Mayor of London recognises Hindu Contribution to British Economy

 

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, held a reception at City Hall to recognise the contribution made to London and the wider British community by the Hindu community. This event which was organised in partnership with the City Hindus Network and supported by the Hindu Council UK, was the first the Mayor has held for the British Hindu community.

 

Speaking at the event, the Mayor paid tribute to the hard work of the London Hindu community and the strong ties that exist between the UK and India. He also said that “The Hindu Community is one of the most highly skilled and high achieving communities and it has helped shape London into the dynamic, diverse and thriving city it is today,” He said. “I am proud that a large proportion of the UK’s Hindu Community has chosen London as their home.”

 

Guest speakers at the event included Dilip Joshi of the Hindu Council UK, Dhruv Patel of the City Hindu Network and Jitesh Gadhia, Managing Director at investment bank ABN AMRO.

 

Mr Gadhia said his Hindu faith was in part responsible for his successful career. He added “Hindus – and specifically Hindu values – can actually create a competitive advantage for those trying to build a successful career in the city,” going on to outline five key Hindu values he believed had been relevant in his own career: tolerance and respect for others, focus on the importance of education, family and community and the Hindu principle of ‘Dharma’ or ‘right conduct. “Although I don’t believe we should bring our faith into the workplace,” he said, “we can and should bring these values with us in all that we do.”

 

Dhruv Patel, the Founder and Chair of the City Hindu Network said that “there are about half a million Hindus living in the UK and, although we receive little attention or celebration from wider society, figures show our community has made a disproportionately large contribution to the economic, cultural and social life of this country. This event has given us a chance to showcase our successes and to inspire our young people to achieve even more.”

 

Dhruv Patel also used the event to announce plans by the City Hindu Network to start a mentoring and work placement scheme to encourage young Hindus to aspire to work at the highest levels in both the public and private sectors.

 

Dilip Joshi commenting on the work of the Hindu Council UK said “over the last three years we have started the process of building a lasting and productive relationship with the major political parties within GLA and are pleased with the useful dialogue and support of Len Duvall, John Biggs, Angie Bray and Jenny Jones” He went on to say that “we (HCUK) have had a 3 pronged strategy; tackling the well acknowledged challenges on representation both political and employment, forging better business partnership (led by Alok Mitra and greatly encouraged by Murzline Parchment), and capacity building at temples”  In relation to greater representation, he said that with a constructive engagement with the GLA we have achieved some success but there is still a need to do more. “We have agreed with you what needs to be done, to make it happen, we now need representation” he said to Ken Livingstone.

 

Due to the high demand for this event the Ethnic Minority Business Group were limited as to the number of guests who could attend and therefore we restricted it to those from our London base. Our special guests included Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, Chairman of Nomura International plc and Professor Monder Ram, Professor of Small Business and Director of DMU's Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME).  

 

The event, held at City Hall, was very well organised by the Mayor’s office and well attended. We hope to hold similar events in London in the future for the business network.