Ashok Mahindru : SUKANYA - Vedic Kanya: Respect for Women is our glorious tradition; any act against this is reprehensible: Ashok Mahindru

Ashok Mahindru : SUKANYA - Vedic Kanya: Respect for Women is our glorious tradition; any act against this is reprehensible: Ashok Mahindru

Mr. Ashok Mahindru, well known and respected philanthropist from the business fraternity in his recent article at a weekly magazine expressed his opinion that India has a glorious tradition of respecting women, and any act against this is condemnable and reprehensible. 

Mr. Ashok Mahindru, well known and respected philanthropist from the business fraternity in his recent article at a weekly magazine expressed his opinion that India has a glorious tradition of respecting women, and any act against this is condemnable and reprehensible. Mr. Ashok Mahindru gave examples of Goddess Durga to emphasize that in our country women have always been given respectable position and worshiped as Goddesses. Any crime or violence against women, Ashok Mahindru termed as an unpardonable crime against entire humanity. 

To change the present situation though, Mr. Ashok Mahindru feels that besides the government the society at large should also change its attitude towards women and give due respect to them. He also said that in our tradition women have always been given prominence over men, which can be seen in our religious texts where we take Sita’s name before Ram and Radha’s name before Krishna. 

Ashok Mahindru commended the fact that today women have proven their ability and prowess in handling any responsibility in the country, world, and society at large. Women have ably overseen high ranking positions like, Chief Justice, Prime Minister and even President of the country in India. Ashok Mahindru also cited examples of the three prominent states of the country Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal having women Chief Ministers presently. 

Mr. Ashok Mahindru believed it was a mistake for people to think of women as incompetent or weak. Belittling women shows narrow-mindedness and modern society should rise above such narrow-mindedness to give women the opportunity to grow in every field, Ashok Mahindru said. 

While condemning any act of violence against women Mr. Ashok Mahindru said that such reprehensible incidents can never lessen the respectable position women have, and will keep on having in this country. Ashok Mahindru underlined that empowerment of women is the way for the nation’s development. 

Mr. Ashok Mahindru has been carrying forward his father Y. P. Mahindru’s dream of actively participating in the process of Social Change. He is leading various not-for-profit organisations like Vedic Kanya High School for Girl Child Education, and Run For Vision Foundation (www.runforvision.org) and Y. P. Mahindru Niramaya Eye Bank in eye donation, under the Mahindru Charitable Trust.

Ashok Mahindru Prioritises Environmental and Social Concerns for Advance Group

Mr. Ashok Mahindru has taken environmental and social responsibilities to his heart and this reflects in Advance Group's industrial processes and programs. These are aimed at environmentally sustainable development right from conceptual and planning stages.

The group under Mr. Ashok Mahindru is committed to protecting the health and safety of everybody from those who are part of the operations to those who use these products. The operations of the group are carried out with respect and care for both the local and global environment and systematically manage risks to drive sustainable business growth.

The objectives of the organization on issues concerning safety, health and environment as underlined by Ashok Mahindru are: 

• Meet all statutory requirements of the government and ensure that corrective and preventive action in case of a lapse is automatically and immediately taken
• Maintain a secure work environment ensuring proper design, engineering and maintenance of plant and machinery to protect employees and company's assets from risk of injury, property loss and damage resulting from hostile acts
• Provide employees with the capabilities, knowledge, training and resources necessary to instill personal ownership and motivation to achieve excellence
• Conduct HAZOP study and develop emergency preparedness plan. Mr. Ashok Mahindru directly oversees periodic mock runs to ensure effectiveness of the plan
• Mr. Ashok Mahindru has set benchmark of organizational norms for all issues relating to and make continual efforts for improvement. Reward and recognition for all efforts towards improvement present operating conditions shall be formalized
• Being an ecofriendly company ensure that operations and products meet all environmental obligations
• The company addresses social concern through Mahindru Charitable Trust lead by Mr. Ashok Mahindru, a social organization managed by the group
• Other organisations carrying out social responsibility agenda of the company under Mr. Ashok Mahindru are Run For Vision Foundation, Y. P. Mahindru Niramaya Eye Bank in eye donation and eye transplants and Vedic Kanya High School for Girl Child education

Ashok Mahindru, Qualified Surfactant Technologist and Chairman of Advance Group of Companies

Mr. Ashok Mahindru with Virender Sehwag for
Run For Vision Foundation

Mr. Ashok Mahindru is a Qualified Surfactant Technologist with specialization in the field of Surface Active Chemistry. His strong commitment to Research & Development has resulted in him being directly responsible for achieving sixteen breakthroughs in the process technology for manufacture of Surfactants, five of which are innovation grade. The Gas Route Sulphonation Technology developed by Mr. Ashok Mahindru has been rated as the best in the world so far.

He has successfully carried forward the legacy of his father Late Mr. Y. P Mahindru as Chairman of Advance Group of Companies. The company started by Late Mr. Mahindru in 1939 at Lahore and post-independence restarted at Gurgaon as laundry soap manufacturing company.  The group is now a large diversified corporate enterprise with operations ranging from manufacture of Surfactants with state of the art process technologies, to consultancy in designing surfactant based chemicals and customized manufacturing for home and personal care brands.

Leading in technology innovation, quality and customer service, the Advance Group is recognized primarily for its core business of surfactants for detergent industry. Under the able leadership of Mr. Ashok Mahindru the group has made giant leaps during last few years to emerge as Asia's largest manufacturer of surfactants. The Group achieved a combined turnover of USD 175 million during FY 2009-10 which is projected to reach USD 250 million by the end of 2010-11. Advance Group has a strong team of 450 members.

Mr. Ashok Mahindru has also been associated with various industry forums such as Detergent Manufacturers Association of Delhi Region, Haryana Soap Manufacturers Association. Mr. Ashok Mahindru is currently the President of All India Federation of Detergent Manufacturers and Member, Executive Committee of Oil Technologists’ Association of India (OTAI - NZ).