The Thirteenth Annual JRD TATA Oration
on Business Ethics
at XLRI, Jamshedpur
Monday, February 9, 2004

The JRD Tata Oration on Business Ethics, organized by the XLRI JRD Tata Foundation for Business Ethics, has been an annual feature in the XLRI Calendar since 1991. The Oration forms part of the role that XLRI has chosen to play so as to highlight the problem of ethics in India and the world today and to help bring ethics into the mainstream of everyday business in general and our way of life in particular. The Foundation also bestows the tri-annual JRD Tata Award for Business Ethics to an eminent personality who has been in the forefront upholding the cardinal principles of ethics. The first such Award was conferred on Mr. N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu and Frontline in 2002.

The Annual Ethics Oration is delivered by an eminent leader, known for intelligence, enterprise, social and ethical concern. While J R D Tata delivered the first Oration in 1991, Mark Tully delivered the 12th and till date the latest Oration. This year, Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, the Archbishop of Ranchi, delivered the Thirteenth Annual Oration at 6 pm on Monday, February 9, 2004, at the Tata Auditorium, XLRI. The theme that he has chosen for this year's Oration is, "Corporate Governance and the Church's Contribution."

On the theme this year, Fr. P. D. Thomas SJ, Director, XLRI says, "The Church is the largest and the oldest Multinational in the world. It has a history of nearly 2000 years of Corporate Governance. Thus it is worth considering metaphorically, corporate governance of the Industry and the Church."

The Annual Oration Series that is eagerly awaited in the Business Circuit of the Country has been in the forefront as a source of fresh perspectives to this topic of eternal relevance, Business Ethics that of late has seen debates raging in different arenas as to where the thin line needs to be drawn.

About The XLRI JRD TATA Foundation For Business Ethics
For long, XLRI has had a course on Business Ethics as part of its curriculum. In continuation with XLRI's long-standing commitment and contribution to upholding integrity and ethics, the XLRI JRD Foundation For Business Ethics was established in 1991. XLRI, in association with the Tata Group set up a corpus for the Foundation. The Foundation seeks to publicly affirm the urgent need for ethics in business and the need to bring about an appropriate culture in which it can thrive. The activities, in addition to the Annual Oration and the tri-annual Award, include the setting up of the JRD Tata Chair in Business Ethics at XLRI for the promotion of research in this field.

About Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo
Cardinal Toppo is currently the Archbishop of Ranchi. He is proficient in a mix of Indian and foreign languages from Hindi, Kurukh, Sadri and Santhali to German, Italian and Latin and has travelled widely around the world, especially across Europe, Africa and Asia. He was host to Pope John Paul II's Ranchi Visit in 1986 and was part of the Indian entourage that was in Rome during Mother Teresa's Beatification in October 2003. He has been instrumental in a number of social causes such as de-addiction, vocational training, rag pickers' education and development, Lepers' rehabilitation and social development. He was awarded the Jharkhand Ratan in 2002 by Lok Sewa Samity, Ranchi as a "Distinguished Son of the Soil of Jharkhand."

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Contributed by -
Gaurav Kathotia,
Executive Member,
External Linkages,
XLRI, Jamshedpur.