# 3 IGNITE A VISION

Vision of Vivekananda 

 This thought came to me when I was in the beautiful environment of the renovated ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda in Kolkata. I recalled an event that took place in a ship which was sailing from Japan to Canada in 1993, when India was under British rule. Two great human beings were travelling in that ship. They were Swami Vivekananda and Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. They introduced each other and Swamiji asked Jamsetji Tata about where he was going and what was the mission of his visit. Jamsetji Tata said, "Swamiji, I am going with a mission to bring the steel industry to our country." It was year 1893, when India was ruled by the Britisher. Swamiji said, "It is indeed a beautiful mission. My best wishes. However, I would like to give you a small caution. Whatever amount you spend to get the process of making steel, simultaneously you should learrn the metallurgical science of making steel also. I would prefer that you start an Institute, a laboratory to do advanced research on the subject.'' What a prophetic a laboratory to do advanced research on the subject." What a prophetic statement came in the year 1993. Many thing happened after that. Jamsetji nusserwanji Tata could not get the technology for manufacturing steel from the UK. Jamsetji went to London and there he met the steel magnets and discussed about steel fabrication technology. He informed them that he the resources to set up a fabrication facility. The British steel industrialists told Jamsetji, If you Indians can make steel we Britishers will it".

  But Jamsetji was not discourage. He crossed the Atlantic and got yhe steel production technology from USA with all blut prints and he prepared a road map and and selected Jamshedpur as the place to locate the first steel plant. A large-scale planning took place. It had two parts: the first part was to start steel manufacturing plant at Jamshedpur, presently in Jharkhand. Simultaneously, he donated one-sixth of his property for established an Institute of Material Research at Bangalore.

He gave all the details to his successors and today the Tata Iron and Steel Company Jamshedpur produces nearly five million  tonnes of steel. The vision of Jamshetji  Tata had two objectives-one to bring the technology, and the another to make country strong so that it could fight four its freedom. Jamsetji was responsible for putting the seeding for establishing the Indian Institute of Science for research in area of material science. At Jamshedpur we can see the fruit of jamestji Nusserwanji Tata's vision: Iron and steel Company (TISCO). Due to this foresight, today Indian is self-reliant  in steel technology. The other part of his vision, at Bangalore the seeding for the research laboratory has been transformed into a great learning centre-The Indian Institute of Science.

 This incident demonstrates the vision of the great Swami Vivekananda. His vision was to have a strong and developed India He clearly foresaw the role that science, technology and industry had to pay for such a development. It was Swamiji who made Jagdish Chandra Bose to get a patent for his invention. Swamiji's call for awakening of India was not merely in spiritual fields but for all round economic and social progress.