Priti Patel, the UK Government’s Secretary of State for International Development and first ever UK-India Diaspora Champion, has been awarded India’s highest honour for members of the Indian Diaspora. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award was granted to Ms Patel by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee for her exceptional contribution to national and international politics, her role strengthening UK-India relations, and for supporting the Indian Diaspora in the UK.
She was joined at the India House by her parents Sushil and Anjana Patel and husband Alex.
The award was presented to Ms Patel by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Mr. Y.K. Sinha, at special ceremony at India House in London. In receiving this prestigious award, Ms Patel joins an illustrious list of previous winners. Ms Patel, who is also the first female Indian origin MP to join the UK Cabinet, said: “It is a tremendous honour and privilege to be given the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. This is one of the highest honours a member of the Indian Diaspora can receive and I am humbled and grateful to have been given this award.”
“I have had the pleasure of working closely with so many members of the Diaspora here in the UK and with the Indian Government over a number of years. The relationship between our two great countries is getting stronger by the day as we trade more and share more cultural ties. The Indian Diaspora in the UK are fantastic at keeping this relationship strong and work hard every day to support the UK and India reach our potential.”
“The UK is fortunate to have over one and half million members of the Indian Diaspora contributing to our country. I pay tribute to all members of the Indian Diaspora in the UK and this great award serves as an inspiration to me to carry on standing up and championing the interests of the Diaspora and working to strengthen the UK’s relationship with India.”
Priti is the first Patel to receive this prestigious award. To celebrate this occasion, she was also gifted a beautiful box of dry fruits and a wisdom calendar by Geminiben and Diptiben from Brahma Kumaris.
