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Eight American NRIs on Forbes’ Midas List |
Eight Indians have made it to Forbes’ 2007 Midas List, the annual ranking of the top 100 tech dealmakers in the United States. Forbes names Ram Shriram as No 4 followed by Arjun Gupta at number 37. He is a Stanford graduate and founder and managing partner of Telesoft Partners.
Others are Parag Saxena, Rob Soni, Promod Haque, Navin Chaddha, Srinivas Akkaraju and Ravi Mhatre.
Shriram was a founding board member, director and investor with world leader Google. A former executive with Netscape and Amazon, he founded his own company Sherpalo, in California in 2000.
Forbes expects to see many more from India, China, Korea and East Europe emerging on future lists.
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Microsoft’s new Vista was part-developed in India
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Vista, the new Microsoft operating system, which has been making waves all over the world since its recent release was also the cause of celebrations at Microsoft India’s development centre in Hyderabad, as its team of 300 people was instrumental in developing some of its most important features.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO congratulated the Vista team on his recent visit to India.
The team was spearheaded by Amit Chatterjee who stated that they wanted to build on the credibility that India had gained and the challenge was to take this on to show the world that Indian engineers can build world class products.
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American NRI pens biography of Dalai Lama
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Mayank Chhaya, a journalist out of Chicago, has published an authorised biography of the Dalai Lama which is to be released simultaneously in nine countries. India will release the bio in February followed by the US, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan and Russia. The book will also be published in the relevant languages of the countries in which it will be released.
Chhaya was given total access to the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiritual leader, whom he interviewed over a period of time. He also spoke to over 200 relevant people in and outside of India for the purpose.
Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has lauded the publication, stating that Chhaya has succeeded in presenting an engaging portrait of one of the world’s greatest living leaders.
This is Chhaya’s second book, the first was a biography of Sam Pitroda, India’s tech guru.
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NRI to start Bone Marrow Registry for Indians worldwide
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Tim Dutta of New Jersey was distraught when a bone marrow match was hard to find for his fiance Pia who suffered a relapse of leukemia. A match was eventually found from a British Indian in London.
This led to the Dutta’s decision to start a bone marrow registry of Indians worldwide, in an effort to speed up the chances of a match. Indians, like other minorities in the US find it difficult to find a match because of the lack of donors of similar ethnicity. Dutta plans a trial run in nine Indian cities and is backed by sponsors, including a New York-based company dedicated to the donor
programme. He hopes to register 20,000 donors in a three-week tour of nine genetic regions.
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NRIs honoured with Padma Vibhushan awards
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The Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second highest civilian award, was conferred on US-based Sudarshan Erinackal Chandy George for science and engineering on the occasion of India’s Republic Day. The Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, was conferred on US-based Indira Nooyi, the high-profile CEO of Pepsi.
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Bush wants more Indian professionals to beat US energy blues
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In a speech during a visit to a Dupont facility in Delaware, US President George W. Bush expressed a need for the free movement of skilled professionals that would help meet America’s energy needs and quoted the example of Indian minds specifically.
Bush called for an expansion of the H-1B visa which allows professionals to live and work in America. He is for expanding the currently capped numbers of H-1B visas at 65,000 to be increased to 115,000 in order to import high tech professionals of which a shortage exists in the US.
Opponents of the proposal deny any such demand and state that more foreign workers will displace American workers and drive down wages.
Bush also called on the booming Indian and Chinese economies to back up free trade whilst their economies grow, as it provides markets for American products and growth in trade.
He reiterated that the US dependence on oil imports is another reason imported foreign talent can help devise ways to move to other energy sources.
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University for NRIs set to open in 2 months |
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi has announced that a university for people of Indian origin will open within two months. The institution is to be set up in a special economic zone and will be given status within the framework of Indian laws. Fees are promised to be kept affordable, and the quality of education impeccable.
The minister did not reveal the location of the university and confirmed that it will also allow students within India to attend. He confirmed that a number of overseas Indians have expressed an interest in investing in educational institutions in India, particularly medical colleges.
Ravi indicated that there are plans to increase the number of scholarships for diaspora students.
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