For the Love of India

Monday, 3rd March is Founder's Day for us Tata employees. The founder - Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata - was born 169 years ago on the same day. This man had the capacity to visualise the years beyond his life and what the Tata Group has achieved is testimony to that. It bedazzles you, how he could even think of building a steel plant or a hydroelectric power plant at a time, when India was under foreign rule. Not only that, hardly anyone India had the technical know-how to achieve this. Yet he took it upon himself to find all the experts the task needed to be brought in from outside and get them here regardless of the cost. He did not stop at initiating these two projects, which were to be completed only after his death. He wanted to ensure that there is a steady flow of manpower and talent to sustain the projects, which should come from the locals, fellow Indians. He did not stop at sponsoring deserving students with scholarships but went on to pledged half his wealth towards an institute which would provide the best-in-class technical education to Indian students, within India. This was to materialize into the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

And he did not have to do it. He would have been labelled as a successful industrialist even if he had not taken these initiatives, for he had already created two successful textile mills (Empress in Nagpur and Swadeshi in Mumbai). He could have just sat upon the wealth he had amassed and lived peacefully, but he did not do that. He wanted to see India on the path of Industrialization, which he had first seen when he went to England to study. And that has to be the only reason, why he started with these three massive projects at the same time and urged his successors to pursue them, which they did. The result is there for all to see.

Another mark of his thinking is the way he treated people, the most important resource for any industry. This reflects in some of the policies he established for the workers at his mills. That he was a man of principles is evident from the fact that he pumped in his own wealth into the Swadeshi Mills when it was struggling for survival, a huge risk which eventually paid off (This was to be repeated by his son Dorab for the survival of Tata Steel in 1924). R M Lala's biography of Jamsetji Tata traces his life in detail and provides an account of his values and principles. What he did can only inspire you to look beyond your life and think beyond the wealth you want to earn.

I wish, I can do something - based on the same principles and values - as he did, purely For the Love of India.
Amen!