| Gujar Mal Modi | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 9, 1902 Mahendragarh, Haryana, India |
| Died | January 22, 1976 (aged 73) Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh |
| Ethnicity | Marwari |
| Occupation | Bussinessmen |
| Net worth | US$ |
| Religion | Hindu |
| Spouse | Dayawati Modi Rukmini Modi |
| Children | U. K Modi S. K. Modi |
| Website | |
| www.modi.com | |
Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi (August 9, 1902–January 22, 1976) was a noted Indian industrialist and philanthropist, who co-established the Modi Group of companies and the industrial city of Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh in 1933, with his brother Kedar Nath Modi.[1][2][3]
Later he established from a chain of schools and colleges at his birth place, Mahendragarh, in Patiala and in Modinagar. He also contributed a lot in the field of higher education by giving grants to established institutions such as Banaras Hindu University, and different colleges in Meerut and other places.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 1968.[4]
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He established a Women's Training College and Nurses' Training Centre in Modinagar in 1965. All these above-mentioned institution's provide education to more than 16,000 students. Dependants of the workers of different Modinagar industries get free education or training in these institutions. Monetary help and stipends are also given to students going in for higher education in India or abroad.
He also established a High School and a Sanskrit Pathshala at Mahendragarh, his birth place, and a Degree College in Patiala, which was named after his father.
He was interested in Scientific Research and Development. He contributed Rs. 2.5 million for the establishment of the Modi Science Foundation in Modinagar in 1975. It has a cotton development scheme meant for training cotton growers, and it uses the latest methods of producing highly yielding varieties of natural fibre.
However, his biggest contribution to the cause of public welfare is the Eye Hospital and Ophthalmic Research Centre in Modinagar to which he contributed Rs. 3 million. It is now working in collaboration with the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. Its foundation ceremony was performed on 26 April 1975 by the late President of India, Mr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. This research centre is an integrated centre for promotive, preventive, curative and re-habilitative care backed by education and research. It does not only endeavour to prevent eye disease and blindness through appropriate methods of publicity media, by conducting surveys in schools and colleges, and industrial and rural areas and to continuously evaluate the community needs, but it also has a mobile unit fully equipped with instruments and medicines for giving immediate relief to patients at their door-steps. It helps to collect statistics of the eye disease cases in rural and industrial areas to help the government to plan various ophthalmic health programmes. He realised the dire need of such a centre in the country. He was determined to make the centre a model institution to control blindness. He had also made up his mind to create employment opportunities for the blind.
Mr. Gujarmal Modi belonged to a family which had a tradition of business. His great grandfather Mr. Ram Baksh Modi was a simple, kind-hearted, hard working and honest businessman. He had set up his business in Mahendra Garh which was then known as Kanaur and was the capital of the state of Nawab of Jhajjar. Until 1857 Mr. Ram Baksh Modi arranged civil supplies for the armies of the Nawab. During the first rebellion of 1857 when the British Regent was compelled to leave the state of Jhajjir, he ensured his safe conduct to Rewar. Later, when the rebellion was suppressed and the princely state of Jhajjar came under the sway of the British, the responsibility of arranging civil supplies for the British forces stationed at kanaur was once again entrusted to the experienced and capable hands of the Modi family. The State was later on given by the British to Maharaja Mahendra Singh of Patiala as a reward for the help rendered by him to the British during the rebellion. The name of Kanaur was then changed by the Maharaja to Mahendra Garh after his own name, and the Modi family was now asked to arrange civil supplies for the British forces stationed at Patiala. It was, thus, that the business activities of the Modi family came to be extended to Patiala where Mr. Ram Baksh Modi established a branch of his business.
After the death of Mr. Ram Baksh in 1857, the family business was successfully carried on by his son Mr. Chiranji Lal Modi, the grandfather of Mr. Gujarmal Modi. As time passed, the task of arranging civil supplies for the whole range of British cantonments from Kanpur to Peshwar came to be entrusted to the Modi family and this work was carried on by them efficiently and to the entire satisfaction of the armed forces. For the sake of efficiency and convenience, Mr. Chiranj Lal shifted the head-quarters of his family business to Multan (now a part of West Pakistan) with additional branches at Kanpur and Ambala and also at Naushera and Jullunder. It was at Multan that on 21 October 1857, Mr. Chiranji Lal was blessed with a son whom he named Multanimal after the city of Multan.
Mr. Multanimal Modi was also a gifted businessman like his father. While helping his father in business, Mr. Multanimal in his own right came to be known for his honest dealings and shrewd business acumen. He told his father that he would join neither army nor civil service nor any other service, but would set up his own independent business. He had an immense measure of self-confidence and his discerning father gave him the desired consent. He had no difficulty in raising the initial finance required for the business.
