» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2016-2017

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Nilesh Kunwar (GME)
• Cdt. Bhoop Singh Dahiya (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. B. Vedanth (GME)

SHRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI

• Mr. Jagadheesan R. (GME)
• Mr. Ganeshamoorthy M. (GME)
• Mr. Vasanthakumar M. (GME)
• Mr. H. Azarudeen (Gold Medal)

» VASANT SHETH STEAMSHIP MUTUAL-SST SCHOLARSHIPS 2016-17

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Aadhar Khadse (GME)
• Cdt. Sukhjit Singh (TNOC)

Tolani Maritime Institute, Talegaon

• Cdt. Yash Kumar Navlani (GME)

» VASANT SHETH/ MAYS BROWN SCHOLARSHIP 2016-17

• Cdt. Vignesh Ponnusamy (TNOC)

» VASANT SHETH/SUDHIR MULJI SCHOLARSHIP 2016-17

• Cdt. Sakhileti Veera Venkata Prasad (GME)

• Cdt. Christy Johnson (TNOC)

» VASANT SHETH PRAFUL DAFTARY SCHOLARSHIP, 2016-17

• Cdt. Selvin Samuel S (ETO)

• Cdt. Ganesh Madhukar Ghuge (ETO)

» COMPUTER EDUCATION 2016-17

(MUMBAI)

Promoting the Education sector further this year, the Foundation partnered with Sujaya Foundation to sponsor youth with an SSC degree in the age group of 18-25 years for a 4 month course in computers, English, retail marketing and confidence building with job placements. The course is held at three centres in Chembur, Panvel and Bandra and has benefitted 21 candidates so far with seven job placements.

(BHAVNAGAR)

The Foundation funded computer education to four deserving students of the Sidi Community in Bhavnagar. Sidis originally from Africa settled in India over 300 years ago and are an important community in India’s maritime history.

» MUSEUM SOCIETY OF BOMBAY, 2016

The Foundation sponsored two illustrated lectures organized by the Museum Society of Bombay: Benevolent Narmada by Vithal C Nadkarni and Sailing the Indian Ocean: The Seafarers of the Gulf of Kachh by Dr. Chhaya Goswami.

» 19TH VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, MUMBAI, 2017

The 19th Vasant J. Sheth Memorial Lecture J.M.W. Turner: A Marine Master in a Modernising World was delivered by David Blayney Brown, Manton Curator of British Art, Tate Britain.

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2015-2016

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Mohsin Khan Pathan (GME)
• Cdt. Ravikant Pandit (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Sunil Kumar Behera (GME)

SHRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI

• Cdt. Srinivasan P. (GME)
• Cdt. Dhivakar S. (GME)
• Cdt. Azarudeen H. (GME)
• Cdt. R. Parivalan (Gold Medal)

» VASANT SHETH STEAMSHIP MUTUAL-SST SCHOLARSHIPS 2015-16

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Dhananjay Kandalkar (GME)
• Cdt. Akhil Mathew (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Akshay Kumar Shahi GME)

» 18TH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, MUMBAI, 2016

The 18th Vasant J. Sheth Memorial Lecture Sacred Rivers, The Lifelines of India was delivered by Diana L Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Harvard University.

» INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE CONVENT SCHOOL, MANORI, 2015

The Foundation, Vashketu and Sujaya Foundations jointly contributed three computers to a village school for Koli children.

» DIGITAL ONLINE ARCHIVE OF INDIAN MARITIME COMMUNITIES HERITAGE, 2015

The Foundation enabled Dr. Lotika Varadarajan to compile The Archives of the Indian Maritime Community Traditions. The archive, an aggregation of Dr. Varadarajan’s ethnographic research on indigenous maritime communities of India includes photographs, research notes, manuscripts and published papers. It can be accessed online at www.maritimearchives-cck.org.

» CMS VATAVARAN FESTIVAL 2015 - DUSTY FOOT PRODUCTIONS

Olive Ridley, an educational video by Dusty Foot Productions funded by the Foundation, won an award in the children’s section of the Vatavaran Festival.

