The assets of the Tata Group rose from $101 million to $5 billion during his direction. When he left the company in 1988, Tata Sons had grown to a conglomerate of 95 companies from its original 14 operations.
Tata,
a visionary businessman, made significant contributions to society's
advancement. Once, he remarked, "I do not desire India to become a
world economic power. I want India to be a content nation."
Early
Life and Achievements Of JRD Tata
On
July 29, 1904, in Paris, France, JRD Tata was born Jehangir to an Indian Parsi
family who did not live there. He was the child of renowned industrialist
Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his wife Suzanne Brière, the country of India's first
female driver.
In
London, JRD Tata finished his education. The French Army was his next stop,
where he served for a year.
JRD
Tata joined Tata & Sons in 1925 as an unpaid trainee after returning to
India. JRD Tata became the chairman of the Tata Group in 1938 after serving for
12 years.
The assets of the Tata Group rose from $101
million to $5 billion during his direction. When he left the company in 1988,
Tata Sons had grown to a conglomerate of 95 companies from its original 14
operations.
He obtained his pilot's license in 1929 and
was India's first. He was the first person to qualify in India, thus the Aero
Club of India and Burma stamped the number "1" on his license.
JRD piloted a single-engine De Havilland Puss
Moth for the first flight in Indian aviation history, which took off from Drigh
near Karachi to Madras on October 15, 1932.
In 1932, he founded Air India, the country's
first domestic airline. Tata served as chairman when Air India was nationalized
in 1953.
For 50 years, he was a trustee for the
Dorabji Tata Trust. The trust constructed the first cancer hospital in Asia.
The Tata Memorial Center for Cancer was founded in 1941 and is run by JRD Tata.
In addition, he founded a number of
businesses that are part of the Tata Group, including Voltas, Titan Industries,
Tata Consultancy Services, and Tata Motors.
Awards And Honors Received By JRD Tata
JRD
Tata received various honours. He received the honorary title of group captain
from the Indian Air Force in 1948. Later, on October 4, 1966, he was made Air
Commodore, and on April 1, 1974, he was made Air Vice Marshal.
Due
to his unselfish humanitarian efforts, he also acquired a number of
international honours, including The French Legion of Honor in 1983.
He
also received the highest civilian distinction bestowed by India, the Bharat
Ratna, in 1992 after receiving the Padma Vibhushan in 1955.
For his crusading efforts to start and
successfully implement the family planning movement in India, long before it
became a formal government policy, Tata was also given the United Nations
Population Award.
Death
of Tata
At the age of 89, Tata passed away from
kidney illness in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 29, 1993. As evidenced by
his last words, "Comme c'est doux de mourir," spoken a few days
before his passing, he gracefully accepted death. It translates to "How
gentle it is to die."
Parliament was recessed in honour of him upon
his passing. It is a distinction that non-parliamentarians receive
infrequently. He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
