Pramod Thomas is a senior correspondent with Asian Media Group since 2020, bringing 19 years of journalism experience across business, politics, sports, communities, and international relations. His career spans both traditional and digital media platforms, with eight years specifically focused on digital journalism. This blend of experience positions him well to navigate the evolving media landscape and deliver content across various formats. He has worked with national and international media organisations, giving him a broad perspective on global news trends and reporting standards.
LEADING Asian businessmen - brothers Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora - as well as Ranjit Boparan and his wife Baljinder are among the UK’s 50 biggest taxpayers, according to The Sunday Times (31).
The Arora brothers are the biggest shareholders of budget retailer B&M, and according to The Sunday Times, their tax liability was £37 million, with the family wealth estimated to be £2,111m in 2020.
Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan of Boparan Holdings were ranked 21 in the list. The couple paid £37m in tax and their wealth was estimated to be £593m last year.
Simon Arora and his family were scheduled to receive a bonus as B&M Bargains announced a special dividend of 20p per share to shareholders after bumper sales.
Arora bought B&M - then a small, loss-making chain of stores – in 2005 with his brother Bobby.
Together the Aroras turned the budget retailer into a discount giant, with hundreds of stores across the UK and Germany and surging ahead of its rivals on the FTSE 100 last year as it continued to operate under its 'essential' status.
The brothers grew up in Manchester after their father came to the UK from India in the late 1960s – reportedly with just £10 in his pocket.
Boparan Holdings was founded in 1993 and has more than 25 years’ experience in the food industry. Notable acquisitions of the firm include Northern Foods and Brookes Avana in 2011.
Ranjit and wife Baljinder Boparan are the sole shareholders of Boparan Holdings, the holding company for 2 Sisters Food Group.
Recently, Boparan Holdings agreed to sell part of its Fox’s Biscuits business to CTH, a Belgian holding company related to Ferrero Group, for £246 million.
Following the deal, CTH will acquire Fox’s biscuit manufacturing sites at Batley and Kirkham, where Fox’s brand biscuits are produced, from Northern Food Grocery Group Limited (NFGG), a subsidiary of Boparan Holdings.
Previously, the Boparan Restaurant Group rescued restaurant chain Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK).
Denise Coates and family topped the tax payers' 2021 list as they paid £573m in taxes with a wealth of £7.166 billion.
They are followed by Glenn Gordon and family with a wealth of £3.186bn and tax liability of £436.4m, followed by Fred and Peter Done as they paid £191.3m in taxes on their wealth of £1.2bn.
According to the Sunday Times, a third (17) of the 50 business owners, celebrities and entrepreneurs who featured in last year’s rankings have paid more tax this year.
Sixteen of the individuals and families who made the 2020 Tax List are paying less tax this year, and a further 17 are paying so much less that they have fallen out of the top 50 altogether.
Notably, last year payment of £20.4m tax was necessary to make it to the list. This year that has plummeted to £13.1 million, down nearly 36 per cent, the report said.
FORMER Indian lawmaker Sardar Tarlochan Singh has urged British Sikh MPs and peers to commission proper research into the scattered treasures of Maharaja Ranjit Singh so they can be catalogued and preserved in a museum for future generations.
The 92-year-old former Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian parliament) MP and former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities was speaking at an event hosted in his honour by the British Sikh Association at the House of Lords in London on Monday (8).
Singh referred to media reports about a colonial-era file that recorded many of the possessions of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the 19th-century ruler of the Sikh Empire in India.
“A list of the treasures from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s toshakhana (treasury) should be released so that our children can take pride in our Sikh heritage,” Singh said.
“Historical records show that Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s sacred plume, which adorned his turban, was kept in the toshakhana and Maharaja Ranjit Singh used to touch it every day. There were many such precious items. The Maharaja’s golden chair is now on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but several other items remain in storage and could be brought together under one roof."
Singh, who was instrumental in setting up a museum on Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Amritsar, stressed that he was not calling for these artefacts to be returned to India but for them to be properly cared for and displayed in the UK.
“I appeal to Sikh parliamentarians in the UK to ensure that our heritage, scattered across collections including the V&A, Sandhurst and the British Museum, is brought together and displayed for younger generations,” he added.
The philanthropist, awarded the Padma Bhushan (third-highest civilian honour in India) in 2021 for his contribution to social service, also called on the British Sikh Association to mark the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi in London – recently depicted in the 2019 Bollywood film Kesari.
