Organised by the Surat Parsi Panchayat, the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI), and the Surat Municipal Corporation, speakers at the function, while praising the efforts of the TATA group in humanitarian activities, asked the group to set up establishments in the region as well. The function was held at the Gandhi Smruti Bhawan of the city on Saturday evening.

``Parsis are losing numbers here, but are gaining elsewhere. Parsi communities in the UK, US, Canada and Australia are still sticking to their values and are growing fast,'' he said, adding 0.06 per cent of the country's population is Parsi.

On being honoured with knighthood, he said the honour was bestowed upon him to further surge the relations between the two countries.

In his welcome speech, Sam Bhacca, president of the Surat Parsi Panchayat said, ``The Parsi community and the entire city was proud of the achievements of J J Irani, who had excelled in the fields of metallurgy and geology as well as Patrawala, who, apart from being in active politics, has been involved in social work for the past many years.''

Dr Irani was bestowed with the knighthood of the British Empire on October 14 1997, and Marzaban Ja Patrawala was appointed as a member of the Minorities Commission recently.

SMC Commissioner S Jagadeesan, Deputy Mayor Dr Kishore Lakhani, SGCCI president Prem Sharda and others, while speaking on the occasion, praised the work of the Tatas as not only exceptional but also service-oriented.Three generations of Dr Irani's family have been with the Tata's while Patrawala, after completing law at the Bombay University, was elected twice to the Maharashtra Assembly and held important portfolios in the cabinet. Sharda urged Dr Irani to set up institutions like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TICS) and the Tata Cancer Institute (TCI) in the city.

Jagadeesan said that he always cited Tata Group's example, while referring to nation-building. He said according to his information, the Minority Commission was being allocated Rs 500 crores every year and the fund should be used for bringing up the status of the minorities. ``Nowadays, a lot of selfish work goes on in the name of social work,'' he alleged.

Concluding, he said that the contribution of Parsis to the nation was exceptional and perhaps the maximum number of luminaries in any field were Parsis.

Irani, while addressing the gathering, said that although earning money was important, more important was the way it was used. ``We at Tata believe that a major portion of what we earn should be reused for bringing up the standard of living of the underpriviledged,'' he said.