the wealthiest Woman of India becomes a Minister (of Haryana)

How well you know your State and  the administrators……………. Do you know or can you recognize the Ministers of your own State ? Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday reshuffled the portfolios of two Ministers and inducted a new minister in her Cabinet. Dr. C.Vijayabaskar, elected from the Viralimalai Assembly constituency, has been made the Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare. As per the changes, K.C. Veeramani, who earlier held the portfolios of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, has been designated as Minister for School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare.

Miles away, the Haryana government on Tuesday inducted Hisar MLA Savitri Jindal as minister for urban local bodies in the state cabinet. The legislator from Nuh in district Mewat, Aftab Ahmed was appointed as minister for transport with less than a year left for Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state. Savitri Jindal's appointment is being seen as an act to please the trading community and increase number of female ministers in the state cabinet. She had joined politics following death of her husband, industrialist-cum-politician OP Jindal in a helicopter crash. Ms Savitri  Jindal, is  mother of four sons and five daughters, including Congress MP Naveen Jindal. ~ the significance ……… read on….

A couple of days earlier, Indian Express carried out an article that  Energy tycoon and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is India's richest man with personal assets of $18.9 billion.  According to the China-based Hurun India Rich List, Mukesh Ambani retained the top position for the second year even after a wealth decrease of 2 per cent. Mukesh Ambani is followed by London-based steel baron L N Mittal with assets of USD 15.9 billion. Mittal's wealth declined 6 per cent from last year. Sun Pharmaceuticals' founder Dilip Shanghvi broke into the top three for the first time with a 66 per cent surge in his wealth.

Among others in the top 10 are: Wipro's Azim Premji (4th) with assets of USD 12 billion, HCL Technology's Shiv Nadar (5th, USD 8.6 billion), Grasim Industries' Kumar Mangalam Birla (6th, USD 8.4 billion), Godrej Group's Adi Godrej (7th, USD 8.1 billion). The other three who make the list of top 10 billionaires are Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co (USD 8 billion) ranked 8th, Shashi & Ravi Ruia (Essar Energy, USD 7.6 billion) ranked 9th and Sunil Mittal (Bharti Airtel, USD 7.3 billion). Anil Ambani of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group occupies the 11th position with a personal fortune of USD 7.1 billion.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who set up Red Chillies Entertainment, was ranked 114th and has personal assets of USD 400 million. Men dominate the rich list with only 4 per cent occupied by women. Steel baroness Savitri Jindal, the non-executive chairperson of O P Jindal Group, is the richest Indian woman with a personal fortune pegged at USD 5.1 billion, followed by Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Shobhana Bhartia ranked third, fourth and fifth richest Indian women, respectively.

The topper Savitri Jindal is steel baroness, the wealthiest woman in India and the world's 80th richest person. She is the non-executive chairperson of O.P. Jindal Group ~ and it is she who has now become a Minister in Haryana. Ms Savitri representing Hisar, has been given the portfolio of Urban Local Bodies Minister. The post was earlier held by Gopal Kanda before he resigned in June 2011, following his involvement in the Geetika suicide case. The Sixty-four-year-old Savitri has been inducted as a Cabinet minister for the second time. She was first made the power minister in 2005.

So a rich – Ms Savitri Jindal is in the news for becoming a Minister – some would be wrongly in use when somebody’s fortune soars high because of being a Minister.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st Nov. 2013