Swaraj Paul
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Swaraj Paul, Baron Paul (born 1931) is an Indian-born, British-based business magnate and philanthropist. He was knighted by the Queen in 1978. In 1996 he became a life peer, i.e. a member of the House of Lords, taking the title Baron Paul of Marylebone in the City of Westminster.
[edit] Background
Swaraj Paul was born in Jalandhar, Punjab (India) in 1931. His father ran a small foundry, making steel buckets and farming equipment. Swaraj Paul was educated at the Punjab University and later obtained a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
On his return to India, Swaraj joined the Apeejay Group, which his father had founded. It was a twist of fate that he had to visit London to get his daughter treated for leukemia. He took over the operations of Apeejay Overseas and relocated permanently to London in 1966. After the Apeejay family partition, Lord Swaraj Paul renamed the company Caparo. From acquiring one steel unit, he went on to acquire more and founded the Caparo group in 1978, which developed into one of the leading producers of welded steel tube and spiral welded pipe in the United Kingdom. He stepped down from the management of the Caparo group in 1996, handing over his empire to his three sons.
Despite being one of the richest people in the UK, Lord Paul lives a simple life.[citation needed] In his memoirs, 'Beyond Boundaries', Lord Paul reflects on the main events of his life. It contains the details of his business career, including his attempted takeover of the DCM and Escorts group, and his association with the famous and the mighty, including the Indian political dynasty of Indira Gandhi (whose biography he wrote) and her sons Sanjeey "Sanjay" Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He advocated the merits of free and open trade policies at a time when these terms invited withering contempt from the high and mighty of indian political burearcracy.
Lord Paul has received various awards and honours. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Indira Gandhi in 1983 and the Bharat Gaurav award by the Indian Merchant's Chamber. He holds the Pro-Chancellorship of Thames Valley University (1998) and its Governorship (1992-97), and the Chancellorship of the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Westminster. He is a member of the Foreign Policy Centre Advisory Council and MIT's Mechanical Engineering Visiting Committee. He is the chairman of the Olympic Delivery Committee with the key task of initiating measures to acquire land and provide infra-structure for the London Olympics 2012.
Lord Paul is also an Honorary Patron of ZSL and has funded major projects at the Regent's Park site.
His sons have ambitious plans in India, moving ahead aggressively in business projects.
[edit] Criticism
Being a member of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee Swaraj Paul, said "The situation is simple. You can't stop EU immigration, so what do you do? The only way you can control immigration is by capping non-EU immigration,". The criticism is that findings are not based on any scientific study and being a immigrant himself he is working against interest of the immigrants.
[edit] Trivia
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- In April 2005 Lord Paul made headlines when he decided to pull out all stops for the wedding reception of the year for his youngest son Angad at London's Lancaster House. The wedding itself took place in London Zoo.[citation needed]
- He sent all his sons, twins Ambar and Akash, 47, and Angad, to Harrow.
- Lord Paul is a strict vegetarian.
- The industrialist donated twenty lakh rupees (approx. £ 25000) to the victims of the October 2005 earthquake in India's Jammu and Kashmir.[citation needed] and at least £ 20000 to Gordon Brown for his campaign to become Prime Minister. He is not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.
