Leading NRI entrepreneur Lord Swraj Paul has scripted history by becoming the first Asian Deputy Speaker of the British House of Lords. Though people of Indian origin have held ministerial berths in the British cabinet, this is the first time that an Indian has been appointed to such a high position in UK's Parliament.

"I am honoured," said Lord Paul in his reaction to the announcement. He said, "It was an honour for a person who comes from a freedom fighters' family from India. In fact, my name Swraj was given because this was the slogan of Mahatma Gandhi: 'We want Swaraj (freedom)'," Lord Paul, founder of multinational national company Caparo, said last night.

"It speaks a great deal about the British and their system of democracy and is also a tribute to the country of my origin (India). I am looking forward to serving Parliament."

The Speaker or Deputy Speaker presides over the House of Lords session, sitting on the Woolsack, a large red seat stuffed with wool, at the front of the Lords Chamber. Conferred the Peerage in 1996 and honoured with the Padma Bhushan by President of India in 1983, 77-year-old Lord Paul is one of the most famous Indian-origin entrepreneurs based in Britain.

He is the founder of the multinational company Caparo, the UK-based steel and engineering group, with an annual turnover of 1.5 billion pounds.

Lord Paul was born in Jalandhar in 1931. His father ran a small foundry, which made steel buckets and farming equipment. Paul graduated from Panjab University and subsequently obtained Bachelor's and Master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.

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