This is the official website for all those who want to make stand up and make a difference. Vote for Captain Gopi.
From changing the way silk farming was done in India to bringing air travel to the common man Captain Gopi now wants to change the way we lead our lives.
We are looking for volunteers contact us at 080 3292 6102 or write to us captgopi@votecaptgopi.com We will update this website soon.
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Capt. Gorur R Iyengar Gopinath was born in a remote village of Gorur in Karnataka. His father taught at the local village school where he too studied till class VII and thereafter at the Sainik School in Bijapur.
He went on to graduate from India’s most respected military establishments The National Defense Academy at Pune and the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. Soon after completion of training, his earliest assignment was the 1971 Bangladesh War. After which he served across the country in Kashmir, Rajasthan, Assam and also in Bhutan.
“Gopi” as he is affectionately called by all who know him, served in the Indian Army for eight years as a Commissioned Officer. In his own words “The army compelled me to push my physical and mental capabilities to the limit. This was also a very educating phase for me. I internalized discipline, team work and learnt a lot about the diverse regions and terrains of our vast country.”
However he became restless with his sheltered army life and although not certain about what he wanted to do, he knew he had to move on and explore new opportunities. He took premature retirement in 1978 and with Rs 6,000/- in his pocket left for his village with plans to till the ancestral land
As destiny would have it, at Gorur, a dam was being built across the river Hemavathi, and land in his village was to be submerged completely. As compensation, the Government allotted them a piece of barren land at Javagal. Not 0one to be deterred, Captain Gopinath hopped onto his motorcycle and made his way over dusty bullock-cart trails and rocky terrain to Javagal. There he saw an undulating piece of land with shrubs and cacti all around. He lived with snakes and scorpions and depended on donkeys to transport water and other essentials. Strong willed as he is, he weathered all storms and finally made the land come alive. In a few years he went on to become a successful Seri culturist in Karnataka.
He tried his hand at many other crops which won him the “Rolex International Award” for Enterprise in 1996, for his seeking to break new ground with the project ‘Ecological Silk Farming to Improve Living Standards’. The same year he was listed by OUTLOOK magazine as one of the 50 Indians who would rise from obscurity to fame in the coming decade. During this period he indeed dabbled with many business enterprises and received much success and acclaim. On 1 November 2005 he was honored with the prestigious “Rajotsava Award” by Government of Karnataka. In May 2006 he was knighted with “Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur” the highest civilian award conferred by the French Government. The same year he was also awarded the “Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award” by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Among other awards and honors he has also been conferred the “Laureate Award” in the Outstanding Global CEO category by Aviation Week , New York and the ” Editors Choice Award” by Indian Express for the biggest impact on tourism in India.
Combining his entrepreneurial skills and vision with the technical skills of his ex-army friends, he launched ‘Deccan Aviation’ – a dedicated, customer focused heli-charter Company. Today, Deccan Aviation, headquartered in Bangalore has 11 helicopters and 2 small aircraft and operates out of nine major cities and locations, spanning the entire length and breadth of India. The company is India’s largest and most reputed private air charter company including Sri Lanka.
At the cusp of the new millennium; the idea of a low cost airline came to Capt. Gopi one day while flying from Bangalore to Goa. He noticed clusters of TV and dish antennas in the countryside and noticed similar sights again and again in towns and village hamlets across India. It then hit him that India is no longer a country of a billion hungry people to be fed on subsidies rather a country of a billion consumers, but somehow aviation remained outside the reach of the common man. With rising incomes and increased spending power of Indians, affordable and reliable air travel too has the potential to acquire a mass consumption base.
Capt. Gopinath however was not interested in building another Delhi – Mumbai airline; instead he wanted to harness the potential of a billion consumers including those who live in towns like Kolhapur, Gwalior or Belgaum. The result was Air Deccan, India’s first low cost, no frill airline, which was launched on the strength of a simple dream. A dream inspired by just one statement. “I want every Indian to fly at least once in his/ her lifetime.”
Beginning with a modest four flights a day, AIR DECCAN has flown over 15 million people since inception.
After making Air Deccan a household name, Capt. Gopinath, a strong believer in Gandhiji belief ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’, is strongly of the view that each Individual should stand up for their right to make a difference.
Captain Gopi's Official Website 