A major celebration will be held by Glasgow-based Indians on Sunday August 19 to mark 60 years of independence for India and 200 years since the start of the movement towards a national identity.

Businessman Sohan Singh is Chairman of the Celebration Committee which was specially set up by the Association of Indian Organisations (AIO) to plan the party. ‘We wanted to let people know about Indian independence, where we come from, what India was like before Independence and where it is now and where its future lies. Not only will our reflections be on what is happening in India, they will cover what is happening here in Scotland and in the UK.’

More than 500 guests haave been invited to the Celtic Park function. Among the VIPs expected are Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond and former First Minister, Jack McConnell; Defence Minister and Secretary of State for Scotland, Des Brown; Strathclyde Police Chief Constable, William Rae and Indian Consul General, Ramesh Chander.

Pictured here are the other members of the celebration committee (from left) Sheem Gill, Amrit Paul Kaushal and Sucharam Bagha. Currently Sheem Gill is President of the AIO. ‘This is an umbrella organisation which meets monthly to discuss and consider issues of importance to people in the Indian communities here,’ he told the LOCAL NEWS.

One of the founders of the AIO and President of the organisation from 1996, Mr Kaushal  explained that it engaged in a great deal of charity fund raising. ‘We raised £30,000 in 1995 after the cyclone Orisa. In 2001 we sent £16,000 to build flats after the Gujrat earthquake and in 2005 the £20,000 we raised went to Glasgow Lord Provost’s Tsunami Fund and built an orphanage in Sri Lanka.’