Global IndianstoryAmazon conservationist Shaji Thomas rows deep into forests to help tribes

Amazon conservationist Shaji Thomas rows deep into forests to help tribes

Written by: Namrata Srivastava

(April 5, 2022) The year at a training programme in Brazil was nothing short of a lifetime opportunity for Shaji Thomas. Little did the Kerala-born environmentalist know that in the dense forests of Amazon, he would find a home. In the past 32 years, Shaji has risked his life on numerous occasions, to not only save the tropical rainforests but also for the upliftment of over 60 communities living in the heart of the region. Despite the struggles, he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I intended to stay in this country only for a year when I arrived at Sao Paulo in 1989. But I could never return, and that is one decision I will always be proud of,” shares the environmentalist, who lives in Belém, Brazil, during an interview with Global Indian.

A green panther

Growing up in Ramapuram village of the Kottayam district of Kerala, Shaji was third of the six kids in the family. His father was a local politician and his mother, a housewife. Home tutored in the initial years of his life, the environmentalist was brilliant with numbers. “I even passed the Indian Sainik School entrance exam, but my mother was not in favour of sending me far away,” he shares, adding that nature intrigued him even as a child. But he equally enjoyed school. “I was a good student and participated in scouts and guides and NCC. We had agricultural land on which we grew cocoa, rubber, coffee, coconut, paddy and pepper,” says Shaji.

Shaji Thomas

However, when his father asked him to join local politics, he packed his bags and left for Mysuru University to pursue social science, politics and economics. At the same time, he received a degree in philosophy from the Institute of Vidyaniketan in Mysuru. “During college, I got an opportunity to visit Odisha, where I lived with tribal communities,” adds Shaji.

Upon his graduation, he got the opportunity to do a year of an overseas training programme in Sao Paulo by the Religious Institution Society of Divine Work. With no direct flight to Brazil from India at that time, he spent a week travelling to his destination. “No one came to pick me up and I didn’t have enough money to pay for a cab. Almost no one spoke English and I didn’t know Portuguese. Fortunately, a taxi driver took mercy on me and dropped me at the institute,” reveals the environmentalist.

Guardian of the forest

Although it was his dream, Shaji found Brazil “very strange” in the beginning. From falling sick after gulping down a cup of caipirinha, which he thought to be a juice to learning Portuguese from a Japanese teacher, he had his share of peculiar moments.

Shaji during a forestation event

But it was his institute’s involvement in social movements across Brazil that piqued his interest and understanding of the issues faced by various communities. He, too, dived into one of the largest movements in Latin America, Landless Workers’ Movement which “changed” his life. Upon completion of his training, the institute invited him to study theology, and he decided to stay.

In 1991, Shaji visited Amazon for a vacation, which took him four hours by plane and 12 hours by boat to reach. “I was visiting the Quilombola community, who are people of Afro-descent. I had heard stories about their hostility towards visitors. However, my experience was completely different. Their chief invited me over dinner and offered me the first plate of food – which is a mark of respect,” he says.

That’s when he learnt about the several issues faced by the communities. “Most of Brazil is covered by the Amazon forest and many of the communities living here are Afro-descendants. At one point, their forefathers used to own these lands, but now these people are harassed by the land, mining, drugs, and timber mafia. They grab their land, and make them work for free. They do not have clean water, electricity, education, or even access to a medical centre,” divulges the environmentalist.

In 1993, he returned to the Amazon forests to fight for the rights of indigenous people and environmental conservation. For the next six years, he lived on a boat in the Amazon river, visiting various communities and helping them in matters of land conflict.

Mafia, violence and gunshots

Though the environmentalist is happy living with his family in Brazil, the journey was not all peachy. Working with over 60 communities, fighting for their rights, while protecting the forest got Shaji in trouble with people, including the land and wood mafia. He wasn’t only threatened but also attacked by them. “A few times the timber mafia even tried to sink my boat, but I was lucky to escape,” says Shaji. Few of his friends, including famous Brazilian activist Dorothy Stang, however, weren’t as lucky as him and were shot by the forest mafia. “I worked with Dorothy in the same organisation for the protection of Amazon’s residents. Her death was a big blow, but we knew we couldn’t stop fighting,” shares the activist.

Shaji Thomas

Though he continued to fight for the locals, his status as a foreigner often worked against him. “To prove to them that I wasn’t going to go away, I took Brazilian citizenship in 2003,” says Shaji. Realising that understanding the law of the land will help him serve these communities better, Shaji decided to pursue law at the Estácio do Pará College in Belém in 2007.

Miles to go…

After three decades, Shaji continues to work with the communities. Living in Belém, with his wife Elysangela Pinheiro, a Brazilian lawyer, a 17-year-old son Santosh and four-year-old daughter, Sofia, Shaji feels there is still more to be done. “Until 2002 these people had no help from the government. While the situation was getting better after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came to power, the subsequent governments have not worked for the betterment of these communities. There are no measures in place to control the land grabbing. Several hydroelectric projects have been established in Amazon, due to which the region’s massive biodiversity — the largest in the world — is going underwater,” he explains.

