Naveen Jindal

Naveen Jindal

Naveen Jindal at the World Economic Forum
MP in 14th and 15th Lok Sabha
Preceded by Kailasho Devi
Succeeded by Raj Kumar Saini
Constituency Kurukshetra
Personal details
Born (1970-03-09) 9 March 1970
Hisar, Haryana, India
Political party Indian National Congress
Spouse(s) Shallu Jindal[1]
Residence Delhi and Kurukshetra
Alma mater Delhi Public School, Mathura Road
University of Delhi
University of Texas at Dallas
Profession Industrialist
politician
Philanthropist[2]
Sportsman
Religion Hinduism
Website Naveen Jindal

Naveen Jindal (born 9 March 1970) is an Indian industrialist, and a former Member of Parliament (MP) from Kurukshetra, Haryana. [3] He is the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited,[4] a part of the $17 billion diversified O.P. Jindal Group founded by his father. He represented Kurukshetra in the northern Indian state of Haryana in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha.[5]

He is an active campaigner for population stabilisation, women's empowerment, environmental conservation, health and education.[6] As an acknowledgement of Jindal's support to his alma mater, the University of Texas at Dallas renamed its School of Management the Naveen Jindal School of Management in 2011.[7] Along with his wife noted danceuse Shallu Jindal – he founded the Flag Foundation of India, which is their effort to foster among Indian youth respect for the Tiranga and the values it embodies.[8]

Early life and education

Jindal was born in[9] in Hisar, Haryana, on 9 March 1970, youngest child of the late industrialist-philanthropist-politician Shri Om Prakash Jindal,[10] former Minister of Power in the Government of Haryana, India, and his wife Smt Savitri Jindal who too was a minister in Haryana Government till 2014. Naveen studied at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi, before graduating in Commerce from Hans Raj College, Delhi University in 1990. He completed an MBA degree from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1992. He was the President of the Student Government and recipient of the Student Leader of the Year Award at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Politics

Jindal's involvement in politics began in his student days. He was the President of the Student Government and recipient of the Student Leader of the Year Award at the University of Texas at Dallas.[11] After completing his post-graduation in the US, Naveen returned to India and began managing his father's political affairs. In 2004 he stood for elections from the Kurukshetra constituency in the north Indian state of Haryana on an Indian National Congress ticket. He defeated his nearest rival Abhay Singh Chautala by a margin of 1,30,000 votes.[12] He was re-elected in the 2009 general elections. His focus as an MP has been the problems of corruption, over-population, women's empowerment, environment, health and education. Naveen moved a private member bill in Lok Sabha for a comprehensive Food and Nutrition Security Scheme that paved the way for the Food Security Act. He lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Kurukshetra.

Parliamentary responsibilities & initiatives

National flag initiative

As President of the Student Government at the University of Texas at Dallas, Jindal displayed the Indian flag whenever possible, inspired by the American tradition that sees a show of the US flag as a mark of patriotism. He continued to do so when he returned to India, flying the flag at his factory premises in Raigarh in present-day Chhattisgarh. However, the Commissioner of Bilaspur objected to this practice, citing the Flag Code of India which at the time permitted private citizens to fly the Indian Tricolour only on Independence Day and Republic Day. Jindal filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in February 1995 contesting the restraints being placed on him by officials, and later disputed the government position in the Supreme Court too. On 15 January 2002, the Union Cabinet accepted the report of the Dr P.D. Shenoy Committee that it had constituted to look into the matter, and announced that citizens will be free to fly the national flag on all days of the year from 26 January 2002 . The Government subsequently issued a new flag code (Flag Code of India 2002) which contained guidelines for flying the national flag. On 23 January 2004, the Supreme Court of India ruled in Jindal's favour.

The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill was introduced in Parliament in 2005. It was passed unanimously, granting citizens the right to display the national flag on clothes and caps in a duly prescribed manner.

The concept of "monumental flags" has been introduced in India by Naveen Jindal. These gigantic flags are now flown at several locations across India. Following a subsequent campaign, on 22 December 2009, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs permitted monumental flags to be flown at night with appropriate illumination, contrary to the requirement at the time that all flags should be lowered after dusk. The 207 ft high Flag of India at Central Park, Connaught Place was gifted to people of India by Naveen Jindal.[13] Naveen's Flag Foundation of India also installed and gifted a 207 ft Monumental Afghanistan Flag to the people of Afghanistan following a request by the Indian Embassy in Kabul.[14]

On 18 February 2010, the Rules Committee of the Lok Sabha accepted his proposal to allow MPs to display the national flag as a lapel pin while seated in the House.

