A gurukul (Sanskrit guru "teacher" or "master"; kul domain, from kula, "extended family") is a type of school in India, residential in nature, with shishyas living in proximity to the guru, often within the same house.^[1] In a gurukul, shishyas reside together as equals, irrespective of their social standing, learn from the guru and help the guru in his day-to-day life, including the carrying out of mundane chores such as washing clothes, cooking, etc. The guru-shishya tradition (parampara) is a hallowed one in Hinduism and appears in other religious groups in India, such as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

Typically, a guru does not receive fees from the shishyas studying with him. At the end of his studies, a shishya offers the guru dakshina before leaving the ashram. The gurudakshina is a traditional gesture of acknowledgment, respect and thanks, which may be monetary, but may also be a special task the teacher wants the student to accomplish. While living in a gurukul the students had to be away from his house and family. The gurus didn't take any fees and so they had to serve the guru.

History[link]

Gurukuls have existed since the Vedic age. Upanishads mention many gurukulas, including that of Yajnavalkya, Varuni. Brigu Valli, the famous discourse on Brahman, is mentioned to have taken place in Guru Varuni's gurukul. Vedic school of thought prescribes an initiation (Upanayanam) to all individuals, including women, before the age of 8 or latest by 12. From initiation until the age of 25 all individuals are prescribed to be students and to remain unmarried.

The gurukuls were supported by public donation. This was followed by the many following Vedic thoughts making gurukul one of the earliest forms of public school offices.

By the colonial era the gurukul system was declining in India except in a few regions, such as Kerala, where the warrior Nair clan and their own military gurukulas, called Kalaris, still maintained the tradition.^{[citation needed]} The Shastriji Maharaj Dharamjivan dasji Swami is the pioneer of Modern Vedic Gurukul system. He initiated first Swaminarayan Gurukul, Rajkot, Gujarat State, India in 1948. The present chief of the gurukul is the Mahant Swami Devakrishna dasji Swami; vice chief is PP Devaprasad dasji Swami.

Recent developments[link]

Recently several gurukulas have begun, driven both by a desire to uphold the traditions and monetary gain. Examples of these new schools are the Ananda Marga Gurukula.^[2] It is not a religious school in the Hindu tradition but rather a secular academic institution based on universal spiritual principles. Vivekananda College near Madurai is an NAAC accredited `A' grade autonomous college that is run under a Gurukula system.^[3]

Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul[link]

In India and elsewhere, the Swaminarayan Gurukul of the Swaminarayan Sampraday has been established. In Andhra Pradesh, an attempt to expand the Gurukul tradition was made at Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Hyderabad by Sadguru Shri Devprasaddasji Swami in 1995. Gurukul Hyderabad has now grown wide in South India in metros and other cities like Bangalore, Gulbarga, Raipur and Bidar. These gurukuls are surprisingly a complex of high standards world-class schooling, providing curricula like CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE - Cambridge through its international schools; merged with the best blend of spirituality, morals and values which is an effort towards safeguarding our traditions in the coming generations. Any parent wishing to save his child from being affected and spoiled by the rushing western culture and modern temptations are surely recommended to seek admissions at any of these centers; one can find alumni reviews from all over the world. For more information, visit Official Website of Gurukul.

ISKCON gurukulas[link]

For a number of years, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness established gurukulas for children, providing academic as well as Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual instruction in a boarding-school environment. The movement for the building and supporting of gurukulas was started by the organization's founder and leader of the Hare Krishna movement, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A number of these gurukulas, in India and other parts of the world, still exist today.

The Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and International School, founded in 1977, is a gurukul in Vrindavan, India. The school cultivates a cultural and vedic lifestyle while providing a high school degree from the ICSE board. In Mayapur (West Bengal, India) an ISKCON gurukul project, which has been in operation since the 1970s, is rejuvenating the ancient gurukul system and providing students with a system of traditional education and values.