Shaji with his family

Currently he is working as a researcher at the Federal University of Pará, in natural resource management and climate change. He has been conducting several forestations drives and workshops on legal awareness for the indigenous communities. In his free time, he loves to tend to his kitchen garden with his son or take long walks with his family along the Amazon.

While the couple did visit India a few years ago, Shaji isn’t in touch with his family much. “My father is no more, but my mother was very happy with my visit,” he concludes.

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Eby Thomas

December 26, 2022 9:17 am

Good job

sharad desai

July 8, 2024 8:54 pm

Wonderful story and human touch

Published on 05, Apr 2022

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Pradnya Giradkar: Inspirational life story of Cheetah lady who reintroduced cheetahs in India

(October 3, 2022) “India had 10,000 cheetahs during the time of Akbar but then, rulers over the years have been fond of hunting, and the number of the fastest animal on earth started coming down in India. The last three cubs were killed by Maharaja Surguja of MP in 1947,” says Pradnya Giradkar, the country’s first cheetah conservation specialist, who lived with 52 cheetahs in Namibia. Eight cheetahs from Namibia were brought to Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022, receiving such fanfare that they were received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself on his birthday. It was a historic day in many ways - also because it is the world's first carnivore relocation project. It’s a milestone that Pradnya, founder of the Wildlife Conservation and Rural Development Society has worked over a decade to achieve, and her phenomenal efforts, have finally paid off with the success of Project Cheetah. Having been declared extinct in 1952, the homecoming of the big cats after 70 years on the Indian soil is a matter of great achievement for her. [caption id="attachment_30098" align="aligncenter" width="905"] Cheetah Lady, Pradnya Giradkar[/caption] Pradnya has been a lecturer at zoology department and PhD student of K J Somaiya College

ttachment_30098" align="aligncenter" width="905"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Cheetah Lady, Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

Pradnya has been a lecturer at zoology department and PhD student of K J Somaiya College of Science and Commerce, Mumbai, where she taught wildlife as a special subject to students pursuing their degrees. “As a PhD scholar, I was doing my research in tiger conservation and my professors would address me as ‘tigress’ because I had such a knack for it,” says Pradnya who used to watch track the movement of the tigers from midnight to five in the morning at Tadoba National Park. “Now, with cheetahs being brought in to the country, I am being called, ‘the cheetah lady’, it feels good,” she smiles, during her interview with Global Indian.

[caption id="attachment_30179" align="aligncenter" width="842"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Cheetahs at Ootjiwarongo forest, Namibia | Photo credit: Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

Pradnya’s role in Project Cheetah

As the first Indian to be trained by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the global institution working to save the big cats, Pradnya visited Namibia in 2011.There, she worked closely with Dr Laurie Marker, the executive director of CCF, enjoying an eventful month-long stay with close to five dozen cheetahs, doing their DNA testing, cat analysis, and livestock management as part of the training. Co-incidentally, Marker has been a key advisor to the Indian government on the cheetah relocation project for the last 13 years.

[caption id="attachment_30099" align="alignnone" width="894"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Pradnya with her mentor Dr Laurie Marker[/caption]

Since the conceptualisation of the Project Cheetah in 2009, Dr Marker has been one of the leading figures working on the mission, coordinating with scientists and other specialists, and assessing the suitability of potential habitats for the cheetahs to translocate to India. MP’s Kuno National Park was identified back then.

However, there have been many roadblocks along the way. The major roadblock came when the Supreme Court issued a stay order on the project, on the grounds that the foreign species could endanger the Indian breed of wild cats in Kuno. The court also mentioned that since the African cheetahs are genetically different from the Asian cheetahs, their chances of survival in India may not be high.

[caption id="attachment_30159" align="aligncenter" width="747"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Cheetah at Ootjiwarongo forest, Namibia | Photo credit: Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

Legally speaking...

At the time, Pradnya, who was just back from her training with Dr Laurie, had first-hand information of the climatic needs of the big cats. Like Dr Marker, she knew that they can very well adjust in India but that required proving in a court of law.

Along with other wildlife scientists, Pradnya went on to gather evidence that the cheetahs can survive in the Indian climate without any difficulty. Her efforts paid off when Dr Stephen O’Brien, a renowned Russian geneticist, sent her a letter, stating that genetic differences between the Asiatic and African cheetahs, which, although “real, were ‘almost negligible”, and that African cheetahs can survive well in India if provided with a suitable prey base and habitat.

[caption id="attachment_30157" align="aligncenter" width="806"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Cheetah at Ootjiwarongo forest, Namibia | Photo credit: Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

After this expert clarification, the wildlife scientists, including Pradnya, filed a review petition at Honourable Supreme Court of India which got approved. Finally, it gave its nod to the translocation project in the year 2020, on the basis of the submission of letter of Dr O’Brien to Pradnya, okaying a pilot programme to observe the success before more cheetahs were brought to the country.

“I admire Dr Marker a lot. She is a very good lady. I am very grateful for her efforts that have paved the way for cheetahs to return to India, after we won the case in court,” Pradnya says. “Though we have not met since my return from Namibia, we have always been in touch keeping each other updated on Project Cheetah.”

