Valerie Attends Indian Achievers Lunch

On Thursday 26 January I attended the #IndiaUKAchievers 75 at 75 event, for a lunch to celebrate Indian achievers and 75 years of Indian independence. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) was founded and organised by Sanam Arora. Sanam is the architect of the Achievers Honours and celebrates Indian students who study in the UK and make a contribution when they return to India. 

118,000 Indians were granted a student visa in 2021-2022 and now displaces China as the most number of students here in the UK. The UK and India celebrate a Living Bridge between the two countries as equals. 

I was delighted to meet 2 of the Outstanding Achievers: Parineeti Chopra and Aditi Chauhan. Aditi studied at Loughborough University and is the goalkeeper of the Indian National Football team. She is also the founder of She Kicks Football Academy. She is also an analyst and commentator on major channels in India.  

Parineeti Chopra is an Actor and Singer and studied at Manchester Business School. 

There were other attendees such as  Bhavya Bishnoi who is currently serving as a Member of Legislative Assembly from Haryana, as the youngest legislator in the current assembly. Bhavya also runs a non-profit, ‘Bhajan Global Impact Foundation (BGIF)’, through which he aims to effect transformative change through policy advocacy, impact interventions, and development collaborations. 

Dr Chintan Chandrachud is a barrister at Brick Court Chambers, London. His practice focuses on commercial & public law. He is widely published and is the author of ‘The Cases that India Forgot’ (Juggernat 2019) & ‘Balanced Constitutionalism: Courts and Legislatures in India and the United Kingdom’ (OUP 2017). He was listed by Chambers & Partners as an “associate to watch”, and by Legal 500 as a “key lawyer”, for tax litigation. 

Danish Khan has been covering the UK and Europe for Times Now, ET Now, Mumbai Mirror, Hindustan Times, MoneyControl for over a decade. He was awarded the Martin Senior scholarship and Amersi Foundation scholarship. He has co-authored ‘Escaped – True stories of Indian fugitives in London’ and taught at Stanford and Oxford. He is the President of the UK’s Indian Journalists’ Association.

On the left I am pictured with Aditi Chauhan the Indian Goalkeeper and founder of #she kicks.

Below I am pictured with another Indian Achiever Parineeti Chopra.