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The President felicitates youths who, as children, were members of BAPS Children Forum and have now excelled in their careers through the blessings and support of HDH Pramukh Swami Maharaj and their effort.
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Shri Yashwantbhai Jethwa, IPS, Orissa, India
As a child, Shri Yashwant Jethwa became a member of the BAPS children activities in Mumbai.
Coming from a lower-middle class family, Yashwant began to struggle in school when his father passed away. Timely emotional and educational support by Swamiji saw Yashwant succeed as an IPS Officer in 1994.
He is presently serving the nation as the Superintendent of Police in Sundergadh District, Orissa.
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Shri Rajeshbhai Danak, Wing Commander, IAF, New Delhi, India
Rajesh began participating in the children's activities in 1972.
His childhood wish to serve the country was fulfilled when he was selected by the Indian Air force in 1980.
At present he serves as Joint Director of Personnel Officers and as a trained psychologist he sits on the selection panel for selecting the next generation of officers for the IAF. |
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Shri Mineshbhai Patel, BA Captain, London, UK
He became a member of the BAPS children activities in 1977 in London.
Minesh Patel was an average student. Yet Pramukh Swami Maharaj motivated him to become a Pilot. He soon became a Captain flying for British Airways, and today is a Fleet Manager who is in charge of 43 aircrafts and 740 pilots. And out of 3500 pilots of British Airways only three have been selected to fly the Prime Minister of Britain. Minesh is one of them.
Not only that, after the earthquake of Gujarat, Captain Minesh Patel organized a special British Airways flight filled with relief supplies for the victims. This is service with values. |
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Shri Dr. Harikrishnabhai Doshi, Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dubai
After winning 10 awards at the BAPS International Bal Mahotsav in 1979, Harikrishna pursed a career in medicine.
His interest in cardiac surgery has been nourished and assisted by Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
At the young age of 33, he has been involved in over 800 open-heart operations and has been currently selected by The New Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh – the 2nd largest hospital in Scotland. |
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Shri Girishbhai Patel, Olympic Athlete, London, UK
Girish Patel was one of the founding members of the children's activities in London, in 1960.
As a child, he loved sports.
In 1970, Yogiji Maharaj blessed him – and guided him: “Whenever you compete, compete fairly and with a spirit of sportsmanship.”
By the age of 19, Girish became an international pole vault athlete and competed in:
The 1974 European Cup, in Finland.
The 1978 Commonwealth Games, in Canada.
And finally, in 1980, he was selected for the British Olympic Team. |
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Shri Gambhirsinh Rathod, Army, Bangalore, India
Gambhirsinh was also an active member of BAPS Children's Activities.
From the age of 11, he had a deep passion to serve the country.
He sought the blessings of Pramukh Swami Maharaj, who inspired him to join the Indian Army.
It makes us all proud to welcome Gambhirsinh here today, who bravely fought in the Kargil War to safeguard the borders of our Nation. |
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Shri Divyesh Tailor, Property Developer, Leicester, UK
In 1978, Divyesh Tailor joined the BAPS Children's Activities in England.
He is a promising young businessman who has developed a multi-million pound property development company, which has been nominated as the ‘Up & Coming Property Company of the Year'.
And out of 10,000 young property developers in Britain, he has been nominated as Britain's ‘Young Property Personality of 2004'. And he is only 29! |
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Ashvin Patel, IIT Engineer, Delhi, India
Joined the BAPS Children's Activities in 1974. Through Swamishri's inspiration became an IIT engineer. Presently, he is serving as the chief engineer in charge of 1,400 people working on site in the construction of Akshardham, New Delhi. |
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Jaydeep Swadia, Professional Singer, Bombay, India
Over the years, BAPS's encouragement and promotion of cultural and performing arts has produced artists of national caliber.
Jaydeep Swadia developed his singing talents as a child of the BAPS Children's Activities.
By the age of 18, he won national acclaim as the ‘Animated Star of Tomorrow', and has since performed on over 20 foreign tours.
It is also a matter of inspiration that motivated by Swamiji, he has used his talents to raise millions of rupees through numerous charity concerts around the world. |
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Shri Janakbhai Dave, Social Worker, Ahmedabad, India
Shri Janakbhai Dave is now 60.
As an active BAPS volunteer for 5 decades, he has become a prominent social worker who has helped coordinate many BAPS social service projects.
His most recent services during the Gujarat Earthquake Work in Bhuj saw BAPS rehabilitate and reconstruct over 15 villages, 4000 houses and 49 schools. |
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Vipul Vaghela, ISRO Scientist, Ahmedabad, India
BAPS Children's Activities has always promoted education as a foundation for national service.
Vipul Vaghela has been a member of the Children's Activities since 1981.
Swamiji's inspiration for further studies motivated him to become a senior scientist for the Indian Space Research Organization, where he worked on India's indigenously developed satellite technology. |
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Shri Jitubhai Mehta, Space Engineer Scientist, Los Angeles, USA
He is now an space engineer-scientist working for NASA and has won over 30 awards for space research and 5 National Awards from NASA for his contribution towards the mission to Mars.
Technically 270 scientists report to 26 project managers who report to Jitu Mehta. However much he wanted to attend this function, he cannot be here with us tonight because two important projects would have had to be shelved had he come. Duty is his greatest achievement. |
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