[caption id="attachment_30158" align="aligncenter" width="765"] Cheetahs at Ootjiwarongo forest, Namibia | Photo credit: Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

Contrary to belief, India is natural habitat of cheetahs

The reintroduction of cheetahs to India took many years of effort, held up as they were by assumptions that the climatic conditions in the country might be unsuitable. There are doubters even now, but Pradnya is very confident about this landmark move. “India was home to them if we go back in history. Their extinction was caused by man,” Pradnya says.

For the expert wildlife conservationist, cheetahs and tigers are like friends whom she understands well. She can understand animal language as she has studied behavioural activities of animals ethology.

India is the proud country that is home to six types of big cats, While UK has just one, the US has two and Africa, three - Pradnya Giradkar

Stressing on how cheetahs have always belonged to us she says, "Cheetah is derived from the Sanskrit word Chitrakayah or Chitraka meaning the variegated or spotted one. The word gradually got converted to Cheetah"

[caption id="attachment_30116" align="aligncenter" width="1289"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Pradnya's photography at Ootjiwarongo forest, Namibia[/caption]

Tackling human-wildlife conflict

Through her NGO, Wildlife Conservation and Rural Development Society, Pradnya has been trying to address human and wildlife conflict, mitigate and prevent harm that both man and wild animals can cause to each other. Her NGO is engaged in community outreach efforts across the forest territories of India, guiding tribal communities on how to prevent and react to livestock predation. The NGO works to help rural communities gain solutions that are mutually beneficial to both wildlife and domestic animals.

[caption id="attachment_30162" align="aligncenter" width="827"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Photo credit: Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

Predators like tigers, leopards, lions live alongside human communities and cause harm to the livestock (cows, sheep, and goats) of tribals of the region. However, it is possible for tribals to hunt down the wrong animal in revenge if they don’t know how to identify the predator from the mark of their knuckles - Pradnya Giradkar

“Most of the forest territories are Naxal-prone areas, Naxalites lure the tribals to hunt animals for skin, nails, teeth etc. for money,” Pradnya explains. Her NGO also works for the socio-economic improvement of the tribals so that they do not indulge in illegal activities. They have collaborated with institutions like Khadi Gram Udyog, and National Institute of rural development to provide livelihood opportunities to ensure the tribal communities’ development as a whole and ensure sustainable animal conservation.

[caption id="attachment_30096" align="alignnone" width="1959"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Pradnya at Ootjiwarongo forest, Namibia with Hiererro community people[/caption]

“I cannot be everywhere all the time so I also develop local leaders in the forest territories, who see to mitigating man-animal conflict, and sustainable environment biodiversity conservation,” says Pradnya who also did community outreach efforts for the CCF when she was in Namibia.

Flashback of the journey…

The daughter of a nature conservationist father, Gopalrao and activist mother, Sumati, Pradnya grew up close to the wildlife territory at Giradkar Wada, Umred in Nagpur district. Always a multi-faceted learner, she went on to pursue her MSc in entomology, MPhil in bio- chemistry, and PhD on tiger conservation under University Grant Commission's FIP Fellowship programme. “Since I was dealing with wildlife and tribals, I thought it important to know laws pertaining to both so that I can stand up for them in times of need. So, I went on to do LLB in environmental and international law from Nagpur university completing it with first merit,” she says. One person who inspired her greatly over the years is Dr. S.G. Yeragi from Somaiya College. "He was my Ph. D. supervisor, a well-known personality in Mumbai University and in Maharashtra," she mentions.

[caption id="attachment_30101" align="aligncenter" width="811"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Pradnya at her farm[/caption]

The gifted singer and college chess champion of Mumbai University received the Hidden Eco-Hero award in 2017, an initiative of UNEP that honoured six other environmental leaders from across the globe along with her that year. She was also honoured by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), US for efforts taken for tiger conservation, and received fellowship from WildCRU (Wildlife Conservation Research Unit) of Oxford University, UK with funding from CCF, Namibia. She is the recipient of British Council scholarship for Edinburg University's, environment project at Scotland.

The accomplished wildlife conservationist is also an agriculturalist who enjoys time outdoors in her 175-year-old family property near the forest territory. There, she and her 82-year-old mother grow cotton, gram, soyabeans, and chilli. “I am confident that the Government of India will keep the cheetahs very well. I strongly believe that they will propagate in India more than they have in Africa,” she signs off.

[caption id="attachment_30164" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Conservationist | Pradnya Giradkar | Global Indian Cheetah cub | Photo credit: Pradnya Giradkar[/caption]

Pradnya's story is one of great effort and overcoming major challenges. Through sheer grit and unwavering passion for her beloved wildcats, she has re-written India's wildlife story and found herself a place in the annals of history, both in India and around the world.

