Venkat Raman
Auckland, December 31, 2024
Three Academics, two businessmen, an Asset Management Leader and a community worker are among the achievers from the community being honoured by King Charles III in his New Year Honours.
The appointments include Professor Harjinder Singh of the Massey University based in Palmerston North as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala (of the Sudima Group of Hotels) as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM), Dinesh Khadka (Auckland Business and Honorary Consul of Nepal in New Zealand) Professor Asad Mohsin (University of Waikato), Priyani de Silva-Currie (Infrastructure and Asset Management Leader) and Rachel Simon Kumar (Associate Professor, School of Population Health, University of Auckland) as Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM).
Auckland-based Community worker Jyoti Parashar will receive a King’s Service Medal (KSM).
By a happy augury, Indian Newslink has been associated with each of the Honour recipients for more than 20 years.
About the New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit was instituted by Royal Warrant dated May 30, 1996. The Order is awarded to those “who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and the nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions, or other merits.”
The New Zealand Order of Merit includes Dames and Knights who are the Grand Companions (Principal Companions), Dames and Knights Companions (Distinguished Companions), Companions, Officers and Members.
Professor Harjinder Singh CNZM
Massey University (Palmerston North) Distinguished Professor and Director of Riddet Institute of the University Professor Harjinder Singh joins an exclusive club of people of Indian origin to be decorated as Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
He is being recognised for his services to Food Science.
As per our research and available information, this distinction belongs only to two other persons of Indian origin – the late Sir Roger Bhatnagar (1998) and Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand. Sir Anand was made Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005, a Principal Companion in 2006 (following his appointment as Governor-General) and the Knight Grand Companion of the Order on March 28, 2009 when the John Key government restored the Knighthood.
In our June 15, 2010 issue, we featured Professor Singh for his penchant to establish closer academic relations between Research Institutes, Universities and Tertiary Institutions in New Zealand and India to accrue benefits to both countries. He has been involved in many projects through the Riddet Institute of the Massey University of which he is the Director.
A Deep Honour
Professor Singh said that he was deeply honoured by the appointment.
“This recognition is not just mine to own but represents the collective dedication and creativity of many remarkable individuals at the Riddet Institute within my exceptional research group. It highlights the importance of our discovery-based research with practical applications that have impacted the food sector around the world. This honour inspires me and the team to continue advancing science that addresses the evolving challenges of the food industry and society,” he said.
Professor Singh has a 30-year record of outstanding contributions to Food Science. His prolific publications have ranked him as the Top Food Scientist in Oceania, with more than 500 publications. As well as serving on 15 Editorial Journal Boards, he has mentored more than 50 PhD students and 30 postdoctoral researchers from around the globe.
He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Institute of Food Technologists USA and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology USA. He has translated his scientific findings to commerce to achieve industrial outcomes of significant economic and social importance.
With his team, he invented an encapsulation technology for Omega-Three fatty acids, creating healthier foods, and subsequently enabling several companies to create products using this technology. His FerriPro technology, which brings affordable iron nutrition to the developing world, where iron deficiency is a debilitating problem has been commercialised by the Nestlé-Riddet Institute partnership.
Professor Singh is a passionate entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of Saber Foods (trading as AndFoods) and Miruku, New Zealand-based start-ups dedicated to producing sustainable, dairy-free alternatives.
These ventures highlight his commitment to finding innovative solutions that address the evolving needs of the food industry and global nutrition.
Awards and Citations
Professor Singh was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award in honour of Nicolas Appert Institute of Food Technologist (USA) and the Royal Society Te Apārangi Pickering Medal, both in 2024; the American Dairy Science Association Distinguished Service Award in 2018, the Prime Minister’s Science Prize (Co-Recipient) in 2012, the New Zealand Association of Scientists Shorland Medal and the JC Andrews Award (both in 2011) and the Massey University Research Medal in 2008.
Here is some recent background from write-ups on his prizes this year, with useful content about his work in developing Ferri-Pro TM, an amazing scientific innovation allowing iron fortification into milk drinks impacting poor countries around the world:
Riddet Institute Director awarded the prestigious Pickering Medal
Riddet Institute Director honoured with prestigious international award
Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala ONZM
The business community in New Zealand knows Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala as a Corporate Head with a vision and a commitment not only to his entities but also to national objectives. His contributions to protecting and enhancing the environment have earned him a name among the stalwarts of carbon emissions and climate change.
