The Greatest Philanthropist of the 20th century

Last week, a study by Edel-Give Foundation and Hurun India identified the top 50 global philanthropists of the last century. It was supremely revealing that the honour of being the numero uno philanthropist did not go to a citizen of the developed world, but to a citizen from the then colonized world. Jamsetji Tata, Founder of the Tata Group, received the distinction of being the No. 1 philanthropist of the 20th century. The Tata Family's philanthropic contributions were valued at $102 billion which was four times that of John D. Rockefeller, a contemporary of Jamsetji Tata, and three times that of Warren Buffet, our contemporary. The prominent names identified in the study are depicted in the image below.

In the last 100 years, most philanthropists from the USA donated a substantial amount in charities to benefit from tax exemptions. The Rockefellers were considered to be pioneers in estate-tax avoidance. In 1916, John D. Rockefeller, then the world’s richest man, circumvented estate tax by simply giving much of his fortune to his son. The US Congress closed that loophole eight years later by adding a parallel tax on living gifts to heirs. Not all of Rockefeller’s contemporaries sought to found dynasties. Andrew Carnegie donated almost his entire fortune to charity, building thousands of libraries across USA.

Jamsetji's philanthropic contributions pre-date most of his contemporaries like Rockefeller and Carnegie. However, it would be worthwhile exploring the motivations of Jamsetji Tata to indulge in philanthropy, in the magnitude he did, while India was still a British colony, and its political independence was nowhere on the horizon. During such a time of uncertainty, let's explore the grandsire's vision for India.

Reflecting on his philanthropic vision that developed in parallel to his industrial success, Jamsetji Tata once mentioned:

‘There is one kind of charity common enough among us… It is that patchwork philanthropy which clothes the ragged, feeds the poor, and heals the sick. I am far from decrying the noble spirit which seeks to help a poor or suffering fellow being… However, what advances a nation or a community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members, but to lift up the best and the most gifted, so as to make them of the greatest service to the country.’

To this end, he established the JN Tata Endowment in 1892 to enable Indian students to pursue higher studies overseas. By 1924, two out of every five Indians coming into the elite Indian Civil Service were Tata scholars. By 2016, there were more than 5,000 JN Tata scholars all over the world. Some of the illustrious names include KR Narayanan, former President of India; scientists Dr Jayant Narlikar, Dr Raja Ramanna and Dr Raghunath Mashelkar; and Dr Jivraj Mehta, former Chief Minister of Gujarat. I too was a beneficiary when invited as a Visiting Scholar to the Harvard Business School.

The Convocation Address by Chancellor Lord Reay at Bombay University in 1889 spurred Jamsetji’s vision for an institute of advanced research for the material and industrial welfare of India, the like of which even Britain did not have. He envisaged this institute providing postgraduate education and research training in sciences, technology and humanities. The grandiose nature of his vision can be appreciated from the then prevailing context of higher education in India. The three universities at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were established in 1857 and acted primarily as examining bodies for graduate courses. There was no discourse around post-graduation and advanced scientific research in academic circles.

These were areas Jamsetji believed as vital for a resurgent and independent India. He sent his son-in-law and trusted aide Burjorji Padshah to visit universities in Britain and USA. After 18 months of travel, Padshah returned to India and recommended John Hopkins University at Baltimore as a suitable model. The eponymous institute was established through an endowment of US$ 350,000 by the leading American entrepreneur and philanthropist in 1876.

Image: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

In a letter dated 27 November 1896 to Lord Reay, Governor of Bombay, Jamsetji wrote,

‘Being blessed by the Mercy of Providence with more than a fair share of the world’s goods, and persuaded that I owe much of my success in life to an unusual combination of favouring circumstances, I have felt incumbent on myself to help to provide a continuous sphere of such circumstances for my less fortunate countrymen.’

In the letter he also elaborated the quantum of funds he proposed to commit to the Institute and emphasized that he did not want the Institute to be named after him. In the same year, he pledged almost half his fortune (consisting of 14 building and four properties) worth ?30 lakhs towards setting up the Institute. It was ten times the amount the world’s richest man - the Nizam of Hyderabad, eventually gave for IISc. It was an unprecedented gesture, and a fabulous sum by any measure, especially in India. The press and the Congress hailed Jamsetji’s ‘practical charity’ and called him a true son of ‘Mother Bharati’.

Image: Swami Vivekananda (1863 - 1902), Founder, Ramakrishna Mission

Support came from a spiritual leader – Swami Vivekananda. The association between the monk and the merchant dated back to May 1893 when they were together onboard the ship from Japan to Canada. When Jamsetji shared his vision for the Institute, Vivekananda had remarked,

‘How wonderful it would be if we could combine the scientific and technological achievements of the West with the asceticism and humanism of India!’

