Indian industrial magnates are fighting American recession, in their own style! — By donating astronomical sums to their Alma Mater, Harvard Business School. Is this a beginning of the rat race amongst the bigwigs of Indian industry, to steal the limelight in philanthropy? Others may follow suit provided they have attended any such educational institutions. Mind you, it has got to be a foreign-based institution for satisfying their ego!
This seems to the month of history for India. History in several sports events has been created in the recent Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi. The feats of the cricket ‘historian’ Sachin Tendulkar are well-known. Ratan Tata’s donation of $50 million is the largest international donation in the 102-year history of Harvard. He is the Chairman of Tata Sons Ltd. Recently he met Harvard President Drew Faust and Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, presumably for handing over the instrument for the amount of this huge donation.
Tata has trounced the feat of Anand Mahindra, head of India’s Mahindra Group, who donated to the same institution $10 million, a few days back. Mahindra took his undergraduate and master’s degree in this institution. Tata was honored with the highest honor of the School in the year 1975, the Alumni Achievement Award.
Indian born dean of the School, Nohria hailed this as historic gift. He said his “focus will be on business ethics”, and like the avowed assertion of most of the business magnates,business ethics, is dear to his heart. He stood for this principle “during the financial crisis”.
Whether this donation by Ratan Tata falls under the classification of business ethics, in the light of overall social and economic conditions in India, is an issue worth examining by the think-tanks of Harvard.
Dear Ratan Tata, think! You are on a wrong note when you are about to retire. Who made you what you are today? It is your business acumen, even before you did a managerial course at Harvard. Your illustrious predecessor JRD Tata was not a product of Harvard, I suppose! You got the unstinted support from your brilliant top and middle level officers and dedicated employees. Do you want a simple individual like me to convince you that funds are desperately needed here in India to provide the elementary education to millions and millions of poor children, who lack everything– food, clothing, shelter and education?
There are ways to say thanks. It need not be through donation of a big sum. You may say that what you have done is for self-satisfaction. Even self-satisfaction has a measuring rod. You could have instituted certain scholarships for covering the educational expenses for students from poor countries, to give Harvard business excellence a chance to percolate in the countries where it is needed.
Instead of donating to Harvard, create a Harvard here in India.
Wise people of the West are veering round to the view that the Management Techniques elucidated by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita are far superior. The teachings in Harvard seem to be kindergarten stuff as compared to the profound teachings in this spiritual text. Find it difficult to believe? Read a publication from USA “What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School”, by Mark McCormack. He writes, “My main purpose in writing this book is to fill in many of the gaps – the gaps between a business school education and the street knowledge that comes from day-to-day experience of running a business and managing people.”
I would sum up it thus. “This is one wrong step by Ratan Tata, before his retirement. He knows well that there are millions of children in India, undernourished, underprivileged, and uneducated. I have already stated and I repeat, to prove his love for the institution he could have set up a series of scholarships for brilliant students from poor countries. But for the highest regard that I have for him as an extraordinary individual, I am inclined to say that he has insulted this country, by donating a huge sum, where it is not needed”.(1) When it is not necessary to donate, it is necessary not to donate.
(1) Comments by Chandrakant Mallya-15-10-2010
http://education.in.msn.com/colleges/ article.aspx?cp-documentid=4418229&page=4
April 11, 2011 at 10:10 pm
December 30, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Thanks for your valuable view-points and I truly respect your stand. However, I tend to be in agreement with the arguments put forth by Mr. Chandra. My take on this debate:
1. The TATA’s have, are and most promisingly will continue with their charitable work in India (for Indians). Infact, most of the wealth (more than 90%) earned by the group lies with various trusts who are diligently utilizing the funds for benevolent acts.
2. Definition of ‘Paying back to the society’ should not be restricted to any particular country or region. That, to me, is jingoistic and narrow-mindedness. If even 10% of what Mr. Tata is today was contributed by his stint at HBS, the donation is a miniscule sum by any standards.
3. Mere re-distrubution of wealth through donations can never bring about economic-equality in a country. Empowering the poor in India through education, infrastructure and employment opportunities is the only solution for India going forward. This will require concerted efforts of both the govt. and the private capitalists.
December 31, 2010 at 9:32 am
Let me hasten to add that if you, Chandra and I were to stand in a Q in appreciation of Mr. Ratan Tata, I desire to be the first among the equals. I have also made it clear in my article.
Public figures, whether they are top political figures or famous industrialists, their actions are watched and evaluated by the common man. Ask any poor person in India. They do not know the arithmetic and logic of the issues. He/she will say, “Hum yahan bhooke mar rahe hein. Aur unko videsh ki padi hai!” These things may be unconnected. Yet, individuals like Ratan Tata have to transcend their personal likes and dislikes and live for the common man. Mind you, today 7 of the Indian States are affected by Naxalites, the reason being the exploitation of the tribal and poor people. The common man feels cheated and humiliated. I know Ratan Tata is not responsible for this. But the overall picture of the Indian poor must be understood by every Indian.
My point is Harvard doesn’t need Ratan Tata’s donation. Ratan Tata is not what he is due to Harvard. The founder of this mighty business empire, Jamshedji Tata, and later JRD Tata were not Harvard educated. Harvard should be proud that they had a student like Ratan Tata. Ratan Tata himself is the greatest gift to Harvard. They should explain his achievements and qualities of head and heart at the lecture halls of Harvard. Name a single western billionaire who has donated such a big sum, for the cause of the poor or for education in India!
I very well know, only the poor can improve their lot by education and hard work. Not the government, not the industrialists, not the NGOs can change the entire situation for them.
