Mukesh Ambani tops Forbes' India rich list

 Singapore, Nov 19 (ANI): The head of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, is once again the wealthiest person in India. His net worth is put at 32 billion dollars, an increase of 54 percent from nearly 21 billion dollars last year, according to the latest Forbes' India Rich List.

Trailing behind him are Lakshmi Mittal with a net worth of 30 billion dollars, up 46 percent from 20.5 billion dollars, and Mukesh's estranged brother, Anil, whose net worth of 17.5 billion dollars, 40 percent, higher than before, put him in the third place.

A rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6% have boosted the net worth of India's richest people, according to the Forbes' India.

The combined net worth of India's 100 richest people is 276 billion dollars, almost a quarter of the country's GDP.

Last year, there were only 27 billionaires on the India Rich List. This year, the number has almost doubled to 52 - two short of what India had at the peak of the stock market boom in 2007.

Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia and Mumbai bureau manager for Forbes magazine, said, "Happy days are definitely back again for India's richest. This year's list shows yet again that when conditions in the financial markets and the economy are right, India has the scale and resources to produce billionaires faster than most of the countries on earth."

Indrajit Gupta, Editor of Forbes India, said, "The substantial jump in net worth is clear evidence that entrepreneurial capitalism is alive and kicking in India. What's more, the growth in wealth creation has been broad-based. Entrepreneurs from a wide variety of sectors comprise the list."

Sunil Mittal has moved down from Number 4 to Number 8 and Azim Premji has moved up to Number 4 position. The Ruia brothers with a net worth of 13.6 billion dollars have made it to number 5 this year.

The richest newcomers are two brothers from Torrent Power-Sudhir and Samir Mehta, ranked 23 at 2.02 billion dollars.

The Forbes India cover story highlights how 2009 has been a turnaround year for the rich in India. The list is an indicator of how India's billionaires have done better than their counterparts in other parts of the world.

The three richest Indians are worth 79.5 billion dollars. It takes 24 Chinese billionaires to be worth 80 billion dollars.

The top 10 richest in India are:

1. Mukesh Ambani: 32 billion dollars

2. Lakshmi Mittal: 30 billion dollars

3. Anil Ambani: 17.5 billion dollars

4. Azim Premji: 14.9 billion dollars

5. Shashi and Ravi Ruia: 13.6 billion dollars

6. KP Singh: 13.5 billion dollars

7. Savitri Jindal: 12 billion dollars

8. Sunil Mittal: 8.2 billion dollars

9. Kumar Birla: 7.8 billion dollars

10. Gautam Adani: 6.4 billion dollars (ANI)

Bad bosses good for economy, says Scott Adams

NEW DELHI: For someone who built his reputation lampooning corner rooms and their occupants, Scott Adams has had a change of heart. The creator 

7 types of recession-era employees Dealing with office politics Possible cuts in salary slip What not to say at job interview!

of Dilbert, the cartoon strip that adds a comic element to 2,000 solemn newspapers across 70 countries, including ET, has discovered merit in evil bosses. Call it the effect of recession, but Adams is convinced that difficult bosses can be good, as they help spawn entrepreneurs.


“The worse bosses are, the better it is for the economy. In the old days people were born entrepreneurs, but today people are forced into entrepreneurship whether they like it or not,” he told ET in an interview.


His comments may pertain to the US and how the worst economic situation since the GreatDepression has affected that country, but California resident Adams could well be looking at India and Indians from the same entrepreneurial prism going forward.


And future Dilbert strips could see India and Indians depicted differently. Adams says that Indians have moved far ahead of the image of the smart, yet inexperienced office intern Asok, who is one of Dilbert’s colleagues.


n IITan by qualification, Asok has been bestowed with psychic powers but continues to work for someone. But this might change soon. “He’s the most confident person with the least power. Maybe, I’ll have him strike out and be an entrepreneur some day.”

Adams, 52, started his career in 1979 with Crocker National Bank (later acquired by Wells Fargo) and then at Pacific Bell where he began working on his cartoon strip.

For the past 20 years Adams’ cartoons have ridiculed corporate workplaces and the ‘Cubicle life’ and everything around it, from management fads to consultants to evil bosses. But he says the central character of Dilbert borrows a bit from his own personality.

“I certainly have shared some of his traits. I’m socially awkward and had trouble getting dates when I was his age, and a bit nerdy, so there’s a lot of me in him. But I am more of Dogbert, the side of me that has a running conversation in my head saying inappropriate things. I use Dogbert as the character who says out loud the things I’m thinking.”

But if there’s one thing that makes Adams uniquely qualified to talk about entrepreneurship is his shot at running real businesses. First there was Scott Adams Foods, which developed the Dilberito, a vegetarian burrito that was sold online and through convenience stores in the US until four years ago when Adams sold it off.

