Naveen Jindal


Naveen Jindal is an Indian industrialist, and a former Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Kurukshetra, Haryana in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha. He currently serves as the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Chancellor of O. P. Jindal Global University.
He is an active campaigner for population stabilisation, women's empowerment, environmental conservation, health and education. As an acknowledgement of Jindal's support to his alma mater, the University of Texas at Dallas renamed its School of Management to in 2011.

Early life and education

Jindal was born in Hisar, Haryana, on 9 March 1970, youngest child of the late industrialist-philanthropist-politician Shri Om Prakash Jindal, former Minister of Power in the Government of Haryana, India, and his wife Smt Savitri Jindal who too was a minister in Haryana Government till 2014. Naveen studied at Campus School, CCS HAU and DPS Mathura Road before graduating in Commerce from Hans Raj College, Delhi University in 1990. He completed an MBA at 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.

Politics

Jindal's involvement in politics began in his student days. 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. 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 defeated his nearest rival Abhay Singh Chautala by a margin of 1,30,000 votes. He was re-elected in the 2009 general elections. His focus as an MP has been the problems of corruption, over-population, women's empowerment, environment, health and education. Naveen moved a private member bill in Lok Sabha for a comprehensive Food and Nutrition Security Scheme that paved the way for the Food Security Act. He lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Kurukshetra.
Parliamentary responsibilities & initiatives
Flying national flag initiative
Naveen Jindal's struggle for the Tricolour began in early 1992 when he hoisted a tricolour at his factory in Raigarh. The then Commissioner of Bilaspur objected to it on the ground that as per the Flag Code of India, a private citizen was not permitted to fly the Indian flag except on certain days. Jindal filed a petition before the High Court arguing that no law could forbid Indian citizens from flying the national flag and, furthermore, the Flag Code of India was only a set of executive instructions from the Government of India and therefore not law. While he went out to court against the objections of the government officials, he did not remove the flag from the factory and kept flying it with respect and dignity.
The High Court allowed the petition and held the Flag Code of India was not a valid restriction on the right to freedom of expression under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution. The High Court observed that, according to Article 19, the only valid limitations on this right were those that were contained in statute. In cases concerning the regulation of the flying of the national flag, such limitations could be found in the Emblems and Names Act 1950 or the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971.
The Union of India filed an appeal against this decision to the Supreme Court on the basis that whether citizens were free to fly the national flag was a policy decision, and could not be subject to court interference.
Supreme Court was pleased to grant leave and stay the operation of the impugned judgment. The flag continued to fly as Naveen's lawyer said "it would not be contempt of court since the judgement had only been stayed".
The matter then came up for hearing before the Supreme Court which observed that prima facie they see no reason why citizens cannot express patriotism by displaying the national flag. The court also observed that restrictions on flying of national flag only on certain days by private citizens seemed unsustainable.
The Supreme Court on 23 January 2004 dismissed the Civil Appeal No. 2920 of 1996 arising out of SLP No. 1888 of 1996 filed by Union of India against the judgment and order dates 22 September 1995 of Delhi High Court and held that flying the national flag was symbol of expression that came within the right to freedom of expression under Article 19 of the Constitution.
Jindal has been strongly advocating to mark 23 January as the "National Flag Day". While India observes Armed Forces Flag Day on 7 December, it does not have a National Flag day.

Controversies

Revelations in September 2012 alleged the involvement of him and his company in the alleged Coalgate scam. His company allegedly gained by making and selling power at high prices. The coal blocks allotted to Jindal Power Limited in 1998, during the BJP ruled NDA regime, were followed by 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. It was alleged that despite having the cheapest coal, Jindal sold power at higher 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 17.65 billion as profits, or 60% of its revenues, while Lanco made a profit of just Rs 1.55 billion, just 12% of its revenues.
In an exclusive interview with Headlines Today editor Rahul Kanwal, Jindal explained how JSPL's profitability was because of its efficiency.
The Supreme Court in its August 2014 judgement pulled up the Central Government's arbitrary allocation policy for coal blocks. The court order did not implicate any private company including Jindal Steel and Power Limited of any wrongdoing.
The CBI filed chargesheet in alleged coal scam on 11 June 2013 and the investigation is on the way. It also filed a chargesheet in coal block allocation in Jharkhand on 29 April 2015.
The Chhattisgarh High Court directed police to file a rape complaint against Naveen Jindal and his associate in January 2015.
However, the probe highlighted that the allegations were fake. Subsequently, an F.I.R was registered against Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka for falsely grafting false charges against Jindal.

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 1 billion from Jindal in return for not running the story of Jindal being involved in the Coal scam. Jindal filed a case against Zee News management and its editors for extorting money. Two Zee News editors Sudhir Choudhary and Samir Ahluwalia were sent to jail and later released on bail. Jindal has petitioned the court to cancel the bail of the two editors. It was said in the petition that the accused has been using Zee news and other media of Zee group to constantly target Jindal and his companies through misinformation and reports. Patiala House court on 6 June 2015 issued notices to the editors Chaudhary and Ahluwalia asking ‘why their bails should not be cancelled’ in the case.

Business

Naveen Jindal is the Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited which was a moderately performing enterprise when Naveen Jindal first took over its Raigarh and Raipur operations in 1993. Today, JSPL operates an 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 which runs the 1,000 MW O.P. Jindal Thermal Power Plant in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.
Naveen Jindal topped the executive pay charts for listed companies in India with a package of ₹ 73.42 crore for the last fiscal 2011–12, which grew by over ₹ 60 crore from previous year.
He has been ranked amongst the Asia’s 25 Hottest People in Business by the Fortune Asia magazine for turning a struggling steel company into an Asian blue-chip giant. He has also been ranked as India’s Best CEO by Business Today based on a BT-INSEAD-HBR study of top value creators for the period 1995 to 2011. JSPL has been rated the Second Highest Value Creator in the world by the Boston Consulting Group of USA.

Sports

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 in the civilian category held at Gurgaon in May 2011.

Personal life

Naveen Jindal is the youngest child of Smt Savitri Jindal and 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 and contested elections to the Lok Sabha from Haryana's Kurukshetra constituency in 1996 and won. O.P Jindal was serving as the Power Minister in the Haryana government when he died on 31 March 2005, in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.
Naveen's mother Savitri Jindal was a Minister in the Haryana Government and MLA from Hisar. She is the Chairperson Emeritus of Jindal Steel and Power Limited and JSW Steel.
Naveen is married to acclaimed Kuchipudi dancer and Chairperson of National Bal Bhawan Shallu Jindal. The couple has two children, a son and a daughter.
Naveen has eight siblings: sisters Saroj Bhartia, Nirmala Goel, Urmila Bhuwalka, Sarika Jhunjhunwala and Seema Jajodia; and brothers Prithviraj Jindal, Sajjan Jindal and Ratan Jindal who are industrialists like him. Prithviraj Jindal is the Chairman of Jindal SAW Ltd. Sajjan Jindal is the Chairman of JSW Group. Ratan Jindal is the managing Director of Jindal Stainless Limited

Honours and awards

Individual