Jamsetji Tata Birth Anniversary: Know about father of Indian industry.
Highlights
- Jamsetji Tata was born on March 3, 1839 in Navsari
- Jamsetji Tata formulated blue-print for steel plant which later came up at Jamshedpur
- He died on May 19, 1904 at the age of 65 years
Jamsetji Tata 183rd Birth Anniversary: Jamsetji Tata was born on March 3, 1839 in Navsari, a small town in south Gujarat. He is often known as the father of Indian industry.
In 1892 he knew that a different type of technology was the need of the hour and with a lack of world-class technical education, India’s socio-economic progress would definitely fail.
On his 183rd birth anniversary, let us read about that how he went on to become the ‘Father of Indian Industry’
With a vision inspiring the steel and power industries in India, Jamsetji set the foundation for technical education and also helped the country in many advanced ways.
Jamsetji Tata founded the Tata Group. He started his work as a merchant dealing in cotton and pig iron initially but he is mainly known for his contribution of establishing the Tata Iron and Steel Works company in Jamshedpur (a town in Jharkhand). He died on May 19, 1904 at the age of 65 years.
He was a true patriot and a humanist whose ideals and vision shaped an exceptional business conglomerate. Jamsetji’s philanthropic principles were rooted in the belief that for India to climb out of poverty, its finest minds would have to be harnessed.
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Charity and handouts were not his way, so he established the JN Tata Endowment in 1892, the first Tata benefaction in the field of education.
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, made an investment in India’s youth - and a colonised nation’s future - when he set up the JN Tata Endowment for the Higher Education of Indians.
The first of the Tata family’s philanthropic initiatives, the Endowment enabled Indian students, regardless of caste or creed, to pursue higher studies outside the country. To say that the investment has paid off would be an understatement- since it was set up in 1892, the JN Tata Endowment has supported generation after generation of promising minds in the country.
With a staggering rate of infant mortality (nearly 60 per cent of the children born would die), India’s future generations were being wiped out before they could grow into productive citizens. What Jamsetji Tata realised that women would avoid the discomfort of going to male doctors even at enormous cost to their health.
Perhaps it was for this reason that the first recruit he awarded the scholarship to was Freany Cama to study ‘Midwifery and diseases of women and children’. He then chose to ignore the majority quota reserved for Parsi women and signed an agreement to sponsor Krishnabai Kelavkar who would be trained in Dublin.
Ultimately, the Kelavkar Medical Centre set up by her would be operated until her death in 1969. Today, India’s infant mortality is at around 5 per cent of its pre-Independence peak. This would have been even harder to achieve without what the JN Tata scholarships made possible.
His hometown Jamshedpur is all set to celebrate his 183rd birth anniversary today.
This year's celebration is based on the theme ‘Life@TataSteel- Build the tomorrow you deserve’.
How Jamsetji Tata founded Tata group
Jamsetji Tata was the founder of the Tata group, which is currently running a total of 31 companies across ten industries globally.
From 1880 till his death in 1904, he concentrated on three missions of his life: setting up an iron and steel company, generating hydroelectric power, and creating a world-class educational institution that would enrich Indian minds in the field of sciences.
Though none of his dreams were fully realised during his lifetime, but the seeds were laid, and the pathway made, for his successors to take up, fructify and give a glorious expression to each of his dreams.
He formulated the blue-print for the steel plant which later came up at Jamshedpur.
Jamsetji Tata began his entrepreneurial journey with a textile mill in the 1870s. His vision inspired the steel and power industries in India, set the foundation for technical education, and helped the country leapfrog into the ranks of industrialised nations.
India's former PM Jawaharlal Nehru referred to him as 'one-man planning commission' in the world of industry.
Jamsetji Tata was more than just the entrepreneur who helped India take her place in the league of industrialised nations.
He established the JN Tata Endowment in 1892, the first Tata benefaction in the field of education, and possibly the first of its kind in the world. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the Founder of the Tata group, made an investment in India’s youth- and a colonised nation’s future- when he set up the JN Tata Endowment for the Higher Education of Indians.
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