The Gurkhas made Aldershot their home after arriving in the UK, since settlement rights were granted to them in 2004. 7 years back, News Editor Kamal Rao and I had visited their home, to witness how the newly arrived community was settling down. While many of the ex Gurkha regiment soldiers were grateful to be now living in the rich soils of the UK, many were old, frail, helpless and struggling without their children and family. They were also disappointed with the lower pension amount (than their British counterparts), and the cost of living remaining high. It seemed that some of them were regretting to have moved to the UK, many perhaps contemplating to go back, but having sold everything in their homeland before migrating- there was nothing left for them to return to. One could see the tired ex-soldiers with their partners, slowly walking around the city centre, lost in their thought, looking worried, sadness looming on their faces. It was not what we had anticipated for this valiant community.
However, today's Aldershot, an otherwise dying town, is a completely different picture. It is the same Gurkha community, that has injected life into the city with their hard work and business acumen. They may not be that affluent, but they had found life outside being a soldier, and some children under 30 years of age, who were allowed to join their parents, had now grown up to become successful entrepreneurs and professionals. 80% of the community own their houses across the town, if not the UK. The total population is about 10,000.
We walked around the City centre, and there was a beautiful banqueting hall– The Palace, which was formerly a theatre. Originally named The Picture Palace Theatre, it was designed by the architect John Priestly Briggs and first opened in 1912. Farnborough -based Gurkha Event Planner (GEP) secured a 15-year lease for the venue in 2015. It was recently bought by Aldershot developer Suneet Jain.
A young and beautiful Gurkha couple was getting married- laughter and hope filled the hall. The banquet manager was busy coordinating with his staff, while he prepared for another wedding reception in the evening. The restaurant above the hall, served authentic Nepalese food, including momos (a dish popular among the community, originally from Tibet) and noodles.
On the street, a cafe, that was a tiny kebab shop, serving take away Nepalese and Tibetian food 7 years back, now is a full fledged restaurant, with fancy sit down chairs and tables.
Taxi companies, cash and carries, hair dressers, jewellery shops, security companies- all owned by Gurkhas have come up across the town- an example of a decade old immigrant community in Britain, changing the economy of the town, and for better. Rushmoor-based Nepalese organisation Sahara UK purchased £10,000 of shares in Aldershot Town Football Club in 2015 to further strengthen the relationship between The Shots and the local Nepalese community.
British Gurkha Welfare Society, a non-governmental organisation that represents former members of the Brigade, that I had visited in my previous trip has also gone through a major facelift. I recall a huge room filled with newly arrived Gurkhas, looking a bit lost, sitting on their chairs, getting oriented with the culture and language here- today it is a full fledged office for the first ever Asian owned energy company GnErgy. With 29 staff, Retired Major Tikendra Dewan is the CEO and the main face for this very affordable energy company. A brain child of Dr Bisambhar Arjya, Mr Dewan provided with the partnership he needed to launch this energy company. Started on a shoe string budget, the company has no bank loans and runs on investments from the community itself. Mr Dewan thinks that builds an accountability, that the big players may lack.
He said, “All my staff are young graduates and are from the Gurkha community. Their fathers were in the regiment. We endeavour to create jobs for our children- giving them an opportunity they need as well as they deserve.”
Over the last 3 years, Gnergy has had 4% growth in their customers, with an overall database of 17000 members now. They do not advertise heavily, but their strength lies in the Asian community, that they serve with their utmost 'loyalty'.
“We are a feedback oriented company,” said Major Dewan. “We provide the cheapest tariff. If any customer is dissatisfied, I as the CEO deal with the complaint directly. It builds a sort of faith we want people to have in us.”
But then how does he promote this energy company? “Community is our goal and our strength. Our allegiance is with the community organisations. Every membership they bring us, we donate them £10,” added Tikendra.
They also run a 24 hours radio station in Nepali language, that is housed in the same BGWS building. The station not only connects the community with their roots, but also brings gossips, music and interviews of stars from the tinsel town.
The equal pension struggle
While the community continues to serve the British society with much regards, they believe they are still not treated as equal to any retired British Army officer.
The Gurkhas have a long and storied history within the British Army. Originally serving in the (British) Indian Army, Gurkha regiments have remained within the British armed forces since 1815. More than 200,000 Gurkha soldiers fought in the two world wars, and in the past fifty years they have served in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, Cyprus, the Falklands, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today these soldiers form the Brigade of Gurkhas, an administrative entity ensures that Gurkha units are able to be integrated into the British Army. Since July 1997 the Brigade’s home base has been in the UK, due to the completion that year of the handover of Hong Kong – its previous home base – to China.
On winning the right of settlement in the UK, the pension money has proved not to be sufficient for these soldiers, as the amount was expected to cater to a living standard in Nepal. Gurkhas took the matter to the court.
The European Court of Human Rights held that:
I) There had been a difference in treatment of the applicants in relations to the pension to which they are entitled on leaving the British Army, as compared to non Gurkha soldiers.
II) The applicants are now in a relatively similar situation as from the date of the GOTT (March 2007) into the Armed Forces Pension Scheme from which they had previously been excluded; but had not been in a relatively similar situation prior to that date.
The Gurkhas are appealing against this decision saying that whatever it was irrelevant to consider that applicants would necessarily retire from service in the British Armed Forces to Nepal where the costs of living was lower. It is against the right to equal pay for equal work in British Army and should not be dependening on whether the worker wishes, needs or arranges to spend his or her pay in one way or place or another.
They are also demanding that costs are irrelevant to the assessment of the case because States being signatories to the European Convention of Human Rights should not be allowed to continue acts of discrimination on such basis.
Major Dewan said, “Reliance in this respect is placed on the approach adopted by the Court of Justice of the European Union when considering justification of indirect discrimination; and where the court has consistently held that budgetary considerations cannot justify such discriminations.”