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2014-2015

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Thota Eshwar Rao (GME)
• Cdt. Rahul Srivastava (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Akshay Kumar (GME)

SHRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI

• Cdt. Hari Prasanth R. (GME)
• Cdt. Ashokraj A. (GME)
• Cdt. Iraiah Babu V. (GME)
• Cdt. C.S. Pravinraj (Gold Medal)

» VASANT SHETH STEAMSHIP MUTUAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2014-15

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Maheshwaran Kannan (GME)
• Cdt. Gavli Shubham Dattatray (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Shaili Srivastava (GME)

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS AND GOLD MEDALS, LONAVALA, PUNE, CHENNAI 2014-2015

Six scholarships and six gold medals have been awarded in 2014 to cadets from the Great Eastern Institute of Maritime Studies, Lonavala, Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune and Shri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai. Since inception, 146 cadets have benefited from both (VJSMF & VSSM) scholarships.

» 17TH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, MUMBAI, 2015

The 17th Vasant J. Sheth Memorial Lecture In Search of Suvarnabhumi: Tracing Tamil Merchants Traders in First Millennium Maritime Southeast Asia was delivered by John Guy, Florence & Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2013-14

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Digvijay Dadaso Kurade (GME)
• Cdt. Sadaram Sandeep Naveen (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Naresh Mahajan (GME)

SHRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI

• Cdt. E. Saravan (GME)
• Cdt. N. Naveen (GME)
• Cdt. S. Balamurugan (GME)
• Cdt. J. Pravin Kumar (GME)

» VASANT SHETH STEAMSHIP MUTUAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2013-14

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Raut Swapnil Rajendra (GME)
• Cdt. Subhrajit Jena (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Kshitij Tripathi (GME)

 

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS AND GOLD MEDALS, LONAVALA, PUNE, CHENNAI 2013-2014

Six scholarships and six gold medals have been awarded in 2013-14 to cadets from the Great Eastern Institute of Maritime Studies, Lonavala, Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune and Shri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai. Since inception, 129 cadets have benefited from both (VJSMF & VSSM) scholarships.

 

» 16TH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, MUMBAI, 2014

The 16th Vasant J. Sheth Memorial Lecture Treading Water: Reflections on an Intemperate Medium was delivered by Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University.

» DUSTY FOOT PRODUCTIONS, SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION, 2013-2014

Funded Dusty Foot Productions, to produce Turtle Diaries, a set of educational videos on how to conserve rare species of sea turtles along the coast of India.

The target audience is schools, educational institutions and marine wildlife conservationists like the Turtle Action Group.

» HERAS INSTITUTE, ST. XAVIER'S COLLEGE, MUMBAI, 2013-2014

Part sponsored the 22nd Art History Congress and facilitated a visit by the delegates to Elephanta caves.

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2012-13

GREAT EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MARITIME STUDIES, LONAVALA

• Cdt. Vijaypal Bamel (GME)
• Cdt. Landa Vidya Sagar (TNOC)

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Ankit Parashar (GME)

SHRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, CHENNAI

• Cdt. Parivalan P. (GME)
• Cdt. Yuvaraj S. (GME)
• Cdt. Naveenkumar M. (GME)
• Cdt. Ashwin Kumar G.V.N. (Gold Medal)

» VASANT SHETH STEAMSHIP MUTUAL SCHOLARSHIPS 2012-13

TOLANI MARITIME INSTITUTE, TALEGAON

• Cdt. Abhinav Jha (GME)

» RESTORATION OF EXISTING SEA TURTLE INTERPRETATION CENTRE, RUSHIKULYA, ORISSA 2012

The Vasant J Sheth Memorial Sea Turtle Interpretation Centre was established in 2004 in Rushikulya, Orissa run by Mr. Rabindranath Sahu. The largest Olive Ridley sea turtle rookery in the country, the centre has attracted large crowds of students and tourists and succeeded in propagating turtle numbers with numbers exceeding 1,50,000 female turtles nesting per year. The Foundation continues to support the centre and in 2013 will freshly contribute to its update. The Wildlife Institute of India has maintained a record of nesting Olive Ridley mother turtles and in 2013, the number of nesting mother turtles at Giramatha and Rushikulya in Orissa has exceeded 3,20,000, which makes Orissa coast the highest Olive Ridley sea turtle conservation coastline in the world.