Follow Pradnya Giradkar on LinkedIn

Reading Time: 7 mins

From Nigeria to UK: The journey of serial entrepreneur Roopal Pilani

(April 6, 2023) Roopal Pilani is an entrepreneur with a magic touch. From setting up a successful event management company in the ’90s to taking on the responsibility of working night shifts at her husband’s factory, which ensured higher productivity, to acquiring a chain of hotels in the UK and investing in startups which are doing well — success follows her everywhere. “Family comes first for me, everything else comes later,” smiles the entrepreneur as she takes out time to chat with Global Indian during a family holiday in Rishikesh, where she has been kayaking and doing aerial yoga. Becoming a hotel magnate It was in 2010 that she acquired her first hotel, The Makeney Hall at Derby, UK, after much due diligence. “It was refurbished to meet the highest standards in the ever-competitive industry. Our relentless efforts and the right business moves paid off,” says Roopal. The Makeney Hall is now among the top hotels in the region, which is a matter of immense pride for her entire team. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Makeney Hall Hotel (@makeneyhallhotel) The success of her first hotel propelled the entrepreneur into acquiring Malden Hall Student Accommodation

,” says Roopal. The Makeney Hall is now among the top hotels in the region, which is a matter of immense pride for her entire team.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Makeney Hall Hotel (@makeneyhallhotel)

The success of her first hotel propelled the entrepreneur into acquiring Malden Hall Student Accommodation in London in 2014, The Lace Market Hotel in Nottingham in 2015, Empire Filling Station, The Georgian Hollies Hotel Blackpool in 2020 and The Lawton and Beechfield Hotels in 2022. “My elder daughter Diya helps me with the UK businesses. I intervene only when it is required,” says Roopal, whose younger daughter Krishna is in Grade 10 at Woodstock School in Mussoorie.

Natural-born businesswoman

Born in Mumbai in October 1974, her family moved to Hyderabad, the city Roopal calls home. “I was the middle child and most pampered,” recalls Roopal, who did her schooling from St Ann’s High school. “I was thoroughly a teacher’s pet,” she says of her student days.

Roopal then went to Kasturba Gandhi College and graduated with a degree in Commerce. “I was introduced to the nuances of book keeping by my father at our Industrial goods store. This was where I began to appreciate what really went into running an establishment,” says Roopal, who belongs to a Gujarati Brahmin family. When she turned 19, Roopal decided to marry her high school sweetheart Uday, completing her degree after the wedding. “Besides studying economics, commerce and civics, I had taken up painting and arts in my free time. Back then, I was not quite decided on what sort of business I wanted to explore,” says the entrepreneur.

The launch of Jalwa

In the late 1990s, when the party scene was just picking up, she threw the biggest millennium party in Hyderabad, which was a hugely successful event. “We then set up an event management company — Jalwa in 1999. It quickly gained market share and rose to become a pioneer in brand building, store promotions, rock shows, theme nights and much more,” she says.

going Entrepreneur | Roopal Pilani | Global Indian

At Jalwa, the Pilanis were doing everything, from corporate events for Coke, Pepsi and GE to landmark parties. “Events kept happening throughout the year, non-stop. We got busier curating the events (sometimes, round-the-clock!) to make it the best. It earned us trust and respect. The experiences taught me everything that I needed to know about how to run a business successfully and take risks all along,” says the entrepreneur.

Africa calling

In 2002, the Pilanis moved to Nigeria, where Uday set up a Mosquito Coil unit in Kano. “Uday’s family has a long history with Nigeria and therefore we decided to move,” she informs. Four years later, the business was going through a tough phase. Roopal took the responsibility of managing the factory during the more challenging night shift, and even ensured higher productivity than the day shift. “We had a 24/7 operation with 150 employees enabling an end-to-end production,” says the entrepreneur, for whom those were the most challenging years of her life. It forced her to dig deep within herself to find the strength and build tenacity.

Entrepreneur | Roopal Pilani | Global Indian

In 2009, the factory having been sold, the family shifted base to Benin in Southern Nigeria, where her husband took up a job as the Managing Director of a large multinational company producing palm oil. “We were surrounded by thousands of hectares of green fields, splendid weather and a small zoo. It was paradise, and my children spent their time in nature, uninterrupted by the hassles of technology. They rode horses and caught scorpions,” she smiles.

Around that time, Roopal decided that the family must have a secure sustainable income – but this kind of financial stability was more likely to be found in a developed country. “Moreover, I had taken my break and was itching to get back to work. The UK was a good option and it was a favourable time to invest. It was a short flight from Nigeria,” says Roopal.

Business in the UK

Thereafter, the entrepreneur went on a hotel buying spree in the UK. “I moved to London with my daughters while Uday made frequent trips from Nigeria. We had an exciting progression to give hotels,” informs Roopal, who is now mentoring her elder daughter as she learns the ropes. Roopal didn’t stop there. She went on to invest in Invente Innovation Labs in India which does staff augmentation for businesses, sales and growth consultants RyzeUP Inc USA, and Wowsome XR in UK, a media company. “Tech is the future, so we invest in companies which are making cutting edge advancements in virtual and augmented reality, AI and gamification,” informs the entrepreneur, who has also invested in a long line of startups.

Giving back

Philanthropy work keeps Roopal busy too as giving back is a top priority for her. “Sponsoring initiatives linked to women empowerment, child health and literacy gives me a sense of satisfaction,” says the entrepreneur. She is a member of the Arch Klump Society, which is Rotary's highest tier of Donors. She has donated USD 250,000 given to various causes from her personal account.

Entrepreneur | Roopal Pilani | Global Indian

Now that her investments are taking care of themselves and business is good, Roopal likes to spend time with her family. “We now spend our days doing what we like. A few rallies a year, endless travelling and road trips. Family workouts are a must,” smiles Roopal, who watches Shark Tank and action movies post dinner.

