UK minister Priti Patel receives Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

March 28, 2017

London, Mar 28: Priti Patel, Britain's senior-most Indian-origin minister, has vowed to champion the interests of the Indian Diaspora and work for strengthening the Indo-UK ties as she received her 'Pravasi Bharatiya Samman' at a ceremony here.

The minister for international development had been conferred the honour by President Pranab Mukherjee in January.

The award is the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians and Patel has been awarded for her "exceptional contribution to national and international politics, her role in strengthening UK-India relations, and for supporting the Indian Diaspora in the UK".

"It is a tremendous honour and privilege to be given the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award. This is one of the highest honours a member of the Indian Diaspora can receive and I am humbled and grateful to have been given this award," Patel said while receiving the award from Indian High Commissioner to the UK Y K Sinha at the Indian High Commission here.

"I have had the pleasure of working closely with so many members of the diaspora here in the UK and with the Indian government over a number of years. The relationship between our two great countries is getting stronger by the day as we trade more and share more cultural ties," the 44-year-old Conservative leader said.

"The Indian Diaspora in the UK are fantastic at keeping this relationship strong and work hard every day to support the UK and India reach our potential," she noted.

Patel expressed her "personal gratitude" to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, describing her as a "remarkable lady" who is very supportive of the Diaspora.

"This great award serves as an inspiration to me to carry on standing up and championing the interests of the Diaspora and working to strengthen the UK's relationship with India," said Patel, who also credited former British Prime Minister David Cameron for appointing her as the first-ever Indian Diaspora Champion in the previous UK Cabinet.

The Indian high commissioner described the Conservative party MP as an "important friend" of India.

"We are very proud that someone of Indian-origin has achieved the eminence that she has in the UK," Sinha said.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is presented annually at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, held in Bengaluru this year.

Other 2017 awardees included Nisha Desai Biswal, the former US Assistant Secretary of State, and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Luis Santos da Costa.

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Explosive new Epstein files reveal Donald Trump raped 13-year-old girl, murdered newborn

News Network

January 31,2026

The US Department of Justice has released millions of new documents linked to the case of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, before removing some pages that contained complaints mentioning President Donald Trump.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday that approximately 3.5 million files were published to comply with the Epstein Transparency Act, following criticism that the administration had missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress.

The documents include FBI communications and complaints submitted as tips, some of which list comments mentioning Trump and others who had social or professional ties to Epstein.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to his past association with Epstein.

Pages removed from DOJ website

After their publication, pages containing complaints that mentioned Trump were removed from the DOJ website and now return a “page not found” message. Copies of the documents, however, have circulated widely on social media. CNN anchor Jake Tapper was among those who publicly noted that the pages had been taken down.

One complaint, filed by a friend of a victim, says Trump forced a girl aged 13–14 to perform “oral sex” approximately 35 years ago in New Jersey. The document states that an investigator was sent to Washington to conduct an interview.

Another complaint says Trump regularly paid an individual to perform sexual acts and adds that he was present when her newborn child was murdered by a relative. The paperwork notes that there was “no contact made” with the complainant.

A separate complaint, which provided no contact information, said “calendar girls” parties at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago involved children and sexual abuse. The document also names several public figures as present at such events.

In another account, a complainant said they witnessed a “sex trafficking ring” at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in the mid-1990s. The person noted “threats” from Trump’s head of security if she spoke publicly about what she had seen.

Other figures mentioned in the files

The latest release also includes a draft email Epstein wrote to himself in 2013, referring to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In the message, Epstein said Gates asked him to delete emails and referenced “personal matters.”

The DOJ has not provided a detailed explanation for why certain pages were removed after publication. The department said the document release was ongoing.

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