» THE CHILDREN’S TOY FOUNDATION, MUMBAI 2012

The Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation conducted a four-day summer camp in collaboration with Srushtidnyan (environmental NGO) and young volunteers from the Cathedral and John Connon School at the Children’s Toy Foundation in the Children’s Toy Library at The City of Los Angeles Municipal School Matunga, Mumbai in May 2012. Thirty-six municipal school children under the age group of 15 years participated. The workshop was a huge success.

» SEA CADET CORPS, 75TH YEAR CEREMONIAL PARADE, MUMBAI 2012

The Foundation contributed towards the education of sea cadets to the Sea Cadet Council, Sea Cadets Corps, Colaba, Mumbai. Sea Cadet Corps is a voluntary youth organisation which inculcates values, skills and a sense of responsibility in young people through nautical and allied training.

» ADOPT – A – BOOK @ MANI BHAVAN (MANI BHAVAN GANDHI SANGRAHALAYA), MUMBAI 2012-2013

The Foundation has supported the preservation of rare books on Mahatma Gandhi, the freedom movement and his philosophy under the Adopt – a – Book scheme. The donation will help the Gandhi Museum at Mani Bhavan, Mumbai preserve its literary treasures.

» 15TH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, MUMBAI 2013

The 15th Vasant J Sheth memorial lecture was delivered by Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University. Sugata Bose has also served as director of graduate studies in history at Harvard and as the founding director of Harvard’s South Asia Initiative. He is the grand nephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

» VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL FOUNDATION - AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, KOCHI 2013

The Foundation along with the Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney, conducted a two-day workshop at the School of Communication and Management Studies (SCMS) in Kochi, Kerala. The workshop was conducted for students who want to make a career in museology.

» RESTORATION AND UPKEEP OF EXISTING SEA TURTLE INTERPRETATION CENTRE, RUSHIKULYA, ORISSA, 2011-2012

The Vasant J Sheth Memorial Sea Turtle Interpretation Centre was established in 2004 in Rushikulya, Orissa. Run by Mr. Rabindranath Sahu of the Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee, it is the largest Olive Ridley Sea Turtle rookery in the country. The centre has attracted large crowds of students and tourists and succeeded in propagating turtles with numbers exceeding 1,50,000 females nesting per year. The Foundation continues to support the centre and in 2012 further equipped and painted the well – attended centre.

» ADOPT – A – BOOK @ MANI BHAVAN, GANDHI MUSEUM (MANI BHAVAN GANDHI SANGRAHALAYA), GAMDEVI, MUMBAI, 2011-2012

The Foundation has contributed towards the preservation of rare books on Gandhiji, the freedom movement and his philosophy under the Adopt – a – Book scheme. The donation will help the Gandhi Museum at Mani Bhavan to preserve the literary treasures.

» THE 14TH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2012

The 14th Vasant J Sheth Memorial Lecture was delivered by Polar explorer and environmental leader Sir Robert Swan who is the first person ever to have walked to both the Poles unassisted. His contribution to both education and the environment has been recognized through his appointment as UN Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and as a visiting Professor of the School of the Environment at Leeds University. In 1994 he became Special Envoy to the Director General of UNESCO. He was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) and the Polar Medal in 1995.

» PROJECT SHIPWRECK 2011

The Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation had sponsored a documentary, ‘Shipwreck’ for NDTV in 2010. Now in 2011 – 2012, the film has been nominated as mandatory course material at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa and is also being screened regularly at the new maritime museum in Minicoy.

» THE THIRTEENTH VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2011

2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for History, author of the book Lords of Finance: The Bankers who Broke the World and noted investment advisor, Mr. Liaquat Ahamed, delivered the 13th Memorial Lecture in January 2011.

Mr. Ahamed was an investment manager for 25 years and has previously worked at the World Bank in Washington DC. He is on the boards of the Brookings Institution and the New America Foundation. He is currently working on his second book, based upon the conflict between American politicians and bankers in the early 1800s.

Titled Financial Crises: Lessons of History, the lecture traced the history of financial crises dating back to the Roman Empire. Mr. Ahamed talked about major crises, such as the South Sea Bubble of 1720 and the Great Depression of 1929 and discussed how to spot and correct factors that could potentially lead to another global economic crisis. A packed house of students, policy makers, economists and heads of corporations alike attended the lecture.