See also[link]

Uchi-deshi

References[link]

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Ajay Piramal leads the Piramal Group, a diversified conglomerate with a presence across 100 countries.^[2] Under his leadership the Piramal Group evolved from a textile centric business to a USD 2 billion conglomerate with diversified business interests across pharmaceuticals, packaging, financial services and real estate. Ajay Piramal, an Indian Businessman is a Forbes Billionaire. In 2010, Forbes has estimated his net worth to be US $ 1.0 Billion making him India’s Top 50 richest people. A onetime horse-riding champion, he draws inspiration from the Bhagvad Gita.^[3]

In 1988, he bought Nicholas Laboratories, an Australian multinational corporation. The company is now ranked in one of top 10 pharma companies, having made a string of overseas acquisitions like the Indian subsidiaries of Roche, Boehringer Mannheim, Rhone Poulenc, ICI and Hoechst Research Centre. Piramal is also the chairman of the group`s retail operations. India`s first major shopping mall, Crossroads was developed from three redundant Piramal factory buildings in Mumbai.^[4]

Ajay Piramal led Piramal Healthcare agreed to buy a 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for Rs.3,007 crore ($618 million), taking the total stake of the cash-rich drug manufacturer in the mobile telecom firm to 11%.^[5][6]

Piramal sits on the board of Directors of Piramal Healthcare Limited, Piramal Life Sciences Limited, Piramal Glass Ltd., Allergan India Limited, Indiareit Fund Advisors Pvt Ltd., IndiaVenture Advisors Pvt Ltd. and Piramal Sunteck Realty Pvt Ltd.

He is Chairman of Pratham India, which is the largest non-governmental organization in the education sector, and reaches out to 33 million children through its “Read India” campaign.^[7]

Positions held in the past[link]

^[8]

• Member, Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Task Force on Pharmaceuticals & Knowledge-Based Industries constituted by the Government of India.
• Member, Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Council for Trade & Industry.^[9]
• Member, Board of Trade Constituted by the Ministry of Commerce.^[10]
• Member, Central Board of Directors of State Bank of India – India’s largest commercial bank and is included in the “Fortune 500” companies;^[11]
• Mr. Piramal has been attending the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) by invitation over the last one decade. He was a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Governors’ Forum on Healthcare. He has often addressed at the WEF on various topics.^[12][13]
• Member of National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which is one of the largest industry associations in India.^[14]
• Former Chairman of the Drugs and Pharmaceutical Council of CII. (2004 to 2009)^[15]
• Spokesperson of ‘Help Your Body’, a nationwide pub¬lic health campaign against chronic disease, launched by former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, in August 2008.^[16]

Awards Received[link]

• Awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award of UK Trade & Investment Council (2006)^[17]

• “India Innovator of the Year 2008” Award by CNBC TV^[18] 18^[19]

Academics[link]

^[20] Mr. Piramal holds B.Sc. (Hons.), Masters in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School, USA. He is an honours graduate in Science from Bombay University.

Interests[link]

In his spare time Mr Ajay Piramal likes to indulge in his passion for wildlife photography.^[21] He has also co-authored ‘Light has come to me’, a book about management lessons inspired from The Bhagwad Gita, published by the Times Group.^[22] He has also written a dance opera, ‘The Dance of Life’, which pre¬miered in Mumbai in 2004, with stories inspired by the history of Indian science starring Mrinalini^{[disambiguation needed ]} and Mallika Sarabhai.^[23]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website

Chanda Kochhar
Chanda Kochhar at the India Economic Summit 2011 in Mumbai, India, 12–14 November, 2011
Born	(1961-11-17) November 17, 1961 (age 50) Jodhpur, India
Occupation	CEO and MD, ICICI Bank
Children	A son and a daughter

Chanda Kochhar (born November 17, 1961) is currently the Managing Director (MD) of ICICI Bank and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). ICICI Bank is India's largest private bank and overall second largest bank in the country.^[1][2] She also heads the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.