“We will be marking the 128th anniversary of this historic battle this week on Friday (12), when just 21 Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army’s 36th Sikh Regiment defended the Saragarhi outpost against thousands of Afghan tribesmen,” said Lord Rami Ranger, chairman of the British Sikh Association.
“Sardar Tarlochan Singh has given us a lot of food for thought and the association will set up a Saragarhi Memorial Society to take this forward,” he added.
Lord Kuldip Singh Sahota, a Labour peer born in India, spoke about a bronze statue of Havildar Ishar Singh in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, which commemorates his role in the Battle of Saragarhi.
Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi praised Sardar Tarlochan Singh’s lifelong efforts to inspire Sikhs around the world to serve their communities, as he presented him with the British Sikh Association’s Sikh Jewel Award.
The event concluded with the association and Lord Rami Ranger donating £2,000 towards flood relief efforts being organised by the Daily Ajit newspaper in Punjab.
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An aerial view shows smoke billowing from the torched President House in Kathmandu on September 10, 2025. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT/AFP via Getty Images)
NEPALI soldiers patrolled the streets of Kathmandu on Wednesday (10), seeking to restore order after protesters set parliament ablaze and forced the prime minister to quit in the worst violence to hit the Himalayan nation in two decades.
Soldiers issued orders via loudspeakers enforcing a curfew during the political vacuum, as armoured personnel carriers rumbled past the carcasses of burnt vehicles and buildings on the largely quiet streets.
Nepali Army chief, General Ashok Raj Sigdel, has appealed for all protesters to "call it off and engage in dialogue".
Demonstrations began Monday (8) in the capital against the government's ban on social media and over corruption, driven by angry young protesters who dubbed themselves the "Gen Z" movement.
The rapid descent into chaos shocked many, and Nepal's military warned against "activities that could lead the country into unrest and instability".
The army warned Wednesday that "vandalism, looting, arson, or attacks on individuals and property in the name of protest will be treated as punishable crimes".
Kathmandu's airport is expected to resume operations later on Wednesday.
Smouldering plumes of smoke rose from the government buildings, residences of politicians, supermarkets and other buildings targeted by protesters, an AFP reporter said Wednesday.
On the fire-blackened wall of Nepal's parliament building, protesters had daubed an obscene farewell message to the toppled government telling them they had picked "the wrong fight" -- and signed it "Gen Z".
Gangs on Tuesday (9) had attacked and set fire to the house of KP Sharma Oli, the 73-year-old, four-time prime minister and leader of the Communist Party.
He later quit to allow "steps towards a political solution". His whereabouts are not known.
Retired police officer Dev Kumar Khatiwada, 60, chatting with friends at a tea stall said the ousted government had only itself to blame.
"This is the result of our leaders' bad deeds," he said, but adding he condemned the wanton destruction that saw major buildings set on fire.
"Vandalism was never a proper way out of this problem."
The International Crisis Group called it a "major inflection point in the country's uneasy experience with democratic rule".
United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has urged "restraint to avoid a further escalation of violence", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
What happens next is unclear.
"The protesters, leaders who are trusted by them and the army should come together to pave the way for a caretaker government," said constitutional lawyer Dipendra Jha.
Crisis Group analyst Ashish Pradhan echoed that, saying a "transitional arrangement will now need to be charted out swiftly and include figures who still retain credibility with Nepalis, especially the country's youth".
But with the speed of the youth-led uprising, it remained uncertain who protesters would mobilise behind.
More than a fifth of people aged 15-24 are unemployed in Nepal, according to the World Bank, with GDP per capita just $1,447.
Several social media sites -- including Facebook, YouTube and X -- were blocked last Friday (5), after the government cut access to 26 unregistered platforms, before they were restored.
Since then, videos contrasting the struggles of ordinary Nepalis with the children of politicians flaunting luxury goods and expensive vacations have gone viral on TikTok, which was not blocked.
(AFP)
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The event also included a financial report, a documentary on the organisation’s history, and an exhibition on Hindu genocide in the subcontinent.
THE BANGLADESH Hindu Association UK marked its 25th founding anniversary with a silver jubilee programme on Saturday, August 30, at the Ravidassia Community Centre in Manor Park, East London.
Members from Birmingham, Bradford, Loughborough, Portsmouth, Hull, Sheffield, Leeds and Coventry attended the event.
President Proshanta Purokayastha BEM presided and general secretary Sujith Chowdhury conducted the programme, which began with recitations from the Sri Sri Bhagavad Gita, conch sounds and Rabindra Sangeet.
