Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhai Tata, known throughout the world as J.R.D Tata, was born on the 29th of July, 1904 in Paris. His father, Ratanji Tata. His mother Sujaine was French. The Tatas belong to the Parsi community. They settled in Navsari, a small town near Bombay in 1942 A.D.

  The Tatas, an industrial family, have provided employment to lakhs of Indians all over the country. Tata Corporate is an industrial giant in our country. The Tatas have products that cover almost every industry right from railway engines to watches, cloth to soaps to common salt and also electrical goods. The Tata industry was started by Jamshedji Tata the Grand Old Man of the Tata family. He started a steel factory in Jamshedpur and a cotton factory in Nagpur, laying a foundation for industrial technology in India. This tradition was continued by J.R.D. Tata was known as the father figure of Indian industry.

  J.R.D. Tata received his primary education both in Paris and Bombay. He wanted to pursue his studies at Cambridge but his father involved him in the running of the company and hence he could not pursue his further studies at Cambridge. From childhood, J.R.D. wanted to be a pilot. His inspiration was Louis Blerio, an adventurous pilot who had crossed the English Channel in an airplane. After Tata returned to India he became a member of the Bombay Flying Club in 1929, obtained a pilot’s license. He flew his plane and in 1953 the Tata airlines were born which later became Air Indian, India’s international airline. Tata had undertaken his maiden solo flight from Bombay to Karachi and back, he re-enacted his maiden flight fifty years later from Karachi to Bombay in memory of the inaugural flight at the age of 88, such was his spirit!

  J.R.D. Tata participated in the struggle for freedom too. He was influenced by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and attended Congress meetings but later he felt he would be of better service if could help in eradicating poverty and employment than being behind bars. Under his chairmanship, the assets of the Tata Group grew from US$100 million to over US$5 billion. He started with 14 enterprises under his leadership and half a century later on 26 July 1988, when he left, Tata Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or in which they had a controlling interest.

He was the trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust from its inception in 1932 for over half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia’s first cancer hospital, the Tata Memorial Centre for Cancer, Research and Treatment, in Bombay in 1941. He also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, 1936), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR, 1945), and the National Center for Performing Arts. The growth of Tata industries under him was phenomenal. As mentioned earlier from salt to steel, soap to atomic power, hotels, transport system, Tata industries lead by J.R.D. Tata was everywhere. 

  To recognition of his achievements and services in various fields, he received numerous awards. The Padma Vibhushan, in 1955 was one such award of civilian honor. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992 the highest civilian honor in India. J.R.D. Tata breathed his last on November 29, 1993, in Geneva, Switzerland. He is no more but his industries spread out all over India give a lifeline to lakhs of people.

Note- This article is based on historical facts and written with great conscience. I (the author) do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any Religion or Community. And in case I’ve made any mistake (with facts), then feel free to comment below.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the first Governor-General of Pakistan, was a part of the India National Congress for many years. India and Pakistan were born due to the two-nation theory that the Muslims would be given a separate nation as opposed to the Hindus and the INC.

  Hindus and Muslims had always fought as one against the oppression of the British. But the British were very crafty. They were aware that the growing nationalism would be the downfall of the British Empire sooner or later. To avoid this the British, sought the practice of ‘Divide and Rule’. They knew that the Muslims were a minority and their lack of education and comparative backwardness made them insecure and the British supposedly took up their cause. They campaigned for their cause and the Muslim intellectuals, big landlords, and leaders of the community aided them in swaying the rest of the Muslims. The way they wanted to.

 The Indians, unfortunately, did not realize that this was what the Britishers wanted and that they should be working together. The divide became wider and soon separate electorates took place in 1906. The Muslim leaders like Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Maulana Azad, M.A. Ansari all worked and appealed for unity, but on the other hand, Jinnah emerged as the leader of the Muslims and he gave vent to his ill feelings against Hindu leaders. It was during the conference at Calcutta in December 1928, that he demanded a separate electorate as well as reservations and safeguards for his community. He drilled into the minds of all the Muslims that they were a minority and they stood the danger of being dominated by the Hindu majority. Several Hindu organizations like the Hindu Mahasabha aided the deep-rooted resentment between the two communities.

  The result of all this was partition and a nation called Pakistan was born. The initial idea of a different Muslim nation was heralded by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who put this proposal at the Allahabad Muslim League session in 1930. But it was in April 1914 that Jinnah declared that under no circumstances would there be one government. They were determined to establish an independent nation. When the Ministers of the Interim Government, led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were being sworn in, in September 1946, the Muslim League supporters were raising slogans about ‘Long Live Pakistan’. Though the two leagues worked together for a while, it was by no means a smooth sailing in the joint Government. Jinnah then announced 16th August 1946 to be considered as Direct Action Day, to assert his demand for a separate homeland for Indian Muslims out of certain northwestern and eastern provinces in colonial India. Against a backdrop of communal tension, the protest triggered massive riots between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in the Bengal Province of British India. More than 4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours. This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali, Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North-Western Frontier Province. These events sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India.

  Eventually, Lord Mountbatten put forward the partition plan in June 1947. The country was divided into two separate nations- India and Pakistan. Mohammad Ali Jinnah was sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan on 14th August 1947. A day later India gained Independence with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister on 15th August 1947. As Jinnah left New Delhi to assume the office of Governor-General of Pakistan he commented that it was probably the last time he would be looking at Delhi, and this proved true enough as he died only a year later on September 11, 1948. The emergence of Pakistan was at almost the end of his lifetime and the task of fulfilling and building up his dream was left to his successors.