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Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata
JRD Tata
Born	July 29, 1904(1904-07-29) Paris, France
Died	November 29, 1993 (aged 89) Geneva, Switzerland
Occupation	Industrialist
Spouse(s)	Thelma Vicaji
Parents	R.D. and Suzanne Tata

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904–November 29, 1993) was a pioneer aviator and important businessman of India. He was awarded India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1992 ^[1].

Early life and education

J.R.D. Tata was born in Paris, France, the second child of Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife, Suzanne "Sooni" Brière^[2][3]. His father was a first cousin of Jamsedji Tata, a pioneer industrialist in India. 'Jeh', or 'JRD' as he was commonly known, came to be regarded as the most famous industrial pioneer in modern India. As his mother was French, he spent much of his childhood in France and as a result, French was his first language. Tata also attended the French Foreign Legion. He attended the Cathedral and John Connon School, Bombay (now Mumbai).

He did not continue beyond matriculation as mentioned in his biography, by Mr R M Lala.

Business and industry

J.R.D. Tata was inspired early by aviation pioneer Louis Blériot, and took to flying. In 1929 Tata got the first pilot license issued in India. He later came to be known as the father of Indian civil aviation. He founded India's first commercial airline, 'Tata Airlines', in 1932, which in 1946 became Air India, now India's national airline.

At the age of 34, he became Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding Company of the Tata Group. For decades, J R D directed the huge Tata Group of companies, with major interests in Steel, Engineering, Power,Chemicals and Hospitality. He was famous for succeeding in business while maintaining high ethical standards - refusing to bribe politicians or use the black market. Under J R D's Chairmanship, the number of companies in the Tata Group, grew from 15 to over 100. Monetarily, the assets of Tata group grew from Rs 620 Million to over Rs 100 Billion.

Awards and recognition

He was awarded the Legion d'honneur, by the French Government in 1954. In 1979, Tata was the recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation. He also received the prestigious Guggenheim Medal for aviation in 1988. He was conferred India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1992 for his service to industry and nation building. In the same year, he was also bestowed with the United Nations Population Award for his crusading endeavors towards initiating and successfully implementing the family planning movement in India, much before it became an official government policy.

Death

He died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1993 at the age of 89. He is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

References

External links

• Brief Lifestory of JRD Tata

Bharat Ratna laureates Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) · C. Rajagopalachari (1954) · C. V. Raman (1954) · Bhagwan Das (1955) · Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya (1955) · Jawaharlal Nehru (1955) · Govind Ballabh Pant (1957) · Dhondo Keshav Karve (1958) · Bidhan Chandra Roy (1961) · Purushottam Das Tandon (1961) · Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1962) · Dr. Zakir Hussain (1963) · Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963) · Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) · Indira Gandhi (1971) · V. V. Giri (1975) · K. Kamaraj (1976) · Mother Teresa (1980) · Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983) · Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) · M. G. Ramachandran (1988) · B. R. Ambedkar (1990) · Nelson Mandela (1990) · Rajiv Gandhi (1991) · Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1991) · Morarji Desai (1991) · Abul Kalam Azad (1992) · J. R. D. Tata (1992) · Satyajit Ray (1992) · A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1997) · Gulzarilal Nanda (1997) · Aruna Asaf Ali (1997) · M. S. Subbulakshmi (1998) · Chidambaram Subramaniam (1998) · Jayaprakash Narayan (1998) · Ravi Shankar (1999) · Amartya Sen (1999) · Gopinath Bordoloi (1999) · Lata Mangeshkar (2001) · Bismillah Khan (2001) · Bhimsen Joshi (2008)

From Wikiquote

The effective execution of a Plan is what counts and not mere planning on paper; it is not what we put on our plate or even what we eat that provides nourishment and growth, but what we digest.

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904 – November 29, 1993) was a pioneer aviator and important businessman of India.

Sourced

Quotes from Keynote: Excerpts from his speeches and chairman's statements to shareholders by J. R. D Tata

• While I usually came back from meeting Gandhiji elated and inspired but always a bit sceptical, and from talks with Jawaharlal, fired with emotional zeal but often confused and unconvinced, meetings with Vallabhbhai were a joy from which I returned with renewed confidence in the future of our country. I have often thought that if fate had decreed that he, instead of Jawaharlal, would be the younger of the two, India would have followed a very different path and would be in better economic shape that it is today.

• I wish, I were big enough, like Einstein, to do what he did on one occasion. A hundred-dollar-a-plate dinner was organised for him to speak, and leaders of America in all fields, particularly in the field of science, were invited to hear the great man. When his turn came, he rose and said:'I've nothing to say,' and sat down. You can imagine the consternation, quite apart from the wasted cost of the dinner! Realising the frightful effect his remarks had on the audience, Einstein got up again and said: 'When I've something to say, I'll let you know.' (Address to the Lions Club of Jamshedpur, August 22, 1963.)

• The essence of air transport is speed, and speed is unfortunately one of the most expensive commodities in the world, principally because of the disproportionate amount of the power required to achieve high speed and to lift loads thousands of feet into the air. This is strikingly illustrated by the fact that while an average cargo ship, freight train and transport aeroplane are each equipped with engines totalling about 2,500 H.P., the ship can carry a load of about 7,000 tons, the train 800 tons and the plane only two and a half tons. ('On November 2, 1943, J.R.D. Tata spoke to the Bombay Rotary Club.)

• There is today hardly any country in the world outside the communist bloc which does not have a mixed economy. In fact, even countries which call themselves socialist would object to theirs not being described as a mixed economy, for it would imply that it was a totalitarian one, while countries like Germany or Japan, usually thought of as having typically free enterprise economies, would do the same; for, otherwise, it would imply that theirs was a nineteenth century laissez-faire economy. (Address on 'Why a Mixed Economy?' to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, New Delhi, April 4, 1975.)

• The Psychology of Delay. Some of the causes of delay in coming to economic decisions in our country seem to lie in the psychological realm. There is such a thing as the psychology of power which motivates people: power of control and patronage, power to delay an application, power to hold up a file, power to keep people waiting in an ante-room, all of which are consciously or subconsciously treated as symbols of prestige and hallmarks of importance. (To The Central Advisory Council of Industries, New Delhi, January 3, 1969.)

• At the Crossroads.The effective execution of a Plan is what counts and not mere planning on paper; it is not what we put on our plate or even what we eat that provides nourishment and growth, but what we digest. (The Central Advisory Council of Industries, New Delhi, August 13, 1965)

• Road to Social Justice. The first and perhaps the most important of the factors which have contributed to our failure to make real impact on poverty expressed in terms of total number who live below the poverty line has clearly been the uncontrolled growth of our population...First, we must, at all costs, make a much more earnest effort at controlling the growth of our population. As it is, we are running out of time and there is no longer any possibility of preventing it from exceeding 1,000 million souls by the end of the century. (At The International Seminar of Economic Journalists, New Delhi, December 5, 1972.)

J.R.D Tata while receiving the news of Bharat Ratna " Oh! God, why me?

External links

• Amazon book link. Keynote: Excerpts from his speeches and chairman's statements to shareholders by J. R. D