In appointing Mr Jhunjhnuwala as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the hospitality industry and philanthropy, King Charles III and the New Zealand government have also recognised him as a strong advocate for sustainability and accessibility, which are the core principles of all his businesses and executives.
Born in Burma to Indian parents, Mr Jhunjhnuwala spent his childhood in Kathmandu and Hong Kong. His entrepreneurial spirit was nurtured early, with his grandfather establishing a family business dynasty that continues to this day. He began his business career in Hong Kong before pursuing a degree in Business Administration at the University of Southern California.
The Sudima Hotels and Resorts
Mr Jhunjhnuwala and his wife Laxmi fell in love with New Zealand during their honeymoon and decided to make it their home. He embarked on his journey in the country’s hospitality sector, establishing Sudima Hotels and Resorts. The Sudima Group now accounts for seven hotels- Auckland City, Auckland Airport, Lake Rotorua, Kaikōura, Christchurch City, Christchurch Airport and Queenstown Five Mile.
Describing the Royal Appointment as ‘deeply humbling,’ Mr Jhunjhnuwala said that although he never aspired for such an honour, he would accept it with gratitude.
“I have always believed in focusing on doing my deeds with sincerity and dedication, guided by the values instilled in me by my parents and supported by the unwavering companionship of my wife and children. Thank you to them for walking beside me and being my source of strength and inspiring me to stay true to my path.
Tribute to the Team
“I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my incredible team. Their dedication, hard work, and commitment have been instrumental in every success that we have achieved. They make me look good every day, and this honour is as much theirs as it is mine. It is a privilege to work alongside such talented and passionate individuals. At the heart of all that we do is our steadfast belief in doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. This principle has been a guiding light for our family and our work, reminding us to stay true to our values and make choices rooted in integrity,” he said.
Mr Jhunjhnuwala considers the Bhagavad Gita as ‘A timeless source of wisdom.’
He said, “Karmanyevadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana” (You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.)
Editor’s Note: The above appears in the Gita (Chapter Two Verse 47) carrying the message of Lord Krishna to Arjuna, emphasising the importance of performing one’s duty without being attached to the results. It’s a timeless principle that can guide individuals, families, societies, and nations to personal success and societal progress.
Professor Asad Mohsin MNZM
Professor Asad Mohsin has been appearing in the columns of Indian Newslink for the past 20 years, either as an expert commentator of the hospitality sector including hotels and tourism or in his community roles with the Waikato Muslim Association, Multicultural Council and the New Zealand Urdu Hindi Cultural Association.
In this issue, we are happy to list him as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, an honour that he receives for his services to the Muslim Community and Education.
As well as Convenor and Associate Professor of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Waikato Management School, Professor Mohsin has been Chairperson of the Department of Marketing and Director of the Institute for Business Research at the University.
He has earned invaluable industry and academic experience working in different countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand.
His main research interests and publications are in customer perceptions and contemporary trends towards holidaying, human resource issues and challenges and product and service quality assessment. His research is largely empirical and applied to hotel and hospitality management.
Collective Effort
Professor Mohsin said that the MNZM honour is an outcome of the collective effort of his team, family and friends.
“I am delighted and pleasantly surprised to receive this recognition. I owe it to the Muslim Community and other Ethnic Communities in the Waikato. As a community leader, I follow the practice that the higher the status, the greater the servant you are to the community. I also acknowledge that as a community leader, you need steel nerves to keep your emotions in control to achieve successful outcomes for the community,” he said and added that people need to be ‘controlled and sustained during times of elation,’ and credits his wife Ayesha for pinning him to the ground.
Dinesh Khadka MNZM
To the wider business and fast-growing South Asian community, he is a welcome member and a conscientious promotor of goodwill; to the 12,000-strong and equally progressive Nepali community, he is a source of inspiration and support. Perhaps the most important of all, to his employees, he is a friend, saviour and a constant source of financial strength even to his personal detriment. Dinesh Khadka, the Honorary Consul of Nepal in New Zealand will have the instant approval of everyone known to him that his admittance as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit by King Charles III in his New Year Honours List 2025 (for services to the Nepali Community) was long overdue.
Unlike many employers whose first act would be to axe jobs in times of distress, Mr Khadka strengthened his resolve to ensure that his staff was protected when his Eagle Eye Limited (a cleaning service) entered turbulent weather.
