Bengaluru: Ravindra Kishore Sinha, who passed away on Friday, 30th October (born 22 September 1951), is remembered in all circles for reasons far more widely known on public platforms. By and large, RK Sinha, or RK among close circles, was a multifaceted, cheerful, and ever-enthusiastic personality throughout his active life, but that changed in the final phase after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.
A Swayamsevak turned scribe, industrialist! RK Sinha, to begin with, was a swayamsevak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS). His journalism career began with a stint in Hindusthan Samachar as a Reporter. Later, he evolved as an entrepreneur by kickstarting the Security and Intelligence Service(SIS) private security services and rose to become a billionaire journalist, businessman, politician, and philanthropist worth emulating for future generations to come.
Security agency to help ex-servicemen: According to his own admission, R K Sinha came into touch with the Defence Personnel while covering the liberation of East Pakistan during the 1971 war, as a Defence Correspondent. His close contact also enabled him to understand the plight of the retired military men after serving in the army for 20 years. As a humanitarian gesture to help the warrior community post-retirement, he set up the Security and Intelligence Service(SIS) private security services agency.
Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore! To start with, the SIS was dubbed as a company run by and for Biharis, as most of the earlier employees belonged to Bihar. However, it turned out to be a misnomer within a very short span, as the security and employment activities spread all over the country, and also extended to Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore!
3,57,028 employees worldwide! According to the annual report of SIS Limited, the total number of people employed by the private security service provider company is 3,57,028! Its diverse network includes subsidiaries catering to facility management, electronic security, pest control, and guarding services across regions, including international ones.
Indian Operations: Major domestic subsidiaries include SMC Integrated Facility Management Solutions Limited (facility management), Tech SIS Limited (electronic security), Terminix SIS India Private Limited (pest control), and Dusters Total Solutions Services Private Limited. Additional entities comprise SIS Business Support Services, SIS Synergistic Adjacencies Ventures, SLV Security Services, Rare Hospitality and Services Private Limited, Uniq Security Solutions, SIS Alarm Monitoring and Response Services, and SISCO Security Services.
International and Holding Entities: International reach is managed via holding and regional structures such as SIS International Holdings, SIS Asia Pacific Holdings, SIS Australia Holdings/Group, SIS Henderson Holdings, Platform 4 Group in New Zealand, and Safety Direct Solutions in Australia.
In touch since 2017: RK Sinha, after becoming the Chairman of Hindusthan Samachar, his maiden media organisation to start with, dreamt of making it self-sustaining, competitive, and a professional multilingual news agency. He was broad-minded and liberal in his outlook when it came to picking up scribes for the hazardous task and sought suggestions from known veteran journalists based out of New Delhi, without bothering whether one came from the RSS leanings or not. In this way, through the good offices of Arakalgud Suryaprakash, through K G Vasuki, another senior journalist came into touch with R K Sinha in 2017.
Formal meeting in the morning, party in the evening! Rakesh Manjul, then CEO and Editor-in-Chief, had arranged for the interaction in the morning at Hotel Lalit Ashok, where RK Sinha was camping. Following the formal interaction, Rakesh Manjul took me to the local Hindusthan Samachar office at the Bengaluru Rural district Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) office in Malleshwaram. The same evening, we had a party at his hotel room without joining the organisation or receiving any formal appointment order!
Joining in HS Noida office: On the instructions of RK Sinha, went to New Delhi, where arrangements were made for accommodation and food in one of his several guest houses. After formally joining duty in the Noida office, had to stay back for a week to get acquainted with the nature of work and coordination in the national office. In between, RK Sinha was very particular and called me to his Humayun Road Rajya Sabha Member MP quarters for a sumptuous lunch. He was very fond of treating his guests at his personal and official residences, and at any number of guest houses located in New Delhi, Noida, Dwarka, among many other localities in the national capital.
A professional approach to uplift the agency: After RK Sinha took over as the Chairman of Hindusthan Samachar, he entrusted key responsibilities to his confidants in the SIS, raising the meagre salaries to a comparable level with other media organisations, set up offices at state bureaus, invited the whole staff to Dehradun for the three-day annual general body meeting, held periodical evaluation meetings in New Delhi, Noida, and Patna, bore the airfare of far-off colleagues, and took the staff family members to pilgrimage centres like Badrinath at his own expense!
A terrific host: RK Sinha was an amazing personality in whichever way you would like to look at it. Despite being a billionaire, he was too simple, humble, and grounded to the hilt. All his staff, from the topmost person to the lowest level, whether in SIS or HS, had his personal cell phone numbers and didn't have any inhibitions about calling him if required. His hospitality to whoever came into contact with him was par excellence, for he was an unimaginably extraordinary host!
Treated colleagues as close personal friends: RK Sinha used to travel a lot across the country and worldwide, for official and personal purposes. While touring within the country, he made it a point to treat the respective state bureau chiefs as his own close friends during his interactive meetings with others. Although there used to be no requirement for their presence in such business meetings, RK Sinha ensured that they abstained from the same.
From a 10X12 feet room to a sprawling premises: RK Sinha, after inducting me into the HS family, saw to it that the 10X12 feet HS office in the Malleshwaram BJP office was shifted to a sprawling premises in the SIS office in the adjacent building of Shivananda Stores in Sheshadripuram. Many others joined the Bengaluru bureau. After some time, he made provision at the SIS Corporate office near Trinity Circle on MG Road with the intention that the office should be accessible on par with other media outlets.
Opportunity to cover Gujarat, Karnataka Assembly elections: RK Sinha was unique in the sense of thinking, visualising, and visionising tall dreams. He roped in several senior colleagues from different states to cover the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, enabling them to have an altogether different experience by providing a high-end vehicle. Likewise, he also made arrangements for the North Indian journalists to cover the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections.
A professional to the core: RK Sinha didn't just entrust the responsibility of covering the general elections and forget about it later. He remained in touch with those on the ground periodically, cross-checking their well-being, asserting their quality of professionalism in reporting. He was in receipt of my reports daily over e-mail, which were simultaneously published by me in the English category. Not even once did he find fault or object to any of my reports. Once, published an off-beat analysis on the hollow claim of prohibition in the state of Gujarat, which turned out to be irksome to those with the saffron leanings. RK Sinha didn't utter a word on the same. However, like they say, being more loyal than the King, the then Editor-in-Chief deleted the story from the subscribers' folder!
Salary hiked, made Chief of South India: After a couple of months, after covering Gujarat Assembly elections, the management took stock of the coverage, and hiked my salary, promoting me as Chief of South India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. He had a desire to set up bureaus in the SAARC countries, but the idea didn't materialise for a variety of reasons; it is altogether a different matter.
Forget the fare, just show up! Mrs Bhuvaneshwari Yatnatti, my youngest sister, succumbed untimely at a very young age in Gadag. Incidentally, happened to be there during the tragic circumstances of the funeral and the rituals thereafter, and informed the Chairman of the same, seeking his permission to abstain from the annual general body meeting scheduled at Dehradun. However, RK Sinha was in no mood to relent, and he insisted over WhatsApp messages that I show up, forgetting the heavy airfares for booking in the last minute from Hubballi to Bengaluru and to Dehradun.
-Manohar Yadavatti.
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