Read the July 2005 Rose Bowl (PDF). The issue includes articles such as the final Tsunami update, a review of the 4th Interhouse Cricket Tournament and registration for the Dubai Dosco Summit.

Posted at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the days immediately after the Tsunami a few old boys enquired as to whether the DSOBS was going to get involved in providing relief to those affected. It was the end of December and many Executive Committee colleagues had already left Delhi with their families.

The few of us conferred and decided that the situation warranted our involvement however we were concious that we had no prior experience and little or no idea on where to start. What we were clear about was that our efforts would be channelised through and with the fraternity: we would appeal to the old boy to participate and donate, we would approach old boys' for assistance to guide us on what and where relief efforts were needed most, we would seek old boys' involved in relief efforts on-site so our efforts would be routed through them, we would source material and means from old boys' if we could find any involved as appropriate, and, there would be complete transparency in our efforts and that we would endeavor to continuously communicate in order to keep all informed of progress.

Our initial appeal evoked immediate response - amongst the first from Aamir Ali (214K-1939) who wrote in from Switzerland where he apparently now resides. Many offered encouragement, information and advise, a few even volunteered to travel to the affected areas and work on-site with the needy. Material, like clothes, dry food rations and utensils, began to pour in and we eventually had truck loads which were then sent to Tamil Nadu. Our enquiries lead us to identify the immediate and dire need for "Clean Drinking Water" given that the sea water had contaminated existing sources like inland water wells along the coast of Tamil Nadu. Ajay Pratap Singh (214H-1966) called to inform that he had a water treatment plant just outside Ennore which is located along the Tamil Nadu coast and he would arrange to produce, manage and supply clean Drinking Water, at cost, to the needy villages in the vicinity, if we could fund the same. Subsequently, Mani Shankar Aiyar (55T-1958), Member of Parliament and Union Minister, wrote asking for assistance in his constituency, Mayiladuturai, which is located along the coast of Tamil Nadu. Funds had started to come in - eventually 131 old boys donated generously and obviously some shared our efforts with their friends and relatives as donations were received from 29 "Friend's of The Doon School"! Our collections have topped Rs29.50 lacs!

The old boy fraternity was abuzz with the relief efforts. Allow me to recount our contributions; Truck Loads of Relief Material sent from New Delhi to Tamil Nadu - coordinated by Gurmeet Singh (883T-1982), We set a goal of 1 million liters of Clean Drinking Water - we used 105 tanker trucks and disbursed 1,074,500 liters of water, Offering a more permanent solution, 5 Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plants have been donated and installed in villages in Tamil Nadu by Gautam Khanna (897K-1982), Pentair Water Systems Ltd.,
A new water well donated by Ajay Pratap Singh (214H-1966) in Vandanemmeli Village in Kancheepuram Dist., Tamil Nadu, 500 Bicycles were sought to be distributed by Mani Shankar Aiyar given that many had lost this means of transportation - these were sourced, at cost, through Sunil Kant Munjal (180K-1973), Hero Cycles, and, A.Vellayan (87T-1968), TI Cycles. Of the 500 total, 300 bicycles were donated by Peter Mukerjea (17H-1971), Star TV India.
Sports Equipment to engage the affected children in their spare time was requested by Mani Shankar Aiyar, and, courtesy friends of The Doon School, "The Indian Women's Association of Singapore", we supplied 289 kits comprising of cricket gear, skipping ropes, badminton gear, carrom boards, etc.. The equipment was sourced from Sanjay Agarwal (143H-1972) in Meerut.

Your support and contributions have facilitated both, Relief, and, Rehabilitation.

A learning from this effort was that as we had no base to start on, our response was about 2-3 weeks later than it could have been. Lt Gen Adi Sethna (191K-1941), B G Verghese (150J-1944) and Shomie Das (165H-1951), to name a few, reminded of our committment to contribute to the betterment and upliftment of our fellow countrymen and to Indian society in particular. Shomie Das also suggested we use this learning to better prepare for future situations and maybe setup a corpus/fund which allows for a quicker response. Leading on, I had, in a previous communication, mentioned the DSOBS Executive Committee intent to do so using residual amounts from this effort as an opening balance and that we had created an account head in the DSOBS books titled, "Navodaya - a new dawn". I am therefore taking the liberty of transferring the residual amount of Rs 256,117.00 as the opening credit balance for "Navodaya".

