Naveen Jindal

Naveen Jindal
Naveen Jindal at the World Economic Forum
MP
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
Preceded by	Kailasho Devi
Constituency	Kurukshetra
Personal details
Born	(1970-03-09) 9 March 1970 Hisar, Haryana, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Shallu
Children	1 son and 1 daughter
Residence	Delhi and Kurukshetra
Alma mater	Delhi Public School, Mathura Road University of Delhi University of Texas at Dallas
Profession	Industrialist Politician Philanthropist[1] Sportsman
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Naveen Jindal
As of June 15, 2007 Source:

Naveen Jindal (born 9 March 1970) is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament^[2] (MP) from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency in the northern Indian state of Haryana. He is the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited,^[3] which is part of the $17 billion diversified O.P. Jindal Group founded by his late industrialist father.

He instigated an initiative that led to a revision of the Flag Code of India which now grants every Indian citizen the right to fly the Flag of India (also known as the "Tiranga") publicly with dignity and honour on all days of the year.^[4] He is an active campaigner for population stabilisation, women’s empowerment, environmental conservation, health and education.^[5] As an acknowledgement of his support to his alma mater, in 2011 the University of Texas at Dallas, renamed its School of Management as the Naveen Jindal School of Management.^[6]

Along with his wife – Kuchipudi dancer 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.

He lives in Delhi with his wife and their two children.

Early life and education

Mr. Naveen Jindal was born in Hisar, Haryana, on 9 March 1970, the youngest child of the late industrialist-philanthropist-politician O.P. Jindal, former Minister of Power in the government of Haryana, India, and his wife Savitri Jindal. 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.

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 January 15, 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 January 26, 2002. The Government subsequently issued a new flag code (Flag Code of India 2002) which contained guidelines for flying the national flag. On January 23, 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. These gigantic flags are now flown at several locations across India. Following a subsequent campaign, on December 22, 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.

On February 18, 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 August 9, 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 judgment 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 instill pride in the Tiranga among citizens through the arts, seminars and workshops aimed particularly at children and the youth.

Politics

Jindal’s involvement in politics dates began in his student days. His father, the late O.P. Jindal, was a Minister in the Haryana government. 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 won, beating his nearest rival Abhay Singh Chautala by a margin of 1.6 lakh votes. He was re-elected in the 2009 general elections. The two-time MP from Haryana is part of the “youth brigade” of the Lok Sabha. His focus as an MP has been the problems of corruption, over-population, women’s exploitation, environment, health and education. Also on his agenda is the incorporation of the best practices of business management in politics.

Jindal is leading efforts to form a Citizens’ Alliance for Reproductive Health and Rights, as a parliamentarians’ response to take collective action for improved reproductive health for the people of India. The Alliance aims to raise awareness and address reproductive health needs of the people, including the need for healthy mothers and children and planned families.^[7]

Parliamentary responsibilities & initiatives

• Member, Standing Committee on Home Affairs
• Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Defence
• Special Invitee, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Civil Aviation
• Convener, Parliamentary Forum on Children
• Executive Member, Indian Parliamentary Group
• Additional Member, Parliamentary Forum on Population & Health
• Member, Kurukshetra Development Board
• Sports Secretary, Constitution Club of India
• Previously Convener, Sub-Committee on Modernisation of Prison Administration, Ministry of Home Affairs (2007, 2008)
• CBI file chargesheet in coal scam in Jun 11 2013 and the investigation is on the way.

