Padmashri Jagan Nath Kaul dead

Padmashri Jagan Nath Kaul, who was instrumental in the setting up of SOS Children's village in India and dedicated his life working for the welfare of the orphan kids and displaced Kashmiri Pandits, died on Tuesday.

Kaul was 84 and is survived by his wife Indira and four children.

Born in Srinagar in 1924, Kaul, popularly known as Papaji, was associated with the SOS Children's village since its inception in 1964. In 1989, Kaul became the president of the SOS village, a position he held till the end.

The SOS village has reached out to many thousands of children and families through 39 villages. The organisation is dedicated to the welfare and development of orphan children and strengthening disadvantaged families.

Kaul was also associated with a lot of philanthropic work for the Kashmiri Pandits who were displaced from the valley.

The construction of a replica of 'Hari Parbat', a famous temple in Kashmir, in Faridabad was his idea.

Among the awards conferred on him are Padmashri, Raja Rammohan Roy Teacher Award and Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award.

source : http://www.hindu.com/

Veteran Indian filmmaker BR Chopra no more with us

The famous film maker, Baldev Raj Chopra a.k.a BR Chopra, is no more amongst us, after he lost his battle to illness, which was ailing him since long.

The 94 year old doyen breathed his last yesterday, 5th November at 9:15am IST at his residence in Juhu. His funeral was held yesterday at 4.30pm IST at the Juhu Crematorium.

India-forums and BollyCurry is at a loss of words to express its grief to the Chopra family. Hence, all that we can say is that may his soul rest in peace.


Source:
http://india-forums.com/bollywood/article.asp?id=6794

4 Indian-origin men on Forbes' richest Americans list

Tech guru Vinod Khosla and three other men of Indian origin are on the 2008 list of the 400 richest Americans prepared by Forbes magazine.

The list, released on Wednesday, is topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, followed by legendary investor William Buffet with fortunes of about $57 billion and $50 billion respectively.

Oracle Corp founder Lawrence Ellison, worth $27 billion, is in the third position.

While Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a venture captialist, is ranked 355 with a personal wealth of $1.4 billion, the other three Indian Americans on the list are Google investor Kavitark Ram Shriram (rank 281), Syntel founder Bharat Desai and family (321), and Amar Bose (also ranked 321) of Bose sound systems.

All four are self-made billionaires. To get on the Forbes' list, the minimum net worth needed was $1.3 billion this year.

Shriram, 51, with a personal wealth of $1.7 billion, is a Chennai-born entrepreneur who started at Netscape in 1994. Later, he created shopping site Junglee, which he sold to Amazon in 1998.

An early investor and a board member of Google, he still owns 1.3 million shares worth $600 million. Today, the Californian backs some Indian and US startups and sits on the board of Indian job site Naukri.com.

Khosla, 52, also based in California, is an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) product from India with an MBA from Stanford. He co-founded electric design automation company Daisy Systems in 1980.

Two years later he joined others to form Sun Microsystems. He served as its chief executive before turning to finance full-time in 1996. In 2004, he started Khosla Ventures, which funds "science experiments" like solar panels and clean technology.

Florida-based Desai was born in Kenya 55 years ago, but moved to India at age 11. After getting an IIT degree, he moved to the US in 1976 to work at TCS. He founded Syntel with wife Neerja Sethi, taking it public in 1997. Today, the firm outsources client's IT and BPO overseas, mostly to Asia.

Bose, now 78, started repairing radios in high school. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Techonology (MIT) and started research on hi-fi sound before starting Bose Corp in 1964.

He built his brand on groundbreaking loudspeaker design. Today, Bose iPod docks, surround-sound home entertainment speaker systems and noise-cancelling headphones dominate the market. Based in Massachusetts, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame last year.

A man of Sri Lankan origin is also on the Forbes list. Raj Rajaratnam (rank 262), with a wealth of $1.8 billion, founded hedge fund Galleon Group in 1997, making big bets on health care and technology companies. Today the firm manages $7.5 billion across six funds.

Economic woes have claimed some members of Forbes' ranking of the 400 wealthiest Americans.

Dropouts this year include former American International Group (AIG) chief executive Maurice Greenberg and former eBay chief Meg Whitman.

With an average net worth of $3.9 billion, the 400 richest Americans collectively have a net worth of $1.57 trillion, exceeding Canada's gross domestic product.

source : http://www.ndtv.com/

Bhajji banned for 5 ODIs, warned of life ban

Temperamental off-spinner Harbhajan Singh today got away with a five-match ODI ban for slapping his India teammate S Sreesanth but was warned by the Cricket Board of a life ban for any further misconduct on his part.

A day after BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati submitted a 14-page report to the Board, the BCCI's Disciplinary Committee acted swiftly to impose the ban on the beleaguered spinner who will now miss the forthcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and two matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

The 27-year-old Harbhajan, who had already been banned from the ongoing Indian Premier League and fined a whopping Rs three crore match fee for the level 4 offence, was summoned by the Disciplinary Committee, headed by president Sharad Pawar, to hear his views on the incident which happened after an IPL match in Mohali on April 25.

"The Committee accordingly decided to ban Harbhajan Singh for five one-day internationals, starting today and further observed that any further instance of misconduct will invoke a life-ban," the BCCI said in a statement after the committee's hearing.

"The Committee invoked Rule 3.2.1 of the BCCI Regulations for Players, Team officials, Managers, Umpires and Administrators. Under this provision, the maximum punishment that can be meted out to a player is a ban up to a maximum of 5 ODIs and/or 3 Test matches," Pawar told reporters.

He said a copy of the report was given to Harbhajan who was heard by the committee before taking a final decision on the quantum of punishment.


Source :
http://www.saharasamay.com/

India is floored by homecoming of The Great Khali

Preparations for his visit have been meticulous; dignitaries have cleared their diaries and doorways have been enlarged - but then this is one guest you would not want to upset.

The return of The Great Khali - a 7ft 3in (2.21m), 30st (190kg) professional wrestler - to his native India from the United States where he plies his trade, has created a level of hysteria usually reserved for Bollywood idols and cricketing heroes.

His itinerary would not disgrace a visiting head of state. Khali (named Daleep Singh Rana by his parents and renamed after Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction, for his wrestling career) was received by the President. Snapshots of the meeting show Khali's eye-popping physique towering above Pratibha Patil, one of the world's more petite leaders. The wrestler told The Times that she described him as “the pride of the nation”.

The rendezvous dovetailed neatly with the populist turn that Indian politics has taken before elections that are expected next year.


Source :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

“Video footage shocking”

Mumbai: “I am shocked, don’t ask further. What I saw on the video footage was much beyond what I expected,” Sudhir Nanavati said after viewing the slapping incident involving S. Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh in the DLF-IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians in Mohali on April 25.

He was speaking about the footage supplied by the official broadcaster that provided proof of Harbhajan roughing up Sreesanth at the conclusion of the match and compelled the IPL to throw Harbhajan out of the competition.

Harbhajan, in fact, admitted to his guilt and lost 100 per cent of his match fee.

Soon after issuing a show cause notice to Harbhajan, the BCCI appointed the senior advocate of the Gujarat High Court, Mr. Nanavati, as Commissioner to inquire into the episode.

Source :
http://www.hindu.com/