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G V Ramakrishna launches Pathbreakers 2
Pathbreakers 2
It has been a busy week. On 15 February, G V Ramakrishna launched our second book of interviews Pathbreakers 2, as well as a gift pack of both editions at the lovely conference hall at YASHADA, Pune. G V Ramakrishna, Padma Bhushan, former Member Planning Commission, former Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Disinvestment Commission, has been one of our rare and outstanding bureaucrats who is known for his sharp wit, blunt speech and unimpeachable integrity. In his public career spanning Two Score and Twenty years (also the title of his memoirs and a must read of those who want to know how much can be done by the power of one right thinking person) Mr.Ramakrishna has never hesitated to do the right thing, even if it cost him a coveted post. He also has a way of giving power to his post, by the way he handled his job – in fact, he turned SEBI into a powerful watchdog, even when it has a fraction of the powers he enjoys today.
GV Ramakrishna and Debashis Basu
The 51 Pathbreakers interviews were first published in MoneyLIFE, a personal finance magazine that is edited and published by my husband, Debashis Basu. Each interview is an autobiographical narrative of rare candour that reveals the unique thought processes, untiring efforts and colourful anecdotes of people who are role models and iconoclasts. They are from diverse fields including music, finance, medicine, science, cinema, advertising, sports, economics and the corporate sector.
Many people have asked us, why Pune? Well, Pune is a unique combination of the modern and the traditional. It is like a metro, but not yet a metropolis and inspite of its massive growth, is a city that one wants to live in. Obviously, many people think like me, because Debashis and I were most gratified at all our friends and pathbreakers who travelled from Mumbai, Dubai and Chennai to be with us that morning. G.V.Ramakrishna himself came from Chennai, Dr. Ram Buxani from Dubai and Dr.Ashok Jhunjhunwala, had a long journey from Varanasi to Delhi to Mumbai to Pune. Among those who drove in from Mumbai were Padma Vibhushan Prof. M.M.Sharma, Jignesh Shah CEO of MCX and Financial Technologies, Dr R.H.Patil (founder of the National Stock Exchange), Shamrao Chougule, Chairman of Indage Industries and Dr.Anil Khandelwal, former Chairman of Bank of Baroda. The Pune stalwarts who joined us at the launch include Satish Magar, Pramod Chaudhari, Dr.R.A.Mashelkar and Dr.Vijay Bhatkar.
A galaxy of super achievers
Here is a word on all those who graced the event, in the words of Debashis.
- Dr. Ram Buxani came to India almost penniless after the Partition, started his career as a typist in Mumbai and went on to become a successful businessman in Dubai and the voice of Non-resident Indians
- Pramod Chaudhari is an engineer from IIT, Bombay and founder of Praj Industries, a technology-driven chemical company that has spread its wings globally.
- From a childhood when he was tending cows in a village near Kolhapur, Shamrao Chougule started a metal fabrication business in Mumbai and then pioneered wine growing in India, proving all his foreign experts wrong
- Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala is a strong nationalist, founder of the TeNet group at IIT Chennai, focused on changing rural India through technology
- Dr. Anil K Khandelwal studied is poor municipal schools but became the most academically qualified bank chairman. Outspoken and thoughtful, he transformed Bank of Baroda through branding and customer service
- Dr RH Patil is the moving force behind the success of National Stock Exchange who, unknown to many, repeated his success in the government securities market
- Dr. Ramesh Mashelkar overcame childhood poverty to come out with flying colours in his studies and went to become one of our best-known scientists and campaigners for Indian patents.
- Dr Vijay Bhatkar came from a backward district in Maharashtra and created India’s supercomputer.
- Professor MM Sharma came from the interiors of Rajasthan and had not even seen running water when he landed in Bombay. Padma Vibhushan awardee, MM Sharma is someone whom Mukesh Ambani, Ajay Parekh and other industrialists call their guru. After returning from Oxford at 28, he refused to work with multinationals and dedicated his life to teaching at UICT, his alma mater.
- Jignesh Shah showed that a highly automated and efficient exchange can be built by a completely unknown private entity. It need not be the domain of government-funded companies.
- Satish Magar built India’s first commercial township, making farmers his shareholders in a remarkable example of inclusive growth.
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