Rajendra Singh Pawar

Indian entrepreneur

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Rajendra Singh Pawar

Pawar at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2008

Born|  (1951-03-19) 19 March 1951 (age 72)

Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Nationality|  India
Alma mater| IIT Delhi
Occupations|

* Chairman and Co-Founder NIIT Limited[1]
* Founder NIIT University[2]
* Board Member Scindia School[3]
* Member of Governing Board Indian School of Business[4]
* Vice Chairman of NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research) Governing Body.[5]
* Chairman of the Board of Directors of Data Security Council of India[6]

Partner| Neeti Pawar
Children| Udai, Urvashi, Unnati
Awards|

* Padma Bhushan (2011)
* Lifetime Achievement Award 2022’ by apex industry body FICCI[7] (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry

Rajendra Singh Pawar (Padma Bhushan awardee[8]) is an Indian entrepreneur, chairman and co-founder of NIIT Limited,[1] established in 1981. He also founded NIIT University,[9] a not-for-profit university in Neemrana, Rajasthan, in 2009.

## Early life and education[edit]

Pawar was born in Jammu on March 19, 1951. He studied at The Scindia School, Gwalior.[10] He graduated with B.Tech. in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 1972.[11] Pawar has received the ‘Madhav Award’ from The Scindia School in 1999 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award at IIT in 1995. In 2005, he was rewarded with an honorary doctoral degree by the Rajiv Gandhi Technical University.[12]

## Career[edit]

Pawar began his professional career with Larsen & Toubro Limited as a graduate engineer trainee in June 1972.

He then moved on to DCM, where he served for 4 years followed by 5 years in Hindustan Computers Limited, before he established NIIT in 1981.

Pawar also founded NIIT Technologies, an IT firm in 1992.[13] Assessed at SEI-CMMi Level 5, NIIT Technologies offers software services to organizations in travel, transportation, manufacturing/distribution, financial services, healthcare, and government sectors. He has also established the not-for-profit NIIT University in Neemrana, Rajasthan, in 2009.

### Nation development[edit]

Pawar has been a part of Prime Minister Vajpayee's National Taskforce (1998),[14] and was a member on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's National Council on Skill Development (2009-2014).[15] He chaired the NASSCOM Cyber Security Task Force.[16]

### Global advisor[edit]

Pawar has been a former member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum a member of PIAC (Presidential International Advisory Council) of the Government of South Africa,[12] and also served as an advisor to the Hunan province of China.

### Industry associations[edit]

Pawar has served as the chairman of NASSCOM (National Association of Software & Service Companies) in 2011- 2012. As president of MAIT (Manufacturers Association for Information Technology) during 1990-92,[17] he integrated MAIT activities into those of other leading industry associations in India. MAIT played a significant role in shaping IT policies of Government of India, during his tenure.

He is currently vice chairman of NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research) governing body.[18] He is a fellow of the Computer Society of India and the Institution of Electronics & Telecom Engineers and is chairman of the board of directors of Data Security Council of India.

### Academic boards[edit]

Pawar is on the board of governors of the Indian School of Business Hyderabad and The Scindia School. Additionally, he has held positions on the boards of IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore, IIM Udaipur, and Delhi University's University Court.

## Social impact[edit]

Pawar has launched the Hole-in-the-Wall education (HiWEL) initiative in 1999 with Dr Sugata Mitra, chief scientist emeritus, NIIT, with the aim of making education accessible to the remotest corners in the country.[19] The project has earned the coveted ‘Digital Opportunity Award’ by World Information Technology Services Alliance (WITSA) in 2008.[20]

He has also led NIIT to participate in the ambitious human capacity building project for Bhutan, which was designed to help the country transition into a modern knowledge society.[21] The Indian Government assisted project was launched on April 30, 2010 by the Prime Ministers of India and Bhutan, on the side-lines of the SAARC summit in Bhutan.[22] The project was aimed to provide ICT skills to over a quarter of the population of Bhutan, to help them to become confident and empowered citizens of a connected and ICT enabled world.[23]

Pawar promoted the establishment of NIIT Foundation (NF) a not-for-profit education society in 2004 with the vision to support the underprivileged sections of the country through educational initiatives and skill development programs.[24]

## Awards and honours[edit]

Pawar received the Padma Bhushan in 2011.[25] He was also named 'IT Man of the Year' by IT industry journal, Dataquest in 1998.[26]

Pawar received ‘Lifetime Achievement Award 2022’ from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.[27] In recognition of his entrepreneurial innovation in education, he received the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at Dataquest ICT Awards in August 2020.[28] He was honored as the ‘IT Gem of India’ at INFOCOM 2013,[29] India's largest IT & Telecom convention, by the ABP Group. Global Business Intelligence firm, Ernst & Young conferred on Pawar its ‘Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ in 1999.[30] Pawar has been awarded ‘The Global India Splendor Award’ on the occasion of 60th year of India's independence, for his work on developing human resource potential.[31] He has also been honored with the Nayudamma Award in 2012.[32]

