New Delhi, Nov 28 (KNN) Dr. Chakradhari Agarwal one the most influential figures for Small Scale Industries (SSIs) and founder of National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE)- later rechristened as Federation of Indian and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), died in Noida last week.

Very few people have dominated and influenced public policy in the context of SSIs from 1960s to the turn of century as Dr. Agarwal.

An engineer from Banaras Hindu University, he was a freedom fighter who courted imprisonment along with Narayan Dutt Tiwari- former Finance Minister and Chief Minister  of UP and Uttrakhand.

After independence when India embarked upon the path ‘production by masses’ and large scale promotion of SSIs, he formed the alliance of budding young entrepreneurs and facilitated birth of NAYE in 1967. 

NAYE organized mass scale Entrepreneurship development programmes, lobbied on behalf of small entrepreneurs to secure pie of government controlled resources and help check the regulatory excesses of inspectors. NAYE was later subsumed in FISME in 1995.

A well networked person globally, he was also instrumental in creating an international organization of SMEs- World Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME). He led WASME as Secretary General till his superannuation.  

His colleagues remembered Dr. Agarwal as a workaholic, extremely dexterous and a highly networked person who fought on behalf of small entrepreneurs relentlessly for decades. 

Thanks to his background of freedom fighter, member of Congress Sewa Dal before independence and his association with Nrayan Dutt Tiwari, Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed  among others, he had unparalleled access to corridors of power which he liberally used for lobbying the cause of small entrepreneurs. 

He authored many books and served on Committees and Expert Groups set up for SME sector in different Ministries of Government of India such as Industry, Food processing, Science & Technology and at United Nations also. 

Thousands of MSMEs mourn his death whose lives he has affected and alleviated their pain. (KNN Bureau)