Media titan, philanthropist, spiritualist Indu Jain who was the chairperson of Times Group died due to COVID-19. After her demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and many other leaders condoled her death. A Padma Vibhushan recipient, Mrs. Jain was 84 years old at the time of passing.

Times Now TV labelled Mrs. Jain as a visionary and a spiritual seeker who pioneered philanthropy and carried with her a passion for women’s right. A child from Sahu Jain family, she was married to Ashok Kumar Jain, the former chairman of the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Bennett, Coleman and Company is a media conglomerate which currently owns several newspapers that include, Times of India, The Economic Times, Maharashtra Times, Mumbai Mirror, Navbharat Times and TV channels including Times Now, ET Now, Mirror Now, Zoom, ET Now.

Distinctive Leadership Style with Compassion and Inclusiveness

As a Chairperson of Times Group, she is credited to have distinctive style of leadership that possessed compassion and inclusiveness which led to the group reach heights it never did in the past. In 2000, Mrs. Jain founded the Times Foundation, a philanthropic organization sustainable development and transformational change towards a better India as its key goals. Since its inception, the foundation has engaged in multitudes of community services such as disaster relief, skill development for the marginalized, women empowerment, etc.

Becoming the chairperson of Bharatiya Jnanpith

In 1997, she became the chairperson of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and research organization. The organization is known to publish some of the best literary works in several languages and presenting India’s highest literary award, the Jnanpith Award.

Founding member of International Association for Human Values

Mrs. Jain was also one of the founding members of the IAHV (International Association for Human Values), a partner organization of the Art of Living foundation set up by spiritualist Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. As a spiritualist business baron, Mrs. Jain helped IAHV to turn into an international volunteer-based NGO that later received consultative status with United Nation’s ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council).

Mrs. Jain was closely associated to all things spiritualist and was an avid reader of religious scriptures from different religions. Her thirst for learning was evident when she used to attend several sermons at Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Centre and questioned the speakers on various conundrums that she had.

“Sincere seeker, media baron, promotor of art & culture”: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Indu Jain

After her demise, Ravi Shankar himself penned an obituary where he wrote,

“A sincere seeker, a media baron and a promotor of art and culture, Indu Jain will be remembered for her outstanding contribution to spirituality and humanism. She was detached, yet loving and kind. After spirituality, her other passion was food. She had extensive knowledge of it and was very particular about the timings and kinds of food she ate.”

A business baron with a heart of gold, Mrs. Jain was also the founder president of FLO (FICCI Ladies Organization). The organization works in the space of promoting entrepreneurship among women through workshops, conferences training programs, conferences across 17 regions spread in India.

Further, Indu Jain was also one of the influential figures that was responsible in the formation of Oneness Forum, an organization that preached the idea of unity in the word. Later, she set up the Mahavira Mahatma award, a reward given to those who abide by the principles of non-violence that were widely propagated by Mahatma Gandhi.

She is survived by her sons Samir Jain and Vineet Jain. While Samir is the vice chairman of Bennett, Coleman & Co., Vineet is the company’s managing director.

Twitter mourns the death of Indu Jain

After her demise, political leaders and business moguls all came together on Twitter and expressed their sadness while giving support to the Jain family.

The President of India, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind wrote, “In the demise of Smt. Indu Jain, Chairperson of Times Group, we lost a unique media leader and a great patron of art & culture. She left her special imprint in the areas of entrepreneurship, spirituality & philanthropy. Condolences to her family, friends and admirers.”

The nation’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his sadness and wrote, “Saddened by the demise of Times Group Chairperson Smt. Indu Jain Ji. She will be remembered for her community service initiatives, passion towards India’s progress and deep-rooted interest in our culture. I recall my interactions with her. Condolences to her family. Om Shanti.”

Here are other political leaders, journalists and other eminent figures that shared their grief on Twitter: