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Cobra man wins award |
NRI industrialist and founder of Cobra beer, Lord Karan Bilimoria, has won the 2006 India International Foundation annual award for excellence in industry.
Executive Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan M.N. Nandakumara has bagged the award for promoting Indian Art and Culture in the UK. Lord Bilimoria, who founded Cobra beer in 1989 with a loan of £20,000 when he was 28 years old, has turned it into a global beer brand with an annual turnover of £145 million.
Recipient of many awards, including the CBE from the Queen in 2004, Lord Bilimoria is also Chancellor of Thames Valley University, London. Nandakumara, who did his Ph.D from the University of London and a post-graduation in Sanskrit, is the main force behind Bhavan’s activities of promoting Indian culture and running the classes of music and dance up to degree level. The awards were presented by Baroness Usha Prashar, Chairperson of the Judicial Appointments Commission of the UK at a function in London.
The function was attended, among others, by Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Keith Vaz, NRI MP and former Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Madhav Chandra, Minister (Politics) in the High Commission of India in the UK, Hardyal S Luther, Foundation President, Rami Ranger, MBE NRI industrialist, Judge Mota Singh QC and Kartar Lalvani, NRI industrialist.
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Durban street to be named after Gandhi
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Authorities in this South African city will rename a street after Mahatma Gandhi in an effort to give the notorious neighbourhood a moral facelift.
The Point Road in the centre of Durban, known as a prostitution hub, will be renamed after Gandhi within three months by the government.
“I know a lot of people will have problems with this decision, but I am delighted,” granddaughter of the Mahatma, Ela Gandhi said.
A former MP for the ruling ANC and presently chairperson of the Satyagraha Foundation in South Africa, Ela hoped that with Mahatma’s name the street would gain a regenerative face.
Mahatma, who established the Natal Indian Congress in 1894, was one of the two Indian leaders who have been selected for recognition by the municipal authorities.
The other dignitary to be honoured was Dr Yusuf Dadoo, who was leader of the South African Indian Congress at one time.
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Indian immigrants protest in US
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Hundreds of Indian immigrant workers working for a large corporation that repairs and services oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, have alleged “slave-like” working conditions and begun a protest against them.
However, the corporation, Signal, denied the allegations, terming them as a “fabricated lie”.
According New America Media, Signal recruited 300 workers from India in December to work in its Mississippi yard, and another 300 in Texas.
The workers came under the H2B visa programme, also known as a “guest worker” programme. Workers were promised skilled positions at $18 per hour and were forced to pay thousands of dollars to the company’s recruiter in order to make the trip. Many sold their homes in order to cover the fee.
But upon arrival, the company paid them half of what was promised, arbitrarily reclassifying their skills, and forced them to pay $35 per day to live in a sparse company-owned camp. When the workers sought to change the situation or get compensation from the company, Signal announced that it would suspend their visas and force them to return to India.
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India should be considered developed: Swraj Paul
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India and China should be considered developed countries and the UK could benefit from engaging these two emerging economic powers through trade, investment and sharing of ideas, said British Ambassador for Overseas Business Swraj Paul.
“The products they are making are competing with those of the developed countries and the people engaged in the manufacturing processes are on a par with developed nations in terms of skills and numbers,” the NRI industrialist said.
Paul, who was addressing the Eton College Keynes Society on ‘Britain’s Economic Relations with India and China,’ added, “For certain products, we are now dependent on India and China.”
Observing that the investment climate in India is becoming more favourable, Paul said India’s English-speaking, educated workforce has been a huge positive for foreign investors looking for good destinations to invest.
“India is likely the only large country where the size of the working population is expected to grow over the next 20 years.”
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Hinglish should be part of English: Study
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Hinglish, a random mix of English and Hindi words, and Chinglish, a fusion of Chinese and English, should be made part of the British curriculum, suggests a British thinktank. The suggestion has come from Demos, one of Britain’s influential left wing thinktanks that said Britain was in danger of being marginalised due to an “outdated” attitude to the language.
“English can no longer be seen as a single language, but more as a family of languages,” said Sam Jones, co-author of the report. The report said that instead of naughty, pupils could be told to stop being a badmash and canteens might advertise machi-chips besides the conventional description of fish and chips.
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India now has 36 billionaires, led by Mittal and Ambanis |
As many as 36 Indians figure on the coveted list of the world’s richest people compiled annually by Forbes magazine, led by steel tycoon L.N. Mittal, with 14 new entrants from the country joining the billionaire club.
Mittal is ranked fifth with a net worth of $32 billion, while brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani are ranked 14th and 18th with personal wealth of $20.1 billion and $18.2 billion, respectively, says the list released by the magazine.
“India’s rich are marching toward the top of our rankings,” Forbes said. “After a 20-year reign, Japan is no longer Asia’s top spot for billionaires: India has 36, worth $191 billion followed by Japan, with 24 worth a combined $64 billion.”
“India now has three in the upper echelons, second only to the US,” the magazine said, referring to Mittal, and the Ambani brothers, who are now among the top 20 billionaires in the world. Wipro’s Azim Premji is ranked 21 with $17.1 billion.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates continues to be the richest person in the world for 13th year in succession with a net worth of $56 billion, among the list of 946 billionaires prepared by the magazine. The other Indians on the list include DLF’s K.P. Singh, ranked 62nd with $10 billion, Sunil Mittal’s family (69th with $9.5 billion), Kumarmangalam Birla and Essar’s Ruia brothers (both 86th with $8 billion).
Also on the list are Unitech’s Ramesh Chandra, investor Pallonji Mistry and Adi Godrej’s family.
Gibraltar-based Anurag Dikshit, an engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, who is now an online gambling mogul is featured as a young billionaire at 35 and ranked 618th with $1.6 billion.
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