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Look Back 2009
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Asian Voice - Saturday 26th December 2009
UK
July
• Lord Swaraj Paul appointed as a member of the “Privy Council”. • Bedfordshire University announces awarding honorary doctorate to Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. • The family of a Hindu priest attacked in Belfast. • A Sikh gurdwara attacked in Coventry. • A Gujarati youth, Anjum Malde commits suicide. • Sir Ghulam Noon and Nat Puri buy Mahatma Gandhi letters at Sotheby’s auction. • Swami Purushottampriyadasji of Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan, Maninagar in Ahmedabad honored at the House of Commons.
January
• A UK citizen of Indian origin, Asif Patel fined for human trafficking. He was asked to pay up £ 0.30 mn. • A UK citizen of Indian origin, 61-yearold temple priest Shashikant Vyas sentenced to 54 months in prison in a rape case. • Dr. Jagdish Dave and Mr. Uday Dholakia honored with OBE for their contribution in the field of education and community services respectively. • UK government announces second bailout package for the banking sector to fight recession. • Dev Patel, an actor of Indian origin awarded with young actor award by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. • British Foreign Minister David Miliband stays for a night at a village hut in India. • British Government announced a Citizenship Test Plan to stop the flow of immigrants in the country and to regulate citizenship to those already here.
February
• Keith Vaz, MP honored with Diabetic UK Parliamentary Champion Award. • Ashok Kalyanji, a UK resident of Indian origin sentenced to 21 years in prison for killing his two sons. • UK experiences heavy snow after 18 years: Life came to a standstill; economy suffers a loss of £1.2 bn. • British Tamils stage demonstrations to protest atrocities on their brethrens in Sri Lanka. • Ealing – Southhall MP Virendra Sharma resigns as private parliamentary secretary to Minister of Home Office Phil Woollas on the Heathrow expansion issue. • Two Gujarati women – Shilpa Patel and Trisha Patel alongwith five others get prison sentence in East London cases of bank loots. • “Slumdog Millionaire” bags 7 ‘Bafta’ awards. • 15 year old girl gives birth to a son; says 13 year old friend is the kid’s father. The boy denies, asks for DNA test of the infant. • The first Scottish MP of Indian origin, Bashir Ahmed dies in Glasgow. • British and French nuclear submarines collide at high seas. • Asmita Patel of Swadhyay Parivar held guilty of stealing Pensioners’ money from Post Office.
March
• A 23 day old girl undergoes Heart transplant in Hertfordshire
August
The HSMP Forum holding a demonstration in London.
• Spiritualist Minister David ChanneryVickens gets 18 year imprisonment for being responsible in his wife’s murder • MP Lord Ahmed gets 12 week imprisonment for driving dangerously. • RBS incurs losses worth £24 billion. • UK Government gives aid worth £260 billion to Llyods Bank. • 150 Indian restaurants closed in UK due to recession. • Author, comedian Sanjeev Bhasker appointed chancellor of Sussex University. • Lord Ms. Manjula Sood, Mayor of Leicester accords grand welcome to British soldiers who returned from Iraq; Moulavi Anjam Chaudhary calls British Soldiers ‘Basra Butchers’ and ‘Cowards’ • Gurdwara Sikh Sangat, an important place of worship for Sikhs in East London torched by an unknown miscreant. • A doctor of Indian origin, Rajinder Agarwal charged of molestation by a woman patient. • British actress Jade Goody dies of cervical cancer.
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April
• Gurkha soldiers win the legal battle to settle in Britain; High court gives a landmark judgement. • MPs expenses scandal expose: Home secretary in trouble as husband misuses govt. money to watch porn movie. • A part of the historic Tipu Sultan’s throne sold for a record £389,600. Only 2 persons participated in the auction. • High Courts verdict holds applying new rules to Indians and others migrants who came to UK under the HSMP scheme under old rules as illegal. The court also orders paying them compensation. • Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair becomes the highest paid public speaker. He is paid £400,000 for a two and a half hour speech in the Philippines. • About 100,000 people hold demonstrations in Central London demanding ceasefire in Sri Lanka. • An unknown miscreant damages the statue of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru outside India House in London. • Former governor of Bank of England governor Eddie George passes away. • Samson Obama, half brother of US President Barack Obama denied entry into UK as he had previously been involved in a molestation case. • Wembley councilor Vijay Shah pleads guilty in a case of £60,000 misappropriation. • Nat Puri appointed President of Nottingham County Cricket club.
