The Asian Voice met him at former Leading Light Sujit Nair’s last British parliamentary event for the UK -South India Business Chamber of Commerce. Mr Luhar has held the FCO job for over a year.
For a couple of years before that, Mr Luhar was at the Department of Transport, first as Bill Manager, then as Stakeholder Engagement Lead. He graduated from Nottingham Business School and Nottingham Trent University.
Satish visits India regularly, and his origins are in Gujarat in India. Satish’s parents lived in Kampala and came to the UK as part of the expulsion of Indians from Uganda by Idi Amin. He was born in the UK.
It’s always useful to take a meter reading of a subject’s sentiments towards his motherland, India. Mr. Luhar told us,
“The last time I went was a long time ago to my home village of Bhuj – I remember how vast the marshes and desert were, but also the array of colour in the houses, clothes and decorations, and mostly the vibrancy and welcoming nature of the people there. The same is true for India. But I am particularly fond of the food - there is nothing quite like it in the world!”
We wanted to know what attracted him to the FCO job.
“One of the biggest draws was the opportunity to work across a breadth of policies. The UK and India work together on a vast range of areas – science and innovation, health, education, to name a few - and this job gave me the opportunity to experience them all in an international context. Secondly, being of Indian origin I wanted to understand my own roots and heritage better. Working on UK-India relations was a prime opportunity to do this.”
We know about British Government posts with “business” or “trade” in the title, but Satish’s job is different. He explained,
“My job involves managing and developing the UK-India relationship to further strengthen our ties across the range of work we do with India. I work closely with colleagues in India, the Indian High Commission, the Indian diaspora, and others to consider how we can increase our collaborations and work together to mutually increase our prosperity and relations. This includes understanding what is happening politically and economically in India at a federal and state level, and identifying opportunities for further engagement and bilateral cooperation.”
So what was he seeking to achieve in this position?
“A better understanding of India is a personal aim, as well as a good understanding of our cooperation. I hope to continue to strengthen the links between the UK and India, and think there is scope for our two countries to do even more to our mutual benefit.”
After the 2014 Indian election, Satish visited Hyderabad and Chennai.
“In addition to meeting with our Deputy High Commissioners in these areas, I also accompanied the British High Commissioner to India, Sir James Bevan, to meetings with the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana following the then recent bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. I was also lucky enough to visit Pondicherry and the temples at Mahabalipuram (which were magnificent).
Indian - origin British nationals are steadily climbing the FCO ladder in several corners of the globe so we wanted to assess Mr Luhar’s own ambitions. He presciently replied in the sort of language that diplomats use.
“I haven’t fully decided on what I shall do next, but going to work in one of our Embassies or High Commissions abroad is definitely something that I am considering – not only does it provide an interesting and important area of work, but it also provides an opportunity to experience another culture. Longer term, who knows!”
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“Going to work in one of our Embassies or High Commissions abroad is definitely something that I am considering”
