The traits that defined a remarkable life

Swraj to me, Lord Swraj Paul of Mar-ylebone to others, passed away a few days ago.

- NK SINGH

I first met Swraj in 1967, when he and his elder brother, Jit Paul, were introduced to my father, then Finance Secretary, by the late LN Mishra.

That was the beginning of a relationship which stood the test of time. Through its successes and disappointments that inevitably mark our lives.

I often ask myself whether Swraj would redeem the promise embedded in his name; freeing India from the shackles of draconian laws and regulations inherited from colonial times. Indeed, when he had first met my father, he was grappling with the rigours of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and the pursuit of the Enforcement Directorate. It took 32 more years to abolish FERA and replace it with FEMA, decriminalising to make such offences civil.

It was the beginning of his long quest for reforms. Reforms necessary for India to achieve true economic independence: Swraj.

Swraj had an extraordinary journey, in some ways a spectacular life. His family, at the time of his birth, ran a small foundry making steel buckets, living in cramped accommodations with his brothers Satya, Jit, Surender and two sisters in Jalandhar. He had a flair for engineering and mathematics, which explains why, though educated locally, he went on to pursue mechanical engineering at MIT in the United States.

In 1966, while seeking cancer treatment in London for his daughter Ambika, who tragically passed away, he decided to stay on and pursue business opportunities. The Caparo Group was born out of grief which he subsequently built into a multinational steel and engineering enterprise.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1983 and became a member of the House of Lords in 1996, initially Labour-affiliated and later a crossbencher, serving as Deputy Speaker and being appointed to the Privy Council in 2019.

Looking back, five dominant traits defined his life.

First, he was a quintessential industrialist.