Diljit Rana, Baron Rana

Diljit Singh Rana, Baron Rana, MBE (born 20 September 1938) is a British politician and member of the House of Lords. Having originally been a crossbencher, he took the Conservative whip in 2016. He was married to Shruti, Lady Rana.

On 16 June 2004, he was created a life peer as Baron Rana, of Malone in the County of Antrim.

He was born in Sanghol,India and is the oldest sibling of three brothers and two sisters.

Lord Rana left Punjab in 1963 for England, but now has been a resident of Belfast since 1966. He had to repair his property portfolio over 25 times during the Troubles in Northern Ireland because of bombings and arson attacks. "Being an Indian I should not have had any loyalty to Northern Ireland; I stayed there despite the problem," said Lord Rana. Today, he is a successful property developer, hotelier and president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is director of Andras House, is a leading figure in the Indian community in Northern Ireland. He is India's honorary consul in Belfast.

Lord Rana promotes business links between India and Northern Ireland and has been elected president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce. He led a trade mission of 13 companies to India to explore business opportunities for Northern Ireland companies.

Rana was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours, for his contribution to the economic regeneration of the city of Belfast through the development of hotels, restaurants, fashion shops and modern office accommodation. Rana has set up a charitable trust of Rs. 50 million for a school and a college named Taxila, in his native village Sanghol, near Chandigarh, India. The new college has collaborative links with the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The university conferred an honorary doctorate on Rana who led a delegation of academics from the university to India to explore educational partnerships and help develop university links between India and Northern Ireland. Rana also received an Honorary Doctorate from Bengal Engineering and Science University in West Bengal in November 2008.

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