Many Kashmiri Pandit families
migrated from Kashmir to
the plains of North India to
avoid their religious persecution
during this period. Pt. Sita
Ram Haksar, who was the son
of Pt. Nand Ram Haksar came
to the imperial capital Delhi in
1804 to seek employment in the
Mughal court, whereas his
brother Pt. Sahib Ram Haksar
stayed back in Kashmir to look
after their ancestral property
there.
When Pt. Sita Ram Haksar
came to Delhi he found the
Mughal emperor Shah Alam
11(1759-1806) almost a puppet
in the hands of the British
as the British forces under the
command of Lord Lake took
over Delhi under their
Marathas in the Anglo -
Maratha War leaving little
scope for the Mughal emperor
to exercise his powers. Finding
the employment opportunities
quite dim in those uncertain
conditions in a war zone. Pt.
Sita Ram Haksar after living
in Bazaar Sita Ram for a couple
of years then moved to the
Gwalior state in Central India.
After some time he became a
teacher in some school there. He
had a son Jagat Narain
Haksar and a grandson Pt.
Bishan Narain Haksar.
He was an ardent admirer
of Lord Krishna. He had four
sons Dharam Narain, Prem
Narain, Swaroop Narain and
Shyam Narain alias Kathaiyya
Lal.
Pt. Swaroop Narain Haksar
who was born in 1828 at Delhi
and had his education in Delhi
College was the first member
of this Haksar clan to take up a
job in the Indore state around
1846 as a teacher in a school on
the recommendation of his British
Principal of Delhi College.
He was in the good books of Mr.
RH. Hamilton, who was British
Political Agent for the
Indore state during the rule of
Maharaja Yashwant Rao
Holkar. Pt. Swaroop Narain
Haksar became a ‘Mir Munshi’
of the British Political Agent in
1850 and than Dewan of
Bundelkhand in 1856.
Pt. Dharam Narain Haksar
who was born in 1824 left Delhi
in 1849 after completing his
education at Delhi College and
became the editor of Malwa
Akhbar. In 1856 the British
appointed him as the Mir
Munshi of the Indore state. His
another brother Pt. Prem
Narain Haksar became Dewan
of Tehri state in Central India
around 1854.
When Queen Victoria of England
took over the administration
of India on 1st November
1858 from the East India Company
and conditions became
perfectly normal at Delhi Pt.
Bishan Narain Haksar who
was at Alwar came back from
Alwar to Delhi and found his
ancestral haveli badly damaged
and completely ransacked
by the British soldiers totally
unfit for living. The then commissioner
of Delhi C.B.
Saunders helped him in getting
a big compensation from the
British government. Pt. Bishan
Narain Haksar from that
money purchased a big plot of
land in Gali Prem Narain and
built two havelis Rang Mahal
and ‘Sheesh Mahal’ besides a
temple of Lord Krishna at
Mathura in 1870. He died in
1890 at the age of 85 years at
Gwalior.
Pt. Dharam Narain Haksar
after his retirement from the
British service in 1879 shifted
his base from Indore to
Gwalior. Maharaja Jajaji Rao
Scindia made him a Hony. magistrate
and tutor of prince
Madhav Rao Scindia. The British
conferred the civilian title
of Rai Bahadur upon him for
his services in the Gwalior
state. He died in 1892 at
Gwalior at the age of 68 years.
He was Warned with Sushil
Kumari the daughter of Pt.
Pran Nath Raina of Kashmini
Mohalla, Lucknow who later on
migrated to Gwalior and became
Principal of Victoria College
there.
Pt. Dharam Narain Haksar
had a son Har Narain Haksar
who was born in 1853 at Indore.
He started his career as a translator
in the office of Indore Residency.
He used to go to Gwalior
quite often. He died suddenly
due to heart failure at the residence
of his elder son Col. Sir
Kailas Narain Haksar in 1902
at the young age of 52 years.
Pt. Har Narain Haksar had
two sons Kailash Narain and
Iqbal Narain besides five
daughter Swaroop Kumari
married to Pt. Swaroop Narain
Razdan the son of Pt. Bishan
Narain Razdan of Amritsar,
Ram Pyari married to Pt. Roop
Krishna Kitchlu the son of Pt.
