Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
In his address, Mukesh Ambani paid tribute to Dr Mashelkar’s visionary leadership and lasting contribution to science and education, while emphasizing the importance of knowledge, perseverance and ethical innovation in nation building. Here is the full address in which Ambani highlighted Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, a renowned Indian chemical engineer, polymer scientist and a leading figure in India’s science and technology sector.
Good evening!
This evening is indeed very special for me personally.
First and foremost is Professor MM Sharma, who has had the greatest influence on me since I was 20 years old. I will give my age. He was 44 years old.
And in my personal life, Dr. Mashelkar. I knew him in the 90s.
Both these personalities have influenced my thinking and are responsible for some of the results achieved by Reliance.
That’s why I want to start with my deep respect for Professor Sharma.
Our dynamic Education Minister Shri Chandrakant Patil ji is here.
Good evening to all the distinguished guests, members of the scientific community, my dear colleagues from the industry.
And most of all… Good evening to the wonderful Mashelkar family of Mrs. Vaishaliji, Shruti, Amey and Sushil.
I join all of you in honoring an extraordinary Indian scientist for his unique achievement.
Fifty-four honorary doctorates.
Yes – fifty four.
Most people struggle to obtain a degree in their lifetime.
Dr. Mashelkar has earned them the way some people collect frequent-flyer miles!
Whenever I would congratulate him on winning his honorary PhD or even greater awards, he would say, “Hey Mukesh, but the real work is yet to begin.” We have seen the same… having worked together for 2 or 3 decades now.
Dr. Mashelkar is like the proverbial rich tree which is laden with fruits, but which always remains bent down.
He is full of humility.
Dear friends…
I see the journey of modern India in the life journey of Dr. Mashelkar.
A young boy who studies under the street lights of Mumbai grows up to illuminate the scientific imagination of the entire country.
In his childhood he had only his mother Smt. Anjani ji’s love and her own steely determination and diligent efforts.
He rose from destitution 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 life they deserve.”
And this is a common point between Professor Sharma, Dr. Mashelkar and my father.
My father Dhirubhai founded Reliance with the sole objective that ‘we should improve the quality of life of Indians’. India and Indians should move forward and this was the aim of Reliance.
And this is what we are seeing happening in India.
The new India is full of young dreamers.
Millions of dreams are becoming reality… in India only
…and not by following them, as Professor Shama said, to foreign soil.
Of course, we still have a long way to go.
But as Dr. Mashelkar always says, “It is possible.”
It is possible.
And he has done this all his life…
To rebuild CSIR into a world-class scientific research ecosystem.
In defense of India’s traditional knowledge in the global patent battle.
Advising government and corporates on innovation.
And most of all, for me, to build Reliance as a science and technology led country.
I go back to the mid-90s when he talked to us, the Government of India at that time, about science and technology. I still remember Ajay and Swati. They were all around.
I still called him, doctor. I told him… Doctor, I want Reliance to be a truly innovative company. We are good at project implementation.
Professor Sharma always tells me that you buy technology, when will you make your own technology?
And that’s how our association began. And if I give credit to foresight, I think most of the Reliance approaches, which I have always confirmed with Professor Sharma, have got it right. And for the record, well, it’s been royalty free. The only royalty that has happened is that he has seen the smile on our faces. But everything we have done is right, he has spent hours and hours with Dr Mashelkar. He has been involved with us, really, from the trenches. And over the last two decades, he has been an integral part of what Reliance has achieved.
Today, I can say with great pride that out of our 550,000 people, Reliance has more than 100,000 technology professionals. They’re all now on the cusp of becoming really deep innovation, deep technology science-based companies.
Dr. Mashelkar has made the same contribution to Reliance. I told him that, if we wanted… it would take me three hours to really explain his contribution to Reliance.
I just want to share with the audience that when we started, he was actually the first one to bring in the Reliance Innovation Council, where we brought in a lot of Nobel laureates, global thinkers to talk to our people about what does local innovation mean?
We started this in the year 2000. This was his idea. The Reliance Innovation Council, which has grassroots capabilities at Reliance, has now spread, and they have become a movement. They are essentially our culture now.
