Pessie Madan (26 September 1916 – 17 April 2015) was a

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

and an early leader in India’s high-technology research and development sector.

Early life

Madan was born to a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

family in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

(now

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

) on 26 September 1916. He and his family fled Burma just before its capture by the Japanese during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, returning to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on the heels of the retreating

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Education

Madan studied Chemistry at the University College Rangoon, earning a B.Sc. (Honours) in Chemistry followed by a Physics (Honours) degree. He was awarded the University's S. Ramanatha Reddiar Prize (Gold Medal) for highest standing in the Physics Honours Examination. Later, he completed a course in

electronic engineering Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flo ...

(wireless and radar) at

Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This ...

College in Essex, U.K.

Career

In 1943, Madan was commissioned into the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

, where he commanded a field unit in the turbulent

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a province of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Paki ...

province. After the war, he continued as an officer of the

, serving in the

Indian Army Corps of EME The Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) is an arms and service branch of the Indian Army. The Corps has varying responsibilities related to the design, development, trial, inspection and refit of weapon systems and equipment. They ...

. He earned the rank of

before retiring, at the age of 52. In 1975 he received the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

for his services to the nation. Upon retiring from the military, Madan began a career in India's rapidly growing high-technology sector, initially with the nation's premier defense electronics public sector company,

Bharat Electronics Limited Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, public sector aerospace and Military, defence Electronics, electronics company, headquartered in Bangalore. It primarily manufactures advanced electronic products ...

(BEL). While there, he planned and supervised the construction of BEL’s Radar and Communications factory at

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in Western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziaba ...

, and became its first General Manager. He later planned and supervised construction of Gujarat Communications and Electronics Limited, a public sector electronics company of the state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. He served as its Chairman and Managing Director for seven years, and remained Chairman for an additional five years. In 1980, Madan joined the

Tata Power Tata Power Company Limited is an Indian electric utility and electricity generation company based in Mumbai, India and is part of the Tata Group. With an installed electricity generation capacity of 14,707 MW out of which 5847 MW is from Non-C ...

Company, serving as an Advisor to what is now the largest private sector power utility company in India. In this capacity, he steered the company’s

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

-based Research and Development activities away from consumer electronics, toward the development of high-tech weapon systems for the

Defence Ministry A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

. To manufacture these new systems, he set up a Tata Power production unit capable of precision engineering in

Electronic City Electronic City is an information technology hub in Bengaluru, India, located in Anekal taluk. Spread over 800 acres (3.2 km²) near Konappana Agrahara and Doddathogur it houses a large number of electronic/IT industrial parks. Electro ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. The unit, Tata Electronics Development Services, is now known as th
Strategic Electronics Division
Madan served as an Advisor to Tata Power for seventeen years before finally retiring in 1997 at the age of 80 years. After retirement, Madan turned to writing; in 2008, his autobiography "An Odyssey: My Reminiscences" was published by Konark Publishers.Pessie Madan (2008). An Odyssey: My Reminiscences. New Delhi: Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madan, Pessie 1916 births 2015 deaths Indian Army officers Parsi people Recipients of the Padma Shri in civil service University of Yangon alumni Indian Army personnel of World War II British Indian Army officers Indian expatriates in British Burma