May
Ms. Rina Patel crowned Miss Bollywood UK at Birmingham
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a school for asking a sikh student not to wear a metal wristlet (ring). Known as steel king, a British businessman of Indian origin, Lakshmi Mittal finds his name for the 5th time in a row in Sunday Times rich list of Britain. British Tamils stage a huge demonstration before the Indian High Commission in London, demanding Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan offensive against the LTTE. Some damage also caused to the office. NCGO celebrates 49th foundation day of Gujarat. Manubhai Madhvani honored on the occasion. A British court rejects the demand of Hindus of allowing the last rites in open space, as per Hindu religious practices. MPs expenses scandal: House of Commons speaker Michael Martin announces his decision to resign.
• Chancellor Alistair Darling presents budget; proposal to charge higher tax from people having high income. • High Court orders a fine of £200,000 to
• Lord Swaraj Paul honored with “Pride of India” award. • Jayesh Bhanji of Leicester held guilty of smuggling cigarettes; ordered to pay a fine of £1.3 mn or face imprisonment. • UK government announces proposals for drastic amendments to the immigration policy. Keith Vaz, MP opposes the proposed new rules. • The Supreme Court becomes independent after 600 years. • Home office cancels recognitions to nine colleges; those affected include 3000 students from Gujarat. • A £40 mn jewelry heist from a bond street jewelry shop. • The migration panel of the home office recommends making the point based immigration system more stringent.
September
• Ms. Rina Patel crowned Miss Bollywood UK. She is the first UK girl of Gujarati origin to win this title. • A clash between English Defence League and Muslims in Birmingham: more than 90 arrested. • Indian Yoga guru Baba Ramdev buys a Scottish island. • Three British Muslim youth held guilty of a criminal plot to blow up passenger planes in the air in Trans-atlantic region with liquid bombs. All awarded life imprisonment. • Bharat Joshi appointed as the new British High Commissioner to Cameroon. • The Royal family destroys personal letters of Princess Diana to avoid embarassment.
October
• Shriti Vadera resigns as business minister from the Cabinet. A close confident of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Ms. Vadera moves to the G20 as British representative. • A strike at the Royal Mail causes problems for people. • British author Hillary Mantel wins 2009 Booker prize. • Lord Swaraj Paul, who created history as the first deputy speaker of the House of Lords of Asian origin, also caught in the controversy of MPs expenses scandal.
November
The President of India Pratibha Patil (R) is greeted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor, England.
June
• Ms. Ranjula Takodara appointed the new Mayor of Elsberry. • UK govt. bows to the HSMP forum. Announcement of permanent residency to all migrants who came to Britain before April 2006 under the old rules made. • Labour party suffers a major set back; in the elections to the European Parliament and council elections, the ruling party is relegated at no. 3. • A statue of Mahatma Gandhi unveiled in Leicester. • Ms. Sapna Patel appointed as detective constable at Brighton Central.
• New immigration bill announced. Prime Minister Gordon Brown says immigration has affected some areas. • Geeta Aulakh, receptionist of Sunrise Radio murdered; a teenage Indian student Sher Singh arrested.
December
• Baroness Warsi attacked with eggs at Luton. • Hundreds of Indian students forced to have free meals at Gurdwara ‘Langers’ as they don’t find part time jobs to support themselves. • Two brothers of Indian origin from Leicester get imprisonment for drug smuggling. • Millionaire businessman Munir Hussein sent to prison for fighting an armed thief; while the thief goes scotfree.