The Tsunami effort has had an extensive collective participation. However, there a few old boys whom I would like to take this opportunity to particularly applaud and appreciate and ask you to join me in doing so. They include, Alok Bhargava (196J-1974) our Chennai Representative, and Angad Vohra (293J-1968) who is based in Pondicherry and both of whom have been our on-site guardians, Ajay Pratap Singh who personally supervised the disbursement of more than 1 million liters of clean drinking water, Nalin Khanna (563H-1980) who helped with the sports equipment, and, fellow Executive Committee member, Gurmeet Singh. Finally, please permit me the liberty to use these columns to personally, appreciate, applaud and thank, Ranjan Bhalla (386J-1972), who has, "given and not counted the cost, toiled and did not seek any rest, laboured and never sought any reward".

And finally, on behalf of your President, Anoop Bishnoi, our colleagues on the Executive Committee, and myself, thank you. Every dosco, past, present and future, can be rightly proud of this effort.

Best Regards,

Gautam Chadha
Vice President
Doon School Old Boys' Society,
New Delhi, India

Posted at 12:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gautam Chadha shares with us a summary of the highly successful DSOBS Tsunami Relief Efforts. The relief efforts really highlighted what it means to be a dosco.

All Old Boys' of The Doon School

Gentlemen

In the days immediately after the Tsunami a few old boys enquired as to whether the DSOBS was going to get involved in providing relief to those affected. It was the end of December and many Executive Committee colleagues had already left Delhi with their families. The few of us conferred and decided that the situation warranted our involvement however we were concious that we had no prior experience and little or no idea on where to start. What we were clear about was that our efforts would be channelised through and with the fraternity:



we would appeal to the old boy to participate and donate,



we would approach old boys' for assistance to guide us on what and where relief efforts were needed most,



we would seek old boys' involved in relief efforts on-site so our efforts would be routed through them,

we would source material and means from old boys' if we could find any involved as appropriate, and,

there would be complete transparency in our efforts and that we would endeavor to continuously communicate in order to keep all informed of progress.

Our initial appeal evoked immediate response - amongst the first from Aamir Ali (214K-1939) who wrote in from Switzerland where he apparently now resides. Many offered encouragement, information and advise, a few even volunteered to travel to the affected areas and work on-site with the needy. Material, like clothes, dry food rations and utensils, began to pour in and we eventually had truck loads which were then sent to Tamil Nadu. Our enquiries lead us to identify the immediate and dire need for "Clean Drinking Water" given that the sea water had contaminated existing sources like inland water wells along the coast of Tamil Nadu. Ajay Pratap Singh (214H-1966) called to inform that he had a water treatment plant just outside Ennore which is located along the Tamil Nadu coast and he would arrange to produce, manage and supply clean Drinking Water, at cost, to the needy villages in the vicinity, if we could fund the same. Subsequently, Mani Shankar Aiyar (55T-1958), Member of Parliament and Union Minister, wrote asking for assistance in his constituency, Mayiladuturai, which is located along the coast of Tamil Nadu. Funds had started to come in - eventually 131 old boys donated generously and obviously some shared our efforts with their friends and relatives as donations were received from 29 "Friend's of The Doon School"! Our collections have topped Rs29.50 lacs!



The old boy fraternity was abuzz with the relief efforts. Allow me to recount our contributions;



Truck Loads of Relief Material sent from New Delhi to Tamil Nadu - coordinated by Gurmeet Singh (883T-1982),



We set a goal of 1 million liters of Clean Drinking Water - we used 105 tanker trucks and disbursed 1,074,500 liters of water,



Offering a more permanent solution, 5 Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plants have been donated and installed in villages in Tamil Nadu by Gautam Khanna (897K-1982), Pentair Water Systems Ltd.,



A new water well donated by Ajay Pratap Singh (214H-1966) in Vandanemmeli Village in Kancheepuram Dist., Tamil Nadu,



500 Bicycles were sought to be distributed by Mani Shankar Aiyar given that many had lost this means of transportation - these were sourced, at cost, through Sunil Kant Munjal (180K-1973), Hero Cycles, and, A.Vellayan (87T-1968), TI Cycles. Of the 500 total, 300 bicycles were donated by Peter Mukerjea (17H-1971), Star TV India.



