Walchand Hirachand: Difference between revisions

'''Walchand Hirachand Doshi''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CIE}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33343 |supp=y |page=5|date= 30 December 1927}}</ref> (23 November 1882 – 8 April 1953) was an [[India]]n [[industrialist]] and the founder of the [[Walchand group]]. He established India's first modern [[shipyard]], first aircraft factory and first [[car]] factory; he also established construction companies, sugarcane plantations, sugar factories, confectioneries, engineering companies and many other businesses.<ref name=a/><ref name=b/><ref name=c/><ref name=d>Dalit phobia: why do they hate us? by Chandra Bhan Prasad, 2006, pp 228</ref><ref name=e>The Indian encyclopaedia: biographical, historical, religious, ...: Volume 2 by Subodh Kapoor, 2002</ref>

Walchand Hirachand was from a [[Vaishya]] family hailing from [[Wankaner]] in Gujarat, who had settled in [[Solapur]] in the erstwhile [[Bombay Presidency]].<ref name=a/> He was born in Solapur, (now in [[Maharashtra]]) in a [[Digambar]] [[Jain]] family to Seth Hirachand Nemchand Doshi by his first wife Raju. Hirachand was engaged in cotton trading and money lending. Walchand's mother died a few days after his birth. Hirachand married later to Sakhubai to whom his half-brothers [[Gulabchand Hirachand|Gulabchand]], [[Ratanchand Hirachand|Ratanchand]] and [[Lalchand Hirachand|Lalchand]] were born.<ref name=a/>

Walchand was noted for his ambition and vision. Among his adversaries, the more charitable termed him a dreamer while the less charitable dismissed him as a person who wanted to run even before learning to walk. Despite not hailing from an established business house, the projects undertaken by Walchand were grand in design, to say the least. While attention to detail in planning was not one of his strengths, he always seemed to know how to find his way around. This was true especially with respect to manpower management, meeting deadlines and raising funds. Most of his projects were highly leveraged. While he seemed to oppose nationalisation and government control of some of the projects he started such as the shipyard and the aircraft factory, the fact remains that these businesses may have had to face liquidation but for government investing the money. Also, it needs to be noted that the government also had a strong interest in the operation of these industries as it directly helped in its war efforts. Despite exercising management control in firms such as Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd., Hindustan Aircraft and Hindustan Shipyard, he was not the largest shareholder in any of these companies. He understood the power of mass media and cultivated it to gather public support for his projects; while this may appear to be easy in the politically charged days of the [[British Raj]], it also has to be kept in mind that running newspapers perceived to be in opposition with the government was fraught with dangers. Thus, it becomes clear that his persuasive abilities were helpful in generating good press and public goodwill towards his projects. As a contractor engaged in construction, his biggest customer was the British government; he worked with British officials closely in several projects. However, he supported the [[Indian Independence Movement]] and most of his projects were inaugurated (including launching of new ships) by famous [[Resistance movement|freedom fighters]].  He was able to maintain a fine line between these opposite forces.<ref name=a/><ref name=b/><ref name=c/><ref name="d"/>

Walchand along with [[Annie Besant]] and [[M. R. Jayakar]] together were the first sponsors of pioneering national news agency, the [[Free Press of India]] founded in 1927.<ref name=g/> Walchand was among the early and active supporters of [[Indian National Congress]] along with other stalwarts of Indian industry and funded<ref name=xx/> many of its activities.<ref>{{cite book|title=Frontline, Volume 13|year=1996|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=HW8bUsmOKtDHrQfLoYGICw&id=DJ5KAQAAIAAJ&dq=walchand+hirachand+funded+indian+national+congress&q=walchand+hirachand+#search_anchor}}</ref> In 1930, various merchant bodies of Bombay under presidency of Walchand passed a resolution for immediate release of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] but again in 1931, it was Walchand, who on behalf of [[Indian Merchants' Chamber]] demanded from Gandhi that they were not happy with [[Gandhi-Irwin Pact]] and demanded protection of Indian industries. Again in 1933 Walchand sent a deputation on behalf of Indian Merchants' Chamber to Gandhi to persuade him to call off [[Civil Disobedience Movement]] in interest of trade and commerce.<ref name=xx>[[#Piramal|Piramal]], pp. 281–283</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Gandhi and the Mass Movements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4i1aMXriA0sC&pg=PA143|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|page=143}}</ref> He was also a signatory to [[Bombay Manifesto]] dated 26 May 1936, which opposed the socialist and Marxist ideas of Jawaharlal Nehru.<ref>{{cite book|author=Utpal Ghosh|title=The Communist Party of India and India's Freedom Struggle, 1937–1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JyNAAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Pearl Publishers|isbn=978-81-85777-29-0|page=86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Latha Varadarajan|title=The Domestic Abroad: Diasporas in International Relations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ujm4qL0K5VYC&pg=PA193|date=8 October 2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988987-7|pages=81, 193}}</ref>

[[Category:20th-century philanthropists]]