These words stayed with Jamsetji and five years later in November 1898, he personally wrote to him seeking his involvement and leadership for the proposed institute. Given his commitments with the Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Vivekananda could not spare time, but Sister Nivedita, his disciple, worked extensively to popularise the project with eminent educationists in USA and Britain. She remained committed to the project till its fruition. In April 1899, Prabuddha Bharat, Ramakrishna Mission’s mouthpiece lauded the scheme, ‘We are not aware if any project at once so opportune and so far reaching in its beneficent effects has ever been mooted in India... The scheme grasps the vital point of weakness in our national well-being with a clearness of vision and tightness of grip, the mastery of which is only equalled by the munificence of the gift that is being ushered to the public.’

Image: Letter by Jamsetji Tata to Swami Vivekananda in November, 1898

In December 1898, a distinguished committee of eminent citizens formed by Jamsetji Tata present this plan before the Raj. Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of British India, wasn’t convinced of the relevance and utility of such a grand scheme for India and the expenses it would entail. He dragged his feet and was non-committal on a government contribution. Several rounds of discussions and conferences followed. One of the points of contention was the location of the institute. While the committee formed by Curzon suggested Roorkee as the ideal place, Jamsetji wanted to go with the suggestion of Lord Ramsay (a future Nobel Laureate) of selecting Bangalore. The elite of Bombay were keen that the Institute should be as close to the city as possible. Two plausible locations in suburban Bombay were identified: Dindoshi (near Malad) and Magathane (near Thane).

The other point of contention was the quantum of funding. While the Jamsetji Tata-led committee wanted the Imperial Government to contribute an amount equivalent to the interest on Jamsetji’s endowment, which amounted to GBP 8,000 per year, Curzon was not willing to go beyond GBP 2,000. Curzon thought Jamsetji was fishing for a baronetcy (a hereditary title of honour). Jamsetji despised such ideas and declined the offer on two occasions. Despite Lord Hamilton’s insistence, Curzon dodged the proposal for nearly half a decade. The British Government thought that since the permission for the Institute had not been given, at his advanced age, Jamsetji would divert the funds to his other industrial ventures. Instead, Jamsetji’s rocky resolve became visible from his explicit instruction to his sons in his will that the amount set aside for the Institute should not be touched. He encouraged them to contribute part of their inheritance for this scheme and work towards its fruition.

A year after Jamsetji’s death, and before completing his term as Viceroy, Curzon finally gave permission for the Institute. The Imperial Government committed to contribute in equal proportion to the amount that would accrue as interest from the benefaction of Jamsetji, which in those years amounted to ?125,000 per year. Since inception, IISc has been a tripartite venture between the Tatas, the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka. Given its national importance, the Government of India now bears the expenses.

Image: The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Krishnaraj Wodeyar IV, Maharaja of Mysore, donated 370 acres of land for the project. In 1911, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore finally opened its doors. Ever since, several notable scientists of India have been groomed in its classrooms. Its first Indian director was Sir CV Raman, the Nobel Laureate. A century later, 2,000 young scientists leave its portals every year to fulfil Jamsetji’s dream of a technologically advanced and scientifically self-sufficient India. IISc has consistently ranked as the best university in India and among the top 50 in Asia. Topmost scientists including Sir M. Visvesvaraya, Dr Homi Bhabha, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, Professor Suri Bhagavantam, Dr Satish Dhawan, Professor CNR Rao and several others who have played a key role in India’s scientific and technological progress have been closely associated with IISc in various capacities.

What modern-day scholars refer to as ‘strategic philanthropy’, can be seen from Jamsetji’s support for scientific and technical education a century ago. Albeit its strategic focus was for India and not for the donor. Such strategic philanthropy has continued in the subsequent generations of the Tata Family for providing or catalysing sustainable and institutional solutions for systemic problems. These include institutions of excellence such as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai), Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai), National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore), JRD Tata Ecotechnology Center (Chennai), Tata Medical Center (Kolkata), Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre (Varanasi), and several others that have been seeded and supported by the Tata Trusts. Each of them has been a pioneer and has risen over the decades as an institution of eminence, not only in India but across Asia.

In a future article, I'll capture the work and contribution of Tata Trusts.

Published by Penguin Random House India, 'THE TATA GROUP' is available at your nearest bookstore and on most major airports. It can also be ordered on Amazon and Flipkart in Print, Kindle and Audio versions. A lot more information is available on my website: shashankshah.com