Last week the world lost one of the great environmental leaders Shri Bhavarlal Hiralal Jain, the founder of Jain Irrigation Systems Limited. He passed away at 79, after a brief illness at a hospital in Mumbai. You can learn about Bhavarlal Jain’s many accomplishments here.

He was a man of small ideas, which created big revolutions. He practiced what he preached and he built his entire business on a foundation of inclusiveness and sustainability over the last five decades.

He believed small farmers are entrepreneurs and must get dignity as well as higher income. He was a small town entrepreneur who established a billion dollar, rural, Multinational Corporation. He was a spirited champion of the small farmer; whom he saw as nobly toiling in the face of all adversity.  Below are 7 of my favorite quotes from this great man:

• “A person who is passionate about achieving his goals never feels harassed or tired with work.”
• “The beauty of life lies in taking challenges head-on and transforming them into opportunities.”
• “A happy family starts with a strong marriage. Strong families build a strong nation, a strong world.”
• “A business based on the positive energy of love and labor is unparalleled.”
• “The generous and compassionate are the Almighty’s emissaries on earth.”
• “A rough gem becomes a precious jewel only after undergoing the agony of cutting and polishing.”
• From the last paragraph of his book, She & Me. And if anybody asks, ‘Who was Bhavarlal Jain?’ he may be told: He is the man who wrote the monograph She and Me, and through that ‘He’ made ‘She’ come alive forever. ‘She’ who symbolized the quintessence of Indian culture. ‘He’ was merely her husband.

You can learn more about Bhavarlal Jain from the links below:

From Forbes Magazine – “Indian Farmers’ Champion, Bhavarlal Jain, Dies At 78”

Here is a video I found from NDTV – Boss’ Day Out: Bhavarlal Jain of Jain Irrigation. The video quality is not great but what is said in invaluable.

From Wikipedia – Bhavarlal Jain