Remembering Mahavirprasad Ramkumar Morarka

Industrialist Mahavirprasad Ramkumar Morarkas life is both inspiring and motivating. On his centenary, son Kamal Morarka reminisces about the many facets of the man that made him a pioneering industrialist, a litterateur, a writer, a traditionalist and, most of all, a cherished father.

- Joseph Rozario

MUMBAI-BASED CONSTRUCTION MAJOR GANNON Dunkerley & Co Ltd and Nawalgarh-based M R MorarkaGDC Rural Research Foundation couldn’t be more diverse in their objectives, but they represent two of the most defining aspects of the Marwari business ethos: an innate desire to create successful businesses and the spirit of giving back to society. While Gannon Dunkerley & Co continues to gain ground in the Indian construction space, M R Morarka-GDC Rural Research Foundation (also known as Morarka Foundation) has grown in huge strides ever since the voluntary, not-for-profit organisation started functioning in 1993, hoping to make a difference through its social and community development activities in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. At the helm of both these organisations lie the entrepreneurial brilliance and magnanimity of Kamal Morarka, and, more significantly, the pioneering role played by his father, late Mahavirprasad Ramkumar Morarka, in changing the Morarkas’ fortune from a trading family to prosperous industrialists, whose centenary we celebrate this year.

Kamal Morarka’s love and respect for his father remains undiminished to this day. To celebrate his life and achievements as an industrialist, litterateur and cherished father, he has launched yearlong celebrations that will be held under the aegis of the Morarka Foundation. The celebrations will include the release of a book on M R Morarka, written by Nandkishore Nautiyal and Dinesh Sharma, and various other events and functions that will be held in Nawalgarh, Jaipur and Mumbai.

How it all began