The restaurant business was next. Adams partnered with restaurater Stacey Belkins to open two Stacey’s Cafe outlets in his home town. One of them had to be closed down, and the  employees were asked to go.

Adams says he was shocked to find some of them stealing equipment, even as he was doling out severance pay cheques. “I had dipped into my pockets to give them a nice severance. So, as I was telling people and there were tears and people hugging, some of them slipped into the back and cleaned out the electronics from the storage room. They were actually robbing me.”

Could that explain his charitable view of bad bosses?

“Trouble is that in order to be a good boss you got to be kind of a jerk, you got to be selfish and be willing to hurt other people to advance your own cause. I’m not like that. People try and take advantage of me pretty easily,” says Adams, who has for years entertained millions every morning with his wit on  employer-employee relationships. Asked about the impact of the US recession on Dilbert, Adams has his own, and distinctive, take.

“There are two things going on in the US right now. If you don’t have a job, and that’s a lot of people, then things are pretty bad obviously. But those people who have kept their  jobs, what they’re finding is that the price of stuff is lower. When you order something that used to take a lot of weeks to be built and get shipped to you, you’re getting it in a month.. In a weird way, there are a lot of people who are moving into houses they couldn’t have afforded before the crash.”

From a Dilbert point of view, the US recession has done some good. “There’s a period when everything is great and it’s an employees market and they ask for more money or they’re going somewhere else. But right now we’re in a period where obviously you want to keep your employer happy because finding another job is going to be hard,” says Adams. And this new insight has a source. Adams, who is building a new ‘green’ home in Pleasanton, California, is seeing attitudes change first-hand.

“You’ve never seen such good cooperation from all the sub-contractors. Everybody shows to work because there isn’t that much work to have. It turned out to be the very best time to build a house because everybody’s so eager to work. It’s strange because usually the upside is not very obvious. I’m sure during the Great Depression there
probably wasn’t anybody who was better off.”

10 ways to cut risk of cancer

Washington, Nov 15 (ANI): Only a few everyday choices about diet, exercise and tobacco use can dramatically reduce a person's risk of cancer, according to a Special Report on Cancer Prevention.

The Special Report examines the science and latest findings on 10 approaches that can make a real difference in preventing cancer.
Here are some highlights from the list:
1. Don't smoke: Quitting smoking reduces the risk of lung and other cancers, regardless of the number of years of smoking.
2. Eat fruits and vegetables: The American Cancer Society recommends eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily because they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other substances that lower the risk of cancer.
3. Limit fat in the diet: Current guidelines recommend keeping fat intake between 20 and 30 percent of total daily calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, such as fish, nuts and vegetable oils.
4. Maintain a healthy weight: Being overweight or obese can increase the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer as well as cancers of the colon, endometrium, esophagus and kidney. There's evidence that obesity increases the risk of cancers of the prostate, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, stomach, ovary and cervix.
5. Be physically active: From 45 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day, on most days of the week, is considered optimal to reduce the risk of breast and colorectal cancers.
6. Curb alcohol consumption: Women should limit themselves to no more than one alcoholic beverage a day. Men should have no more than two.
7. Limit exposure to radiation: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which comes from the sun, sunlamps or commercial tanning beds, is the primary cause of skin cancer, the most common of all cancers.
8. Protect against infection: Infections caused by viruses are recognized as risk factors for several types of cancer.
9. Consider chemoprevention: Chemoprevention is the use of natural or synthetic compounds to reduce the risk of cancer or its recurrence. Tamoxifen, prescribed to prevent breast cancer in high-risk women, is the best known chemoprevention agent.
10. Get recommended screening exams: Pap tests, mammograms, colonoscopies and other routine screenings cannot prevent cancer. But screenings can help find cancers early, when treatment is most likely to be successful.
The study has been published in the November issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource. (ANI)

World's healthiest meal?

India, Nov. 13 - Have you tried the world's healthiest meal yet? According to Gurpareet Singh Bain, 32, a chef, nutritional therapist and TV presenter based in London, his signature meal - chicken and blueberry curry with goji berry pilau rice - is the world's healthiest. Not just that, he claims it can even fight diseases like cancer.

"This is not just the world's healthiest curry, but most importantly, it's also the world's healthiest meal," says Bain, who basis his claim on the meal's Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) count. "The meal has 25,000 ORAC units. The spices used are rich in antiviral and anti-bacterial properties," he says. Compare this count to the United States Department of Agriculture's recommended intake - 3,000 to 6,000 ORAC units per day.

The chicken-and-blueberry curry is already being talked about in the British press. Bain insists that the ingredients in his curry have been tested under laboratory conditions and shown to "disrupt the multiplication of cancer cells". Therefore, he adds, "a meal high in these ingredients can help in keeping cancer at bay."

However, no independent studies have been carried out on the curry yet to test these claims. To taste Bain's creation, you'll have to head to London. The dish is priced at £2.50 per person, or Rs 200 approximately.