J R D Tata was born on 29 July 1904 in Paris, France to Parsi father Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and French mother Suzanne "Sooni" Brière. JRD Tata spent much of his childhood in France as a result French was his first language. He also performed duties in the French Foreign Legion. Tata attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay. On November 29, 1993, JRD Tata died in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 89.
Career of JRD Tata:
J R D Tata was highly inspired by aviation pioneer Louis Bleriot and took aviation as his career. He obtained the first pilot license issued in India, on February 10, 1929. Tata later came to be known as the father of Indian civil aviation. Tata Airlines, India's first commercial airline, was founded by him. Tata Airlines became Air India in 1946, now India's national airline. In 1925, he joined Tata & Sons as an unpaid apprentice. In 1938, at the age of 34, JRD was chosen as the Chairman of Tata & Sons making him the head of the largest industrial group in India. Tata took over as Chairman of Tata Sons from his uncle Nowroji Saklatwala. He started with 14 enterprises under his leadership which grew to 95 by the time he retired on July 26, 1988.
Since the inception in 1932 he was the trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust for over half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia's first cancer hospital in 1941 the Tata Memorial Center for Cancer, Research and Treatment, in Bombay. It also established the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, 1936), the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR, 1945), and the National Center for Performing Arts.
He founded Tata Motors in the year 1945. JRD Tata also launched Air India International as India's first international airline in the year 1948. JRD Tata was appointed as the Chairman of Air India and a director on the Board of Indian Airlines by the Indian Government in 1953. He retained this position for 25 years.
In order to give workers a stronger voice in the affairs of the company, he initiated a program of closer employee association with management in 1956. He founded Tata Consultancy Services in the year 1968. In 1987 he founded Titan Industries. His Tata Steel Township was also selected as a UN Global Compact City because of the quality of life, conditions of sanitation, roads and welfare that were offered by Tata Steel.
Awards and Recognition:
In 1957 on the eve of the silver jubilee of Air India he received the Padma Vibhushan. In the year 1988 he received the Guggenheim Medal for aviation. He was also awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in the year 1992 because of his selfless humanitarian endeavors. JRD Tata 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 in the same year.
Illness and Death:
JRD Tata breathed his last on 29 November 1993 following a kidney infection and was buried in Paris at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. He was 89 years of age. The Indian Parliament adjourned their session to pay him a tribute that is not usually provided to people who aren't a part of the parliament.
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Rajkumar (Brotherhood/Humanity)
We salute Late Tata ji, It is only because of visionaries like him that Our country is today's proud India.