UK loses six billionaires as battle against cost-of-living crisis continues

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The Hinduja family of the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group have topped the list for second year in row with a wealth of £35 billion Their fortune jumped by more than £6 billion, marking the largest fortune ever recorded by the Rich List in 35 editions

However, this achievement comes at the heel of a great personal loss The patriarch of the family, Shrichand Parmanand Hinduja, passed away on Wednesday (17) in London home country, India "

Herman Narula (240) and Sanjeev and Arani Soosaipillai (121)

compared to the 19 in previous year ’ s list aged 87 His three brothers, Gopichand, P r a k a s h a n d A s h o k , i s s u e d a s t a t e m e n t expressing the family’s grief that said- “He was a visionary and mentor to the family, bestowing the founding principles and values of our late father, P D Hinduja He played a very important role alongside his brothers in building a strong relationship between his host country, the UK and his

On the other hand, while 20 South Asians made it to the list, majority of them saw a fall in their wealth British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy lost £201 million bringing their estimated wealth to £529 million This has led to them plummeting down the list to 275th position from their debut position at 222nd position with £690 million The couple has lost more than half a million pounds per day in the past year due to Infosys’ shares plummeting due to lower revenues from its banking, tech and other clients The shares in Infosys is the most valuable asset Sunak and Murthy hold

Many new faces made their debut in this year ’ s list and many previous rank holders made it back Sunder Genomal, MD of Page Industries made his debut at the 78th position Other new entries on the list include:

Sunday Times 35 richest people under 35

This year’s list of 35 richest people under 35 is filled with self- made multimillionaires 33 of 38 people on the list did not inherit their wealth At least half were state educated and a third didn’t go on to further education Three South Asians also made the listVishal Karia (17), Ayman Rahman and Fateha Begum (29)

Fragrances and has made it at 19th position on the list with £98 million The company was founded in 2016 and seven years later he has built a business of about £100 million, selling fragrances and other cosmetics As a teenager with ADHD, he was expelled from school and now he calls the condition his superpower Affinity Fragrances distributes products made by Hugo Boss, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Aramis and other top brands

Ayman Rahman and Fateha BegumAyman Rahman and Fateha Begum cofounded the energy trading specialist, Dare International The company quickly took over the industry’s demand and became a leading player in the industry The company, worth £54 million, is all owned by Rahman

SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2023- TOP 10

Rank2023(2022)NameWorthRise/FallSourceofwealth

1 (1) Gopi Hinduja and family £35bn£6.528bn

Industry and finance: Hinduja Group

2 (27)Sir Jim Ratcliffe£29.688bn£23.613bnChemicals: Ineos

3 (4)Sir Leonard Blavatnik£28.625bn£8.625bn

4 (3) David and Simon Reuben and family £24.399bn£2.134bn

5 (2)

6 (6)

7 (7)

8 (9)

This year ’ s Rich List is the very first one to be announced in the queen ’ s absence She topped the inaugural rich list with a wealth of £5 billion, including state assets King Charles III has surpassed his mother with his personal worth on £600 million at the 263rd position in this year ’ s list

The South Asians in the 2023 Rich List have increased by six, with 25 people of South Asian descent making it on the list as

The decrease in the wealth is not being seen as a crash even as household names like Sunak and Laxmi Mittal have lost vast sums over the past year

For the past two years, the wealth of the super- rich showed unsettling boom despite Brexit and the pandemic Even though the number of billionaires has decreased and not everyone on the list saw a rise in the wealth in the past year, UK’s rich are getting richer

South Asians On The Sunday Times Rich List 2023

Rank2023(2022)NameWorthRise/FallSourceofwealth

Investment, music and media: Access Industries

Property and internet: Reuben Brothers

Sir James Dyson and family £23bnNo change Technology: Dyson Group

Lakshmi Mittal and family £16bn£1bnSteel: ArcelorMittal

Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family £14.5bn£1bnRetail: Primark

Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho £13.122bn£1.701bn

9 (8) Kirsten and Jorn Rausing £12bnNo change

Inheritance, brewing and banking: Heineken

Inheritance and investment: Tetra Laval

10 (10=)Michael Platt£11.5bn£1.5bn Hedge fund: BlueCrest Capital

Hedge Fund: Quadrature Capital

121 (NEW) Sanjeev and Arani Soosaipillai £1.505bnNew entryOil: Prax Group

130= (140=) Sunil Vaswani and family £1.333bn £83m

Transport and food: Stallion Group

135 (138) Surinder Arora and family £1.305bn £50m Hotels: Arora Group

141 (NEW) Lord Choudrey and family £1.25bnRe-entry

142 (140=) Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu and family £1.234bn £16m

198 (149=) Geeta Gupta-Fisker and Henrik Fisker £860m £340m

240= (NEW) Herman Narula£700mNew entry

247 (NEW) Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan family £684mRe-entry

