Rao Kabool and grandson Madan Mohan Singh are staunch believers in the empowerment potential of education, especially of girl children in their native state of Rajasthan. While the elder Singh served in the Indian Army pre-independence, and fought in the Indonesia, Burma, Bhutan, Singapore and Cambodia theatres during World War II, the grandson is a successful travel and tourism entrepreneur who allocates a substantial share of the profits of his adventure tourism car hire firm Deneb & Pollux Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2000) for the education of children in his native village Dadhiya, in Rajasthan’s Alwar district. In 2006, he promoted a computer institute to create new opportunities for girls. Moreover, a scholarship fund dispenses Rs.5,000 to 50 deserving girl students annually.
The duo is not biased entirely in favour of girl children. They have promoted the Reach for India Driving Gurukul — an academy offering free-of-charge training in motorcar driving — which trains 240 male youth to make them job-ready every year. “We have more than 1,700 drivers working for us in Deneb & Pollox and many of them double as instructors in our own academy,” says Madan Mohan.
Newspeg. On May 13, Rao Kabool celebrated his centennial birthday while Madan Mohan turned 38 on the same day. To mark the occasion, they inaug-urated a primary healthcare centre for residents of Dudhavas, a village in Jaipur district. The health centre is contiguous to a primary school run by the state government. “We will set up a computer lab here soon so that village girls can access knowledge as their peers in cities do,” he says.
History. In his youth, Madan Mohan had intended to follow in his grandfather’s steps and join the Indian Army. But he was turned down by the SSB (Service Selection Board), forcing him to re-orient his career goals. In 1998, he graduated from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, New Delhi and ventured into the travel and tourism business by acquiring Deneb & Pollux from a Norwegian entrepreneur based in Jaipur. “The company often had to hire cars for clients. I thought it made more sense to buy cars for renting to tourists. This business grew by leaps and bounds thanks also to the proliferation of BPO (business process outsourcing) companies in Gurgaon, where we are now headquartered. As a result the company has more than 800 cars in its fleet,” says Madan Mohan, with evident satisfaction.
Direct talk. “I was inspired by my grandfather to fight the social ill of child marriage in Rajasthan. The best way to eradicate this, is by educating girl children, so they defer their age of marriage. Therefore a good percentage of our business profits are invested in the education of girls and youth. Establishing an education and vocati-onal training institute is the best gift I could have given my grandfather — a man far ahead of his times — on his centenary birthday,” says Madan Mohan.
Future plans. Rao Kabool and grandson believe their education mission has just begun. “We intend to promote computer centres in two primary schools in Dudhavas village, one of the most backward areas of Rajasthan. There’s no reason why young people in villages shouldn’t benefit from the technology revolution which has transformed urban India,” says Madan Mohan.
Power to your elbow!
Vimal Chander Joshi (Delhi)