Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, actor Parineeti Chopra and Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla were among 75 recipients of the first-ever India-UK Outstanding Achiever Honours in London. The honours, given by the National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK in partnership with the British Council in India and the UK's Department for International Trade (DIT), celebrate the achievements of Indian students who studied at British universities.




Other notable recipients of the honour include Indian women's football team goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan, Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and an alumnus of Anglia Ruskin University, journalist Marya Shakil, alumnus of Birmingham City University, and senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, alumnus of the University of Oxford, PTI reported.




In her acceptance speech, Parineeti Chopra said, "Fifteen years ago, I was a student at Manchester Business School, an overweight, struggling student, with stars in her eyes of settling down in the UK."




"But then when I graduated the recession hit in 2009 and I was forced to go back home to India, with life plans crashed. My name Parineeti means destiny and that’s exactly what played the most important influence in my life ultimately and I became an actor," Chopra, who has starred in acclaimed films like 'Ishaqzaade' and 'Uunchai', said.


In his speech, Chadha, who studied at the London School of Economics (LSE), spoke of his "unflinching spirit of serving India" as a national executive member of AAP.


On receiving the award, Chadha said, "This award isn't a recognition of an individual's achievements. Though received by an ordinary individual from an ordinary background with an ordinary skillset, this award belongs to an extraordinary party called the AAP and the extraordinary leadership of the person I have the distinguished honour of calling my mentor, Arvind Kejriwal Ji. I dedicate this award to my leader Arvind Kejriwal Ji and thousands of those faceless and nameless grassroots workers for their unflinching and unwavering dedication to serving India.”




"LSE is more like an Indian university on British soil", he said while speaking on the growing number of Indian students in the UK. 


Aditi Chauhan, who studied at Loughborough University, was honoured in the field of sports. 


Adar Poonawalla, who steered Serum Institute of India at the height of the Covid pandemic by producing and supplying coronavirus jabs, was honoured from his work in the field of vaccine manufacturing. Poonawalla was a student of the University of Westminster.


"Latest statistics from last year show that more than 120,000 Indian students chose to study in the UK and this number is growing at a CAGR of more than 10 per cent," PTI quoted NISAU UK Chair Sanam Arora as saying.


"We are very intimately aware of the sheer impact that Indians who have studied in the UK are having not just in India, but worldwide. It is something we have felt is not celebrated enough and internationally educated students are almost always talked about in numbers. These honours are an attempt to take the conversation beyond numbers and data," she further said.


The 75 achievers were chosen from over 1,000 applications by an eminent jury made up of educational experts.


"The 75 individuals will help us to illustrate why international education is precious and matters and why we should fight to preserve it," said Vivienne Stern, CEO of Universities UK and jury member.


(With inputs from PTI)