PROMINENT Asian personalities are among tens of dozens of people who were recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List, announced at the weekend.
Senior judge and co-founder of the Muslim Council of Britain, Khurshid Hassan Drabu, Anil Bhanot of the Hindu Council UK, Serco Group CEO Christopher Rajendran Hyman and Vitabiotics founder Dr Kartar Lalvani are among those honoured for their services to the industry and community relations in the honours list.
Drabu received a CBE for services to community relations; he is the first Kashmiri to receive the honour. He said: ‘Thank God, I am happy for having been acknowledged.
There was a time in Britain when Muslims were looked upon with suspicion, but now the time has changed. You can live in Britain without fear.’
South African-born Hyman, who is also the chairman of the Prince of Wales’ charity In Kind Direct, has been awarded a CBE for services to business and to charity.
Hyman, who won the GG2 Man of the Year Award at the GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards in 2009 and was on the judging panel for Eastern Eye’s Asian Business Awards in March this year, said: ‘I am thrilled and humbled to receive this recognition. This honour also recognises the hard work and dedication of the thousands of people in Serco and the important work of the charities that I have the good fortune of being involved in supporting.’
Dr Lalvani, founder of vitamin supplement company Vitabiotics, was awarded an OBE for his services to the pharmaceutical industry and to charity.
‘I am happy that the work done by an Indian in the pharmaceutical field in the UK has been recognised,’ he said.
Chairman of NHS Tameside and Glossop Dr Kailash Chand received the OBE for his services to the health service.
Director of Indian investments at top stockbroker Astaire Securities, Deepak Lalwani, was honoured with an OBE for his services to the financial services industry.
Lalwani is widely regarded as an authority on India investments and is only one of two individuals of Indian origin to be elected as a member of the London Stock Exchange.
Harrow Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent Dal Babu, received the OBE for his services to policing and the community.
He is the founder of the National Association of Muslim Police and has played a key role in improving relationships between the police and Muslim communities.
Anil Kumar Bhanot, founding member and general secretary of the Hindu Council UK, was awarded an OBE for services to the Hindu community and to inter-faith relations.
Bhanot, a chartered accountant who runs his own practice in west London, is also a chairman of the Council of Ethnic Minority Sector Organisations, chairman of Chair of the British Organisation of Persons of Indian Origin, and a patron of the Inter Faith Youth Trust.
‘I am honoured to have received this accolade, which I consider to be on behalf of all the communities from across all religions,’ he said.
