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Victor Menezes donates $1.5 mn for IIT Bombay |
Victor Menezes, retired senior vice-chairman of Citigroup, has donated half of $3 million he has pledged for his alma mater Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai), for building a world-class convention center, it was announced last week.
Menezes, who graduated from the school in 1970, has pledged the generous gift for IIT Mumbai’s ambitious plans to inaugurate such a convention centre during its Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2007-08.
‘IIT Bombay gave me a priceless education —and this is a small way to say thank you,’ said Menezes who has been a longtime and consistent supporter of IIT Bombay and is co-chairman of IIT Bombay Heritage Fund, the Alumni Fund of IIT Bombay.
By making the donation Menezes became only the second Indian American alumnus of IIT Bombay after Raj Mashruwala, Executive Vice-President of TIBCO, to have given such a large sum of money to the IIT Heritage Fund. |
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Indo-Canadian confident of victory in polls |
Gurbax Malhi is among several Indo-Canadians belonging to the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties who are all ranged against one another in the January 23 federal elections in Canada.
Malhi, considered close to Prime Minister Paul Martin, represents the Bramalea-Gore-Malton riding in Ontario that has a large Indo-Canadian population and is adjacent to Toronto.
The Liberal Party had to call a re-election midway into its term as a minority government when the opposition passed a no-confidence motion against the prime minister last month.
Malhi, who has been re-elected safely since 1993 when he was first sent to the House of Commons in Ottawa, says he is confident of being elected again. “Only two more weeks to go. We are working hard. They (the Opposition) called the election. That was in the past. Now we are looking forward,” Malhi told the agency. |
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India eighth biggest investor in Britain |
India has emerged as the eighth biggest investor in Britain, ahead of countries like Italy and the Netherlands, according to official figures.
Increased interest by Western companies in setting up operations on the Indian sub-continent has been matched by an investment flow from India to Britain. Rapid expansion of the Indian economy over the past three years has led to the sharp rise in investment by large Indian companies in the country.
According to recent British government figures, Indian companies were behind 36 inward investment projects in Britain in 2004-05, compared to 28 in 2003-04 and 19 in 2002-03. The figures put India in eighth position among the countries with investment deals in Britain. While India remained behind the US and Germany, it levelled with China and stayed ahead of Italy and the Netherlands. Government figures indicate Indian investments led to 1,418 new jobs in 2004-05, in sixth position behind the US, Germany, Japan, Ireland and France. |
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Indian’s smart way to smell stale stuff |
American consumers might soon stop turning food products up and down at a Wal-Mart, trying to check for that ever-evasive expiry date on milk, yoghurt or cereal. Vivek Subramanian, a leading researcher in polysilicon technology and organic electronics at the University of California, Berkeley, is developing a technique that will disregard doubtful dates and track food’s freshness scientifically.
Subramanian’s research group is developing a host of innovative smart sensors like the food expiry detector. The sensors will keep track of bacteria levels and detect gas emissions within a closed environment, such as a milk bottle, letting consumers know when food is no longer consumable. The research focuses on the physics of organic semiconductors and their applications in displays, low-cost electronics, sensors, and actuators. The basic concept is trying to use gas or fluid sensing to detect bacterial activity. |
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