Five Indian-Americans in Forbes list of US' richest

September 20, 2012

New York, September 20: Five Indian-Americans, including Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and founder of IT major Syntel, Bharat Desai, have been named among the richest people in the US by Forbes, a list of 400 billionaires topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. See images


Gates, 56, whose net worth grew $7 billion from a year earlier to $66 billion in 2012, topped the list for the 19th year in a row.

He is followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Buffett (No. 2) with $46 billion, also up $7 billion from last year, and Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison (No. 3) with $41 billion, up $8 billion—and the biggest dollar gainer this year.

Desai with a net worth of $2 billion as of September 2012 has been ranked 239 in Forbes' annual list released yesterday.

Desai, 59, started Syntel in 1980 with his wife while earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Desai stepped down as chief executive of the firm in 2009 but remains chairman.

Founder and chairman of the Symphony Technology Group, Romesh Wadhwani is ranked 250 with a net worth $1.9 billion.

Google board member and shareholder Kavitark Ram Shriram occupies the 298th rank with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Manoj Bhargava, founder and CEO of the popular energy drink '5-hour energy' is ranked 311 and has a $1.5 billion net worth.

He is followed by Khosla on the 328th rank and a $1.4 billion net worth.

The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13 per cent in the past year to $1.7 trillion, Forbes magazine said in a statement.

A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and IIT Mumbai, Wadhwani, 65, developed business software firm Aspect Development which he sold in 2000 during the height of the tech bubble for $9.3 billion.

A "notable" newcomer on the list, Bhargava, 59, is a Princeton University drop out who "chose one of the roads less traveled to the American Dream".

Described as a math whiz, Bhargava lived as a monk in the mountains of India for 12 years before returning to the US to forge a successful career in plastics.

Forbes said Stanford and IIT alumnus Khosla, 57, "isn't afraid to fail”. His firm also had a stake in social enterprise software company Yammer, which was purchased by Microsoft in July for $1.2 billion.

A Google board member and large shareholder, Shriram, 55, has stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer and serendipitous website picker StumbleUpon.

He also invested in Inkling, which makes interactive textbooks for the iPad.

He serves as a trustee at Stanford University, where he and his wife endowed the Shriram Family Professorship in Science Education.


Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been pushed down in the rankings to the No. 36 spot with his estimated net worth falling by about $8 billion to $9.4 billion since Facebook went public in May.

bharat_desai

Bharat Desai | Rank: 239 | Net worth: $2 billion

Desai, 59, is the chairman and co-founder of Syntel, which he started in 1980 with his wife while earning his MBA from the University of Michigan. An IIT Mumbai alumnus, Desai stepped down as chief executive of the firm in 2009.

romesh-wadhwani

Romesh Wadhwani | Rank: 250 | Net worth: $1.9 billion

Wadhwani, 65, is the founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm that invests in software and software services companies.

kavitark-ram-shriram

Kavitark Ram Shriram | Rank: 298 | Net worth: $1.6 billion

Shriram, 55, is a Google board member and shareholder. He also has stakes in online outsourcer 24/7 Customer and website picker StumbleUpon. He was one of the first people to write a check to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998.

manoj-bhargava

Manoj Bhargava | Rank: 311 | Net worth: $1.5 billion

Bhargava, 59, is the founder and CEO of the popular energy drink brand '5-hour energy'. He is a Princeton University drop out who "chose one of the roads less travelled to the American Dream".

vinod-khosla

Vinod Khosla | Rank: 328 | Net Worth: $1.4 billion

Khosla, 57, is a partner at Khosla Ventures. The Stanford and IIT alumnus "isn't afraid to fail, and has staked a big claim in clean tech—including on some companies he refers to as science experiments".


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News Network
April 16,2020

Islamabad, Apr 16: The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan topped 6000 while the death toll due to the virus has reached 117, Dawn reported citing official data on Wednesday.

Over 1,446 people have recovered in the country from the deadly virus that has killed over 1.3 lakh people worldwide.

