Manohar Parrikar – Defence Minister
“Cult is not a new phenomenon for this country. You take it from Ramayana time. You will find that being led by one person was always liked by people. Decisive does not mean dictator. A decisive leader consults people and takes a decision and then does not waver. "
Being accorded with the title of one of the strongest ministers in the NDA Cabinet, Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar is presently serving as the Defence Minister of India. Also a former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar resigned in November 2014to head the Ministry of Defence. He was Chief Minister of Goa, first from 2000 to 2005, and later from March 2012 to November 2014.Parrikar had also represented the Panaji constituency in the Legislative Assembly of Goa.
Born on 13 December 1955 he did his schooling from Loyola High School, Margao. He completed his secondary education in Marathi. Parrikar joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a young age and became chief instructor in the final years of his schooling. In 1978, Manohar Parrikar completed his metallurgical engineering from IIT Bombay. He is the first IIT graduate to become the Chief Minister of any state in India. In 2001, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT Bombay.
Parrikar, while studying in IIT, travelled without ticket on Mumbai local trains with his friend, simply because they could not wake up the sleeping ticket booking clerks early in the morning. Once at Dadar, a railway TTE fined him Rs 10.40p. A furious Parrikar then travelled without ticket on the local trains for a full semester, saying injustice was done to him. But one day on realising his fault of cheating the government he bought stamps worth Rs 11.20p and then tore them up, and said "Ab hisaab baraabar" (Now everything is squared up).
The former Chief Minister of Goa is adored by the people of the state for his humbleness. In Goa, people never got surprised on seeing the Chief Minister riding scooter in the morning or sipping tea in a tea shop. He even maintained his trademark half-sleeved shirt and creased trousers on his son’s wedding while guests were dressed in lavish wedding garments. After he became the Chief Minister, he held a public swearing-in ceremony at the sprawling Campal grounds and ensured that he greeted everyone in person who came to meet him. In 2012, CNN-IBN bestowed him with the Indian of the Year in politics category. His wife Medha Parrikar died of cancer in year 2000. He has two sons
Manohar Parrikar was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi, by his own admission. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi had high regard for Parrikar's abilities and persuaded him to join the Central Government. His entry into the parliament was facilitated by choosing him as the party's candidate for elected Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh.
In recent times Parrikar kicked up a storm with his allegation that some former Prime Ministers had compromised the country’s deep assets, triggering a demand by Congress that he give evidence or tender a public apology. Manohar Parrikar is also one of those ministers who is active on social networking and connects to his people through the medium.
Shiv Nadar – Founder & Former CEO, HCL Technologies
“Both the urban child and the rural child have the spark, the ambition, the genius; the only difference is their access to information about the world."
Shiv Nadar (born 18 July 1945) is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of HCL and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. He is the brainchild behind the 37 year old, “HCL Computers Limited”.
Born in 1945 in a small village in Tamil Nadu, Shiv Nadar graduated from The American College, Madurai and went on to receive a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
After graduation, in the summer of 1976, Shiv Nadar and five of his other colleagues were discussing work woes at Delhi Cotton Mills (DCM) where they all worked at the calculator division which provided them job security as well as sufficient salaries. Yet, they weren’t satisfied with the routines, and thus they all decided to quit their jobs and start a venture on their own. Nadar was the motivator behind the big leap and this was the start of Hindustan Computers Limited.
By the 1980’s HCL was one of the largest IT companies in India and Shiv Nadar was highly accredited for being one of the pioneers and visionaries of the information technology sector. By 1991, US-based IT giant Hewlett-Packard picked up a 26 per cent stake in HCL and it posted profits of Rs 202 million within the same year. With his keen sense of business management, he worked on reinventing the company from time to time and transformed the IT hardware company into an IT enterprise for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008.
Apart from contributing greatly to the IT sector in India, he also places great emphasis on the education sector in India and is the Founder as well as Chairman of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. His daughter Roshini Nadar Malhotra is a trustee of the foundation and they have set aside 1/5th of the family’s wealth for philanthropic activities.
The foundation runs VidyaGyan and Shiv Nadar Schools, Shiv Nadar University, SSN Institute (an engineering and business school), Kiran Nadar Museum of Arts, and Siksha, a new initiative to reduce illiteracy. The foundation’s educational initiatives cater to the needs of around 7,600 students across India.
Shiv Nadar strongly believes in eradicating illiteracy amongst all the citizens of India because he sees education as a key “enabler” that will have a long-term benefit for the country. He quit a secure job to follow his passion 35 years back and has no regrets. “Discipline, hard work, thinking outside the box. Look at all options and work it out rather than get intimidated. Aim for the moon and touch the sky”, is his key motto for being a go-getter at success.
Sources:
Manohar Parrikar: Wikipedia
Manohar Parrikar: 5 things about the new Defence Minister of India
Things you should know about Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
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