## Personal life[edit]

Pawar's wife, Neeti Pawar, is an active promoter of Indian art and handicrafts. They have three children - son Udai, an IIT physicist turned film maker, and two daughters Urvashi, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and Unnati, an art historian.[citation needed]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "NIIT Board of Directors". Retrieved 4 January 2020.
2. ^ "NIIT University Leadership". Retrieved 4 January 2020.
3. ^ "Board of Governors". The Scindia School. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
4. ^ "ISB Governing Board | Indian School of Business | Indian School of Business (ISB)". www.isb.edu. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
5. ^ "Governing Body". www.ncaer.org.
6. ^ "DSCI FAMILY". www.dsci.in.
7. ^ "NIIT Chairman And Founder Rajendra Singh Pawar Honoured With Lifetime Achievement Award By FICCI". indiaeducationdiary.in.
8. ^ "List of Padma awardees for 2011". Retrieved 26 January 2011.
9. ^ "Founders".
10. ^ "Board Of Governors". The Scindia School. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
11. ^ "Mr. Rajendra Singh Pawar". Alumni.
12. ^ a b "Board of Directors". www.niit.com. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
13. ^ "In the News". www.coforge.com. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
14. ^ "Rajendra Singh Pawar". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
15. ^ "PM constitutes National Council on Skill Development". Archivepmo.
16. ^ "Cyber Security Task Force (CSTF)". www.dsci.in. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
17. ^ "MAIT". www.mait.com. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
18. ^ "Governing Body". NCAER | Quality . Relevance . Impact. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
19. ^ "The Hole in the Wall Project and the Power of Self-Organized Learning". Edutopia. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
20. ^ "NIIT HiWEL gets 'Digital Opportunity Award' at WCIT 2008 | Nseguide.com". Retrieved 29 December 2022.
21. ^ Bahree, Megha. "Bhutan Turns to India's NIIT To Play Catch-Up". Forbes. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
22. ^ "WNS partners NIIT Univ for training business analytics experts". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
23. ^ "NIIT to set up educational kiosks in Bhutan". www.thehindubusinessline.com. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
24. ^ "NIIT Foundation - Fastest Growing Education NGO In India". NIIT Foundation. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
25. ^ "List of Padma awardees for 2011". mint. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
26. ^ "IT Man of The Year 1998". DATAQUEST. 15 January 1999. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
27. ^ "NIIT Chairman and Founder Rajendra Singh Pawar honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by FICCI". India Education | Latest Education News | Global Educational News | Recent Educational News. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
28. ^ Release, ANI Press (20 August 2020). "Rajendra S Pawar Felicitated With Lifetime Achievement Award by Dataquest". www.business-standard.com. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
29. ^ "Press Release". www.niit.com. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
30. ^ "Board of Directors". www.niit.com. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
31. ^ Pandey, Rayana (26 July 2007). "India Inc takes 60-year bash to the US". Business Standard India. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
32. ^ "Nayudamma Award for RS Pawar". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 9 December 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Padma Bhushan award recipients (2010–2019)

2010|

* Satya Paul Agarwal
* Mohammad Amin
* Sailesh Kumar Bandopadhyay
* M. S. Banga
* Anil Bordia
* Bipan Chandra
* B. K. Chaturvedi
* Sant Singh Chatwal
* G. P. Chopra
* Tan Chung
* Madhusudan Dhaky
* P. R. Dubhashi
* Puttaraj Gawai
* Belle Monappa Hegde
* Ilaiyaraaja
* Jagdish Chandra Kapur
* Shrinivas Khale
* Aamir Khan
* Sultan Khan
* Ram Kumar
* Kumudini Lakhia
* Kuzhur Narayana Marar
* Chhannulal Mishra
* Eledath Thaikkattu Narayanan Mooss
* C. P. Krishnan Nair
* S. P. Oswal
* Akbar Padamsee
* Ramakanta Panda
* Balasaheb Vikhe Patil
* Arogyaswami Paulraj
* A. R. Rahman
* Moosa Raza
* Mallika Sarabhai
* Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana
* Abhijit Sen
* Satya Vrat Shastri
* Noshir M. Shroff
* Kushal Pal Singh
* Bikash Sinha
* Balagangadharanatha Swamiji
* Narayanan Vaghul
* P. K. Warrier
* Fareed Zakaria