On 9 August 2010, the High Court in Bilaspur, observed that not lowering the flag at night is not a violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. The judgement opened the door for the common person to fly the Tiranga at night.

Jindal established the Flag Foundation of India with his wife Shallu to instil pride in the Tiranga among citizens through arts, seminars and workshops aimed particularly at children and the youth.

Controversies

Revelations in September 2012 alleged the involvement of him and his company in the Coalgate scam. His company gained by making and selling power at high prices. The coal blocks allotted to Jindal Power Limited (JPL) in 1998, during the NDA regime, were followed by a slew of allocations under the UPA, which have culminated in making the Jindal Group the largest beneficiary of coal block allocations. It has reserves of 2,580 million metric tonnes of coal, while the second largest beneficiary in the private sector has just 1,500 million metric tonnes. But despite having the cheapest coal, Jindal sold power at the highest prices – Rs 3.85 per unit in 2011–2012, compared to Lanco's Rs 3.67 and NTPC's Rs 2.20. The previous year, JPL had sold power at an even higher rate of Rs 4.30 per unit. The combination of cheap coal and high power prices explains why Jindal posted Rs 17.65 billion as profits, or 60% of its revenues, while Lanco made a profit of just Rs 1.55 billion, just 12% of its revenues. In an exclusive interview with Headlines Today editor Rahul Kanwal, Jindal explained how JSPL's profitability was because of its efficiency.[15] The Supreme Court in its August 2014 judgement pulled up the Central Government's arbitrary allocation policy for coal blocks. The court order did not implicate any private company including Jindal Steel and Power Limited of any wrongdoing.

The CBI filed chargesheet in alleged coal scam on 11 June 2013 and the investigation is on the way. It also filed a chargesheet in coal block allocation in Jharkhand on 29 April 2015

The Chhattisgarh High Court directed police to file a rape complaint against Naveen Jindal and his associate in January 2015.[16] However, the probe highlighted that the allegations were fake.[17] Subsequently an F.I.R was registered against Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka for falsely grafting false charges against Jindal.[18]

Sting against Zee News

On 25 October 2012 Jindal held a press conference in which he showed video evidence where it was clear that some officials of Zee News tried to extort a sum Rs 1 billion from Jindal in return for not running the story of Jindal being involved in the Coal scam.[19] Jindal filed a case against Zee News management and its editors for extorting money. Two Zee News editors Sudhir Choudhary and Samir Ahluwalia were sent to jail and later released on bail.[20] Jindal has petitioned the court to cancel the bail of the two editors. It was said in the petition that the accused has been using Zee news and other media of Zee group to constantly target Jindal and his companies through misinformation and reports. Patiala House court on June 6, 2015 issued notices to the editors Chaudhary and Ahluwalia asking ‘why their bails should not be cancelled’ in the case.[21]

Business

Naveen Jindal is the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL). With an annual turnover of over US $3.5 billion, JSPL is part of the US$18 billion diversified O.P. Jindal Group. JSPL (earlier known as Jindal Strips Limited) was a moderately performing enterprise when Naveen Jindal first took over its Raigarh and Raipur operations in 1993. Today, JSPL operates the world's largest coal-based sponge iron manufacturing plant in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, and plants in Jharkhand and Odisha. The company has set up captive power plants using waste products from the sponge iron making process to generate power.

Naveen Jindal is the Chairman of Jindal Power Limited (a subsidiary of JSPL) which runs the 1,000 MW O.P. Jindal Thermal Power Plant in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh – India's first such 1,000 MW plant in the private sector.

Naveen Jindal topped the executive pay charts for listed companies in India with a package of Rs. 73.42 crore for the last fiscal 2011–12, which grew by over Rs. 60 crore from previous year.[22]

Sports

Naveen is a national record holder in Skeet shooting. The Indian Shooting Team, under his captaincy, won a Silver medal in the South Asian Federation Games, April 2004, in Pakistan. He has also represented the country in the Asian games held in Busan, South Korea in 2002. Besides winning numerous medals in shooting at national and international levels, he has also excelled in Polo and JSPL's Polo team has won several laurels under his captaincy. He was also a part of the Haryana shooting team that won the Gold medal at the 54th National shooting Championship competition (Big Bore) in the civilian category held at Gurgaon in May 2011.[23]

Personal life

Naveen Jindal is the youngest child of Smt Savitri Jindal and late Om Prakash Jindal. His father was born into a farming family in Haryana's Hisar district, and became the founder of the steel and power conglomerate, the O.P. Jindal Group. O.P. Jindal stood for elections to the Haryana Legislative Assembly and won thrice in 1991, 2000 and 2005. He stood for elections to the Lok Sabha from Haryana's Kurukshetra constituency in 1996 and won. He was serving as the Power Minister in the Haryana government when he died on 31 March 2005, in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.