The total number of cases in the country has reached 6297 with Punjab being the worst affected province with 3,016 cases. Meanwhile, Sindh has 1,688 cases of the deadly virus.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported 47 new cases of the coronavirus, taking the provincial total to 912. Most of the new cases are of Tableeghi Jamaat members who have travel history.

Balochistan has reported four new cases of COVID-19, taking the provincial total to 281 according to provincial government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown with relaxation to some sectors.

Addressing the media in Islamabad on Tuesday, Khan said, "We made the hard decision of imposing lockdown in the country which was very well implemented due to cooperation of the people."

The countrywide lockdown was imposed last month in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus. Later, a two-week extension was announced in the restrictions until April 14.

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Agencies
February 26,2020

Islamabad, Feb 26: Islamabad on Tuesday declared former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif an absconder while simultaneously denying extending bail to him.

The federal cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan, cited that Sharif failed to provide required medical reports and has violated the bail terms.

The government has also decided to freeze gas and electricity tariffs for the next four months, The Dawn reported.

"After Nawaz Sharif failed to submit his medical report of any hospital in London, the medical board rejected a medical certificate sent by him and [the government] declared him an absconder. From today, Nawaz Sharif is an absconder according to the law of land and if he does not return to the country he will be declared a proclaimed offender," said Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information, in a press conference.

She further asserted that the Punjab government, which was authorized by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to decide Sharif's case on medical grounds, had written several letters asking him to submit his medical report from any hospital in London. However, he failed to do so and only sent a certificate that was not accepted by the medical board.

"If he (Nawaz Sharif) is seriously ill then why a comprehensive medical report is not being submitted to the medical board," Firdous added.

Further, she said that the office of the opposition leader was also waiting for his younger brother and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, who was also staying in London for 'no reason'.

"He is getting a monthly salary and enjoying luxurious offices and other perks and privileges but not performing his duties required by his office and the people. Shahbaz Sahib, return to the country and justify your salary and other benefits being given from taxpayers' money," Firdous added.

On October 29 last year, the IHC granted bail for eight weeks to Sharif, who was convicted and disqualified in corruption cases, on medical grounds.

Sharif left Pakistan for London along with Shahbaz on November 19, 2019, for his medical treatments there.

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News Network
July 2,2020

Naypyitaw, Jul 2: A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar has killed at least 113 people, officials say, warning the death toll is likely to rise further.

The incident took place early on Thursday in the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state after a bout of heavy rainfall, the Myanmar Fire Services Department said on Facebook.

"The jade miners were smothered by a wave of mud," the statement said. "A total of 113 bodies have been found so far," it added, raising the death toll from at least 50.

Photos posted on the Facebook page showed a search and rescue team wading through a valley apparently flooded by the mudslide.

'No one could help them'

Maung Khaing, a 38-year-old miner from the area, said he saw a towering pile of waste that looked on the verge of collapse and was about to take a picture when people began shouting "run, run!"

"Within a minute, all the people at the bottom [of the hill] just disappeared," he told Reuters news agency by phone.

"I feel empty in my heart. I still have goosebumps ... There were people stuck in the mud shouting for help, but no one could help them."

Tar Lin Maung, a local official with the information ministry, said authorities had recovered more than 100 bodies.

"Other bodies are in the mud. The numbers are going to rise," he told Reuters.

Fatal landslides are common in the poorly regulated mines of Hpakant, the victims often from impoverished communities who risk their lives hunting the translucent green gemstone.

The government of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to clean up the industry when it took power in 2016, but activists say little has changed.

Official sales of jade in Myanmar were worth $750.4m in 2016-2017, according to data published by the government as part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

But experts believe the true value of the industry, which mainly exports to China, is much larger.

Northern Myanmar's abundant natural resources - including jade, timber, gold and amber - have also helped finance both sides of a decades-long conflict between ethnic Kachin and the military.

The fight to control the mines and the revenues they bring frequently traps local civilians in the middle.

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