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Reading Time: 6 mins

British-Indian politician Alok Sharma knighted in King’s New Year Honours List

(January 12, 2023) Indian-origin former UK minister, Alok Sharma has been knighted for his contribution towards combating climate change by King Charles III in his first New Year Honours list. Sharma has been honoured for his 'incredible public service' in the United Kingdom and abroad. As the president of the COP26 summit, he took significant steps to tackle the global problem which holds great urgency, most importantly driving a historic agreement - the Glasgow Climate Pact between 200 nations. [caption id="attachment_33745" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Alok Sharma[/caption] In his New Year Honours list, King Charles III recognised the exceptional contribution of people who helped strengthen UK’s impact around the world. As the COP26 chief Sharma handled the challenging role with élan, devoting countless hours to virtual meetings and herculean globetrotting schedules. For the pivotal role, Sharma had stepped down from the cabinet post of secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy in former UK PM Boris Johnson’s cabinet. [embed]https://twitter.com/AlokSharma_RDG/status/1609093190270783488?s=20&t=j5g1wP0kQyDszvOj0Yn79w[/embed] Winning hearts Sharma garnered praise for his balanced leadership and developed a reputation as being a calm and effective leader during his one-year tenure. His affable demeanour has been well recognised since his early days in Britain’s politics. People sometimes describe

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Winning hearts

Sharma garnered praise for his balanced leadership and developed a reputation as being a calm and effective leader during his one-year tenure. His affable demeanour has been well recognised since his early days in Britain’s politics.

People sometimes describe me as 'No Drama Sharma'.

This statement of Alok Sharma became very popular with the media and the people at large.

After nearly three years as president-designate and a year of full-time presidentship, Sharma takes climate change and its solution seriously, often calling himself a ‘green growth climate warrior’ much to the delight of his family. Talking to Financial Times, the 55-year-old had remarked at the beginning of his term last year, its “the only time my children have been vaguely excited about my job.”

[caption id="attachment_33746" align="aligncenter" width="749"] Indians in UK | Alok Sharma | Global Indian Alok Sharma during his Presidentship at COP26[/caption]

Though Sharma’s tenure got concluded, managing climate change is a governing factor in his future career moves. “This is something I cannot let go off. I am fully invested,” he had told Financial Times.

Sharma in UK’s politics

A chartered accountant by qualification, who is also armed with a BSc degree in Applied Physics with Electronics, Sharma started his political career in 2006. He was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Reading West in 2010. Having grown up in Reading, a town west of London, the politician calls himself ‘a Reading man.’ He managed support in his home town to get re-elected for the constituency in the 2015 general elections.

[embed]https://twitter.com/AlokSharma_RDG/status/1588591039627296768?s=20&t=65ICuaO-m1s2RLNmwzjPQg[/embed]

With a background in STEM, Sharma’s first role in UK’s political landscape was to serve as a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee between 2010 – 2011. Later, serving as the parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Mark Hoban, the then financial secretary to the treasury for a year, he honed his skills as a politician.

Sharma was selected for a tenure as Conservative Party vice-chairman from 2012-2015. The Indian descent politician also served as the co-chairman of Conservative Friends of India in 2014.

Causes close to heart

His campaign for longer prison sentences for those convicted of death due to reckless driving and to reduce the number of first-class carriages on trains running between Reading and London to increase standard class capacity, brought him closer to the masses.

[caption id="attachment_31655" align="aligncenter" width="676"] Alok Sharma | Indians in UK | Global Indian Sharma with school kids[/caption]

Following the death of two cyclists, Sharma had initiated a parliamentary debate on reckless driving and backed it with a petition, which had managed to gain more than 55,000 signatures. He has been committed to needs of kids in the sphere of education from the beginning of his political career.

The soft-hearted politician was tearful in parliament in 2016, when as housing minister, he described the heart-wrenching experience of meeting the survivors of a devastating fire in London that had killed more than 70 people.

Vital roles

An assignment that brought the politician close to his native country was his appointment as the prime minister David Cameroon’s infrastructure envoy to India. During his tenure he had remarked, “The India story is very compelling to British investors who are all chasing yield.”

[caption id="attachment_31657" align="aligncenter" width="889"] Alok Sharma | Indians in UK | Global Indian Alok Sharma with PM Modi during his India visit as COP26 President[/caption]

Thereafter, Sharma held some vital roles in the government, serving as minister of state for housing from 2017 to 2018 and as parliamentary under-secretary of state for employment from 2018 to 2019.

In 2019, former UK PM Boris Johnson appointed him as the Secretary of State for International Development. During the 2020 cabinet reshuffle, he was promoted to the post of secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, an office in which he served until 2021 before he was appointed to lead COP26. During his COP tenure, Sharma retained his status as the member of the cabinet.

Inspiration of working for climate from family

The awakening towards managing climate change for a better future had been instilled in him at home, long before he was chosen as president-designate of COP. He considers his wife, two daughters and former US vice president Al Gore as the chief contributors to shaping his thought on global warming and climate policy.

[caption id="attachment_31658" align="aligncenter" width="703"] Alok Sharma | Indians in UK | Global Indian Alok Sharma with his wife[/caption]

Talking about mitigating effects of climate change he said in a video interview smilingly:

When I was selected as president-designate for COP26, I got a text from my daughter with the BBC link of the announcement and accompanying that was the three-word message, ‘get it done’. I feel the pressure to make sure to collectively get it done.

