I am quite elated and honored to pen this page on the occasion of the formal inauguration of the Mumbai Chapter of the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI). I vividly recall my first meeting with Dr. Ajit Pathak, the National President, PRSI at Chennai during the 29th All India Public Relations Conference, where I was invited as a guest speaker. It was here that Dr. Pathak broached the subject of starting the Mumbai Chapter, which he told me had existed earlier. The seeds sown at that meeting are fructifying now. I must appreciate his knack of following up, as sitting in Delhi, he was able to put up team of people, most of whom presently constitute the Executive Committee of the Mumbai Chapter.
While going through the archives of the PRSI, I came to learn that the Society in fact started with Mumbai as its headquarters. It was established in 1958 and was functioning informally till 1966, when it was registered. The late Shri Kali H. Mody – the father figure of professional PR practitioners in India, was the founder President from 1966 – 69. Over the years, the headquarters shifted to New Delhi and the Mumbai Chapter went into a kind of dormancy. It is therefore a matter of great joy that we are, in a way, rejuvenating the Mumbai Chapter. Meanwhile, PRSI has grown by leaps and bounds with thirty chapters across the nation. It even has a reciprocal cooperative Agreement with the International Public Relations Association (IPRA).
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