Milind Kamble

Biography

Latur, the scene to a catastrophic earthquake in 1993 which claimed the lives of a reported 7928 people was the birth place of Milind kamble where he was born in a lower middle class dalit family, at Shirur Tajband village, as the eldest son to a village school teacher. After schooling at local schools, Milind graduated in engineering and launched a construction company, Fortune Construction Company, which claims to have a turnover of ₹ 1.01 biilion.

In 2005, Milind Kamble, assisted by Chandra Bhan Prasad, a dalit writer and thinker, founded the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), based in Pune. DICCI works for the financial and social development of dalits and organizes activities such as trade fairs, the first of which was staged in 2010. They have also put in place a venture capital fund, for the dalit entrepreneurs. DICCI mandates its members to provide half of the jobs on offer in their enterprises to dalits and has programmes for education and training support for dalits. The organization has five chapters and 500 members.

Positions

Milind Kamble is the Chairman of the DICCI which he has founded. Besides he is a member of the planning board of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). He was also a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) under the UPA government.

He also manages his constructions company, Fortune Constructions, in the capacity of the Chairman and is a Director of Mishra Associates, the company for which he worked as a sub contratcor during the initial stages of his career.

Awards and recognitions

Milind Kamble received Padma Shri, in 2013, for his efforts towards the development of the dalit industry.