Sports Equipment to engage the affected children in their spare time was requested by Mani Shankar Aiyar, and, courtesy friends of The Doon School, "The Indian Women's Association of Singapore", we supplied 289 kits comprising of cricket gear, skipping ropes, badminton gear, carrom boards, etc.. The equipment was sourced from Sanjay Agarwal (143H-1972) in Meerut.

Your support and contributions have facilitated both, Relief, and, Rehabilitation.



A learning from this effort was that as we had no base to start on, our response was about 2-3 weeks later than it could have been. Lt Gen Adi Sethna (191K-1941), B G Verghese (150J-1944) and Shomie Das (165H-1951), to name a few, reminded of our committment to contribute to the betterment and upliftment of our fellow countrymen and to Indian society in particular. Shomie Das also suggested we use this learning to better prepare for future situations and maybe setup a corpus/fund which allows for a quicker response. Leading on, I had, in a previous communication, mentioned the DSOBS Executive Committee intent to do so using residual amounts from this effort as an opening balance and that we had created an account head in the DSOBS books titled, "Navodaya - a new dawn". I am therefore taking the liberty of transferring the residual amount of Rs 256,117.00 as the opening credit balance for "Navodaya".



The Tsunami effort has had an extensive collective participation. However, there a few old boys whom I would like to take this opportunity to particularly applaud and appreciate and ask you to join me in doing so. They include, Alok Bhargava (196J-1974) our Chennai Representative, and Angad Vohra (293J-1968) who is based in Pondicherry and both of whom have been our on-site guardians, Ajay Pratap Singh who personally supervised the disbursement of more than 1 million liters of clean drinking water, Nalin Khanna (563H-1980) who helped with the sports equipment, and, fellow Executive Committee member, Gurmeet Singh. Finally, please permit me the liberty to use these columns to personally, appreciate, applaud and thank, Ranjan Bhalla (386J-1972), who has, "given and not counted the cost, toiled and did not seek any rest, laboured and never sought any reward".



And finally, on behalf of your President, Anoop Bishnoi, our colleagues on the Executive Committee, and myself, thank you. Every dosco, past, present and future, can be rightly proud of this effort.



Best Regards,



Gautam Chadha

Vice President

Doon School Old Boys' Society,

New Delhi, India

Posted at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Anirudh Reddy (62-KA '90) is based in Indianapolis, working for REMY International Inc. He is incharge of all their India Operations. The company manufacuture starters and Alternators for heavy/ light duty vehicles. He can be contacted at 317-842-0666 or via email at anirudh_reddy@usa.net

Posted at 3:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harpal Singh (322-H '65) is the Chairman of Fortis Healthcare which is trying to lower the costs of HIV vaccines according to the Financial Express.

The Financial Express: June 5th, 2005
Fortis is looking to grab a huge share of the medical outsourcing pie

Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) is taking the cause of HIV to a larger platform. According to reports, HIV has infected 5.13 million in India at the end of 2004, making it the second-highest in the world after South Africa's 5.3 million. ˆ¢’Ǩ‰ìRising numbers are a great concern and it has to be addressed in the right perspective,ˆ¢’Ǩ¬ù says Harpal Singh, chairman, Fortis Healthcare Limited, a Ranbaxy promoted group.

FHL has started a programme to work with companies in increasing awareness amongst workers. It also plans to train all its doctors in HIV care in 12 months. ˆ¢’Ǩ‰ìWe are continuously working to bring down the cost of the HIV vaccine,ˆ¢’Ǩ¬ù says Singh. He says that the development of a nation rests on the premise of how healthy the citizens are and their level of education. Health care services in India are emerging as the next big thing and companies like Ranbaxy, SRL Ranbaxy and FHL are going aggressive to take a share of the outsourcing market pie.

FHL at present has four operational multi-speciality hospitals with 650 beds and it plans to set up about 4,000 bed capacity by 2009. Out of that, 55% will be owned by FHL and the rest will be managed by it.

The company is also negotiating with leading hospitals in the UK to outsource their pathalogical and radiology tests. ˆ¢’Ǩ‰ìIt is a huge market and we have advantage in terms of quality and time,ˆ¢’Ǩ¬ù says Singh.

ˆ¢’Ǩ‰ìIndia is set to become a healthcare hub because of significant cost advantages. In the next two to seven years, there will be a very significant growth in what is known as medical tourism,ˆ¢’Ǩ¬ù says Singh.