Email us at vjsmf@greatship.com for printed copies or a video of the lecture.

» GUJARAT AND THE SEA, 2010

Supported the conference Gujarat and the Sea that took place in Mandvi – Kutch, from 1st to 3rd October 2010, organised by the Darshak Itihas Nidhi. The conference focussed on the rich maritime heritage of Gujarat, and covered varied topics under the technological, archaeological as well as social development of maritime Gujarat, till the early 1700s. The conference also included visits to the boat building docks in Mandvi, and a trip to the excavated Harappan sites in Lothal, Gujarat. The conference was attended by scholars from across the world and covered a wide range of topics relating to Gujarat’s maritime history.

» TWELVETH VASANT J. SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2010

The speaker for the 12th Memorial Lecture, Paul Smith, British diplomat and Shakespearean scholar, presented a lecture titled "Full Fathom Five: Shakespeare’s Old Seas and New Oceans".

Educated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, Mr. Smith taught Literature at St. Stephen College in Delhi, from 1978 – 1980. He joined the British Council in 1983 and has had postings in Nigeria, Myanmar, Chile, Germany, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Egypt. He then returned to the UK as Director, Arts, before taking up a five year posting as Director of the British Council West India based in Mumbai. He has held directorial posts with the British Council since and is now posted in Afghanistan. He has directed numerous Shakespearean productions in various countries and has been published widely. He was awarded the OBE in 1999.

The lecture charted William Shakespeare’s increasing use of the seas and oceans as a metaphor for the core emotions in his plays and writings. Through his talk, Mr. Smith spoke of the increase in maritime trade and the wealth of maritime discoveries by European sailors as apparent in Shakespeare’s writing. The lecture was accompanied by an audio-visual presentation of clips from films based on Shakespeare’s plays. The lecture was well received and has been published as a monograph.

» INDIA’S UNDERWATER TREASURES: SHIPWRECK

India’s Underwater Treasures: Shipwreck is a documentary funded by the Vasant J. Sheth Memorial Foundation. The film was produced by news-channel New Delhi Television (NDTV), created by its senior anchor Vishnu Som. The film documents the wrecks of the SS Colombo and the freighters SS Thrunscoe & the SS Duffryn Manor, lost to the seas in the mid-1800s; they have now become part of the Lakshadweep archipelago’s rich coral reefs, just off the idyllic Minicoy Islands. The crew explores and pieces together the stories of the three wrecks as they dive under water to capture never before seen footage of the sites, and present a fuller picture through video and notes from the ship’s logs. The film premiered on NDTV in June 2010, and is to be presented at the Asian Television Awards at Singapore, in December 2010. Copies of the film or further information can be made available through the Foundation.

» DOCUMENTATION OF MARITIME HERITAGE SITES (2007 – 2010)

Collaborated with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to document maritime heritage sites across all the coastal states of India – West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra & Goa and Gujarat. These sites include villages or towns where a particular way of coastal living needs to be preserved to monuments and buildings of maritime heritage importance.

» TEACHERS HERITAGE TRAINING WORKSHOP, 2009

Collaborated with INTACH and the Fox History Channel to hold a teachers’ training workshop for middle school teachers from various suburban schools to help them start heritage clubs with the children they teach. The programme trained the teachers on making children aware of local and national heritage through various activities, field trips to local heritage sites and the use of appropriate resource material & multimedia to impart this information to the children.

» REEF WATCH – BLUE BRIGADE, 2009-2010

Supported a project by Mumbai-based NGO, ReefWatch, executed in collaboration with Srushtidnyan. The project implemented a teaching module created for middle-school children to create awareness and impart information about Mumbai’s marine ecology and the need to conserve and protect it. The module involved lessons, presentations of films, lectures as well as field visits where children learned about mangroves and sea-life.

» FISHERIES CULTURE EXHIBITION, 2010

The Foundation supported an exhibition organised by the Dakshin Foundation & the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust at the Annual Turtle Symposium, Goa in April 2010. The exhibition promoted awareness about the lives of the various fishing communities living along the Indian coast. Marine conservationists from across the world attended the symposium.

