 three countries to have a back to back victory. Other two being USA and Uk.

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

Titleholders

Year	Country	Miss India Worldwide	National Title	Location	Notes
1990	USA	Simmi Chadha	Miss India USA	New York City, New York, United States
1991	USA	Bela Bajaria	Miss India USA	New York City, New York, United States	Bajaria would go on to become an executive at Universal Television.[3]
1992	USA	Icha Singh	Miss India USA	New York City, New York, United States
1994	India	Karminder Kaur Virk	Miss India Worldwide India	New York City, New York, United States	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 City; local businessman Hari Harilela was one of the judges.
1995	Hong Kong	Nirupama Anand	Miss India Hong Kong	New York City, New York, United States	First winner from Hong Kong.[4][5]
1996	India	Sandhya Chib	Miss India Worldwide India	New York City, New York, United STates	Also became a semi-finalist in Miss Universe 1996[6]
1997	Canada	Poonam Chibber	Miss India Canada	Mumbai, 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	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, United States	Third winner from India[11]
2000	USA	Rita Upadhyay	Miss India USA	Tampa, Florida, United States	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, United States	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, United States	Held in September 2003[18][19]
2005	United Kingdom	Amrita Hunjan	Miss India UK	Mumbai, India	Held in February 2005; the fourteenth edition of the Miss India Worldwide pageant.[20][21]
2006	United Kingdom	Trina Chakravarty	Miss India UK	Mumbai, India	[22]
2007	Suriname	Fareisa Joemmanbaks	Miss India Suriname	Fords, New Jersey, United States	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	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	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, United Arab Emirates	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, India	First winner from Oman. Pageant held in September 2015.[36][37]

References