Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has been honoured by a leading publishing group in the UK for his work in different walks of life.
Sen, 84, was conferred with the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the Bengal's Pride Awards at the House of Commons last night.
Other recipients of the awards included the newly-appointed counter-terrorism chief of Scotland Yard Neil Basu, who won the award for the contribution to public service.
Hosted for the first time by the Asian Business Publications Limited, publisher of the Asian Voice newsweeklies, these inaugural awards aim to recognise global Bengalis and Bangladeshis for their work in different walks of life.
Prime Minister Theresa May, in her message to the winners, said that it is important to recognise the achievements of the Bengali community and honour those who are key role models in business, politics, public services, art, philanthropy and across many other sectors.
The Bengali community should be proud of what they have achieved over the years. The breadth of the awards being celebrated today is a testament to the positive impact the group has had, both here in the UK and across the world, she said.
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The winners also included key personalities who work closely with the community, especially in the UK, West Bengal and Bangladesh.
The initiative has been supported by Hippo Cabs, the UK's first branded disability transportation services.
Prabir Chatterjee of Little Kolkata, founder of a pop-up venture and upcoming Bengali restaurant in London's Covent Garden won the Young Entrepreneur of The Year award, while Enam Ali MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire, the Bangladesh-born British businessman, won the Bengal's Pride Award.
NSHM Knowledge Campus was honoured as the Educational Institution of The Year and SME (Small and medium-sized enterprises) of the Year has been conferred to Mohua Banerjee of Shree Ganesh Paper Mill, Naihati.
Pronnoy Roy of NDTV won the Media Person of the Year award. Sahana Bajpaie, who enthralled audience with her singing and honeyed rendition of Tagore songs and folk music, was honoured in the field of Contribution to Art and Culture.
Prathap Reddy won the award for his commendable contributions in Health and Social Care and Nova IVI Fertility Clinic received the IVF Clinic Of The Year award.
CB Patel, Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice, said that the UK is home to Bengalis from both India and Bangladesh, and although the latter forms a larger community, both have many customs and traditions in common, coming from the same ancestry.
The Bengali community in the UK can harness the commonalities for the greater good of the UK economically and culturally, Patel said.
"The Bengal's Pride Awards is our humble acknowledgement of the lofty accomplishments of the Bengali community and I do hope that it will scale greater heights in the years to come," Patel said.
Chief Guest for the evening, Sir Malcolm Grant CBE, the Chairman NHS England said: "We have over 40,000 physicians of Indian-origin working in the NHS. Our hospitals, primary cares would collapse without the participation of this extraordinary community. I pay tribute this evening to the immense strength of the NHS based on the support from this community".
Samit Kumar Biswas, Director and CEO, Advatech Healthcare Europe Ltd said: "I strongly believe in giving back to the society and this awards is our humble way of doing so. Through this awards, we would also like to pay tribute to the extreme passion of Bengalis towards their diverse profession".
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