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Ramola Bachchan, socialite and sister-in-law of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has won the Asian of the Year Award for 2004.
At a gala ceremony attended by evergreen Bollywood star Dev Anand, leader of the House of Commons Peter Hains, NRI businessmen S P Hinduja and his brother G P Hinduja and Kartar Lalvani, winner of the award last year, presented a gold-plated plaque to 57-year-old Ramola for her outstanding achievements and her work towards charitable causes.
A former air stewardess, a TV presenter and now a solicitor, Kolkata-born Ramola has successfully raised funds for several organisations, including the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, CARE International, SAARC Foundation, Cancer Relief, Macmillan Fund and Pratham UK.
Accepting the award, Ramola said, "I am deeply honoured to be given this award this year, catapulting me to a very luminous category of award winners."
Noting that she was the only third woman to get the award out of 17 recipients so far, Ramola hoped the imbalance in favour of men would be redressed in future.
Prominent award winners include Lord Swraj Paul, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Baroness Shreela Flather and Keith Vaz.
Raj Loomba launched the 17th edition of the Asian Who's Who International, edited by J S Sachar, on the occasion.
Ramola came to live in the UK with husband Ajitabh and their children in 1987. In 1995, she set up her own public relations firm to promote business and culture between India and the UK.
Also read: What Ramola has to say about her superstar brother-in-law.