Naveen's mother Savitri Jindal was a Minister[24] in the Haryana Government and MLA from Hisar. She is the Chairperson Emeritus of Jindal Steel and Power Limited and JSW Steel.

Naveen has eight siblings: sisters Saroj Bhartia, Nirmala Goel, Urmila Bhuwalka, Sarika Jhunjhunwala and Seema Jajodia; and brothers Prithviraj Jindal, Sajjan Jindal and Ratan Jindal who are industrialists like him.

Naveen is married to acclaimed Kuchipudi dancer and Chairperson of National Bal Bhawan[25] Shallu Jindal. The couple has two children, a son and a daughter.

Honours and awards

Individual

International

National

References

  1. ↑ ":: Shallu Jindal ::". shallujindal.in.
  2. ↑ "Naveen Jindal: Philanthropist Leader Shows the Way". Utdallas.edu.
  3. ↑ "Shri Naveen Jindal – Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha)". India.gov.in.
  4. ↑ "Mr. Naveen Jindal – Chairman". Jindalsteelpower.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011.
  5. ↑ "Forbes India Magazine - Naveen Jindal and the New Normal". forbesindia.com.
  6. ↑ "About the Chairman". www.jindalsteelpower.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "New Names for Management School, Management Honors Program Recognize Record Alumni Gifts". Utdallas.edu.
  8. ↑ "Fight to free tiranga". Flagfoundationofindia.in.
  9. ↑ "Savitri Jindal, Aftab Ahmed sworn into Haryana cabinet". hindustantimes.com.
  10. ↑ Om Prakash Jindal
  11. ↑ "Naveen Jindal". O P Jindal Global University.
  12. ↑ ndamb. "The Hindu Business Line : Naveen Jindal wins Kurukshetra for Cong". thehindubusinessline.com.
  13. ↑ "Largest Tricolour flutters on tallest flagpole in Delhi". Deccan Herald.
  14. ↑ "India will remain Afghanistan's 1st strategic partner: Sushma Swaraj - The Economic Times". indiatimes.com.
  15. ↑ "BJP's attack is hilarious, baseless: Naveen Jindal : India: Headlines Today". intoday.in.
  16. ↑ "Chhattisgarh High Court directs police to file rape complaint against Naveen Jindal, associate". dna.
  17. ↑ Focus News Bureau (20 June 2015). "FIR Registered Against Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra And His Son". Focus News.
  18. ↑ Uniindia News Service. "Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra, son Puneet booked for forgery, criminal conspiracy". UNI.
  19. ↑ "Naveen Jindal releases tape to 'prove' blackmail by Zee News". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012.
  20. ↑ "Two Zee editors arrested for 'Rs 100-crore extortion bid'". The Times of India.
  21. ↑ Focus News Bureau (5 June 2015). "Court Issues Notice To Zee News Editors Sudhir Chaudhary, Samir Ahluwalia Questioning Their Bail". Focus News.
  22. ↑ "Naveen Jindal tops executive pay chart with Rs 1 package". The Economic Times. 23 September 2012.
  23. ↑ "Biographical Sketch of Mr. Naveen Jindal" (PDF). www.jindalsteelpower.com. Archived 11 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ↑ Mansi Taneja (29 October 2013). "Savitri Jindal inducted in Haryana govt as cabinet minister". business-standard.com.
  25. ↑ "MP Navin Jindal's wife to head National Bal Bhawan". The Times of India.
  26. ↑ "Naveen Jindal gets Bhagwati Award – the pioneer". Dailypioneer.com.
  27. ↑ "Management school in U.S. named after Naveen Jindal – The Hindu". Chennai, India: Thehindu.com. 9 October 2011.
  28. ↑ "Shri Naveen Jindal – Entrepreneur of the Year – Energy & Infrastructure – Ernst and Young". Ey.com. Archived 2 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.

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