Abhijit Pawar

Abhijit Pawar
Born	(1972-02-17) 17 February 1972
Residence	Pune, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Managing Director, Sakal Media Group, Founder & Chairman, Delivering Change Foundation

Abhijit Pawar (born 17 February 1972) is the Managing Director of Sakal Media Group.^[1][2][3] and Founder & Chairman of the Delivering Change Foundation^[4] in Pune, India. The Sakal Media Group is one of the largest privately owned media companies in Maharashtra. Abhijit took up the role of ‘Group Managing Director’ of the entire media group in 2004^[1] and his father Pratap Govindrao Pawar took up the role of ‘Mentor and Chairman’.^[1]

Career

Upon joining the company Abhijit initiated a comprehensive modernization program that saw the company create several new verticals such as Events(Sakal Events),^[5] Online(eSakal),^[6] Digital TV(Saam TV)^[7], Commercial Printing,^[8] Social Media^[9] and diversified across sectors in which he had prior work experience e.g. infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate and investment advisory services. Each business unit created at Sakal Media Group was designed to communicate and reach out to the grass roots of society and making sure that society is informed and educated in an inclusive manner.

Beyond Sakal Media Group - Positions Held

Abhijit Pawar is the Founder of the Sakal International Learning Centre^[10] which has been specifically created to impart employable and skill-based training that replaces regular pedagogy and offers several short, medium and long term courses in various areas such as Agriculture, IT, Entrepreneurship, Governance and many more.

Abhijit Pawar launched Agrowon,^[11] the first ever daily in India by Sakal Papers Pvt. Ltd. devoted to Agriculture on 19 April 2005. Agrowon is a 16-page tabloid published in Marathi. This daily started the movement to support farmers in their initiatives and contributed to the development of agriculture in Maharashtra. Agrowon caters to the micro information needs and education of farmers.

Philanthropy

Abhijit Pawar is the Trustee and Director of 'Sakal Social Foundation'^[12] The trust is focused on being an advocate of social causes affecting the fabric of India as a nation. It conducts projects in various areas such as education, environment, health, city resilience and eradicating poverty.

He is a trustee of the ‘Sakal Relief Fund’.^[13] The ‘Sakal Relief Fund’ has been India’s foremost disaster relief and management fund and has supported displaced Indians and their rehabilitation since 1943.

He is the founder of Sakal International Learning Centre, which supplements and compliments regular education and pedagogy with relevant skill based education that is both employable and relevant to business, government and social needs.

He is a Life Trustee of Sakal India Foundation^[14] which grants educational scholarships to deserving students for their higher education in India and overseas. The main of this foundation is to promote education and research and promote international co-operation in research and education with other countries.

Abhijit Pawar is also the Chairman of the Poona School and Home for Blind^[15] an NGO dedicated to the education and care of blind girls and boys. This is a residential facility, complete with skill training infrastructure and also makes assistance for emergency surgical procedures benefiting the blind.

He is a trustee of the Nanasaheb Parulekar Sakal Charity Trust^[16] which is focused on propagation and advancement of Journalism and Mass Communication with electronic media in particular and also open to other forms.^[16]

He is the Chairman and Trustee of the Nirdhar Tanishka^[17] which promotes and advocates issues related to women in the area of economic, social, political frameworks. It promotes women empowerment, education for girls, gender equality and livelihood options for women.

Abhijit Pawar has also founded the Tanishka Stree Pratishtha Abhiyaan.^[18] The 'Sakal Media Group' has become the voice of lakhs of unborn baby girls and has sensitized the society on the increasing incidences of female foeticide. It has appealed the masses to form a pressure group against this social evil. Responding to this appeal, thousands of women, especially school-going girls spontaneously joined the state-wide 'Lek Wachwa' (Save the Girl Child) campaign. It was in July 2012, when citizens from each corner of Maharashtra pledged to fight against pre-natal sex determination and sex selective abortions.

Abhijit is the Founder & Chairman of the Delivering Change Foundation^[4] an NGO dedicated to social and economic transformation of nations through a structured, systematic approach and is a 50:50 Joint Venture with BFR Institute of Malaysia^[4] which is a 100% subsidiary of the PEMANDU(Performance Management & Delivery Unit) of the PMO(Prime Minister’s Office), Government of Malaysia. The foundation works closely with governments and local communities including those from Business, NGOs, Academia, Consulting and all grassroots level organizations and civic groups.

Boards & Committees

Current Positions

• Founder of the Young Inspirators Network^[19]
• Founder of the Tanishka Forum network^[20]
• Executive Committee Member - Indian Newspaper Society, Delhi^[21]
• Committee Member - NM Wadia Institute and Media Research & Users Council, Mumbai^[22]
• Committee Member, 2015 - Information Technology Steering Committee^[22]
• YPO Regional Elected Director, 2015 Board of Directors^[22]
• Founding Member – Pune International Centre, 2012 till date^[23]
• Committee Member- Media Research and Users Council^[21]
• Co-opted Member of MCCIA, Oct 2008 - till date^[24]

Past Positions / Champion Roles

• Executive Committee Member, 2012-2014 - Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA)^[21]
• Committee Regional Chair, 2010-2012 - Regional Chairs Council^[22]
• Committee Member, 2008-2010, International Events Committee^[22]

Social Responsibility

Abhijit has positioned the media business as a socially focused communication platform wherein the issues and problems faced by society can be highlighted by the media and consensus based solutions can be achieved with joint participation of all stakeholders as illustrated below:

Pune Bus Day^[25]

The Sakal media group, took the initiative to plan a ‘Pune Bus Day’ to highlight and publicize the need for a better bus service, bring together a wide array of stakeholders to support the effort and run almost twice the number of buses on November 1, 2012 with an appeal to people to use the city bus instead of their own vehicle on that day. The whole event was planned in partnership with PMPML, the city bus service provider.

Tanishka Forum

Abhijit has created the Tanishka Women's Network^[20] to promote the dignity and security of women in Maharashtra. This network is an independent, inclusive and enabling network that helps women in the creation of forums of 20 which are trained and empowered to run community level projects. These projects are being conducted under various themes that affect women such as their land rights, crime, education, health, environment and many others. Abhijit also recently launched the Tanishka Women’s Network in Mexico^[4] in collaboration with Elisa Salinas of The Women’s Project, Grupo Salinas Mexico and the Azteca Group.

Young Inspirators Network

Abhijit has provided a platform for the youth (in the age group of 18-24) to collaboratively network with each other on a “project initiative based”^[26][27] model thereby actively influencing policy formation and implementation via the Young Inspirators Network (YIN). YIN was created to focus on the personal, professional and social growth of the youth. This network is currently based in Maharashtra.

Personal life

He is married to Mrunal Pawar who helps him with work at the Sakal Social Foundation. He has a son and a daughter. Abhijit loves sports, reading and has a holistic approach towards human development.

External links

• Mr. Abhijit Pawar at an event of anniversary of Snehalaya, an NGO which works on the issues of drought and human trafficking

References