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Community pays homage to fallen patriot
More than thousand people gathered at the Gujarat Arya A s s o c i a t i o n Community Centre, in Hildyard Road, Leicester, between 46pm on Saturday to pay respect to Flight Lieutenant Rakesh Flt Lt C h a u h a n , Rakesh Chauhan Leicestershire, who died a premature death, when a Lynx helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on April 26th. The 29 years old intelligence officer, simply known as Rak to his friends, was believed to have been co passenger in the helicopter with Intelligence Corps colleague Lance Corporal Oliver Thomas and its three-man crew –Captain Thomas Clarke, Warrant Officer Class 2 Spencer Faulkner and Corporal James Walters, of the Army Air Corps. The servicemen's bodies were flown into RAF Brize Norton, Carterton, in Oxfordshire, last week, lunchtime, where a private ceremony was held for close relatives. Flt Lt Chauhan's father Kishor, mother Jyoti and his older brother Kesh, 31, were also present. Flt Lt Chauhan's family run Milan's Sarees, a shop in the Leicester's Golden Mile, in
www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 17th May 2014
Mourners pay their respects as the coffins pass the Memorial Garden in Carterton, Oxfordshire
Belgrave, that was founded by his grandmother. More than thousand mourners – including service personnel, schoolchildren and relatives – lined the streets to pay their respects as the cortege passed the base's Memorial Garden. A bell tolled to mark the cortege's arrival and flowers were thrown on to the hearses and some grieving relatives touched the glass of the cars as they wept. The crowds then applauded as the coffins, each draped in a Union flag, were driven away to the John Radcliffe
Hospital, in Oxford. Flt Lt Chauhan, who was on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, was based at RAF Odiham, in Hampshire. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has denied claims by the Taliban that insurgents shot the helicopter down, with initial investigations indicating a "tragic accident" rather than enemy action as the cause of the crash. The crash caused the third biggest single loss of life of British troops since the conflict in Afghanistan began and brought the total number of service personnel killed there to 453.
Hindujas top Billionaires' List in Britain
Top Asian Billionaires in the list, as per the order 1. Sri and Gopi Hinduja, £11.9bn, up £1.3bn, Industry, Finance
3. Lakshmi Mittal and family, £10.25bn, up £250m, Steel 46. Sri Prakash Lohia, £2110m, up £220m, Textiles, Plastics
48. Lord Swraj Paul and family, £2000m, No change, Industry 50. Anil Agarwal, £1700mn, down £500m, Mining 66. Simon (pictured), Bobby and Robin Arora, £1400mn, up £300m, Discount stores
74. Sir Anwar Pervez and family, £1310m, up £280m, Cash and Carry 102. Ajay Kalsi and family, £1000m, down £400m, Gas
The number of billionaires living in the UK have increased to 104 with a combined wealth of £301bn. According to the 2014 Sunday Times Rich List, Indian born brothers Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, running the conglomerate Hinduja group, have topped the list with a fortune of £11.9bn. The number of billionaires living in the UK has jumped from 88 in 2013, with their combined wealth shooting up from £245bn last year. It is the first time since 2008 that the minimum wealth of the 50 richest people in the UK has exceeded £1.5bn. A fortune of £1.7bn is now required to make the top 50 up from £700m, 10 years ago. London has more billionaires than any other city in the world with 72 far ahead of nearest rival Moscow with 48. Amongst the British Asians on the list, Lakshmi Mittal has now come up to the 3rd position from last year's 4th, while Anil Agarwal has slipped from 36th position to 50th in 2014. For Sri Prakash Lohia though the fortune is up by £220m, he has slipped from 40th position in
2013, to 46th in 2014, while Lord Paul who was in 39th position last year, is now on the 48th. Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora who were in 76th position in 2013, is now up to 66th, Sir Anwar Pervez and family have come up to 74th position from 84th in 2013, while Ajay Khalsi and family has come down to 102nd position from 57th in 2013. This list of course undermines the common argument that because of higher tax rates in Britain, super rich do not wan to settle here. A large population of them are perhaps non-doms, who pay little or no income tax, though they now have to pay a fee of £50,000, increased from £30,000, to keep their tax-privileged status if they had lived in the UK for more than 12 years. It also includes around 10 women billionaires, including actress Salma Hayek. Other notable figures on the list include the Duke of Westminster, Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson. The full Sunday Times Rich List will be published in the Sunday Times on 18 May.
Hare Krishna, Hare Rama
Sounds for the Soul, the annual 24-hour non-stop spiritual event, took place in Birmingham last weekend. Organised by the local branch of the Hare Krishna Movement, the vibrant festival attracted scores of devotees from home and abroad. The event, now in its 15th year, was streamed live on Mayapur TV. Credit to the army of volunteers for their tireless efforts in ensuring, yet again, the success of this gathering. Sacinandana Swami from Germany delivered, as ever, an inspirational discourse. Compered beautifully as ever by Ravi Prabhu, guest speakers included Mike Nattrass MEP and our senior news editor Dhiren Katwa.Photo: Devotees immersed in devotion.
Leicester Business Diversity Awards
Dhiren Katwa & Dipak Joshi
Plaudits were bestowed on ordinary citizens for their roles in adding greater value to the local economy at the inaugural Leicester Business Diversity Awards. Over 100 guests attended the event at the Sturgess Jaguar showroom on Jayantibhai Chandarana Narborough Road. Organised by Business 2 Business (UK) Limited, run by Cllr Veejay and Varsha Patel, the round-table networking forum heard from Mr Jovan Donev, Ambassador of Macedonia and other business leaders. The evening featured karaoke, an Indian dance and a three-course meal. Among the 11 guests on the top table were: Jaffer Kapasi, Tim Parker, President of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire Chamber, Ron Lynch, RD of the IoD, and Michael Nichol, Head of Apprenticeships at the National Apprenticeship Service. Award recipients included: Ashwin Mistry of Brokerability; Farouk AliMahomed of Fara Estates, Mr SB Khandelwal of Saree Mandir Leicester, Karl Brown of Leicester Warriors, Pete Patel of CoFresh, Sue Horner of Leicester College, Emily Jones of Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Futures and Andrew Hargreaves of A4E.
Elections 2014: The Biggest Event in the World The Indian Journalists' Association and LSE South Asia Initiative have jointly organised a lively and informal discussion in lights of the Indian Elections Results on Friday 16 May at the Thai Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln Inn Fields, London School of Economics. The event known as 'Elections 2014: The Biggest Event in the World- The Results' will be chaired by Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor, Department of
Anthropology, LSE, Pranab Bardhan, Emertitus professor of Economics at University of California, Berkeley, James Astill the Political Editor and Bagehot columnist at The Economist, Mukul Devichand, a BBC journalist and Charul Shahane, Senior Broadcast Journalist at the BBC World and a representative of the IJA. To attend this event, please email ijaeurope@hotmail.com. Admission strictly on RSVP.
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Pictured aspiring magician Dilan Lodhia entertaining guests