33 Indians named in Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday honours list (Reuters)

At least 33 Non-Resident Indians have been named in Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honours List today. The list of NRIs awarded includes Satyajit Bhattacharya, serjeant-surgeon to the Royal Household, who was named Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO). Besides him, Professor Jaswinder Singh Bamrah, consultant psychiatrist, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust and honorary reader, University of Manchester, has been honoured with CBE, or Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his services to mental health, to diversity and to the National Health Service.

In addition, 11 other Indians have been chosen for OBEs (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of British Empire), 14 MBEs (member of the most excellent order of the British Empire), and six BEMs (British Empire medals). The OBE winners include Manoj Kumar Badale, chairman, British Asian Trust, for services to the economy and to charity, Sonia Kumari Brooks, deputy governor, Her Majesty’s Young Offenders Institution, Feltham, for services to HM prison services and to the criminal justice system, and Pargan Singh Cheema, chief executive, the Scottish Grocers’ Federation for services to business, to community cohesion and to charity, and Amandeep Singh Madra, for services to Punjabi and Sikh heritage and culture.

Recipients of MBEs include Roma Agrawal, Associate Director, AECOM, for services to engineering, Satvir Paul Bungar, managing director of merger and acquisition and head of facilities management sector BDO LLP, services to corporate finance, Opinderjit Kaur Takhar, Director, Sikh and Punjabi studies, University of Wolverhampton, for services to higher education and to the community in Wolverhampton, and Jagdev Singh Virdee, services to statistics and to the Sikh community and Sunil Rattu, services to British nationals overseas.