Thought for food. That is
what has earned 67-year-old Badrinarayan Ramulal Barwale, the low-profile
Chairman of the Rs 1.32-crore Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company, the World Food Prize For
1998. Bestowed for individual achievements in improving the world's supply of food, the
Iowa (US)-based World Food Prize Foundation has lauded his role in developing private
enterprise in the country's farm sector. Says a happy Barwale, who, incidentally, will
donate the prize-money of Rs 1 crore to the development of the domestic seeds industry:
"It was a real surprise and a great honour." Obviously, the former director of
the State Bank of India, who championed rural credit during his banking career, has always
known how to sow the seeds of development
Friendship has its rewards. Ask A.M.M.
Arunachalam, the 80-year-old Chairman Emeritus of the confectionery-to-bicycles
Rs 2,620-crore Murugappa Group, who was recently conferred The Order Of The Sacred
Treasure, Gold & Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan in recognition of the
octogenarian's contribution to Indo-Japanese business ties over the last 50 years.
Significantly, this is AMM's second Japanese decoration, the first being The Order Of The
Rising Sun, Gold Rays With Rosette in 1965. Says the grand old man: "I was, indeed,
happy when I learnt that this Order was being conferred on me. After all, our group's ties
with Japan date back to 1947, when we used to export iron ore and magnesite to a nation
that had been devastated by war." A friend in need
A man is known by the company he keeps.
Little wonder, then, that the keeper of the Rs 36,000-crore Tata Group, Chairman Ratan
Tata, 60, has been rightfully inducted into the international advisory board on
corporate governance set up by the headhunting firm, Egon Zehnder International. Joining
an august group---consisting of corporate conscience-keepers like Percy Barnevik,
Chairman, Investor AB, John G. Smale, Chairman, General Motors, David W. Johnson,
Chairman, Campbell Soup, John H. Byran, Chairman, Sara Lee Corp, and Jurgen E. Shrempp,
Chairman, Daimler-Benz--he will take up from where Adrian Cadbury's Committee left off.
Clearly, the Tata is still the first family of Indian business
The terminator gene has met its
terminator. Last fortnight, 46-year-old Vandana Shiva, the firebrand
eco-feminist and the Director of the Dehra Dun-based Research Foundation For Science,
Technology, & Ecology, was honoured by the Rome-based Food & Agricultural
Organisation for her contribution to defending biodiversity in this country. Naturally,
because of her relentless fight against the development of the terminator gene, which
turns seeds sterile, forcing repeat purchases by farmers every year. Says Vandana:
"That technology typifies the masculinisation of agriculture. Shuffling genes is not
creating life. You can't have patents for that." Patently provocative, did you say?
Take a look at him. What does he look like
to you? A gangly teenager? Bang on. In college? Syndenhams, actually. Commerce? Go to the
top. Err, what's he doing in BT then? Thought you'd never ask. Well, as the head of Mitter
Infotech, 19-year-old Nitish Jain is also one of the youngest CEOs in the
world. Like other creations of the Net, he manages a staff of 25--and a turnover of Rs 5
lakh a month. Apart from developing e-commerce solutions, Nitish runs 2 Websites, one for
Hindish movie buffs (channelbollywood. com) and another that anyone
(read: non-resident Indians) can use to order deliveries of gifts (indiawithlove.com).
"I have lots of free time to do all this," confesses Nitish. Ever heard of
teenybopper millionaires?
Thought for food. That is
what has earned 67-year-old Badrinarayan Ramulal Barwale, the low-profile
Chairman of the Rs 1.32-crore Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company, the World Food Prize For
1998. Bestowed for individual achievements in improving the world's supply of food, the
Iowa (US)-based World Food Prize Foundation has lauded his role in developing private
enterprise in the country's farm sector. Says a happy Barwale, who, incidentally, will
donate the prize-money of Rs 1 crore to the development of the domestic seeds industry:
"It was a real surprise and a great honour." Obviously, the former director of
the State Bank of India, who championed rural credit during his banking career, has always
known how to sow the seeds of development 
Friendship has its rewards. Ask A.M.M.
Arunachalam, the 80-year-old Chairman Emeritus of the confectionery-to-bicycles
Rs 2,620-crore Murugappa Group, who was recently conferred The Order Of The Sacred
Treasure, Gold & Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan in recognition of the
octogenarian's contribution to Indo-Japanese business ties over the last 50 years.
Significantly, this is AMM's second Japanese decoration, the first being The Order Of The
Rising Sun, Gold Rays With Rosette in 1965. Says the grand old man: "I was, indeed,
happy when I learnt that this Order was being conferred on me. After all, our group's ties
with Japan date back to 1947, when we used to export iron ore and magnesite to a nation
that had been devastated by war." A friend in need 
A man is known by the company he keeps.
Little wonder, then, that the keeper of the Rs 36,000-crore Tata Group, Chairman Ratan
Tata, 60, has been rightfully inducted into the international advisory board on
corporate governance set up by the headhunting firm, Egon Zehnder International. Joining
an august group---consisting of corporate conscience-keepers like Percy Barnevik,
Chairman, Investor AB, John G. Smale, Chairman, General Motors, David W. Johnson,
Chairman, Campbell Soup, John H. Byran, Chairman, Sara Lee Corp, and Jurgen E. Shrempp,
Chairman, Daimler-Benz--he will take up from where Adrian Cadbury's Committee left off.
Clearly, the Tata is still the first family of Indian business 
The terminator gene has met its
terminator. Last fortnight, 46-year-old Vandana Shiva, the firebrand
eco-feminist and the Director of the Dehra Dun-based Research Foundation For Science,
Technology, & Ecology, was honoured by the Rome-based Food & Agricultural
Organisation for her contribution to defending biodiversity in this country. Naturally,
because of her relentless fight against the development of the terminator gene, which
turns seeds sterile, forcing repeat purchases by farmers every year. Says Vandana:
"That technology typifies the masculinisation of agriculture. Shuffling genes is not
creating life. You can't have patents for that." Patently provocative, did you say? 
Take a look at him. What does he look like
to you? A gangly teenager? Bang on. In college? Syndenhams, actually. Commerce? Go to the
top. Err, what's he doing in BT then? Thought you'd never ask. Well, as the head of Mitter
Infotech, 19-year-old Nitish Jain is also one of the youngest CEOs in the
world. Like other creations of the Net, he manages a staff of 25--and a turnover of Rs 5
lakh a month. Apart from developing e-commerce solutions, Nitish runs 2 Websites, one for
Hindish movie buffs (