Mukesh Ambani tells how ‘Gyan Yogi’ Dr Raghunath Mashelkar inspired his Reliance journey. india news

Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on Saturday delivered an emotional speech in honor of eminent scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, celebrating the release of his book and his rare achievement of receiving 54 honorary PhDs.

“More from Less for More: Innovation’s Holy Grail”, written by Padma Vibhushan awardees Dr Raghunath Anant Mashelkar and Sushil Borde, was launched at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai on Saturday on the occasion of International Human Solidarity Day.

Excerpts from Mukesh Ambani’s speech:

I see the journey of modern India in the life journey of Dr. Mashelkar: Ambani

“First and foremost is Professor MM Sharma, who has had the greatest influence on me since I was 20 years old. Let me tell you my age. It was 44 years. 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 is why I want to start with my deep respect for Professor Sharma Our dynamic Education Minister Shri Chandrakant Patil ji is here. Ambani said.

“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 his honorary PhD or on the many awards he had won, 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 the epitome of humility,” he said.

“In the life journey of Dr. Mashelkar, I see the journey of modern India. A young boy studying under the street lights of Mumbai grows up to illuminate the scientific imagination of an entire country. In his childhood he had only the love of his mother, Mrs. Anjaniji, and his own 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 tip this iceberg

surface so that everyone can have the quality of life they deserve.” And this is what Professor Sharma, Dr. Mashelkar and my father have in common. My father Dhirubhai founded Reliance with the sole objective that ‘we should improve the quality of life of Indians.’ Ambani said, India and Indians should move forward and this was the aim of Reliance.

‘This is possible’: Ambani on possibilities of new India

“The new India is full of young dreamers. Millions of dreams are becoming reality… in India itself… and not by chasing them as Professor Shama said in a foreign land. Of course, we still have a long way to go. But as Dr. Mashelkar always says, “It is possible.” It is possible. And that is what he has done all his life… in rebuilding CSIR into a world-class scientific research ecosystem. Protecting India’s traditional knowledge in the global patent fight In doing.

Advising government and corporates on innovation. And most of all, for me, to build Reliance as a science and technology led country,” he said.

“I go back to the mid-90s when he talked to us, at that time from the Government of India, science and technology. I still remember Ajay, Swati. They were around. I called them even then, Doctor. I told them… Doctor, I want Reliance to be a really innovative company. We are good at project execution. Professor Sharma always tells me that you buy technology, when will you build your technology? And that’s how our collaboration began. And if I give credit to the vision, So I think that’s big. I have always confirmed Reliance’s approach with Professor Sharma and for the record, the only royalty that has happened is that we have spent hours with Dr Mashelkar and over the last two decades, he has been really involved with us, he said.

“I can say with great pride today that we have over 100,000 technology professionals at Reliance out of our 550,000 people. All of them are now really on the cusp of becoming a deep innovation, deep technology science-led company. That’s what Dr. Mashelkar has contributed to Reliance. I told him that, if we want… I would really take three hours to express his contribution to Reliance. I just want to tell this audience I want to share with him that when we started, he was actually the first to have the Reliance Innovation Council, where we brought in several Nobel laureates, global thinkers to talk to us about what local innovation means. It was his idea that the Reliance Innovation Council has now spread across Reliance, and they have now become our culture.

Ambani on the mantra of ‘more for less’

“Many years ago, he once told me: “Mukesh, Reliance should become a deep-tech company. But it should be different from the advanced countries.” The formula he suggested was “extreme affordability”. He called it ‘Gandhian engineering’. He describes it in his latest book with his famous mantra: “More for less”.

To produce more, using the latest technologies, with less natural and financial resources, to benefit more people is nothing but a philosophy which he has practiced for over 30 years,” Ambani said.

“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 movie. 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 at Reliance we have adopted his vision. We are always grateful for your implementation. We have done it beyond the field of chemical engineering. Jio is an excellent example where you are on my board. There were a lot of disbelievers in Jio for many years. Today, in my view, it has propelled India into the digital mainstream of the world in terms of where we are and if we want to be digital leaders. I think the idea about us being the least data-hungry and the world entering the intelligence era is Jio believes that the foundation is doing this. Thank you for describing Jio’s story in your latest book,” he said.

Ambani on clean and green energy

“Professor Sharma, one of the things I and especially my father believed in was that if India imports 80% of its energy, we can never become rich. Whatever we do, we have to solve these issues. And I can say that, when we started, Dr. Mashelkar said again, as with everything, one good thing is that their energy actually increases with age. Whenever I tell them we want to do this So he says, yes, I’m going to have a number of conference calls on this. And that’s why we set up a new energy council, and the work that we’ve done is that we can use solar energy to really solve some of the problems that we’ve been facing for a long time. Has to be solved in 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 with green fuels in abundance and affordably to not just India but much of the world. And that will 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.”

Pursuit of passion and knowledge

“Let me tell you one more thing that I learned from the doctor. 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 a new era of Artificial Intelligence. Certainly, we need AI. We should become world leaders 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,” Ambani said.

“There are two more qualities that we all – and especially young Indians – should learn from this proud son of India. Both qualities seem to increase 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. The other quality of his is his deep and tireless pursuit of knowledge. He is a true Gyan Yogi. A lifelong learner. And he generously shares his learnings. He always shares his knowledge and his rich experience with IITs, IIMs, even small local colleges. This is because he wants India to become a country of world class universities and research institutes.

“As we are honoring Dr. Mashelkar for his almost peerless achievement, I would like 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 stronger integration of Indian businesses with Indian universities and research institutes. This is how India can become a deep tech superpower. An India where through the joint efforts of our scientists and enterprises, AI, Quantum, synthetic biology, advanced materials, space technologies and new agricultural practices are invented.

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… thank you 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,” Ambani said.