According to the blueprint prepared by the ministry earlier this week, Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and co-owner of Mumbai Indians; Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi; Supriya Sule, member of Parliament (MP) and daughter of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar; and M. Kanimozhi, MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi; will be approached for key roles in “Saakshar Bharat”, which will have a specific focus on women. All of them said they have not been approached directly so far.

They would be requested to campaign for the mission, which was launched in September by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The names of the mission’s ambassadors are likely to be announced on 8 September, International Literacy Day.

Saakshar Bharat, aims to make 70 million adults (60 million being women) literate in three years and will be implemented in 365 of the country’s 619 districts. While India’s average overall literacy rate is 65.3%, for females it’s 54.28%. In the targeted districts, female literacy is less than 50%. The scheme has already been rolled out in 167 districts in the first week of April and is expected to cost Rs6,000 crore.

Nita Ambani’s office declined to comment. However, the ministry appears to be optimistic.

“We have zeroed in on these icons because we believe that this scheme will be successful if individuals who have sufficiently high profile as well as are committed to the cause are nominated as Saakshar ambassadors,” said a senior ministry official requesting anonymity. The official also said that the ministry wants Nita Ambani and Vadra to be ambassadors at the national level, others will be approached to be goodwill ambassadors at the state level. Some sports personalities will also be roped in later.

They will be expected to pro-actively participate in mass mobilization, undertake visits to some villages to influence teachers and learners, and help motivate private firms to contribute to the programme under their corporate social responsibility schemes. The ministry note points out that Nita Ambani can be “very effective in promoting the private sector initiative and mobilization of resources” for the adult literacy mission.

This year Mumbai Indians had a great run at the Indian Premier League season three and some of the credit if not all goes to the team’s co-owner Mrs. Nita Ambani. One of the most influential business women in the country, Nita is now a cricket aficionado with immense passion for the game and she has been educating herself on the nuances of the game since her journey with IPL began in 2008. In an interview to editor-in-chief of Indian Express, Shekhar Gupta, Ms. Ambani said that she is an obsessed mother now with all her time devoted to cricket. She admitted that IPL is like a dream run for her and this association has consumed all of her attention to the point that she ate, slept and breathed only cricket during the season. Her dedication certainly paid off in the splendid display of ‘cricket-rionics’ during the IPL 3 finale. She has stood by as a pillar of support during the good and bad times that the team has been witness to.

In 2008, Nita Ambani strengthened the Mumbai Indians team with a successful bid of seven players including Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. Before the onset of second season of Indian Premier League, Mrs. Ambani spoke to Hindustan Times and confessed that before venturing into IPL, her knowledge of cricket was very elementary and was restricted to few successful names of the cricket world. Initially she was involved only with designing of the jersey and the making of Mumbai Indians’ theme song but after a poor start in IPL 2009; she decided to accompany her team everywhere as per the schedule.

Chairman, Dhirubhai Ambani International School and co-owner of Mumbai Indians, Nita Ambani spearheaded the smartest strategy by making the bid for the most sought after player of IPL 3, Kieron Pollard. The constant travelling with the team to different locations also brought her closer to the team and helped empower the team with more confidence.

In this year’s IPL, Nita Ambani started out by bidding for a knockout of a team, holding up with them through all times and cheering them on in every single match the team played. According to the team and the management, Nita is a lucky mascot for them and her presence in almost every match boosts their morale.

On being asked about the disappointment after losing the finals, Nita said, “I had said in my interview just before the finals that may the best team win. And in sports, I think, it’s not just about winning but also about handling losses. And that’s what I have learnt living with these boys for the last several weeks. Surely I was disappointed, but it is what you have gained in your journey of life that matters. And for me, cricket has been a big learning experience.” According to her, IPL will get bigger and better in the seasons to come.

Nita Ambani owned ‘Mumbai Indians’ team beat Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs and booked their seat in the semi-finals of the lucrative Indian Premier League. Since the beginning of Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians has remained the favorite team of season 3 and almost everyone bet on the team as IPL 3 winner. But at the IPL 3 finals on 25th April, 2010, fate favored Chennai Superkings and Mumbai Indians lost the match by 22 runs. For Mumbai Indians, IPL 3 has been a fantastic journey with one of the strongest squad consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, KA Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, SL Malinga and other talented players carrying the team from strength to strength.

