Faqir Chand Kohli or FC Kohli, often called the Father of the Indian software industry passed away at the age of 96 on Nov 26 Thursday, leaving behind a rich legacy of having laid the strong foundation of the USD190 billion IT industry in India.
Developing visions, building people..
“My profession became building people. My colleagues at Tata Power and later at Tata Consultancy Services provided me the challenge and opportunity to think ahead. What was even more important for me was learning, re-learning and continued learning about machines, systems and above all, people.” – F C Kohli
THIS STATEMENT BY F C Kohli aptly summarises his life mission and achievement. Till his demise at the age of 96, FCK was breathing concerns over development. These were confined not just to IT and software but covered a vast gamut of issues like adult literacy, higher technical education, application of science, technology and management to agriculture for achieving quantum jumps in productivity and other socio-economic issues.
“MY GREAT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION…” – SV pays rich tribute to FCK…
F C KOHLI (FCK ) was a great source of inspiration and guid- ance for me. Through the last two decades I have had the privilege of close interactions with him. In visits to Mumbai over the last
15 years I enjoyed the privilege and honour of being his guest. He arranged for my stay at the TCS guest house at the Common- wealth building in which he was a tenant along with the likes of N A Palkhivala. I had invaluablediscussions at his office at the Air India building, across the road, at his other office at the Bombay House, head- quarters of Tatas as also at his spacious home. He was regular in attending the office, in full attire, both in the forenoons and afternoons, till the outbreak of Covid-19 earlier this year. From time to time he called me over the phone to share his thoughts on a wide range of development issues.
FCK evinced great interest in the application of science, technology and management to attempt quantum jumps in agri productivity. I invited him for a demonstration of high productivity techniques at the Gemini Farms, Padappai on 10 January 2006. FCK (then 82) flew to Chennai and was present at the demo attended by M S Ahluwalia, B Muthuraman, R Thyagarajan, B Santhanam, T C Venkat Subramanian, K S Money, S Balasubramanian and scores of others. He led the discussions at the Le Me- ridien Hotel that led to the formation of the Agriculture Consultancy Management Foundation (ACMF) to work on productivity improvements in agriculture.
FCK evinced great interest in the application of science, technology and management to attempt quantum jumps in agri productivity. I invited him for a demonstra- tion of high productivity techniques at the Gemini Farms, Padappai on 10 January 2006. FCK (then 82) flew to Chennai and was present at the demo attended by M S Ah- luwalia, B Muthuraman, R Thyagarajan, B Santhanam, T C Venkat Subramanian, K S Money, S Balasubramanian and scores of others. He led the discussions at the Le Meridien Hotel that led to the formation of the Agriculture Consultancy Management Foundation (ACMF) to work on productivity improvements in agriculture.
GUIDED AGRI DEVELOPMENT…
FCK readily agreed to be the Chairman of ACMF and had been providing invaluable advice and direction. FCK arranged for close association with the Mahindras and got an Arjun tractor from Anand Mahindra.
Interested reader may access the complete article (Page 18) in the Industrial Economist December 2020 issue. https://industrialeconomist.com/digital/Dec2020/mobile/index.html
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