Stints in Germany and Sweden during his early career in banking and finance also introduced him to adopt lesser harmful ways to live on this planet. At that time, UK was not as mindful as the other two countries, when it came to simple things like segregating garbage, making his Swedish wife cringe. Eventually, she gave him lessons on how to live better. On a flight one day, he watched Al Gore’s famous documentary, ‘An inconvenient Truth’ from start to finish. The film changed the way he saw climate change.

The indelible marks

As the saying goes, behind every successful man is a woman. In Sharma’s case, it was his wife who urged him to consider a career in politics, although he had by then settled into senior roles in banking and finance. His career thrived and Sharma was associated with organisations like Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, and the Japanese firms, Nikko Securities and Enskilda Securities.

Both his daughters also cared passionately about the healthy environment and that too influenced the doting father’s outlook on things. Upon insistence of one of his vegan daughters, Sharma even gave up meat to cut his own emissions. "Fatherhood in itself had an impact on how I wanted the planet to be for the future generation," he remarked.

The India connection

Like the newly elected UK PM Rishi Sunak, Sharma took his oath in the House of Commons on the Bhagavad Gita in 2019. Born in the Taj Mahal city Agra, he had moved with his parents to Reading as a five-year-old. He grew up and studied in UK with a Hindu upbringing.

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Visit Health: How Vaibhav Singh disrupted healthcare in India

(February 13, 2023) One day in the summer of 2016, when Vaibhav Singh and his three pals walked in to the New Delhi office of marquee tech company MapmyIndia to seek guidance from its owner Rakesh Verma, for their healthcare startup, the final semester students from BITS Pilani left a lasting impression on Verma. A BITS-Pilani alumnus himself, Verma was moved by the youngsters’ zeal to bring about a change in the country’s healthcare systems. Less than 24 hours later, Vaibhav’s phone rang. The caller was Verma, who offered to fund their healthcare startup. Pleasantly surprised, the four friends got down to work. That was the birth of Visit Health — a holistic healthcare service platform that provides quality healthcare experience anytime, anywhere. [caption id="attachment_34959" align="aligncenter" width="484"] Vaibhav SIngh, co-founder, Visit Health[/caption] Holistic healthcare “The wide gap in wellness and primary health care in India is what led us to start Visit Health. Today, we stand as a full-pledged primary health care service provider and have filled that gap,” smiles Vaibhav Singh, managing director and co-founder of Visit Health, in an exclusive conversation with Global Indian. From wellness to diet plans, management, nutritionists, dermatologists, general physicians and psychologists — the

er of Visit Health, in an exclusive conversation with Global Indian.

From wellness to diet plans, management, nutritionists, dermatologists, general physicians and psychologists — the fully-integrated 360-degree healthcare platform, now has the best fleet of medical experts across the country.

“We have more than a 2000 plus specialists across 20 plus verticals. We built our own network of 36,000 plus doctors who are sitting in the OPD department of hospitals or at the private clinics,” informs Vaibhav, who was named in Forbes 30 under 30, Asia, in the field of Healthcare & Science.

Born in Patna, Vaibhav wanted to become an IAS officer. “There were quite a few people in my family who were bureaucrats. So that was the passion back then,” informs Vaibhav, who completed his schooling from DAV Public School. He was strong in academics and was a die-hard cricket fan who spent hours each day playing the game.

Transformation on campus

After completing his 12^th grade, he got into BITS Pilani from where he did his Master of Science (Hons) Chemistry and Bachelor in Pharmacy between 2021 and 2016. He describes it as the transformational period.

“BITS Pilani was very different from the traditional colleges. It had a flexible curriculum, and you choose your own timetable. It had everything for the overall personality development and there was a strong entrepreneurial environment in the campus,” says Vaibhav, pointing to the large number of startups coming from BITS.

The prestigious institution also has a strong alumni connect. “You will come across BITS alumni in almost every field, who will be ready to pull you up and give you guidance,” says Vaibhav, who also stood for students union elections in his second year and was elected general secretary.

Since all the activities in the college were student-run, it enabled him to have interactions with people both on and off the campus. “I was involved in raising sponsorships, inviting colleges from different cities, give presentations among other work. All these experiences played a big role in my career,” says the passionate billiards player, who was also the captain of the Pool team in college.

Foray into entrepreneurship

When he began his fourth year, he and his friends decided it was time to get down to some serious business. “We started selling ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions to Ministry of Defence. People would charge crores for it but we offered the solutions for a few lakhs,” says Vaibhav, who also interned for two months as a Product Manager at Biocon in Bengaluru. During this stint, he visited seven metro cities in India to study the market before the launch of a new product. He also assisted the business development team in deciding the key parameters of the product.

Finally, in 2016, Visit Health happened. “There were lots of challenges. Primary healthcare was not very well known when we were first setting up. There was only one other company doing it,” recalls Vaibhav. However, he teamed up with three close friends - Anurag Prasad, Shashvat Tripathi and Chetan Anand, who combined their expertise and launched the company.

