Indians awarded with Queen’s New Year Honours 2015

Queen’s New Year Honours for the year 2015 were given on 1 January 2015. The honours were conferred on more than thousand persons, which included several persons of Indian-Origin from various field.

Indians conferred Queen’s New Year Honours
Knighthood
• Nilesh Jayantilal Samani (an Indian-origin professor at the University of Leicester) - his contribution to Cardiovascular Sciences changed scientific thinking and impacted on clinical practice in the field

Medallist of the British Empire
• Fauja Singh (world’s oldest Marathon runner at age 103) – for athletic achievements and charity.

Title of Commander of the British Empire was awarded to
• Meera Syal (Actor and author) - for services to drama and literature
• Shakuntala Michaela Ghosh - for services to Venture Philanthropy and the Voluntary Sector, particularly to the homeless and disadvantaged young people in London
• Uma Mehta (chief community services lawyer in the London borough of Islington) – for services to children

Title of Officers of the Order of the British Empire was awarded to
• Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia - for services to interfaith and community cohesion
• Venugopal Karunakaran Nair - for services to Science
• Dilip Nathwani - for services to treatment of infectious diseases
• Surat Singh Sangha - for services to entrepreneurship
• Jatinder Kumar Sharma - for services to further education

Title of Members of the Order of the British Empire was awarded to
• Subhash Chander Chaudhary - for services to biotechnology manufacture in North East England)
• Surinder Kaur Ghura - for services to interfaith understanding and to the community in Newcastle upon Tyne
• Gurmel Singh Kandola (chief executive, National Sikh Museum, Derby) - for services to the community
• Surinder Pal Singh Khurana - for services to the community in North East Lincolnshire
• Atul Maru - for services to law enforcement
• Vanita Parti - for services to the beauty industry and to street children in India
• Ushma Patel - for services to public administration and to the community through the Dharmaj Society of London

New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system and is given annually on New Year's Day, i.e. 1 January. It is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. These awards are presented by or in the name of the reigning monarch, at present by Queen Elizabeth II. The honours are being given since 1890.