Dr. Minu Nariman Dastur, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of M. N. Dastur and Company (P) Limited, popularly known as Dastur, was a visionary and a born leader. He was the pioneer of consulting engineering services in India.
In 1954, Dr. Dastur was deputed to India by the United States Government as a consulting steel plant expert to the Mysore Iron & Steel Works Ltd. at Bhadravati, in connection with its modernisation and expansion programme. During this visit to India, he came in close contact with the then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who suggested that he should return to India in view of his steel plant expertise and the massive steel development programme that the country was soon to embark upon. Always a true Indian at heart, Dr. Dastur readily acceded to Panditji's suggestion and returned to India the following year, and started the Consulting Engineering firm Dastur on May 31, 1955 in Kolkata. Today Dastur boasts of a large pool of internationally renowned experts who have intimate knowledge of various facets of engineering and technology.
Read more
It has been Dr. Dastur's philosophy to utilise local skills and expertise wherever possible, and raise them to international standards and build Indian engineering confidence. The company was the first Indian "retainer consultant'" on steel to the Government of India and worked very closely with the Planning Commission in the early sixties on the Long-term Perspective Plan for Steel Development.
Dr. Dastur completed his Graduation in Electrical & Mechanical Engineering from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1938, and started his career as a graduate apprentice engineer with the Tata Iron & Steel Company at Jamshedpur. Subsequently, he went to USA on a Tata Endowment Scholarship and obtained his Doctorate in Metallurgy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1948 under the tutelage of the legendary metallurgist, Dr. John Chipman and made contribution to some of the research works. Thereafter, Dr. Dastur worked in USA for the next seven years with renowned steel plant consulting firms like H.A. Brassert & Company (the pioneer of Consulting Engineering) and Ramseyer and Miller Incorporated, in various responsible positions on the design and construction of steel plants in various parts of the world including USA, Latin America and Europe. As Director of Brassert Ore Dressing Laboratory, he was responsible for developing the Brassert direct reduction process – the forerunner of the modern counter – current shaft furnace process.
Dr. Dastur has served on a number of Indian Steel Missions and Committees sent by the Government of India, including the first Steel Missions to the USSR (1955) and China (1959). He was a member of the National Committee on Science and Technology from 1977-1980 and of the Science Advisory Committee on Science and Technology to the Government of India from 1981-1983.
Known for his erudition in the field of metallurgy, business planning and management, Dr. Dastur authored and published over 280 papers on steel technology and industry both in India and abroad. In his Visvesvaraya Lecture in 1961 at the Institution of Engineers (India) Convention, he had spelt out a well thought out plan for India to produce 110 million tons of steel by the year 2000.
Dr. Dastur was intimately associated with Dr. Dara P. Antia, another pioneer in spreading metallurgical education in India, in building up the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM). Today the IIM has come to be accepted as an institution of international repute. Further, Dr. Dastur has been intimately associated with a number of premier Indian educational institutions. He was instrumental in setting up the Dr. M.N. Dastur School of Advanced Materials and Engineering at the Bengal Engineering and Science University (formerly known as Bengal Engineering College) at Shibpur, Howrah.
Dr. Dastur observed the highest standards of ethics, honesty, integrity, humility and selflessness. His love and compassion for his fellow human beings have always been a source of inspiration to others who came in contact with him. He believed in the principle enunciated by J.R.D.Tata that no success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs or interests of India and its people, and is achieved by fair and honest means.
It was in recognition of his vast contributions towards the development of the Indian iron & steel industry, and the advancement of engineering technology, that his Alma Mater, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) conferred on him the D.Sc. Honoris Causa in 1980. Dr. Dastur was also awarded the prestigious IIM Tata Gold Medal by the Indian Institute of Metals in 1982 and the IIM Platinum Medal in 1987 for his outstanding contribution to the metallurgical profession. In addition to these, he was conferred the honorary membership of the American Iron & Steel Institute, Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society for Metals (ASM), the Scroll of Honour by the Institution of Engineers (India), the Plaque of Honour by the National Metallurgical Laboratory, the American Recognition of Efficiency Award given by the Business Initiative Directive, Texas and the Certificate of Honour by the European Market Research Centre, Brussels. In 2003 Dr. Dastur received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI).