Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani on Saturday delivered an emotional speech at the felicitation of eminent scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, marking the launch of his book and celebrating his rare achievement of receiving 54 honorary PhDs.
The launch of “More from Less for More: Innovation’s Holy Grail” by Padma Vibhushan awardee Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar and Sushil Borde, was held at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai on the occasion of International Human Solidarity Day on Saturday.
Excerpts from Mukesh Ambani’s speech:
In Dr Mashelkar’s life journey, I see the journey of Modern India: Ambani
“To have first and foremost Prof. M. M. Sharma who has had the largest impact on me since I was 20 years old. I’ll give my age away. It was 44 years. And Dr Mashelkar in my personal life. I got to know
him in the 90s. Both these personalities have influenced my thinking and are responsible for some of the outcomes that Reliance has achieved. That is why I want to start with my deep respects To Professor Sharma. We have our dynamic Education Minister Shri Chandrakant Patil ji is here,” said Ambani. “Fifty-four honorary doctorates. Yes — fifty-four. Most people struggle to get one degree in their lifetime. Dr. Mashelkar has earned them the way some people collect frequent-flyer miles! Whenever I congratulated him on his Honorary PhDs or the even more awards he has won, he would say, “Arre Mukesh, but the real work is yet to begin.” That is how we have seen… worked together for 2 or 3 decades now. Dr Mashelkar is like that proverbial rich tree laden with fruits, but which always bends low. He is humility personified,” he said. “In Dr Mashelkar’s life journey, I see the journey of Modern India. A young boy studying under Mumbai streetlights grows up to illuminate the scientific imagination of an entire nation. All he had in his childhood was his mother Smt. Anjaniji’s love and his own steely determination and diligent efforts. He rose from scarcity to global respect. In his books and speeches, he has often described Indian society as an iceberg, where most people live below the visible surface. He says: “Our challenge as scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators is to lift this iceberg above the surface so that everyone can have the quality of life they deserve.” And this is common between Prof Sharma, Dr Mashelkar and my father. My father Dhirubhai founded Reliance with the sole aim of ‘we must develop the quality of life of Indians’. India and Indians must move forward and that is what the purpose of Reliance was, said Ambani.
‘Yeh MUMKIN hai’: Ambani on possibilities of new India
“New India is full of young dreamers. Millions of dreams are becoming a reality… In India itself … and not by chasing them as Prof Shama said in foreign lands. Of course, we still have a long way to go. But as Dr Mashelkar always says, “Yeh MUMKIN hai.” It’s POSSIBLE. And that is what he has done all his life… In rebuilding CSIR into a world-class scientific research ecosystem. In defending India’s traditional knowledge in global patent battles.
In advising the government and corporates on innovation. And above all, for me, in building Reliance as a Science and deep tech led country,” he said.
“I go back to mid-90s when he talked to us, at that time from Government of India, Science & Technology. I still remember Ajay, Swati. They were all around. I called him even then, Doc. I told him… Doc, I want Reliance to become an a truly innovative company. We are good in project execution. Prof. Sharma always tells me that you buy technology, when will you make your own technology? And that is how our association started. And if I give credit on vision, I think that bulk of Reliance’s vision I have always validated with Prof Sharma has corrected it. And for the record, right, it has been royalty free. The only royalty that has happened is he’s seen a smile on our face. But everything that we’ve done right, he has spent hours and after that with Dr Mashelkar. He has really been involved, hands on with us, in terms of from the trenches. And over the last two decades, he has been very much an integral part of what Reliance has achieved,” he said.
“I can say today with great pride that we have over 100,000 technical professionals in Reliance out of our 550,000 people. All of them are now at the threshold of really being a deep innovation, deep tech science led company. That is what Dr Mashelkar has contributed to Reliance. I told him that, if we want to… I will take three hours to really enunciate his contribution to Reliance. I just want to share with this audience that when we started, he was the first to really bring in the Reliance Innovation Council, where we brought in a lot of Nobel laureates, global thinkers to really talk to our people in terms of what does local innovation mean? This we started in the year 2000. It was his idea. That Reliance Innovation Council, with grassroot capabilities in Reliance, have now spread, and they have become a movement. They are now basically our culture,” he said.
