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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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