“We are family and we must stick together,” he told himself and worked on ways to inject more capital into his company. While the slumping construction activities began to clean up his business, he did not relent.
Business is now gradually moving up.
From Farming to Cleaning
Mr Khadka understands the cyclical phase of business and life. Born in Biratnagar, a metropolis in Nepal known for its jute mills, he graduated in Arts (BA) and launched his business venture importing printing machinery. The Nepalese Civil War which began in 1996 began to destroy businesses and morale, and looking for opportunities, he arrived in New Zealand in May 2000 with US$500 in his wallet, leaving behind his wife Rajshree and their first son.
He was ready to work anywhere anytime. Such openness and dignity of labour took him to Te Puke where he worked picking fruits and managing farms. Two years later, seeing himself financially healthier and mentally stronger to face stiffer tasks, he called his wife and son from Nepal to join him. Moving to Auckland, he drove taxis, did odd jobs, worked 120 hours a week and then decided to become an entrepreneur. He set up a cleaning services company and progress from there has been steady. If nothing succeeds like success, Mr Khadka has had no opportunity to look back at life and regret it.
“Life can be like Momo. Its taste depends on how it is steamed or fried- likewise, life can be light or heavy as you make it. But everyone must try, for success lies on self-indulgence, not on someone else’s experience,” he said.
Today, Eagle Eye Cleaning Services is eyeing fresh business, his Kiwi Fruit Farm is growing a variety of fruit and a few properties are accruing rents. Rajshree has a progressive career as a Senior Hairstylist, while their elder son Dikshant has launched his career in architectural design. Their younger son Divyanshu is pursuing his course in Software Engineering.
As the President of the New Zealand Nepal Society (which he founded in 2004), Mr Khadka brought comfort, solace, essential supplies and other materials to his people during times of natural and other crises. More than 800 Nepali students were beneficiaries of his community work during the Covid-19 lockdown period, while hundreds of victims of the devastating 2010 earthquake received help arranged by him.
Mr Khadka organised the first Nepal Festival in 2018 in Auckland’s Aotea Square, attended by more than 10,000 people.
“The New Zealand government is very sympathetic and helpful at all times. Our community is growing and since Nepal does not have a High Commission in New Zealand, I realise a larger responsibility on my shoulders. I will not fail my people,” Mr Khadka said.
Priyani de Silva-Currie MNZM
Ten years ago, as the President of the Federation of Multicultural Councils (now known as Multicultural New Zealand) Priyani de Silva-Currie told a Wellington Conference that the government must address the challenges experienced by SMEs owned and operated by ethnic communities and suggested ways and means of overcoming them.
Her services to various sections of society, especially multicultural communities, Netball and Civil Engineering have now been recognised as it is befitting that she is entering the New Zealand Order of Merit as a Member.
“This honour is the reflection of an entire ‘village’ (perhaps Greymouth where she was raised) who have supported my growth and development, offered me opportunities to be heard and also to lead in areas I am passionate about,” she said.
With more than 30 years of experience as an Infrastructure Asset Management Leader, Ms de Silva-Currie is a specialist in public infrastructure asset management for local and central governments in New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.
She is now the National Asset Management Technical Director and Principal, of Asset Advisory Business at Beca New Zealand.
Serving Multicultural Communities
As the National President at MNZ, Ms de Silva-Currie launched several programmes to support the migrant and minority communities. These included New Zealand Settlement Support, Migrant Business Forum, Multicultural Women’s Group, Engineering New Zealand Migrant Forum and Professional Speaking Course for Migrants.
An advocate for leadership, Ms de Silva-Currie hopes that others see in her a person who is just like them, someone who has faced challenges and barriers, similar hardships and losses.
“I met these obstacles with energy, gratefulness, humility and authenticity. I believe we are capable of anything we set our mind to, with hard work and determination anything is possible, this is something my parents instilled in me at a young age.”
She believes in the call to action “If not me then who, if not now, then when?”
Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar MNZM
University of Auckland Professor and School of Population Health Centre for Asian and Ethnic Minority Health Research and Evaluation (CAHRE) Co-Director Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar has been appointed Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her services to services to Women’s Studies, Health Research and Ethnic Communities.
A native of Kerala, she migrated to New Zealand in 1996. She has a daughter.