Praduman Krishna Kitchlu of
Lahore, Bilaspati married to
Pt. Pratap Narain Shivpuri the
son of Pt. Brij Narain Shivpuri
of Aiwar, Maharaj Kumari
married to Pt. Prem Nath Agha
of Allahabad and Shivrajpati
married to Pt. Brij Krishna
Kitchlu the son of Pt. Praduman
Krishna Kitchlu of Lahore.
Col. Sir Kailas Narain
Haksar then became the Prime
Minister of the Bikaner state
in 1938. He went to Kashmir in
1940 where Maharaja Han
Singh appointed him as tutor
and guardian of Prince Karan
Singh. In 1940 the University
of Allahabad conferred upon
him the honorary degree of
LL.D. He became the Prime
Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
state in 1943 and worked
on that post till 1944. He. then
devoted his life in social work.
He was a great orator and had
an equal command on English
and Persian. He died after a
long illness in 1953 at the residence
of his son Pt. Prakash
Narain Haksar in Calcutta.
Pt. Iqbal Narain Haksar
was born around 1890 at
Gwalior. He had his education
in the famous Victoria College
and then joined the Gwalior
State Scindia Railways as an
Administrative Officer around
1929. Maharaja Jayaji Rao the
Gwalior state from 1835 into
1886 sent Rs. 75 lacs to the British in 1772 for the construction of the Agra - Gwalior portion
of the Great Indian Peninsular
Railway and a similar
amount in 1873 for the construction
of Indore-Nemuch
section of the Rajputana - Malwa railway line.
Maharaja Jayaji Rao
Scindia died on 20th June 1886
and was succeeded by his son
Madhav Rao Scindia from his
fourth wife Sakhyabai. Maharaja
Madhav Rao Scindia appointed
Pt. Iqbal Narain
Haksar as the administrative
officer of the Gwalior State
Scindia Railways to look after
its proper management and
maintenance, which he did with
great ability and farsightedness.
This Haksar family
earned a great respect and honour
in the Gwalior state.
Pt. Iqbal Narain Haksar
was married with Shammo
(Tej Rani) around 1992, who was the daughter of Pt. Jagat
Narain Mulla a leading criminal
lawyer of Lucknow. Pt. Iqbal
Narain Haksar died on 9th
June 1953 at Gwalior and was
survived by three sons Anand
Narain, Raj Narain and Ajit
Narain besides two daughters
Sheila married with Justice
Ram Narain Gurtu the son of
Rai Brij NarainGwtü of
Kanpur and Ta* married with
Pt. Suraj Narain Razdan the
son of Pt. Chand Narain
Razdan of Ujjain.
Pandit Ajit Narain Haksar
was born in 1924 at Lashkar,
Gwalior. He passed his Senior
Cambridge examination from
Doon School, Dehradun in 1940.
He then did his Intermediate
from Victoria College, Gwalior
in 1942. He then went to
Allahabad and did his B .A. in
Humanities from the University
of Allahabad in 1944. He
then went to America and did
his M.B.A. from Harvard Business
School in 1948.
Pandit Ajit Narain Haksar
after coming back to India
started his career as a trainee
in marketing with the Imperial
Tobacco Company of India Ltd.
in September 1948. He was a
man with a vision and extraordinary
managerial skills. He
soon started showing his potential
as a marketing expert by
evolving new strategies. He
gave new fillip and direction to
this wing of the company. He
was made the Marketing Director
of the company around 1954
to implement his policies and
programmes. The result was
that on 27th October 1954 the
company was converted into a
Public Limited Company and
apart from manufacturing cigarettes
and smoking tobacco also
started Lithographic printing
business.
Pt. Haksar then became the
Deputy Chairman of the company
around 1960. He then diversified
the business of the
company by opening up new
avenues and adopting new business
priorities. He thus became
the first Indian Chairman of a
British Company in September
1969. Under his Chairmanship
the name of the company was
changed from the Imperial Tobacco
Company of India Ltd. to
the India Tobacco Company
Ltd. in May 1970. It was due to
his untiring efforts and meticulous
planning that the company
entered into the hotel business
in 1972 and built a chain of hotels
in the country. In 1973 under
his stewardship the company
received the approval of
the government for setting up
three processing plants.
