Indian stars new horizons

Strong ethics enabled Indians in 2008 to win acclaim around the world. We list five achievers who will continue to script the Indian success story.

SONAL SHAH

An economist with an exceptional resume drawing on the Department of Treasury, World Bank, Goldman Sachs and, more recently, Google's Global Development Initiatives, the 40-yearold Shah was the highest-ranking person of Indian origin in the Barack Obama-Joe Biden Transition Project. Controversy erupted around the Duke University alumna after reports did the rounds about her alleged affiliation with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Under fire, she has now formally renounced her affiliation with the Hindutva outfit.

VIKRAM PANDIT

People had written off the embattled CEO of Citigroup, the New York-based financial services mega-corporation that suffered huge losses during the global financial crisis of 2008. But he's firmly in his hot seat after the Bush administration bailed out the company. What will keep the 51-year-old Columbia University alumnus going is a major bull market recovery because the bailouts have improved Citi's health.

ARAVIND ADIGA

The former Time journalist's debut novel,The White Tiger, won the 2008 Man Booker Prize. The reclusive Adiga is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, following in the footsteps of Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai (V. S. Naipaul is of Indian ancestry, but isn't India-born). His novel studies the contrast between India's rise as a global economy and the life of the lead character, Balram, who emerges from crushing rural poverty.Between the Assassinations, a short-story collection he had intended to get published first, was released in India on November 1.

LAKSHMI MITTAL

After the global financial meltdown, the 58-year-old UK-Indian steel tycoon and Chairman-CEO of ArcelorMittal suffered a $50-billion drop in the value of the shares he holds in his company. But he wasted little time in confronting the grim situation head-on. After he backed a $5 billion cost-cutting programme, industry observers applauded his endeavours to overcome the economic situation. Most recently, he was named the richest person in South Africa for the fourth consecutive year.

BOBBY JINDAL

Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal is the Republican governor of the US state of Louisiana. At 37, Jindal became the youngest man to be elected governor. He was widely speculated as a possible choice for the Republican vice-presidential nomination, especially for the support he enjoys from conservative Republicans, before Alaska's governor Sarah Palin came into the picture. Jindal, who's been mentioned as a potential candidate in the 2012 presidential election, supervised one of the largest and smoothest evacuations in US history in late August 2008 before the Louisiana landfall of Hurricane Gustav.

Courtesy: Mail Today