Port-of-Spain, Sep 1 - The Indian diaspora here is unhappy as only three people of Indian origin have received the Trinidad and Tobago National Awards this year out of a total 20 recipients.

Basdeo Panday, leader of the opposition, said that the National Awards have lost their importance and citizens do not have respect for them anymore.

'The present system is based on patronage. We need to overhaul the system,' he said.

Jack Warner, deputy political leader of the Opposition United National Congress (UNC), said only three people of Indian stock were given national awards. The remaining 17 out of a total of 20 awards were given to Afro-Trinidadians. Of the three so-called East Indian awardees, two were given posthumously.

Indian diaspora is the largest ethnic group of 43 percent of a total population of 1.3 million people.

Warner criticised the government of Prime Minister Patrick Manning over its failure to give an ethnic balance in its annual Independence Day Awards ceremony to mark this country's 47th Independence anniversary Aug 31.

He said: 'The imbalance was a very unflattering and uncomplimentary recognition of the East Indian diaspora.' He stated that the racial imbalance could have the effect of further marginalising the Indo-Trinidadian community in a society that was already significantly polarised.

'Even if one argues that East Indians were not being nominated or nominating themselves, the state would still have the process to ensure that there is an all-inclusive ethnic embrace,' he said.