An alumnus of the Doon School, Singh pursued economics from St Stephen's College, Delhi, and later did BS in Economics and a Master's in Public Affairs from the CSCH, California, USA.

Singh is a member of the Ranbaxy board and several of its board committees. He is the chairman and managing director of FHL, SRL Ranbaxy Ltd and chairman of Fortis Financial Services and Fortis Securities.

He has over 30 years experience in the corporate sector. Starting with the Tata Administrative Service, he has held senior positions in Telco and also at Shaw Wallace & Co Ltd and Hindustan Motors. He was also a senior advisor to Mahindra and Mahindra for corporate projects.

From time to time, Singh has been a member of several government committees and presently is a member of the Punjab chief minister's Advisory Committee on Industrial Growth and Development of Relevant Infrastructure. He is an active participant of several CCI initiatives in the health sector.

Singh has been involved with many educational institutions at the board level which include the Doon School, Shriram School and the Scindia School (Gwalior).

Posted at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar (55-T '57) on Saturday announced a highly ambitious project called Rural Business Hubs, which will aim to eradicate rural poverty. He is also the author of Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist.

Rediff News: June 25th, 2005
Mani Shankar Aiyar's Thai dream
Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi

Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar on Saturday announced a highly ambitious project called Rural Business Hubs, which will aim to eradicate rural poverty and create employment opportunity in rural India.

If it is implemented successfully, the project will have far reaching consequences, it is said.

Learning from China, Thailand and Japan's experience of commercialisation of the rural areas and its produces, India has developed the concept, which will eventually cover 2.5 lakh village panchayats, 6000 medium sized panchayats and 600 zilla parishads, Aiyar said, while talking to rediff.com.

"We will use the huge human resources available to us in the form of 3 million elected panchayat members, including one million women," he said.

Aiyar explained that China promoted industrialisation in rural areas as part of countrywide development. The RBH's aim is to use rural resources, involve community participation and create need in local areas for the business.

Aiyar said, "I am modifying the management concept of three Ps into Four Ps. Instead of Public Private Participation, my project envisages Public, Private and Panchayat Participation."

The RBH will employ two concepts.

Total Village Management, which will encourage a sense of full ownership among villagers and where self-reliance will be the key.

Institutions like the Confederation of Indian Industries and National Institute of Fashion Technology will help them in capacity building.

The second concept is One Tambon One Product. (In Thailand, a Tambon is a sub-district, which encourages rural development)

OTOP project helps Thais in manufacturing a collection of products using local materials based on local culture, tradition and nature.

Accordingly, Indian government is now taking up the concept of OTOP in every district. Each district will be asked to decide on a product that will be taken up as a business proposition.

Fisheries, Agro produces, forestry and orchards will be given the priority, to be followed by handlooms and handicrafts and alternative fuels.

Aiyar said that as Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh wished, the rural business hubs, should be "local resource endowments, reflect the needs of the people and relative absorptive capacity."

In all, he identified 10 pilot projects across India, and added that in due time, the projects would be spread across India in greater numbers.

Aiyar said that a council on RBH would be constituted, which would be co-chaired by Sunil Kant Munjal, Immediate Past President, Industry, and himself.

"Other members of the council would include Dr Arjun Sengupta, representatives from NABARD and the Institute of Engineers and others."

He was addressing the industry representatives at an interactive meeting, organised by the CII, in Delhi on Saturday. Aiyar also disclosed that a working committee, which will work in tandem with the high powered council would also be set up, which would be co-chaired by Wajahat Habibullah, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, and S. Sen, Deputy Director General, CII.

Aiyar also announced that taskforces have been set up on textiles, agro-business, and bio-fuel, which would be the key towards empowering and uplifting the rural economy.

Aiyar added, " The project is not social service. It's business."

Posted at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Doon School played host to a meeting of 650 women Panchayat functionaries from the village, block and district level in Uttaranchal. Separately, the final of the ONGC ITF Satellite tennis circuit Masters event was held at The Doon School. Peter Clarke of Ireland won the event

NDTV: June 26th, 2005
Women seek greater power in Panchayats

The Doon School played host to a meeting of 650 women Panchayat functionaries from the village, block and district level in Uttaranchal.

Women have always been the backbone of the hill economy, and the meet sent out the unanimous signal that while men rule the roost, women were no longer content playing second fiddle.

"People have made women a part of the election procedure but they are not allowed to come out of their houses, said Deela Naakoti, Panchayat member.

