Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata urged his followers to discontinue the #BharatRatnaforRatanTata campaign to confer him the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. With his humble urge on Twitter, the philanthropist business tycoon has been brought back into the limelight for all the right reasons.
As it happens on Twitter, the campaign took a life of its own when motivational speaker Dr. Vivek Bhindra tweeted about bestowing Ratan Tata the highest civilian award for his leadership and philanthropic efforts. Dr. Vivek Bhindra wrote, “Ratan Tata believes today`s generation of entrepreneurs can take India to next level. We confer the country`s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna for @RNTata2000.” His tweet was followed with #BharatRatnaForRatanTata. Twitteratis came in full support and took this tweet as a sign to start an online campaign for the same.
Ratan Tata believes today`s generation of entrepreneurs can take India to next level. We confer the country`s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna for @RNTata2000
Join us in our campaign #BharatRatnaForRatanTata #RequestByDrVivekBindra@PMOIndia @rashtrapatibhvn @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/U3Wr3aMxJh
— Dr. Vivek Bindra (@DrVivekBindra) February 5, 2021
Following the motivational speaker’s tweet, the netizens also started Tweeting out and broadcasted the trend urging the Indian government to felicitate Ratan Tata with the prestigious award. People on Twitter also tagged government officials active on Twitter with the campaign hashtag. A person tweeted saying, “A person who dedicated his entire life for building the strong pillars of India, We request GOI to give Bharat Ratna to sir Ratan Tata.”
But in his own humble manner, the veteran entrepreneur took to Twitter on Saturday morning and said, “While I appreciate the sentiments expressed by a section of the social media in terms of an award, I would humbly like to request that such campaigns be discontinued.” Mr. Tata also mentioned in his statement that he considers himself fortunate to be an Indian and to be able to contribute to India’s growth.
While I appreciate the sentiments expressed by a section of the social media in terms of an award, I would humbly like to request that such campaigns be discontinued.
Instead, I consider myself fortunate to be an Indian and to try and contribute to India’s growth and prosperity pic.twitter.com/CzEimjJPp5
— Ratan N. Tata (@RNTata2000) February 6, 2021
The 83-year-old philanthropist has received both Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by the Indian government. Additionally, he has also been conferred the title of UK’s Honorary Kight, British Empire’s Commander of the Order, and similar grand awards by the Italian, Japanese and French government.
Mr. Tata has been considered one of the biggest philanthropists modern India has been blessed with. Known for his compassion, Mr. Tata made it to the news just last month when he visited Pune to pay a visit to a former Tata Group employee who had been unwell for the last two years. Although he went without any media or fanfare, his picture was shared on LinkedIn and led him to become the trending person for that particular time. The photo since then has received more than 1.9 lakh likes and over 4000 comments.
Ratan Tata has 65% of his shares invested in charitable trusts across India. Tata Group’s own philanthropic affiliate Tata Education and Development Trust has put a $28 million scholarship fund which allows Ratan Tata’s alumnus Cornell University to provide financial help to bright undergraduate Indian students.
In 2014, Tata Group donated Rs. 950 million to IIT, Bombay to form the Tata Center for Technology and Design to promote design and engineering initiatives to help the need of people and communities who are hard-pressed with resources. Tata Group also formed an MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design at the esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a similar mission. Recently Mr. Tata pledged Rs. 1,500 crore towards the COVID-19 relief fund.
The revenue of Ratan Tata’s- Tata Group for the Financial Year 2020 was $106 billion. A total of 30 companies are under the Tata Group umbrella spread across 100 countries in the world. These 30 companies employ more than 7.5 lakh people.
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