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QUEEN'S
HONOURS FOR SOUTH ASIANS
By
Subroto Mukherjee
The
Queen’s honours went again to this year to a number of Indians and
other South Asians who did not try for them.
Achievers in a variety of fields are honoured by the government on New
Year’s Day. The honours carry a royal stamp, from knighthood to
honours such as Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Member of the
British Empire (MBE).
The honours are much sought by Indian socialites who busy themselves
through the year to catch the government’s eye by engaging in social
and charitable work. But the honours list this year did not include any
of the Indians who have been going out of their way to advertise their
charitable interests.
The government policy is clear, as per a prominent Indian in Britain who
has been honoured in the past, “The honours will not be given to
people who lobby for them”.
The government, he said, is keen not to debase the awards by giving them
to people who just host dinners and parties to show off an impressive
guest list.
As it turns out no Indian got the top awards such as knighthood. The
nearest Indian connection to the top award was a knighthood for Ben
Kingsley who played Gandhi.
The Madras-born England cricket captain Nasser Hussain was given the OBE.
Several Indians and other South Asians were given the OBE. Among them:
Khizar Humayoun Ansari, director of the Centre of Ethnic Minority
Studies, University of London, Dr Karna Dev Bhandar, physician, Dr
Chandu Bhanndar, gastro-enterologist, Reba Bhaduri for social work, Dr
Prasanta Ranjan Bhaumik, doctor, Abdul Rashid Gatral, paeditrician at
the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Manmohan Singh Gujral for housing
work, Amrik Singh Sahota for working for the economy in the Midlands,
and Kamaljeet Kaur, a primary school headteacher in Brent in north-west
London.
The following were given the MBE: Shama Mahmood for social work in
Newham in London, Chaudhry Mohammed Anwar for community relations in
Middlesex, Sital Raja-Arjan for promoting tourism in Bolton, Shaukat
Butt, councillor in Glasgow, Ajit Singh Gill from Lions Club in
Leicester, Avtar Singh Kalha for community work in Newham in London, Mrs
Parveen Mirza for community work in Nottingham, Dr Jyotindra Keshavlal
Pandya, doctor in Tottenham, London, I.P.Patel, for community relations
in north-west London, Raminder Singh for community relations in Bradford
and Manjul Karsandas Vasant, dentist.
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