"All women who are still limited to their homes should follow elected women and come to the forefront," she added.

Miles to go

At present there are nearly 7500 elected women at various posts in the state government, representing 42 lakh women in the state.

However, the man behind the meet said the government has much to do to improve the conditions of women.

"It is our job to put pressure on the government. The government has made no Panchayati Act as yet, we have borrowed the Act from UP," said Avdesh Kaushal, RLEK.

"The very reason behind the creation of Uttaranchal is defeated in such a case, he added.

If Uttaranchal has to progress, it will be through the help of women who are free of political shackles and empowered to work for the common good.

At the end of the day, it is power that will separate the climbers from the crawlers and the doers from the dreamers.

Posted at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rohit Rana (657-OA '95) is organizing 'The Commonwealth Chess Championship' in Mumbai in August under the auspicious of the Maharashtra & All India Chess Federations. Over 50 international masters will be participating. Rohit is looking for corporate sponsorships and can be reached at 91-9820409409

Posted at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The DSOBS is bringing out a new dosco record and needs your help. Download the form and send in your
details. Also update your contact information in the Dosco Finder for online Doscos.

Dear Folks,

Its been nearly 10 years since our last Dosco Record was published ie 1996…

The Dosco Register, which is more of a quick reference Fraternity Directory with Index on Region/Class etc is published every 4 years…

The Dosco Record, however, endeavours to provide a more comprehensive and wide ranging information base…encompassing education, career and family history of each Dosco ie being more personalized and thorough then its more frequent avatar ( the Dosco Register)…

We, the DSOBS, are now bringing out the latest version…

the DOSCO RECORD 2006,

a much required and coveted high-quality publication…and are commencing collection of data through the attached DoscoRecord2006Questionnaire…this will be suitably collated/transcribed/formatted/indexed/edited… at this point, we would like to express our gratitude to Vikram Lal (198-K, Class of 1957) who has undertaken to oversee this whole process including publishing for our fraternity (his hobby is to publish the well known Eicher city maps and Goodearth guides)…

It goes without saying that the eventual product's value, in terms of depth and reach/representation of information provided, would be wholly dependent on availability and extent of data collected…the most important aspect being that each member of our fraternity be listed, the completeness of our record being paramount…

To this end, we request each Dosco/Old Boy to respond and to respond with comprehensive coverage of information requested…we are emailing/mailing this questionnaire to each member of DSOBS as well as posting it on our website…all Class and Regional Representatives should please ensure that each member receives a copy of the questionnaire and duly sends/emails us a completed response…

We are keeping October 31st as last date for receipt of responses, after which the process of collation will start…at that point of time, any member whose response has not been received would be listed as per old records, if any…

Awaiting an early, enthusiastic and eloquent response,

With warm regards,
On behalf of the Doon School Old Boys' Society

anoop singh bishnoi
president

Posted at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Doon is known to produce writers but this is probably one of the few times that the school has been featured in a piece of fiction.The two principal characters (Chekov and Zulu) in one of the stories in Salman's Rushdie's latest book, "East, West: Stories" studied at Doon.

Posted at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the Calcultta Telegraph, " We are all now well aware of Analjit Singh’Äôs persistence in concentrating only on his healthcare and insurance businesses alone.

The tycoon made it very clear recently by declaring his intention to exit his stake in Hutchison India, probably by the end of this year. This is because Hutch is likely to come out with its IPO at about that time. This will be prime time for the tycoon to sell his stake, the proceeds from which can be used in his healthcare and insurance ventures.

Meanwhile, Warburg Pincus LLC, which had invested Rs 25 crore in January this year for a 13.8 per cent stake in Singh’Äôs Max Healthcare, has now increased its stake to 23 per cent, by buying 28.75 million more shares. Apart from Warburg Pincus, foreign investors hold 7 per cent stake and the tycoon’Äôs company Max India holds 70 per cent. This has again been a boon for the tycoon, who finds his long-term funding needs for his capital-intensive plans rather well provided for. It is also helping to cement the idea in everyone’Äôs minds (especially his shareholders) of the reliability and excellence of Max Healthcare as a leading healthcare provider. The tycoon already has three secondary hospitals in the NCR region and is having thoughts of another.

Perhaps with all this, Singh can safely visualise revenues of Rs 600 crore pouring in within the next two years! Rather healthy that."

Posted at 3:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)