A social scientist by training, she holds postgraduate (Master’s) degrees in Psychology (from the University of Kerala), Applied Economics (MPhil) (from the Centre for Development Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi), and a Doctorate (PhD) in Women’s Studies and Public Policy) from the University of Waikato).
Her earlier assignments included International Development and the Public Sector as a Lecturer at the Waikato University, Victoria University and University of Auckland.
Responding to Indian Newslink, she said that the New Year Honour was overwhelming but a delightful surprise.
A delightful surprise
“The honour, in many ways, cements my belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand, my home for nearly thirty years. From what I see, the nomination process is quite an involved one and demands pulling together a lot of information. My heartfelt thanks to the person/s who nominated me for this honour,” she said.
Ms Simon-Kumar said this Honour should be shared with many people she works with.
“Their hard work creates lasting and transformative change in our communities. None of this would be possible without their collaboration and contributions,” she said.
For more than 20 years, Ms Simon-Kumar’s research interests have been on the ethnic and minority communities in New Zealand. Her scholarship included diverse areas such as family and sexual violence, reproductive and maternal health, women in politics, multiculturalism and social cohesion, racism, and adolescent health.
Her research centres on cultural, political and structural determinants of equity for ethnic migrant populations.
Ethnic and Minority Communities
A feminist social scientist by training, her background is in critical gender, race and postcolonial and structuralist theories which she applies in empirical public health research using qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
She has also been developing intersectionality as a critical framework concerning ethnic and migrant communities, including health research.
She has been the recipient of prestigious New Zealand research Awards including the Marsden Fund, Health Research Council Research grants, and MBIE Endeavour grant. Her research has been published in highly respected academic journals.
In 2022, she was awarded with the New Zealand Fulbright Scholarship.
Her strong community connections are highlighted by her role as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Shama, an Ethnic Women’s Trust based in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Ethnic Health Collective and has been on several government advisory groups.
Her work is transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral and she has collaborated with public health clinicians, epidemiologists, audiologists, environmental scientists, political scientists, anthropologists, legal researchers, practitioners, and community-based researchers.
Jyoti Parashar KSM
People of Indian origin in New Zealand know Jyoti Parashar as affable, gentle, smiling and ever-ready to support community initiatives. These qualities have endeared her to every circle of friendship and congregation, which in turn have qualified her to be honoured by King Charles III in his New Year Honours List 2025 for services to the community.
Devotees at Bhartiya Mandir in Balmoral Auckland would watch her reciting hymns promoting the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is One Family) but for the larger good, her role as the Education Chairperson encouraged the Temple to launch Bal Vikas Classes for children.
As well as being a Registered Social Worker specialising in elder abuse, she is a Justice of the Peace, both of which keep her close to her communities.
Born and raised in Jaipur, sometimes called ‘The Paris of India’ (my uncle the late Sir C V Raman called it ‘The Island of Glory.’) Ms Parashar migrated to New Zealand about 20 years ago along with her husband Yugal Parashar (Editor of Indian News) and their son. Her journey in community service is stated to be a journey of resilience, compassion and an unwavering commitment to serving the community.
Her association with Bharatiya Mandir began soon after her arrival in Auckland and over the years, Ms Parashar has initiated various groups to cater to the needs of different age groups, including a Mums and Babies group, Yoga classes, a Youth initiative, and a Ladies Group called Sakhi in 2017. These programmes have created avenues for learning, connection and empowerment for many in the community.
Ms Parashar said that Sakhi has become a lifeline for many women in the community.
“It provides a space for women to connect, support one another, and grow. Sakhi actively promotes small businesses run by women, encouraging entrepreneurship and economic independence,” she said.
Ms Parashar supports women facing challenges, including domestic violence. She provides guidance, connects them to appropriate resources, and helps them navigate their way to safety and stability.
Her penchant for social welfare and community service has seen Ms Parashar’s association on the boards of many organisations, including Disha New Zealand Charitable Trust of which she is the Chairperson. These assignments have helped her to promote sustainability, inclusivity and empowerment. She also leads ‘Udaan,’ a project focused on job search and
career development, helping people build successful futures.
Reflecting on her journey, Ms Parashar attributes her achievements (including the King’s Service Medal) to the support and guidance extended by her family, friends and the community that she serves with passion.
An associate said, “Her story is a powerful example of how compassion, dedication and perseverance can create lasting, meaningful change.”