“We initially started with mental health support. So we built a Visit app where you could come and talk to a psychologist or a counsellor in complete privacy and at convenient times,” says Vaibhav who was awarded as the “Youth of the year” in the field of healthcare services by the Bihar government in November 2016.

Disrupting the healthcare space

He says the chief responsibility at Visit Health is helping users make important decisions about their own health and well-being as well as that of their loved one’s health. “Finding the best doctors and organisations to collaborate with is our second responsibility which is tied-in with the first,” says Vaibhav, who feels that the inconvenience of travelling and the hassles of meeting up with a doctor often ends in people self-medicating. “People tend to postpone their visits to the doctors for one or the other reason until it becomes absolutely necessary.”

Their clients include 260-plus large, medium and large corporates including IBM, Axis Bank and Oracle who have deployed Visit app for giving primary healthcare benefits to their employees. “We also have more than 6000 plus SMEs who use the app. Anything you do on the platform, you get rewarded for that and redeem those rewards for multiple day to day products of your choice from our marketplace. So that creates a lot of engagement,” he points out.

What started with four people is now a 220 plus member team based out of Gurugram, Noida, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Hope during the pandemic

They saw the full potential of their company during the pandemic, when people began to take their health a lot more seriously. “During covid, we were doing more than 240 consults every day. We deployed hotline numbers for the ones who were not able to use the app,” says Vaibhav.

Along the journey, Visit Health went on to raise more investments from some of the reputed companies including Snapdeal, Murugappa group and Policy Bazar. Even the Co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone invested in the company.

When he’s not working, Vaibhav likes to travel, play pool and watch “raw and real series” like Blacklist.

Indian-origin Google CEO Sundar Pichai receives Padma Bhushan

(December 4, 2022) “India is a part of me and I carry it with me wherever I go,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said after receiving the Padma Bhushan award from the Indian envoy to the US. The Indian-origin CEO is among the 17 others who have been bestowed with India’s third-highest civilian award. "I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured in this way by the country that shaped me," added the 50-year-old while accepting the award from Taranjit Singh Sandhu. [caption id="attachment_32421" align="aligncenter" width="979"] Sundar Pichai received Padma Bhushan award[/caption] The CEO of tech giant Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc hardly needs any introduction. In the last 18 years with the Google, Sundar has contributed immensely to the trade and industry sector, thus making his mark. Interestingly, the email service provided by Google, Gmail, was launched on the very day Pichai joined the company – April 1, 2004. Unaware of this new product, he admitted his ignorance in the job interview of the organisation. Luckily for Pichai, that moment of uncertainty got viewed as one of the qualities that

Google, Gmail, was launched on the very day Pichai joined the company – April 1, 2004. Unaware of this new product, he admitted his ignorance in the job interview of the organisation. Luckily for Pichai, that moment of uncertainty got viewed as one of the qualities that Laszlo Bock, Google’s former senior VP of people operations was looking for in a candidate. Bock remembers Sundar Pichai as the candidate with "intellectual humility”. Today, Pichai’s meteoric rise from humble beginnings to a top CEO is a success story that people cherish globally.

[caption id="attachment_26171" align="aligncenter" width="991"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO[/caption]

The first non-white CEO of Google also serves on Alphabet’s Board of Directors. He has been focused on developing products and services with the vision to be of value in all big and little moments of people’s lives.

Talking at Google’s flagship I/O Developers Conference 2022, Pichai informed:

“Throughout the pandemic, Google has focused on delivering accurate information to help people stay healthy. Over the last year, people used Google Search and Maps to find where they could get a COVID vaccine nearly two billion times!”

His zeal for leadership with purpose got recognised in India in the form of Padma Bhushan award 2022. Global Indian turns its spotlight on the journey of the man who inspires millions.

The academic flight

Ironically, the CEO of American multinational technology company has not studied computer science, rather metallurgical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Coincidentally, he has also studied inside the campus of IIT Chennai. His school, Vana Vani happened to be located inside the sprawling Chennai campus.

[caption id="attachment_26157" align="aligncenter" width="984"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai In India Sundar Pichai interacting with IIT Kharagpur students in one of his India visits.[/caption]

Born in 1972, he was raised in a middle-class household by an electrical engineer father who worked at General Electric Company (GEC) and a stenographer mother. Interested in the world of engineering, he was keen to explore the field, and he did so when he enrolled in the IIT Kharagpur. The passion for material sciences and engineering later took to Stanford University for a master's degree and then to Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for an MBA. But making that first trip to the US wasn't that easy for someone who came from a humble background. His father had to spend a year’s salary to buy a plane ticket for him to go to the US for his studies. That was Sundar's first flight journey. The sincere student did not let his parents down and got recognised in his foreign academic institutions as one of the best in the batch.

Foundation of the effervescent leader

Before his association with Google, Pichai worked at Allied Materials and McKinsey & Co. Though both the organisations specialised in metallurgy, the stints groomed him well. He picked up the nuances of product strategy, execution, and team building that eventually set the foundation for his pivotal beginnings at Google. Pichai nurtured his career by aligning it to Google’s success.

“We try to work on things that billions of people will use every day”

No wonder Google is part of everyday conversations and happens to be a significant part of the vocabulary of kids and adults alike across the world!