249 (225) Mahmud Kamani and family £675m £45m

252 (247=)The Jatania brothers£650mNo change

263= (NEW) Tej Lalvani and family£600mRe-entry

271 (NEW) Bhupendra Kansagra and family £579mRe-entry

275 (222=) Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty £529m £201m

Cash and carry: Bestway

Property and hotels: Grange

Electric Vehicles: Fisker

Technology: Improbable Worlds

Food and restaurants: 2 Sisters Food Group

Internet retailing: Boohoo

Toiletries, property and fashion: Jatania Group

Health supplements: Vitabiotics

Fuel, chemicals and shipping: Solai Holdings

Technology and hedge fund: Infosys

British treatment of Gurkhas

Gurkhas like Hari Bahadur Bura Magar and others have indeed sacrificed the major part of their lives for the vested interest of the "British Empire"

For the past two centuries, but the Gurkhas are still facing, dehumanisation, alienation, exploitation, ignorance and great betrayal by the UK government And continue violation of the Tripartite Agreement of 1947 by the UK government It has indeed failed to treat the Gurkhas equally as the British Army

UK government has used the Gurkhas as a diplomacy currency internationally and collected a huge revenue from the respected, Malaysian, Singapore, Hong Kong and now from the oil rich state of Brunei

Also collected millions of pounds from the rich nation across the globe, showing the hardship pictures of the Gurkhas and their families in the name of the Gurkha welfare trust (GWT), when the second world war veteran Mandhoj Thapa, was taking shelter in the temple in the capital, Kathmandu, Nepal, and other veterans taking shelter in cowshed in the remote, village of Nepal

They introduced different terms and conditions socalled, Brigade of Gurkhas Standing Instructions (BGSI) regarding pay, pension, promotion, welfare and other benefits, compare to our British counterparts when station in Far east like Hong Kong etc?

Only two years of accompanied tour in 15 years of the Brigade of Gurkhas Standing Instructions (BGSI) rule set for the Gurkhas and their families

My son was born on my second leave I couldn't take my family back to Hong Kong, like our British counterparts And when I went to my third Nepal leave after 3 years, my eldest son did not recognise me It was the hardest and saddest part of the Gurkhas family separation problems Because of the Gurkha recruitment in the British Empire army, we Gurkhas especially the martial race from Nepal, had a very negative impact, demographically, religiously, culturally, and linguistically

Gurkhas were from different orthodox background But when the Gurkhas were enlisted in the British Empire army, they were stamped as "Hindu Gurkhas"

The preaching of “Hinduism" is still in practice in the British and Indian army Still facing family separation and deportation and division are the pre vs July 97 British Gurkhas and the pre and post March 1982 Gurkha children, born in last British administration, Hong Kong

Pre July 97 British Gurkha pensions are still paid according to the Indian pay code, when most of the British Gurkhas now reside in the UK

UK government can find million of pounds for refugees and others, but been penny pinching on the plight of the Gurkha soldiers

Gurkhas were forced to stage two hunger strike and the UK government is still ignoring to end the 200 years of historical injustice against the British Gurkha soldiers in the British Army

We Gurkhas are still struggling to find our ‘status

Please Google the greater map of Nepal Illegal occupation of 66 thousands hectare land from East to West of Nepal, during the British Raj in India

A n d t h e y c o n t i n u e v i o l a t i o n o f t h e T r i p a r t i t e Agreement of 1947 by the UK government and failed and ignored to treat the Gurkhas in equal footing as the other units in the parent army

Yam Gu rung (rtd )

Water, water everywhere

As the saying goes, water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink This is the reality here where practically every river is polluted It is hard to believe that sewage is discharged eight hundred times a day in England alone Perhaps we may have the most polluted rivers in Europe, in the Western world

The reason is starring right in our face but no one wants to admit it Now we are talking about punishing bosses of water companies who draw fat remuneration and billions are paid in dividends Well, that is the main reason f o r p r i v a t e e n t e r p r i s e ; t h a t i s t o l o o k a f t e r t h e i r shareholders at the expense of consumers, the public at large

M o s t c i v i l i z e d , w e l l g o v e r n e d n a t i o n s k e e p t h e i r utilities, including water, gas and electricity, even railways, in public hands, not to privatise our most necessary, profit making utilities So why not hold politicians, along with b o s s e s , w h o r e c k l e s s l y p r i v a t i z e d t h e s e u t i l i t i e s , a t a giveaway price, to become popular and win elections, a cheap gimmick that is costing the nation and the public at large This is one of the shortfalls of Capitalism where the strongest survive, so often at the expense of gullible public

The public should demand that main political parties s h o u l d i n c l u d e r e n a t i o n a l i s a t i o n o f u t i l i t i e s i n t h e r e manifesto, as election is looming on the horizon But I do not believe this may happen, unless it is included in their manifesto and given wide publicity!