Archive

"I had always complained about conditions in India, whether it was the corruption, the poor roads, the lack of power or the quality of life… The one thing that managed to come shining through was the Indian brain. And so I decided that rather than complain I would do what I could in nurturing the Indian brain,” stated New York based Dinyar Devitre, an international business executive with 40 years of experience in the consumer products industry and banking. In January 2014 he became executive chairman of Pratham USA and is keen to make it "a global organization which fulfils its objective to significantly raise literacy outcomes and vocational skills training in India. I see my role as building the Pratham brand in the United States and doubling our annual fund-raising over the next three years. It is an ambitious target but worth pursuing.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting out in the slums of Bombay in 1994 with support from UNICEF and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, "Pratham is now India’s largest NGO (nongovernmental organization) in education, working in 19 states across India, reaching over 4.7 million children annually,” states their website. Pratham, meaning "first” in Sanskrit, endeavors to educate underprivileged children through their preschool facilities, community libraries and remedial learning programs.
Pratham USA being a non-profit organization has 14 chapters from San Francisco in the west to New York in the east and annually raises about $ 12 million a year by approaching foundations and individuals. As notes the Pratham USA website, their 11 board members "demonstrate an uncommon commitment to the urgent cause of child literacy in India and give generously to further the goals of our organization. Many contribute more than $100,000 a year…”  Amongst their generous Zoroastrian donors are Edul Daver and Dinyar Wadia. "Although volunteers are important, you can only go so far without a well-oiled fund-raising machine,” realizes the new chairman who whilst rendering honorary service at Pratham would like "to build a professionally staffed organization.” In addition to stalwart Mani Surkari in the Houston office who has done "so much for Pratham over many years,” they don’t have any Zoroastrians on their local or national boards.
Devitre’s commitment to Pratham had its origins three years ago when he was in India with his wife Aashish. On a trip from Poona to Bombay with Madhav Chavan, the founder and chief executive officer of Pratham they visited balwadis (children’s centers) in Poona, government schools in the villages, a school in the Dharavi slums, and a computer assisted school in Bandra. Amazed at the work being carried out at these places by well-trained Pratham volunteers, Devitre concluded that amongst the many NGOs in India active in the field of education, "Pratham had the most scale and was the most innovative,” he noted in his email responses to Parsiana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A graduate from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, Devitre had started his corporate life as planning manager of Godfrey Phillips India Limited in Bombay and within a decade had already been made managing director of this firm. His association with Philip Morris for nearly 27 years saw him accept assignments in Melbourne, New York, Hong Kong, Japan. For a brief three-year period he was executive vice president and group head of Citibank’s Global Consumer Bank for Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
After retiring from his full-time role as chief financial officer of Altria Group (the parent company of Philip Morris, Kraft Foods and Miller Beer) he continued to stay in touch with the business world by serving on some public company boards at Altria Group, SABMiller, and The Western Union Company where he is the chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee. He is additionally special advisor to General Atlantic Partners and director of Markit where he is the chairman of the Audit Committee.
Devitre is active on the cultural scene too being a trustee of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) which is one of USA’s leading arts organizations "known for its cutting edge and innovative productions.” He is also chairman of BAM’s global committee that is attempting to build the BAM brand internationally. "Both Aashish and I are big fans of BAM because of the very new and different work it produces,” he states.
According to him, "Americans are exceedingly generous people. They give selflessly and give to causes within and outside the US. Very often they do not even seek recognition. They will often make anonymous gifts. The statistics show that Americans give $300 billion a year in charitable donations. On a per capita basis that is much higher than any other major nation. Unfortunately in India a great deal of charitable giving is directed towards religious causes and not enough given to real stuff like education and health care.” He is optimistic though that the Narendra Modi administration will encourage organizations such as Pratham which work closely with the state governments.
"The people of India have great admiration for the Parsis,” observes Devitre, adding, "This admiration has been earned through our reputation for honesty, hard work and a wonderful sense of humor. I hope we will continue to stress these values and do all we can to rejuvenate our community not only through an increase in our population but through increasing contributions to India’s progress.”
Proud to belong to "such a small community with a big heart,” 67-year-old Devitre believes, "Zarathushtis are very generous people. Look at what they have done for Bombay and other places in India and around the world. Whatever is beautiful about Bombay today has its roots in Zoroastrian philanthropy…Here in New York, the construction of our new Darbe Mehr is soon to start thanks to the generosity of Zarathushtis in the Tri-State area. I notice that the younger generation are doing very well in areas such as technology and finance. And young Zoroastrians are reaching out to members of the community thereby making the community even stronger.”
Born to Soli and Jolly Devitre (née Mehta), Dinyar and his two brothers were raised in Jamshedpur which he likes to visit and even had his children Arsheya and Zal (who are now in Shanghai and Singapore) navjoted there. "The Tatas have done such a fine job of keeping Jamshedpur clean and neat. It is still the best city in India,” he maintains. Having done his schooling and subsequent graduation in Arts from St Joseph’s College in Darjeeling, Dinyar recalls the "small but tight group of Parsi families getting together for Navroz and Pateti at the Central Hotel in Darjeeling in the 1950s and 1960s.”
To him, "Zoroastrian values are much more important than the outward manifestations and practices of the religion. You do not have to wear a sudreh and kusti to be a true Zoroastrian. Strong ethics, hard work and generosity are the values I have distilled from being a Zoroastrian and hopefully Aashish and I have passed these values to our children.”