UK minister for works and pensions Sir Stephen Timms MP was chief guest and former MP Virendra Sharma was special guest. The president unveiled the anniversary magazine Roots with them.
Sir Stephen Timms MP said he was delighted to see the large turnout and praised “BHAUK's remarkable progress, social cohesion and consensus.” Referring to the youth presence, he said, “the new generation will continue the activities of BHA in the future.”
Virendra Sharma said, “it is the responsibility of the new generation to carry forward the exemplary success achieved by BHA UK over the last 25 years.” He added, “the consensus and collective efforts of the Hindu community will further strengthen the bonds of peace and harmony in the society.”
The event also included a financial report, a documentary on the organisation’s history, and an exhibition on Hindu genocide in the subcontinent.
A new committee was announced, awards were distributed, and cultural performances were staged.
President Proshanta Purokayastha thanked members for their support over 25 years.
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A group of migrants board an inflatable dinghy before leaving the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the Channel to reach UK on August 25, 2025.
THREE people, including two children, died while attempting to cross the English Channel overnight off the coast of Calais, French authorities said.
French media reported that the children were on a boat carrying 38 people. The Prefect of Pas-de-Calais, Laurent Touvet, said another three people were missing from a separate boat trying to cross at Neufchâtel-Hardelot, BBC reported.
Mr Touvet indicated that those who died may have been crushed to the bottom of the boat. He blamed smuggling gangs for the deaths and said action would be taken against them.
France’s assistance and rescue tug, Abeille Normandie, rescued passengers from the vessel at around 05:00 local time (04:00 BST) on Wednesday, off the coast of Sangatte near Calais.
A third boat carrying 115 people was rescued by the French navy’s patrol boat. Mr Touvet said no injuries were reported, but described it as “probably the highest number we’ve ever seen”.
More than 20 people have died in the Channel this year. On Tuesday, a woman died while attempting the crossing off the coast of Dover.
Over 30,000 people have reached the UK in small boats so far in 2025. Last year, 50 people died making the attempt, according to French coastguard records.
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Donald Trump and Narendra Modi shake hands as they attend a joint press conference at the White House on February 13, 2025.
Trump says he will speak to Modi in the coming weeks amid trade talks
Modi calls US and India "close friends and natural partners"
Trade officials from both countries may restart meetings in September
US-India trade reached $129 billion in 2024 with a $45.8 billion US deficit
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration is continuing negotiations to address trade barriers with India and that he would speak to prime minister Narendra Modi, indicating a possible reset after recent friction.
Trump said he looked forward to speaking to Modi in the "upcoming weeks" and expressed confidence that the two sides could reach an agreement.
"I feel certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion for both of our Great Countries," he said in a post on social media.
Modi responds with optimism
On Wednesday, Modi said Washington and New Delhi "are close friends and natural partners." He added that teams from both sides were working to conclude the trade discussions soon.
"I am also looking forward to speaking with President Trump. We will work together to secure a brighter, more prosperous future for both our people," Modi said in a social media post.
India's shares rose over 0.5 per cent after the remarks from both leaders.
Trade deal uncertainty
Trump had said for months that a trade deal was close, but later doubled tariffs on Indian imports to 50%, raising doubts about the future of the U.S.-India relationship.
In recent weeks, Trump and top US officials criticised India for buying oil from Russia, saying New Delhi was funding the war in Ukraine, a charge India denies.
At the same time, Modi has engaged with China and Russia. He visited China last month for a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and was also seen with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Analysts cautious
"While the social media statements by Trump and Modi signal a potential rapprochement between the U.S. and India, it is still premature to assume that a resolution will arrive swiftly," Madhavi Arora, economist at Emkay Global, said.
"With Trump, we will need to wait for more concrete signals that a deal is in the offing."
Meetings to restart in September
Trade officials from India and the US may meet in September to restart in-person discussions, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing sources. A US trade negotiators’ visit to New Delhi scheduled for August 25-29 was cancelled after talks stalled.
India's trade ministry declined to comment on reports of new meetings.
According to US Census Bureau data, two-way goods trade between the US and India reached $129 billion in 2024, with a $45.8 billion US trade deficit.
Tariffs and EU pressure
Trump recently said India had offered to reduce tariffs on US goods to zero but described the offer as late, saying the country should have acted earlier.
Reuters reported that Trump urged the European Union to impose 100% tariffs on China and India as part of pressure tactics against Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Indian officials in New Delhi said they do not expect the EU to take measures against India and that assurances had been given that EU trade talks would not be disrupted.