Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust was established by Sir Dorab Tata (fondly called Sir Dorabji), the elder son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata. Founded in 1932, it is one of the oldest non-sectarian philanthropic organisations in India.

Like his father, Sir Dorabji believed that one must make use of the wealth one had acquired for constructive purposes. So, in less than a year after his wife Meherbai's death, he donated all his wealth to the Trust, insisting that it must be used "without any distinction of place, nationality or creed", for the advancement of learning and research, the relief of distress and other charitable purposes. He died three months later.

The wealth that he turned over to the Trust comprised his substantial share holdings in Tata Sons, Indian Hotels and allied companies, his landed properties and 21 pieces of jewellery left by his wife, including the famous Jubilee Diamond, estimated then to be of the value of Rs 10 million. Today, these would be worth more than Rs 500 million.

As the Trust got formed and the trustees deliberated on the policy aspects and finalised them, it decided to adopt a broad framework—that it should undertake such projects, which are too large for individuals to handle and that each of these projects should have a genuine relevance to the welfare of the country.The Trust is mandated to:

The Trust is best known for promoting and setting up pioneering institutions of national importance.

Each of these institutions works in frontier areas of learning, research and knowledge dissemination. The ideas that have generated from these institutions and the people who have passed through their portals have enriched the various facets of India's development. Each of these institutions has produced a large number of social scientists, cancer specialists, nuclear scientists and distinguished institutional administrators who have all strived to make the country a power to reckon with in science and technology.

In the last decade, the Trust has also given shape to the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore and helped the Dr MS Swaminathan Research Foundation to start the JRD Tata Centre for Ecotechnology in Chennai.

In addition to these institutions, it has started with the assistance of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, Asia's first institute for the training of the rural blind, The Tata Agricultural and Rural Training Centre for the Blind, and with the cooperation of the United Nations, the International Institute of Demographic Studies.

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