Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata was born on January 20,1871, in the then Bombay who garnered fame as a financier and philanthropist making a mark on the global list of prominent personalities. Aakanksha Umath explores more details on the eminent figure who has been an inspiration for many…
The man with a vision and mission passed away on September 5, 1918 and after his death, Sir Ratan Tata Trust was founded in 1919 with a corpus of Rs. 8 million.
Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata was the son of the noted Parsi merchant Jamsetji Tata who studied at St Xavier’s College in Bombay and joined his father’s firm.
After the death of the Jamsetji Tata in 1904, Ratan Tata and his brother inherited a very large fortune, much of which was devoted to philanthropic works.
In 1905, an Indian institute of scientific and medical research (IISc) was founded at Bengaluru while in 1915, a project to store water power of western ghats was taken up by Tata enterprises which provided Bombay an enormous amount of electrical power.
Sir Ratan Tata was knighted in 1916 and he continued taking up the benefactions out of India too. He founded the Ratan Tata department of social science and administration at the London School of Economics in 1912, and floated a Ratan Tata Fund at the University of London for studying the conditions of the poorer classes.
He was a great connoisseur of arts who was married to Navajbai Sett in 1893. He left for England in 1915. The couple then adopted, Naval Tata from the family of a distant relative. On his death on 5 September 1918 at in Cornwall, England, he was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, near London, by the side of his father (Jamsetji Tata).
Ratanjii Tata-A justice seeker
He realised the importance of Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle against racism in South Africa and supported it both morally and materially, contributing Rs125,000 in all to the cause.
““That India has been roused is evident from the generous gift of Mr Ratanji Jamsetji Tata… He will probably be followed by other Indians. Parsis are known the world over for their generous gifts. Mr Tata has been true to that spirit of generosity.” Gandhiji wrote for him.
Though born and brought up in luxury, Sir Ratan was concerned about the widespread poverty and destitution in India and sought ways to ameliorate them.
He had donated a part of his property for needy people as Charity.
Today he is remembered between us as the respected philanthropist and a great seeker of Justice.