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Seven Punjabis in Norway’s local bodies
WSN Network 

OSLO: Thirty-two years back,Balwinder Kaur was a simple Punjabi woman, like thousands of her compatriots in Doaba, but had dreams, aspirations and understanding of the world around her. Last week, Balwinder Kaur was neck deep into work as an ethnic Indian member of the Oslo Commune (municipality). 

A schoolteacher by profession, Balwinder was elected in October last year, and belongs to Socialist Left or ‘SV’ party which currently holds 15 out of 169 seats in the Norwegian Parliament and six out of 59 seats in the Oslo municipality.

For the 3,000-odd ethnic Indians in the capital and over 6,000 across this country most of whom immigrated in the last decade or so, the representation levels in local bodies have also gone up  during the same period.  

Now there are eight Indian-origin people in the local bodies in Norway’s different counties, and of them seven are Punjabis, the other being from Hyderabad. In fact the ‘Indian Welfare Society of Norway’ is led by a Sikh,Surjit Singh. However, there is no MP of Indian origin.

23 April 2008
 

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