Dear friends…
Many years ago, he once told me: “Mukesh, Reliance should become a deep-tech company. But it should be different from advanced countries.”
The formula he suggested was “extreme potency”.
He called it ‘Gandhian engineering’.
He describes this in his latest book with his famous mantra:
“More for less”.
Produce more using latest technologies,
With less natural and financial resources,
Benefiting more and more people is nothing but a philosophy that he has practiced for over 30 years.
I still remember when India sent its space mission, he told me, “Look, India has sent a rocket to Mars at a cost less than the cost of a Bollywood film. This is what Indian corporates should do with self-reliant efforts to offer the highest quality products and services to improve the lives of common Indians.”
I think we have adopted his approach at Reliance. We are always grateful for your implementation. We have done this beyond the field of chemical engineering.
Jio is an excellent example of where you are on my board. For many years there were many who disbelieved in Jio. Today, in my view, where we are and if we want to be a digital leader, it has brought India into the digital mainstream of the world. I think with the idea of us being the least data-hungry and with the world entering the intelligence age, Jio has laid that foundation.
Doctor, thank you for describing Jio’s story in your latest book.
Now…
One of the things that Professor Sharma, I and especially my father believed was that if India imported 80% of its energy, we would never be 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 of the good things is that their energy actually increases with age. Whenever I tell them we want to do this, they say, yes, from tomorrow I am putting in 24 hours on it. We will and will have several conference calls.
So they set up a new energy council, which we set up a few years ago. I can say with great confidence, with the people and the work that we have done, that we are at the doorstep of solving local energy by not just using solar energy as a four-hour fuel, we can use solar energy to actually solve some of the problems that India has had to solve for a long time.
I will always be grateful to you for ensuring that, as you have laid the foundation, we will lead the way on how we can provide green and clean energy in abundance and affordably with green fuels, not just in India but in most parts of the world. And that would be the best tribute we can pay to this path of more for less.
He has taught all of us not to look at Reliance as an industrial company.
But as a science company.
My dear friends from the business community,
Let me mention one more thing I learned from Doc.
One day he said to me, “Mukesh, technology without compassion is just machinery.
“Technology with compassion becomes a social movement.”
I have thought about this a lot.
The world is full of intelligent people.
Now the world has also entered the new era of Artificial Intelligence.
Of course, we need AI.
We must become a world leader in AI.
But we need empathy and compassion even more.
By combining intelligence with empathy, prosperity with purpose, India can offer a new model of development to the rest of the world.
Dear friends…
There are two more qualities that all of us – and especially young Indians – should learn from this proud son of India.
Both qualities start increasing with age.
One is his PASSION.
Whenever he speaks – whether he is talking to politicians, businessmen or young students – you can see how emotional he is.
His other quality is his eagerness and tireless pursuit of knowledge.
He is a true Gyan Yogi.
lifelong learner.
And he shares his learning generously.
He keeps sharing his knowledge and his rich experience all the time with IITs, IIMs, IISERs, even small local colleges.
This is because he wants India to become a country of world-class universities and research institutes.
Dear friends…
As we honor Dr. Mashelkar on his almost unparalleled achievement, I want to share with you another important reflection.
He is the most famous bridge between the scientific community and the business community.
But India needs more bridge-builders like him.
We need stronger integration of Indian businesses with Indian universities and research institutes.
In this way India can become a deep-tech superpower.
An India where AI, quantum, synthetic biology, advanced materials, space technology, health care solutions and new agricultural practices are invented through the combined efforts of our scientists and enterprises, with the right government policies.
Dear Doctor, I am sure this has been your lifelong dream.
You have ignited millions of Indian minds with your words and actions.
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…
Thanks for inspiring India.
Thanks for inspiring us.
And thank you for shaping a future where India will not only join the world… but lead it.
Ladies and gentlemen…
Please join me in celebrating one of India’s greatest sons – Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar.
Let us all stand up and congratulate him for all his achievements and for being an inspiration to millions of Indians.
Jai Hind!
Thank you.