On 1st April, 1974 the name
of the company was again
changed to Imperial Tobacco
Company Ltd. In 1975 I.T.C.
Ltd. purchased the net asset in
India of India Leaf Tobacco Development
Co. Ltd. (U.K.). In
1979 the name of the company’s
chain of hotels was changed
from Welcome Hotels to
Welcom Group and the company
entered into a marketing
service and reservation agreement
with the Sheraton International.
Pt. Ajit Narain
Haksar retired from active service
on 11th January 1983 after
an outstanding track record of
14 years as the Chairman of the
company.
Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was
then made the Chairman
emeritus of the company to utilize
his ability and fasight for
the benefit of the company. A
new company under the name
Gujrat Hotels was incorporated
under a joint venture agreement
signed between the company
and Gujrat Industrial Corporation
to build hotels in
Gujrat. In 1986 the company
signed a joint venture agreement
with Madhya Pradesh
Industrial Development Corporation
for setting up four hotels
in Madhya Pradesh. The company
introduced the new braid
of Wills Flake Premium Filter
and Scissors Filter in 1987 and
acquired Neidoue Hotel of
Srinagar, Kashmir on lease. In
the same year the company
added 30 rooms in Mughal
Sheraton at Agra.
Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was
the President of Bengal Chamber
of Commerce and Industries
for two years. He was a
Member Board of Directors of
Reserve Bank of India, Industrial
Development, Bank of India,
Indian Airlines and Heavy
Engineering Corporation,
Ranchi. He was Chairman
Board of Governors of Indian
Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur and Indian School
of Mines, Dhanbad. He was
Member Board of Governors of
Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta and Hyderabad
Staff College. He was Member
National Committee on Tourism
and Government Committees
on Public Sector.
The Hony. Membership of
the Indian Institute of Industrial
Engineering was conferred
upon Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar in
1981. In the same year he got
Man of the year Award from
NIF. Modi Enterprises. He was
given NIQA outstanding Industrialist
Award in 1982 and
Business India’s First Businessman, of the Year Award. He
was elected in World’s Hall of
Fame in 1982 and 83. He became
an Honorary Fellow of All
India Management Association
1987-88. He got Udyog Life
Time Achievement Award
2005.
Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar during
his school and college days
was a voracious reader and a
good sportsman. He was a god
hockey and football player. He
had a great passion for cricket.
He also took a keen interest in
theatre during his student life.
Later on in service he switched
over to playing lawn tennis. He!
then started playing golf to keep
him fit and mentally alert.
Pt. Ajit Narain Haksar was
married with Madhuri the
daughter of Pt. Trijugi Narain
Sapru and granddaughter of
Dr. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru of
Allahabad. He had a son Anant
Narain Haksar and a daughter
Neena married to Pt. Kapil
Narain Channa the son of Pt.
Uttam Narain Channa. Pt.
Anant Narain Haksar was
born on 31st August 1951 at
Gwalior. He had his schooling
at Doon School, Debradun. He
then did his graduation frm the
University of Calcutta in
1971.He then went to London
and did his graduation Economics
from the London
Schoolof Economics in 1975. He
then did his Tar-at kaw from
Lincoln's Inn,in 1977.He then
came back to India to start his
legal practice asan advocate in
Download Book
monopoly of the American Tobacco
Companies in the world
market especially of James
Buchanan Duke thirteen British
tobacco and cigarette companies
including the famous
W.D. & H.O. Wills of Bristol
merged together in 1901 to
form the Imperial Tobacco Company
to carry out their business
in the global market under this
new brand name. Mr. William
Henry Wills of the leading W.D.
& H.O. Wills group became the
first chairman of the Imperial
Tobacco Company on 24th August
1910. The company was
incorporated as a Private Limited
Company under a new
name Imperial Tobacco Company
of India Ltd. for manufacturing
cigarettes and smoking
tobacco in the country.
Pt. Ajit
Narain Haksar who joined
this company in 1948 as a
trainee in marketing became
its Chairman in 1969.
He was the first Indian to
occupy that coveted post.