» ELEVENTH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2008

The 11th memorial lecture, scheduled for December 2008 was cancelled owing to the Mumbai terror attack. Titled, "India's Rise & the Global Politics of Energy supply: Challenges for the Next Decade," by Dr. Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Department of Politics and International Relations, St Peter's College, Oxford University, the talk has been published and circulated widely. Copies can be referenced in the Foundation office

Soares de Oliveira has worked in the field of governance and the energy sector for the World Bank, the European Commission, Catholic Relief Services, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and the French Ministry of Defence. His research interests include the geopolitics of oil; African politics (particularly West and Central Africa); comparative politics and international political economy, especially in the fields of natural resource extraction, organised crime, state decay and post-conflict reconstruction.

» JEEVAN SHALA, 2006-2007

Supported the Society for Women's Action and Training Initiative (SWATI) to educate daughters of saltpan workers till high school in Surendranagar district, Gujarat. Fifteen girls studying in the 8th grade have been selected for tuition and computer classes with travel expenses.

The programme began in 2007 and will continue till 2010. This year the number of girls benefiting from the programme has risen to twenty-one.

» TENTH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2007

The 2007 speaker, Dr. Susan Bean, an eminent anthropologist, spoke on "Bombay Boston: Commercial and Cultural Encounters in the Age of Sail". Dr. Bean is the Curator of South Asian and Korean Art and Culture at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Peabody Essex Museum is the first American museum to dedicate a gallery, to India's contemporary art and is recognised for its historic collection on maritime art.

Dr Bean specialises in visual arts and cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries in South Asia. She received her doctorate from Columbia University and has taught at Yale, Columbia and Brown Universities, and Wellesley College. Her recent exhibitions include Gateway Bombay (Peabody Essex Museum, 2007) and Epic India: M.F.Hussain's Mahabharata Project (Peabody Essex Museum, 2006)

In a talk illustrated with images of trading vessels, portraits of American and Indian merchants, commodities and mementos, Susan Bean explored this era of Indo-U.S. history. Mariners shaped the American imagination as they recounted visits to the Elephanta caves and experiences of Holi celebrations, conveyed accounts of Zoroastrian practices, entertainments at Lowjee Castle and provided descriptions of people they met, especially local agents for American trade like members of the Wadia family. Focusing on the nexus connecting Bombay and Boston, she revealed the trade's lively role in evolving American ideas about India.

» NINTH VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL LECTURE, 2006

The 2006 speaker, Dr Helene Basu, an eminent German anthropologist spoke on the "Cultural practices of Indian Sidis through the prism of Indian Ocean Maritime Connections".

A former Associate Professor at the Free University in Berlin and currently the Chair in Muenster University, Professor Helene Basu is an authority on the Sidis, the descendants of migrant workers from East Africa who played an important role in the history of the Indian Ocean. She has lived with them in Gujarat in the late 1980s and has produced the most important scholarship to date.

Dr Basu traced the route of the Sidi community to Africa and the similarities between the Sidis of Gujarat and the people of Zanzibar. The talk included video clips from documentary films of Beheroze Shroff and also rare footage on the Sidi damaal/ngoma dance in the shrine of Bava Gor, the revered Sufi saint of the community. The saints are known to have powers that can cure illness, and people from all communities are attracted to the shrines. The event also featured photographs of contemporary Sidis by Ketaki Sheth in 2006.

» NON-FORMAL EDUCATION PROGRAMME (REAP), 2004-2006

Supported Reach Education Action Programme (REAP), an organisation active in the field of non-formal education programmes for street children from the coastal slum areas of Mumbai from 2004-2006. The project included non-formal education classes for balwadis and students studying below the fourth standard.

» ANNUAL VASANT J SHETH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS,2002

Scholarships to eligible cadets in Marine Engineering and Navigation courses in 3 institutions: Tolani Maritime Institute (Pune), Sri Venkateswara Institute of Engineering (Chennai) and Great Eastern Institute of Maritime Studies (Lonavala). The best academic student of the year in each institution is awarded a gold medal.

» COURSE ON SHIP MANAGEMENT, IIM, AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT 1994

Jointly with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, the Foundation developed a comprehensive first-of-its-kind general ship management course for senior and middle-level managers in 1994. The course had its 25th offering in 2015 and 600 alumni graced the occasion. Till date, the course continues to benefit senior and middle level managers in shipping.