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Journalism of Courage
CHANDIGARH, Nov 24: The French Government will confer a rare honour on Manmohan (Mac) Lal Sarin, advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and president of the local chapter of the Alliance Francaise, in recognition of his contribution to promotion of French culture and understanding between two countries. The French Ambassador to India, Claude Blanchemaison, will invest Sarin with the Chevalier des Palmes Academiques in March next year.
For Sarin, who was Punjab’s advocate general for two terms (1991-92 and 1995-96), it was a memorable birthday gift. “It is my 50th birthday today and I was really taken aback. In fact, the French Government had collected my bio-data three years back and this year, while in Paris, the secretary-general of the Alliance Francaise worldwide had invited me to meet him. But I never thought all this was working towards this honour,” an elated Sarin told Newsline.
According to Gilles Guey, director of the Alliance Francais here, five persons has been selected for this honour by the French Government this year. The celebrity in this list, which has three academicians, is Mallika Sarabhai, who is the president of the Alliance Francaise in Ahmedabad. Sarin is the first and the only person from this part of the country to receive the honour.
