Ratan Tata's Journey From A Cornell Graduate To Make Indian Student's Dreams To Reality
Ratan N. Tata, one of India’s most influential and respected business leaders and philanthropists left a life that inspires people who have met him or those who never could get the chance. People from education to sports, business, social service, and politicians are sharing their condolences on social media and homage to honor Tata’s legacy.
Tata was the chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, the holding company for the Tata Group, with revenue exceeding $100 billion upon his retirement, while being recognized for a focus on the public good. From 2012 till his death, Tata chaired the Tata Trusts, India’s largest private-sector philanthropic organization which owns a 66% stake in Tata Group as well as his venture capital firm.
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Tata’s contribution from research to rural poverty, eradication of malnutrition in India, making luxury a thing for common people, supporting education through scholarships, and many more is incomparable. In the field of education, Tata’s contribution has brought many talented young students’ dreams to reality by providing them with scholarships and grants to uplift their careers.
Being a 1959-62, Architecture graduate of Cornell University in USA, Ratan Tata emerged as the biggest financial contributor to the university. In 2008, Tata Trust created a $50 million research initiative, the ‘Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition’ and endowed the Tata Scholarship for Students in India.
In 2017, a $50 million grant from Tata Consulatancy helped in building the Tata Innovation Centre on Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island Campus. As of this academic year, 305 Tata scholarships have awarded 89 students from India.
The Tata Trusts have developed a profound understanding of the challenges in the education sector and needs of various communities. So far upto 2023, Tata Trust has covered 2,100,000 students and 200,000 teachers of 44,000 schools in 12 states.
Trust has collaborated with institutions to make education accessible and affordable for many. Under the Assam State Initiative (ASI) in 2019, the Trust conducted motivational camps for out of school children to bring them back to school.
A promient example transforming school can be seen with Koturaguda Upper Primary School in Bissam Cuttack block, in Odisha’s Rayagada district. Many issues such as spending of the school composite grant; the issue of electrification; the re-enrolment of out-of-school children and repairing of broken boundary walls were taken up.
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The Trust also worked relentlessly even during the time of pandemic. The Trusts’ teams in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka worked with the community through learning centres and libraries, as well as engaging with teachers and Anganwadi workers, reaching over 123,000 children from 1,400 villages.
Scholarships for J.N. Tata Endowment Loans, Professional Enhancement Grants, Lady Meherbai D. Tata Scholarship, Tata Trusts Means Grant, and Civil Aviation Scholarship are among the renowed fianancial support provided by the Trust to Indian students to study in India and abroad.