Controversies

Revelations in September 2012 showed 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 1,765 crore as profits, or 60% of its revenues, while Lanco made a profit of just Rs 155 crore, just 12% of its revenues.^[8]

It is clear from a video available on YouTube that Jindal manhandled a news channel team in September 2012 after it asked some uncomfortable questions on the coal block allocation issue. Following the incident, Jindal remained unavailable for comment even as the Congress apologized on behalf of Jindal. The incident took place when a team of journalists from Zee News caught up with the owner of JSPL at a function in Le Meridien hotel. The channel claimed that its reporter sought clarifications from Jindal on the allegations levelled against his company in the coal block scam.^[9]

On 11 June 2013 MP Naveen Jindal and former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao have been accused of alleged cheating and graft by CBI in its fresh FIR in the coal scam. After registering the 12th FIR in coal block allocation scam probe, CBI sources said the agency today carried out searches at 15 locations including residence and offices of Jindal in the national capital and Rao in Hyderabad.Besides Jindal and Rao, CBI has also booked companies Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Gagan Sponge which were allotted Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum, Jharkhand in the year 2008. The CBI has accused Jindal, Rao and the companies of alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.^[10]

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 100 crore from Jindal in return for not running the story of Jindal being involved in the Coal scam.^[11] Jindal filed a case against Zee News for extorting money. Zee News has counter filed a case and the matter is sub-judice. Later it was found that Jindal did the sting operation on the Zee journalists through Tarun Tejpal and his company Tehelka. In return, Jindal paid 28 crore to Tehelka through fraudulent deals.^[12]

Business

With an annual turnover of over US $3.5 billion, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) is part of the US $17 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 six crore from previous year.^[13]

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.^[14]

Personal life

Naveen Jindal is the youngest child of Savitri and the 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 his father died on March 31, 2005, at the age of 75.

Naveen’s mother Savitri Jindal is a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from Hisar and 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, Sajjan and Rattan Jindal who are industrialists like him.

Naveen is married to Kuchipudi dancer Shallu Jindal. The couple have two children, a son and a daughter.

Honours and awards

Individual

• Jindal has been conferred with the Justice P.N. Bhagwati Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to legal education and corporate philanthropy. Instituted by the Capital Foundation, the award was presented by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, December 2011^[15]
• University of Texas at Dallas, renamed its School of Management after Naveen Jindal in 2011. It is now called the Naveen Jindal School of Management.^[16]
• Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the field of Energy and Infrastructure, 2010^[17]

International

• Gold medal in the team skeet event for India at the Singapore Open Shooting Championship, 2007
• Silver medal in the team skeet event at the 9th South Asian Federation Games, Islamabad, Pakistan, 2004
• Bronze in the team event at the Singapore Shooting Invitation, 2003
• Silver in the team event at the Singapore Shooting Invitation, 2002

National

• Gold medal in individual skeet event at the 5th Sardar Sajjan Singh Memorial Master Shooting Competition, Jaipur, 2007
• Gold medal in the team skeet shooting event at the 49th National Shooting Championship, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 2005
• Gold medal in team skeet shooting at the 48th National Shooting Championship, New Delhi, 2004
• Gold medal in the individual category (with a championship record) at the National Shooting Championship, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 2003
• Gold medal (with a new national record) in the team event at the 47th National Shooting Championship, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 2003
• Gold medal in the team skeet event (with a new Games record) at the 32nd National Games, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 2002
• Gold medal in the team skeet event (with a new national record) at the 46th National Shooting Championship, New Delhi, 2002
• Gold medal in the team skeet event at the 45th National Shooting Championship, New Delhi, 2002
• Silver medal in skeet shooting at the 33rd National Games, Guwahati, Assam, 2007
• Silver medal in the individual category (with a new national record) in the 300 meter big bore prone position at the 50th National Shooting Championship, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 2007
• Silver medal in the team event at the 50th National Shooting Championship, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 2007
• Silver medal at the 50th National Shooting Championship, New Delhi, 2006
• Silver medal in the individual category (with a new national record) in the 300 meter big bore prone position at the 48th National Shooting Championship, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 2004
• Silver medal in the team event at the 48th National Shooting Championship, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 2004
• Silver medal in the individual event (with a new Games record) at the 32nd National Games, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 2002
• Silver medal in the team skeet event at the 19th National Games, Mohali, Punjab, 2001
• Bronze medal for Haryana in the team event at the 52nd Big Bore Shooting Championship, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, 2008
• Bronze medal in the individual event at the 45th National Shooting Championship, New Delhi, 2002

References