2011|

* S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
* Rajashree Birla
* M. N. Buch
* C. V. Chandrasekhar
* Ajai Chowdhry
* Yogesh Chander Deveshwar
* Satyadev Dubey
* T. J. S. George
* Shankha Ghosh
* Kris Gopalakrishnan
* Keki Byramjee Grant
* Shashi Kapoor
* Krishen Khanna
* Khayyam
* Chanda Kochhar
* Dwijen Mukhopadhyay
* Madavoor Vasudevan Nair
* Ramdas Pai
* Dashrath Patel
* Rajendra Singh Pawar
* Suryanarayanan Ramachandran
* Shobhana Ranade
* Gunupati Venkata Krishna Reddy
* Kallam Anji Reddy
* Waheeda Rehman
* Shyam Saran
* Analjit Singh
* Arpita Singh
* Surendra Singh
* R. K. Srikantan
* Raghavan Thirumulpad

2012|

* Suresh H. Advani
* Shabana Azmi
* Homi K. Bhabha
* Shashikumar Chitre
* Khaled Choudhury
* Jatin Das
* Vidya Dehejia
* Dharmendra
* S. N. Goenka
* M. S. Gopalakrishnan
* T. V. Gopalakrishnan
* Buddhadev Das Gupta
* Sunil Janah
* Anish Kapoor
* S. B. Mujumdar
* B. Muthuraman
* Mira Nair
* Arvind Panagariya
* José Pereira
* Mata Prasad
* M. S. Raghunathan
* P. Chandrasekhara Rao
* Ronen Sen
* Devi Shetty
* M. V. Subbiah
* N. Vittal
* N. H. Wadia
* George Yeo

2013|

* Satya N. Atluri
* Maharaj Kishan Bhan
* Jaspal Bhatti
* Rahul Dravid
* Adi Godrej
* Abdul Rashid Khan
* Rajesh Khanna
* Mary Kom
* Nandkishore Shamrao Laud
* Mangesh Padgaonkar
* Hemendra Singh Panwar
* Jogesh Pati
* Shivajirao Girdhar Patil
* A. Sivathanu Pillai
* D. Ramanaidu
* Kanak Rele
* V. K. Saraswat
* Ashoke Sen
* Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
* B. N. Suresh
* Sharmila Tagore
* Ramamurthy Thyagarajan
* Saroja Vaidyanathan

2014|

* Anisuzzaman
* Mrityunjay Athreya
* Padmanabhan Balaram
* Dalveer Bhandari
* Ruskin Bond
* Anita Desai
* Pullela Gopichand
* Kamal Haasan
* Jyeshtharaj Joshi
* V. N. Kaul
* Neelam Kler
* M. Mahadevappa
* Leander Paes
* K. Radhakrishnan
* Anumolu Ramakrishna
* Thirumalachari Ramasami
* Lloyd Rudolph
* Susanne Hoeber Rudolph
* Vinod Prakash Sharma
* Gulam Mohammed Sheikh
* Parveen Sultana
* Dhirubhai Thaker
* Vairamuthu
* J. S. Verma
* T. H. Vinayakram

2015|

* Jahnu Barua
* Manjul Bhargava
* Vijay P. Bhatkar
* Swapan Dasgupta
* David Frawley
* Bill Gates
* Melinda French Gates
* Swami Satyamitranand
* N. Gopalaswami
* Subhash C. Kashyap
* Gokulotsavji Maharaj
* Saichiro Misumi
* Ambrish Mithal
* Sudha Ragunathan
* Harish Salve
* Ashok Seth
* Rajat Sharma
* Satpal Singh
* Shivakumara Swami
* Khadg Singh Valdiya

2016|

* Ravindra Chandra Bhargava
* Robert D. Blackwill
* Hafeez Contractor
* Indu Jain
* Heisnam Kanhailal
* Anupam Kher
* Sania Mirza
* Pallonji Mistry
* Udit Narayan
* Saina Nehwal
* Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad
* Vinod Rai
* N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya
* A. V. Rama Rao
* D. Nageshwara Reddy
* Dayananda Saraswati
* Barjinder Singh Hamdard
* Ram V. Sutar
* Tejomayananda

2017|

* Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
* Deviprasad Dwivedi
* Ratnasundarsuri
* Niranjanananda Saraswati
* Cho Ramaswamy
* Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
* Tehemton Erach Udwadia

2018|

* Pankaj Advani
* Philipose Mar Chrysostom
* Mahendra Singh Dhoni
* Alexander Kadakin
* Ramachandran Nagaswamy
* Laxman Pai
* Arvind Parikh
* Sharda Sinha

2019|

* John T. Chambers
* Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa
* Pravin Gordhan
* Dharampal Gulati
* Darshan Lal Jain
* Ashok Laxmanrao Kukade
* Kariya Munda
* Budhaditya Mukherjee
* Mohanlal
* Nambi Narayanan
* Kuldip Nayar
* Bachendri Pal
* V. K. Shunglu
* Hukmdev Narayan Yadav

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