[caption id="attachment_26172" align="aligncenter" width="817"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai With Team Sundar Pichai with Nigerian Google team during his visit to Africa[/caption]

It has established itself as the organisation that cares with breakthroughs like use of machine learning (ML) to make web images more accessible to people who have vision problems. It generates real-time captions for online videos to help those who struggle with hearing.

Rise and rise of Google under Pichai’s leadership

Sundar Pichai joined Google as its vice-president of product management. He was entrusted with the responsibility of development of Google Toolbar and Google Chrome. These went on to become the world’s most popular internet browser. Undoubtedly, with these quantum leaps, Sundar Pichai climbed the hierarchical ladder. He launched Chrome OS and Chromebook in 2011 and went on to launch Android operating system in 2013. By 2014, the super talented Indian-origin professional was leading all products and engineering divisions at Google, overseeing vital platforms like Search, Gmail, Chrome, Play, Android, Maps, and Google Workspace.

[caption id="attachment_26158" align="aligncenter" width="884"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai With Modi From Left to right : Larry Page (Google's co-founder), Sundar Pichai (Google's CEO), Narendra Modi (India's PM), Eric Schmidt (Google's former CEO), and Ram Shriram (American businessman)[/caption]

When Google reorganised into Alphabet in August 2015, Sundar Pichai got selected as its CEO. In December 2019, he became the CEO of both Google and Alphabet, replacing founder Larry Page. In 2021, under Pichai’s leadership, Alphabet crossed $2 trillion in market value due to sales and profit growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building impact with powerful breakthroughs

Bringing the world together through different platforms, and giving unique experiences to people has always been the core of what Sundar Pichai and his team thrive upon.

While talking about war drift Ukrainians at Google I/O Developers Conference 2022, he remarked:

“In countries around the world, Google Translate has been a crucial tool for newcomers and residents trying to communicate with one another. We’re proud of how it’s helping Ukrainians find a bit of hope and connection (in countries where they have taken refuge) until they are able to return home again.”

While many other technology giants embrace the metaverse as the next frontier of growth, Sundar Pichai sees Google’s future in its oldest offering - the Internet search. He foresees people asking computers more questions with voice and multimodal experiences.

From overseeing new investments like acquisition of YouTube and launching of Google Cloud, Pichai leads the organisation by advancing AI, digital technology, machine learning and quantum computing.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-juLXoFxM&list=PLjq6DwYksrzyHa9RtflCUniCMTFG4twFD

"AI can make humans more productive than we ever imagined," he remarked in the conference stressing that it can play a foundational role in every aspect of people’s lives, right from healthcare, education, manufacturing to how people consume information. Emphasizing on the significance of ML he said, “When machines would be programmed to simulate human mind, mimic human activity and solve problems, it will have a bigger impact than most of the breakthroughs in recent history."

Matters close to heart…

Keeping India close to his heart, Pichai has led Google to invest in the foundational infrastructure of the country by developing technology specific to its needs. Google Pay app is one such example. “India will be a global player in the digital economy,” he concluded in an interview.

In a statement, the California-headquartered company has mentioned that it will invest ₹109 crore to support healthcare facilities and a further ₹3.6 crore to upskill frontline workers in India. The tech giant has entered into a tie-up with NGOs like GiveIndia, ARMMAN, PATH and Apollo Medskills to fulfill these commitments.

In the last five years, Google has granted funds to the tune of $57 million to India. Out of this $18 million was part of Covid 19 response.  In April 2020, Pichai made personal contribution of ₹5 crore to GiveIndia so that the country can fight the first wave of pandemic.

Love and life

Keeping his private life pretty private, Pichai stays with his wife Anjali who happens to be his heartthrob and classmate from IIT Kharagpur, son Kiran and daughter Kavya in California. The cricket buff is a Sachin Tendulkar fan. The love for the game comes from childhood aspiration to be a cricketer. As a high school student, he was the captain of the school cricket team, displaying his leadership skills on the field.

[caption id="attachment_26161" align="aligncenter" width="849"] Google CEO Sundar Pichai Sundar Pichai trying his hands at cricket[/caption]

Pichai’s love for sports does not end at cricket. He is also an ardent fan of FC Barcelona – the football club and seldom misses to watch it’s match when its competing on field.

The top CEO recently admitted in one of the interviews of the Wall Street Journal that he is not very good at meditation. Instead, he prefers NSDR (non-sleep deep rest), listening to podcasts or taking his dog for a walk.

Do you know how Sundar Pichai connects people?

Google’s flood forecasting technology sent flood alerts to 23 million people in India and Bangladesh in 2021 helping in timely evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
Around the world, Google Maps has mapped around 1.6 billion buildings and over 60 million kilometers of roads to date with the vision to keep everyone within the reach, and make the world a well-connected chain of individuals.
The number of buildings on Google Maps in Africa has increased by 5X. Google has made a dataset of these buildings publicly available so that international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank can use it to better understand population density and to provide support and emergency assistance.
Google Translate broke down language barriers by recently adding 24 languages which together are spoken by 300 million people, bringing them closer to communities across the globe.
Google has been building augmented reality into many products like Google Lens to provide more interactive experiences and prevent technology from coming in the way of the real-world environment.
Follow Sundar Pichai on Twitter and Instagram

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