NRI Politician in the UK, Lord Navnit Dholakia won GG2 (Garavi Gujarat) Hammer Award

Leading NRI politician in the UK, Lord Navnit Dholakia, won GG2 (Garavi Gujarat) Hammer Award at the GG2 Leadership Awards 2011 for his outstanding achievements on 23 November 2011. Britain's Attorney General Dominic Grieve presented the award to Lord Dholakia.

About Lord Navnit Dholakia

Born on 4 March 1937, Dholakia is a British Liberal Democrat politician and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Lord Dholakia is one of the most senior Asian politicians in Britain.

He became active in the Liberal party and was elected to Brighton Borough Council between 1961 and 1964. From 1976 he served as member of the Commission for Racial Equality and has been involved in the Sussex Police Authority, Police Complaints Authority and Howard League for Penal Reform. He is the current chair of Nacro. Dholakia was made a life peer as Baron Dholakia, of Waltham Brooks in the County of West Sussex, in 1997, and has also sat on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.

From 1997 to 2002 he served as a Liberal Democrat whip in the House, and from 2002 to 2004 he was the Home Affairs Spokesman.

He was elected President of the Liberal Democrats at the end of 1999 and served in the post from 2000 to 2004. In November 2004 he was elected joint Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. In 2010 he became the sole Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Dholakia was appointed to the Privy Council (PC) in December 2010.

Dholakia is involved with a range of charities including being a Patron of the British branch of Child In Need India (CINI UK).

Other Honors bestowed on Lord Dholakia

In 1994 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 2000 he was named Asian of the Year, and won the Pride of India Award in 2005. In November 2009 he was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire. He has been a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) in the county of West Sussex since 1999.

Personalities who were awarded during the GG2 (Garavi Gujarat) are as follows: Sargeant Dip Pun (GG2 Pride of Britain Award), Nina Wadia (GG2 Woman of the Year), Darra Singh, Chairman of the Riots Community and Victims Panel (GG2 Man of the Year), Nazia Parveen, Senior Reporter, Lancashire Evening Telegraph (GG2 Young Journalist of the Year), Atul Pathak (GG2 Social entrepreneur of the Year).