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The Karamsad Youth Network (KYN) was launched on Friday 14th November 2014 at the Regency Hotel in London with guest speakers Lopa Patel MBE, Founder of South Asian lifestyle website Redhotcurry.com; Arup Gangly, Managing Director at KNG Securities and Chairman at international day of volunteering Sewa Day and Pranai Patel (aka Parlé Partel), Vlogger & Founder of the Raas Rebellion. Attended by over sixty guests, the KYN event hopes to create a professional, social and cultural network of young people hailing from the town of Karamsad, Gujarat. KYN honoured the memory of their town’s most famous citizen, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who was one of the founding fathers of modern India.

Lopa Patel urged KYN members to follow the example of Sardar Patel and fight for equality, fairness and their right for recognition as a vital part of Britain’s next generation. She gave examples of discrimination that has held young Gujaratis back from reaching the highest positions in the professions, in the public sector and in Britain’s largest publicly quoted companies. She called upon KYN professionals to support and mentor each other and open the door for others to succeed too. Arup Ganguly urged the audience to give back to the wider community by participating on Sewa Day and by engaging with the UK Election in 2015. He spoke of the need for young Gujaratis to not only vote, but stand for election in local councils, as Members of Parliament and within their trades and industry bodies. Arup ended by urging all members to have more respect for others to improve community cohesion in the UK.

Pranai Patel (aka Parlé Partel) spoke about the setting up of the Raas Rebellion which is a campaign to highlight raas garba and dandiya raas (Gujarati folk dances) as a cultural art form. Mostly celebrated during the Gujarati festival of Navratri (nine nights of dancing) Raas Rebellion seeks to develop new raas garba dance sequences, styles, clothing and performance art. Pranai highlighted the success of his Vlog (Video Log) clips on YouTube and other social media activity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and urged young Gujaratis to consider a career in the creative industries.

The KYN launch event was supported by Karamsad Samaj UK President Mahendra S Patel, General Secretary Kalpesh N Patel, committee members including Sheetal A Patel and the KYN committee comprising Nimesh Patel, Bhavik Patel, Samir Patel, Chandni Patel, Shilpesh Patel, Dipen Patel and Kushal Patel.

About Karamsad Youth Network (KYN)

The Karamsad Youth Network (KYN) is a youth organisation specially launched to capture and cater for the younger generation of the Karamsad & Indian community within the UK. Affiliated to the larger Karamsad Samaj UK, which was founded in 1971, the organisation represents the interests of those hailing from Karamsad.

Karamsad is a city and a municipality in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is part of the Chhagaam Gol (“Circle of Six Villages”) with a resident population of around 32,000 people. Karamsad is home to a large (& growing) number of non resident Indians (NRIs). Not only do they contribute to the development of the Charotar region, they are also instrumental in creating & financing a lot of institutes. There are many reputable education establishments in Karamsad, such as S V Patel High School, C J Patel English Medium School and also the Swaminarayan Vidyapith English Medium Residential School. Karamsad also boasts a large medical institute called Pramukh Swami Medical College that is regarded as the best private medical education institute in Gujarat & and one of the oldest in the India.

For further details about the Karamsad Youth Network visit http://kyn.karamsadsamaj.co.uk/

For details about the Karamsad Samaj UK visit http://www.karamsadsamaj.co.uk/

About Sardar Patel *

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950) was an Indian barrister and statesman, one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of India. He was a social leader who played a leading role in the country’s struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation. In India and elsewhere, he was often addressed as Sardar, which means Chief in Hindi, Urdu and Persian.

As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organised relief for refugees in Punjab and Delhi, and led efforts to restore peace across the nation. Patel took charge of the task to forge a united India from the British colonial provinces allocated to India and more than five hundred self-governing princely states, released from British suzerainty by the Indian Independence Act 1947.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born in Nadiad, Gujarat but lived in Karamsad, Gujarat, where his father owned a homestead. He died in 1950 in Bombay and was survived by his two children Maniben Patel and Dahyabhai Patel

* Excerpt from Wikipedia