Early life[link]

Chanda Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She then moved to Mumbai, where she joined Jai Hind College for a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating in 1982 she then pursued Cost Accountancy ICWAI, Later, she acquired the Masters Degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. She received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies as well as the J. N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy for highest marks in the same year.^[3]

Chanda Kochhar currently resides in Mumbai, and is married to Deepak Kochhar, a wind energy entrepreneur and her Business schoolmate. She has two children, a son and a daughter.^[3][4]

Career[link]

1984–1993[link]

In 1984, Chanda Kochhar joined "The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd" or ICICI Ltd.^[5] as a Management trainee after her Masters. In her early years in ICICI, she handled Project Appraisal and Monitoring and projects in various industries like Petrochemicals, Textile, Paper and Cement.^[3]

1993–2006[link]

In 1993, Kochhar was sent to ICICI bank as part of a core team to set the bank. She was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 1994 and then to Deputy General Manager in 1996. In 1996, Kochhar headed the newly formed Infrastructure Industry Group of ICICI, which aimed "to create dedicated industry expertise in the areas of Power, Telecom and Transportation". In 1998, she was promoted as the General Manager and headed ICICI's “Major Client Group”, which handled relationships with ICICI's top 200 clients. In 1999, she also handled the Strategy and E-commerce divisions of ICICI. Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI bank started the Retail business in July 2000 and emerged the largest retail financer in India, in the next five years. In April 2001, she took over as Executive Director, heading the in ICICI Bank.^[3]

2006–present[link]

In April 2006, Chanda Kochhar was appointed as Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank. She managed the Corporate and Retail banking business of ICICI Bank. From October 2006 to October 2007, she handled the International and Corporate businesses of ICICI Bank. From October 2007 to April 2009, Kochhar was also the bank's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Joint Managing Director (JMD) and the official spokesperson. She also headed the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.^[3][6] She is also a director of different ICICI group companies. She is the chairperson of ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company and ICICI Investment Management Company Limited. Kochhar is the Vice-Chairperson of ICICI Bank UK PLC and ICICI Bank Canada. She is a director in ICICI International Limited and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. and part of the Governing Council in 1964. The ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth-Member.^[7]

Kochhar is CEO and MD of ICICI Bank from May 2009 for a period of five years. She succeeds K. V. Kamath, who was CEO of the bank since 1996.^[2][8]

Recognition[link]

Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI Bank won the “Best Retail Bank in India” award in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and “Excellence in Retail Banking Award” in 2002; both awards were given by The Asian Banker. Kochhar personally was awarded "Retail Banker of the Year 2004 (Asia-Pacific region)" by the Asian Banker, "Business Woman of the Year 2005" by The Economic Times and "Rising Star Award" for Global Awards 2006 by Retail Banker International. Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune's list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" since 2005.^[3] She climbed up the list debuting with the 47th position in 2005, moving up 10 spots to 37 in 2006 and then to 33 in 2007.^[9][10] In the 2008 list, Kochhar features at the 25th spot.^[11] In 2009, she debuted at number 20 in the Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women list". She is the second Indian in the list behind the ruling Indian National Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi at number 13.^[4] In 2010, she fell to number 92 in the Forbes list, but in 2011 bounced back to 43.^[12][13]

Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune's list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" since 2005. In 2009, she debuted at number 20 in the Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women list",^[14] and climbed to the 10th spot in 2010.^[15] In 2011, she featured in Business Today's list of the "Most Powerful Women – Hall of Fame".^[16] In 2011, she also featured in the "The 50 Most Influential People in Global Finance" List of Bloomberg Markets.^[17]

Kochhar is honoured with Padma Bhushan Award, the third highest civilian honour by the Government of India for the year 2010 for her services to banking sector.^[18]

Kochhar was also awarded the "ABLF Woman of Power Award (India)" in 2011 at the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chanda Kochhar

• Official profile
• Forbes India: Chanda Kochhar's success story