Ambani on the mantra of ‘More from less for more’
“Many years ago, he once told me: “Mukesh, Reliance must become a deep-tech company. But it should be different from those in advanced countries.” The formula he suggested was “Extreme Affordability”. He called it ‘Gandhian Engineering’. He has described it in his latest book with his famous mantra: “MORE from LESS for MORE”.
Produce MORE using the latest technologies, with LESS natural and financial resources, to benefit MORE and MORE people is nothing but a philosophy that he has practiced for 30 years,” Ambani said.
“I still remember when India sent its space mission, he had mentioned to me, “Look, India has sent a rocket to Mars for less than the cost of a Bollywood movie. This is what Indian corporates should do with self-reliant efforts to offer products and services of highest quality to improve the lives of common Indians.”
“I think that at Reliance we have taken his vision. We are always grateful for you to implement. We’ve done this beyond the area of Chemical Engineering. Jio is a classic example where you are on my Board. There were lots of disbelievers in Jio for many years. Today, in my view, it has catapulted India into the digital mainstream of the world in terms of where we are and if we want to lead digital. I think the idea of us being the lowest data and with the world entering the intelligence age, Jio lays that foundation. Thank you, Doc, for describing the Jio story in your latest book,” he said.
Ambani on clean and green energy
“One of the things that Prof Sharma, myself and particularly my father believed in was, if India imports 80 % of its energy, we can never become rich. Whatever else we do, we have to solve these issues. And I can say that, when we started, Dr Mashelkar again, said, with everything, one good thing is that with age actually increases his energy. Whenever I tell him we want to do this, he says, Yes, from tomorrow, I’m putting 24 hours on it. We will have many conference calls and do it. So he sets up a new Energy Council, which we set up few years ago. I can say that with great confidence, with the people and the work that we have done is that we are at the doorsteps of solving local energy of not using solar only as a four-hour fuel, we can use solar to really solve some of the problems that India has to solve for a long time,” he said.
“I will always be grateful to you to make sure that, like you have laid the foundation, and we will show the way as to how we can make green and clean energy available in abundance and affordable way with green fuels to not only India but most of the world. And that will be the best tribute that we can pay for this path of less for more.
He has taught all of us to see Reliance not as an industrial company. But as a science company.”
Passion and pursuit of knowledge
“I must mention one more thing I have learnt from Doc. One day he told me, “Mukesh, technology without compassion is just machinery. Technology with compassion becomes a social movement.” I have reflected a lot upon this. The world is full of intelligent people. Now the world has also entered a new era of Artificial Intelligence. Of course, we need AI. We must become world leaders in AI. But we need EMPATHY and COMPASSION even more. By combining intelligence with empathy, prosperity with purpose, India can present a new model of development to the rest of the world,” said Ambani.
“There are two more qualities that all of us ─ and especially young Indians ─ should learn from this proud son of India. Both qualities seem to grow with his age. One is his PASSION. Whenever he talks ─ whether he is talking to politicians, businessmen or young students ─ you can see how passionate he is. His other quality is his KEEN and TIRELESS PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. He is a true Gyan Yogi. A lifelong learner. And he generously shares his learning. He is all the time sharing his knowledge and his rich experience with IITs, IIMs, IISERs, even small local colleges. This is because he wants India to become a nation of world-class universities and research institutes.”
“As we honour Dr Mashelkar on his almost unparalleled achievement, I wish to share with you another important reflection. He is the best-known bridge between the scientific community and the business community. But India needs more bridge-builders like him. We need much stronger integration of Indian businesses with Indian universities and research institutions. This is how India can become a deep-tech superpower. An India where AI, quantum, synthetic biology, advanced materials, space technologies, healthcare solutions and new agricultural practices are invented through the joint efforts of our scientists and enterprises, with right government policies.
Dear Doc, I am sure this has been your lifelong dream. You have ignited millions of Indian minds with your words and deeds. Your life tells every Indian child: “It doesn’t matter where you start. What matters is how big you dream. How hard you work. And how deeply you care.” On behalf of Reliance… On behalf of this audience… And on behalf of a grateful nation… Thank you for inspiring India. Thank you for inspiring us. And thank you for shaping a future where India will not just join the world… but lead it,” said Ambani.
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