I greatly appreciate the polite expression of your views, and your thinking on the subject along with Mr. Chandra.
December 8, 2010 at 4:24 am
The TATA’s have generously given a lot to India.
- There are lakh’s of families being irradicated of poverty and having a cherished living because they work for the TATA’s.
- There have been industrial & technological revolution brought about that had grown India to great heights.
- There had been crores to money pumped to charitable societies across India by the TATA’s.
- There had been several educational institutions and scholarships that resulted due to a TATA initiative.
- Indians can be proud of being the an economic power center on the global Map due to the TATA’s, WIPRO’s, BIRLA’s, MITTAL’s, etc. Think of the foriegn companies the Indian industrial giants have accquired or bought when few years back we didn’t even think about this situation.
The TATA’s have been very generous to the development of the Indian nation, and with this in mind I feel Ratan TATA has every right to provide a helping hand to a great renouned institution like the Harvard too. People say there are lot of things we learn out of experience and that we do not learn in Harvard, however they still fail to remember that there had been several Indian leaders who had been educated in Harvard who has written the history of India to make my motherland India to this level of excellence.
Now do I work for the TATA? Ans: NO
Have I studied in a TATA institution? NO
Have I had any TATA scholarship? NO
Lastly, have I studied in Harvard? NO
Despite all this I respect Ratan Tata’s generous contribution to the Harvard Business School.
December 14, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Kindly read my article again. I have stated that I have highest regard for Ratan Tata as an individual. You have made it quite clear that you do not have any hidden agenda to appreciate Tata, and I am one with you in appreciating him. Harvard doesn’t require a helping hand at the cost of India! He and the other industrialists have done a lot for India and they must! They have made good use of the facilities provided to them by the Government. My stand as for this donation remains unchanged–right action at the wrong place. I have also objection to exgtravagent spending by some of the industrialist families mentioned by you. Indians who have been educated at Harvard, have paid for it. J.R.D Tata and Dhirubhai Ambani and Dr.T.M.A. Pai did not study at Harvard!
November 1, 2010 at 6:47 pm
I am afraid, your sympathy is misplaced. The poor can not wait indefinitely, and men like Ratan Tata have to take the lead so that other rich people may follow. Harvard doesn’t need Ratan Tata’s donation. The world is one family doesn’t mean that you donate where it is not necessary. We love Ratan Tata, and therefore have every right to criticize his actions. I do not mean to say give some amount to the street child or throw some coins at him. Create conditions for him to become basically sound and industrious–such steps are expected by individuals like Tata. Why poverty is going to be there in India at all times? It should not be there. It is not there in many Western countries, it is not there in Japan….
October 31, 2010 at 12:12 pm
November 1, 2010 at 6:38 pm
You have summed up well. Mr.Ratan Tata Commands enormous goodwill amongst the Indian masses, his employees and Officials and persons like me. He owes everything to the Indian masses and millions of clientele of Tata group products.
This huge donation, viewed from any angle has no justification. Harvard doesn’t need it.
October 18, 2010 at 9:39 pm
INDIA is the mother of all ethics yet many Indians criticizing the fundamental ethic, the gratitude of an alumnus for his mother institution is really agonizing.
There are several in the Forbes’ world rich list. Shri Ratan Tata should be the one in the forefront to make this kind of donation. Probably an ambition accomplished a bit late owing to the fact that Harvard could not become poor to make it a meaningful donation.
What if the figure was $1 mn?
It would have shut the door of several backbites.
What if the Harvard at the time of this donation had announced that it would have a branch in India very soon?
Wow! How tricky was this donation!! TATA is TATA!!!…every body with bigmouth.
This is the donation with apt figure purely done with gratitude without expecting anything in return.
This donation is going to appreciate not only Shri Ratanji but also the “INDIAN ETHICS” that several Western and Europeans countries lack it.
It is a kind of offer we do next to our parents.
Appreciate. Appreciate. And Bless.
-V. Kasiviswanathan,
4210 Lincolnswing #20,USA-50014.
childisgod@hotmail.com
(The above comment is written in response to the critics to the following comment posted in MSN on Oct.15, 2010.
Link: http://education.in.msn.com/colleges/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4418229&_p=db358d9f-8352-4b1f-971d-7dbef062aa88#uc2Lstdb358d9f-8352-4b1f-971d-7dbef062aa88
October 22, 2010 at 7:25 am
I appreciate your admiration for Ratan Tata. So do I, but not for this particular donation.
We do not need Harvards today, nor the Nano cars. What we need is bread, and education for the street children and rag-picking children of India. Indian Ethics has nothing to do with this donation.This is misplaced charity.
Thank you
October 30, 2010 at 2:08 am
The reasoning for not to give to Harvard,US as you mention, especially the need for bread & education for street/rag-picking children is is always gong to be there.
There are more needs to be met in India, no doubt and it is going to be like this for a long time. But that does not mean that we ignore the rest of the world in any sense. Gone are the days when any nation can survive independently, each nation needs to work with another for their overall growth. Giving some amount to a street child is NOT the solution to poverty, backwardness and lack of education.
If we need to make India a developed nation, we need to have cordial relationships with other nations (especially other developed nation) and developing and maintaining a good relationships is a complex process. It involves attitude, money, diplomacy etc….
One cannot argue that we should wait for poverty to be removed or lack-of-basic-needs to be met, and only after that one should work with other people/countries. It is not a practical to do so. We have to develop in all areas and all angles. We have work with the under-developed citizens of India and also at the same time work well-developed people (nation).
When you work on a seed, you need to have experience working with the full grown trees as well so as to best nurture & take care of the seed as it grows up.