D Y Patil stadium was packed to capacity as thousands of cricket fans thronged the place to witness the IPL 3 final between the two strong sides. The finale was thrilling with great shots from the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, though his presence in the team was doubtful due to the injury. The Mumbai Indians played consistently well all through the tournament and Nita Ambani constantly showed her support for the team by being present in almost every match played by the Mumbai Indians. After disappointing everyone in the cricket world with poor performance in both the previous seasons of IPL, this year, the Mumbai team was seen as the toughest and the most enduring side from the very beginning.

Talking about the team performance, one name that cannot be skipped out is that of K.A Pollard who actually led Mumbai Indians to the final of IPL 3. While the hear tearing over why Pollard was not brought to bat earlier continues, his contribution of a whopping 27 runs off 10 balls made it a close call for the Chennai Super Kings during the middle overs of the game.
The owner of Mumbai Indians, Nita Ambani presented the Orange cap to Sachin Tendulkar for scoring maximum runs in the third season of Indian Premier League. The skipper of the runners-up team was also awarded DLF Golden Player of IPL 3.

After the finals, Sachin Tendulkar was quoted as saying, “A couple of important catches cost us. There is a saying that catches win matches. The start in the run-chase also was not up to the mark. We could have accelerated a little bit more. Towards the end, Kieron Pollard came in with a fine effort but it was a bit late. We tried hard to accelerate the run-rate but it was one of those days when things did not click.”

Harbhajan Singh’s superb performance led to the Mumbai Indians victory against Deccan Chargers in a previous game. Harbhajan smashed the bowlers with unbeaten 49 runs and also cracked three wickets by giving away 31 runs. With the spirit intact, Mumbai Indians is expecting to win the next IPL with Sachin Tendulkar’s assurance of playing in the IPL 4.

Source:http://news-views.in/mumbai-indians-almost-there/

Indian Premier League is back and so is Nita Ambani. To be one of the most influential business women in the nation and have a passion for the game of cricket is a boon and especially for someone of the stature of Nita Ambani. She has taken Reliance’s social responsibility to the next level and engaged wholeheartedly with the game that India eats, lives and breathes.

Nita Ambani who plays the role of the co-owner of the IPL team Mumbai Indians sure knows how to balance work and play. She is the proud chairman of Dhirubhai Ambani International School and heads many other educational campaigns. Nita Ambani’s fervour for cricket seems to be ever increasing with Mumbai Indians having raked in all the top rank players from the country and looking all set to win the accolades. Nita Ambani, co-owner of the Mumbai Indians spearheaded the strategy for making the smartest bid for the most sought after cricketer Kieron Pollard in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the quest to bid for Kieron Pollard, three teams had lined up for the auction- Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders apart from Mumbai Indians. However, Nita Ambani’s bid prevailed during the auction.

In 2008, Nita Ambani led Mumbai Indians’ successful bid for 7 players including Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Sanath Jaisurya while during the 2009 player auction; Mumbai Indians bid South African Player Jean Paul Duminy for a whopping $950,000. This year, Nita Ambani signed up for Kieron Pollard. The bidding which began at a bare price of $200,000 soon took a boost when Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders began battling it out to win over the player. With every bid resulting in all four teams getting into a tie, the IPL chief Lalit Modi called for a tie breaker rule where in all the teams were supposed to quote a price in silent and the team quoting the highest amount would win the claims over Kieron Pollard. Luck clearly rode Nita Ambani’s way as she called out the highest bid.

The team is captained by batsman Sachin Tendulkar. With such star studded line-up, Nita Ambani is one super confident woman who has her eyes set at the upcoming season of Indian Premier League. Speaking about her new achievement for Mumbai Indians, Nita Ambani said that she feels elated at the newest acquisition of team Mumbai Indians. She added that the team’s strategy as discussed between Robin Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and TA Sekar was to have a batting all rounder in the team which they got in Kieron Pollard.

Remembering her Indian Premier League journey, Nita Ambani once said in an interview about how the passion for cricket has bowled her over. Apparently before IPL, her knowledge of cricket was very elementary and was restricted to a few big names in the cricket world. It was only after she took over the management of Mumbai Indians that she started taking an avid interest in the game. Nita Ambani is said to be the lucky mascot for the team Mumbai Indians, she accompanies the team in every match. The lady is all geared up for the upcoming IPL series with a team packed with cricket sensations from around the world.