JRD Tata's Legacy : the Development of India Through Science by Prof

JRD Tata’s Legacy : The Development of India through Science by Prof. M.G.K. MENON Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor of Indian Space Research Organization Introductory Remarks Tomorrow is 29th July, the day on which JRD Tata was born in 1904. There will be events at a variety of places and in many institutions all over India to pay tribute to a man who was certainly amongst the greatest that India produced in the 20th century. Many in this audience knew him – some rather closely. As important as paying tributes to his great qualities, these will also be occasions to express a deep sense of gratitude for what he accomplished, and to analyze what made him an icon. He was truly a colossus who walked in our midst – but a gentle colossus at that. He was not only admired and respected but greatly loved. He was deeply human. I am fully aware of the great honor and privilege done to me in being invited to give this talk. He was a generation older to me, but there was no difficulty whatsoever in my interacting closely with him; he was kind; I always felt good and uplifted after meeting him. He was a good listener, but asked penetrating questions. He was self-deprecating, and in many ways a person of humility, a quality which goes with greatness. This is, therefore, a unique occasion for me to pay my personal tribute to Mr. J.R.D. Tata, whom I had addressed as Jeh for about three decades. - 1 - There were many facets to Jeh’s personality, interests, accomplishments and the legacy that he has left behind. As head of Tatas he had an undoubted position of leadership in business and industry of 20th century India. The diversity of activities under this umbrella in terms of areas, covering iron and steel, hydro and thermal power, aviation, chemicals, automotives, finance, fertilizers, agricultural and household products, construction, electronics and information technology and much else is truly amazing. Many represented wholly new initiatives when embarked upon, often involving advanced technologies. Jeh was constantly looking out for new leadership. He discovered and nurtured leadership; this was intrinsic to his philosophy. These leaders took new initiatives, opened up new industrial avenues and became household names in their time. But all was not ‘a bed of roses’. He faced many ups and downs in all these various business enterprises. In dealing with these he never sacrificed integrity, which was always of the highest order - one of the great qualities that he possessed. He maintained the finest relations with labour. For him, business and industry was not a means for self- aggrandisement but for national development. All these derived from Jamsetji Tata who for him was his role model. Apart from business and industry he was imbued with a great spirit of adventure, most significantly manifested by his foray into aviation: first personally and directly, and later, through an airline which all of us in India and many abroad learnt to love and use, when he led it. He loved speed, and enjoyed watching motor car races, particularly at Le Mans. - 2 - He had a tremendous sense of curiosity, and an intuitive understanding concerning technical matters, whether it be in aviation, automobiles, energy, chemicals, information technology or steel. Each of the initiatives that he took would have justified his standing among the great. But Jeh could never be one to be restricted to one area or direction. He had an extraordinarily broad-ranging mind, with a keen intuitive feeling for the long range potential over a range of initiatives, and growing the people who could handle these. To cover his multi-faceted personality and achievements would be truly impossible in one talk. It would make the coverage shallow and superficial, and would not do justice to him. Suffice it to say, he achieved greatness in his own right; and walked among the greatest that India was fortunate in producing in the 20th century. Perhaps India was unique in many ways compared to anything that happened elsewhere in the world over this period in the leadership that was thrown up, that had a mix of long range vision, idealism, sacrifice, commitment and integrity and all the basic qualities that form the bedrock of all religions; Jeh represented all of this but always insisted that he was an ordinary human with whims, likes and dislikes, weakness, warts and all. This was India at its best; each leader was an icon. I do wonder why we do not have such role models today. Jeh’s Legacy to Science and Higher Education – General remarks - 3 - In this talk I shall concentrate on an aspect not so well-known or talked about, which is the decisive contributions made by Jeh to the promotion and nurturing of science and higher education in India. In preparing this talk, I have spoken to many in the scientific community to find out what they knew about Jeh. They had only a dim awareness of him, as an icon. Only a few knew of any details of his actual contribution to the growth of science. I was amazed since they knew far more about much smaller personalities, who had contributed so trivially or superficially, but have received so much media publicity. This talk is an effort to put the record straight. A large part of what is in here is already covered in various publications concerning Jeh, or those related to him and the Tata Trusts. I therefore do not claim originality. My attempt is to bring out at one place his efforts relating to this one area, in an attempt to focus on his motivations, thought processes and insights on these matters, that few know about or appreciate, overawed as they are by the breadth and greatness of all else that he achieved. The Scientific Policy Resolution of the Govt. of India adopted on 4th March, 1958 which was placed before Parliament by Jawaharlal Nehru, and in the drafting of which Homi Bhabha had a significant role to play, opens with the statement: “The key to national prosperity, apart from the spirit of the people, lies, in the modern age, in the effective combination of three factors, technology, raw materials and capital, of which the first is perhaps the most important, since the creation and adoption of new - 4 - scientific techniques can, in fact, make up for a deficiency in natural resources, and reduce the demands on capital. But technology can only grow out of the study of science and its applications.” Many great leaders of India in the 20th century have contributed to aspects that relate to “the spirit of the people” (which is key to any national development) in terms of political, social and human transformations; Jamsetji Tata and Jeh also made their contribution. Most leaders of business and industry have dealt with raw materials, capital and manufacturing, and Jeh was among the greatest in this regard. But he did more. With regard to the last sentence of the above statement, Homi Bhabha, in the last public address that he gave in January 1966 in Bombay, in an invited lecture to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), had said: “What the developed countries have and the underdeveloped lack is modern science and an economy based on modern technology”. He was clear that it is not possible to have modern science on an imitative basis; and imitative technology tends to be sterile. Jeh was not a practicing scientist; but he understood this philosophy and the importance of pure science in a more fundamental conceptual sense than any other of his contemporaries in business and industry as will be clearly seen from a quote from him later in this talk. - 5 - I wish to give you one manifestation of the regard in which he was held by the scientific community in India. The Indian National Science Academy has a special arrangement under which: “persons who, in the opinion of the Council, have either rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science or whose election would be of a signal benefit to the Academy could be elected to the fellowship”. In the history of the Academy since 1935, only four individuals have been made fellows under this clause. They are: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, JRD Tata, and Satish Dhawan. To me it is no surprise that Jeh would figure in this category, where no other businessman or industrialist has figured before. Jeh was the only person in his areas of business, aviation, industry, philanthropy, and related areas of economic development to be awarded a Bharat Ratna. II. Jeh’s support for Homi Bhabha, TIFR and the Atomic Energy program Homi Bhabha had done brilliant work in Cambridge England. He returned to India in 1939. The outbreak of the Second World War prevented him from returning to Cambridge which he would normally have done. The Sir Dorab Tata Trust created a position for him at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, along with a Special Cosmic Ray Research Unit. He continued to do outstanding physics, but also thought deeply about the possibility of economic prosperity and social change for India based on science and technology. He felt the need for large numbers to be trained in the newly - 6 - developing areas in mathematics and nuclear science. He spoke to Jeh about his wish to establish an Institute of Fundamental Research in India, and wrote a letter to him on this matter dated 19th August 1943. He was encouraged by Jeh who wrote back: “ From what you say in your letter, it is evident that there is scope for rendering valuable service to the country and to the cause of scientific research in India.

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