He said that too often, minorities are viewed by significant parts of the majority, as takers and not givers.
"This is palpably wrong, of course, as evident from the minority involvement in every field of endeavour - from public life to commercial enterprise, from the arts to sport, from education to the government services. Minority involvement is growing and is now irreversible," Paul argued.
"My Lords, people are not born with discrimination in their blood. They are socialised into it as I know well," Paul said yesterday while taking part in a debate in the House of Lords on the contribution to the United Kingdom by minority ethnic and religious communities.
The 81-year-old Chairman of UK-based Caparo Group said said that he often visited the London Zoo, also a memorial for his infant daughter Ambika, who died of leukaemia in 1968.
He illustrated how the Zoo, which he helped revive, has turned into a place for children of various ethnic communities to enjoy camaraderie.
"My delight today is to see how children of various ethnic communities mingle freely and enjoy companionship without any regard to racial, religious or other backgrounds."
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"In this camaraderie, small children have many lessons for their parents," Paul, who donated one million pounds to save the London Zoo in 1994, said.
"These are difficult days in community relations," he said while underlining that "small economic gains must never be at the expense of the social fabric of a nation."
He also stressed on the need to guard against any reversal in efforts to remove obstacles against greater participation by minorities in the country's march.
Paul noted that economic distress often makes community relations more difficult as retrenchments take place that often affect the minority communities first.
"But whatever areas are drawn down, they should not include cuts in minority related programmes," he said, adding that he would be delighted to contribute to the well-being of Britain and the British people.