Mr. Multanimal started his career as a commission agent in foodgrains at Patiala. Gradually, he started supplying wheat to a flour mill at Patiala which was then run in partnership by a few Parsi and Sikh officers. For some years business at the mill ran smoothly. But suddenly the mill suffered heavy losses and the owners were obliged to dispose it of. This offered a natural opportunity to Mr. Multanimal to expand and diversity his business. He purchased the mill in 1894 and with his managerial skill and business flourished rapidly. Mr. Multanimal established his name not only in business circles but also in the field of public service. It was due to his popularity and understanding of public affairs that he was made an honorary magistrate and was also elected City Father of Patiala. He was the first and also the last in the state to get the title of Rai Bahadur. This was a fitting recognition of his services as a businessman and philanthropist. Two high schools were among the many public welfare institutions established or patronised by him. He also contributed liberally to the goshalas besides forming a public welfare council to look after the welfare of others. He took keen interest in Persian language and literature and left behind several manuscripts in that language.
Mr. Gujarmal Modi was the second child in the family of Mr. Multanimal Modi who married four times. His first wife, who hailed from the family of the Dewan of Khetri, gave birth to a daughter and died four years after marriage. His second marriage was solemnised with Chandi Devi daughter of Nanak Ram of Nawazpura, District Narnaul, in 1896. Mr. Multanimal did not have any son so far. Being an orthodox Hindu, the elders in the family believed that the birth of a son was necessary to ensure one's salvation after death. There was a natural desire, therefore, that there should be a son in the family. This was, perhaps, one of the many reasons which had impelled him to marry again after the death of his first wife. When he was blessed with a son on 9 August 1902 at Kanaur (Shravana Shukla Shashthi of 1859 according to the Hindu calendar, more popularly known as the Vikrami Calender) there was great rejoicing in the whole family. The birth was celebrated with songs and music because this was the fulfillment of a long cherished desire for a son. Good wishes continued to pour in for days and weeks. The astrologers were summoned and they stated that at the time of the birth, the position of the stars was extremely favourable for the child. The devout father then arranged a Yagna followed by all the ceremonies that normally take place in an orthodox Hindu family after the birth of a son.
But this rejoicing in the family and the mood of gaiety lasted barely six days as the mother developed sepsis and all the medical aid that was available in those days could not save her. The little child was left without a mother. This naturally created numerous problems for the family. At first it was decided to bring up the child on bottle feeding. But the elders in the family resisted the idea. The firmly believed that breast - feeding was the only way to save the child, the only male issue so far in the family. The father could not resist the wishes of the elders and thus a foster-mother from the nearby village of Majra was engaged to breastfeed the child.
The grandmother would visit the child and the wet nurse almost every other day to ensure that the child received full attention. But after a few days both the foster-mother and the child were brought over to Patiala where they could stay under the direct supervision of the grandmother.
The birth name of the child was Ram Prasad, but as time passed, the child was nicknamed Gujar after his foster mother whose name was Gujari. The name Gujar stuck on and the child came to be known as Gujarmal. That is how the little Ram Prasad, who was destined to become an industrial magnate in his later years, came to be known as Mr. Gujarmal Modi. Meanwhile little Gujarmal's father was married for the third time to the daughter of a well-known family at Patiala. As ill-luck would have it, the third wife too died after a year of married life without leaving any issue. When the father married his fourth wife, Rukmini Devi, daughter of Mr. Bansi Dhar of Mahendra Garh, when the young Gujarmal was only 2½ years of age. It was under her loving care that the child received real motherly affection. By the time Gujarmal was four, his father had established his business at Patiala. In those days the modern system of pre-primary schooling was not in vogue. During the early years, therefore, the young child was put under the care of a Maulvi at his private coaching centre. In those days education in such single-teacher coaching centres, established privately, was free. In return for the instruction given, the students paid in kind in the shape of grains and other household goods. It was under the care of the Maulvi that the young Gujarmal, though the son of an affluent family, started learning the Mahajani style of writing.
After completing one year of pre-school education, the child, at the age of five was admitted to a local school.
The grandfather of the child was a staunch believer in discipline. He wanted the child to be admitted to a Sainik School to become a soldier. But this was not to be. The grandfather died in 1913 when the boy was studying in class VI. Destiny had ordained for him an altogether different path----the path of industry. And rightly so, because, as later events proved, in the field of industry Mr. Gujarmal Modi acquitted himself extremely well by creating the infrastructure for new and diverse industries in those areas which had hitherto been thoroughly backward and undeveloped.
Persons who had the occasion to watch the young Gujarmal grow up confide that right from his early days he had started showing unmistakable signs of a promising career. While his other friends at school appeared to be book-worms, the young Gujarmal could be seen engaged in new and uncommon pursuits. One person who had watched him during his school days from closed quarters states that up to his eighth standard, the young Gujarmal used to get two paise (three paise in the new decimal currency) as pocket money each day. Those were the days when the first World War had just started and inflation and rising prices were yet far away. Everything was less expensive and even a little money could boy would meet his daily expenses on snacks and yet save something for helping the poor and needy students. Something unimaginable in these days of spiraling prices.
The movement started by Swami Dayanand and other contemporary reformers against child marriages and other customs had made a deep impact on society. The custom of early marriages had not, however, disappeared altogether. The Modi family, essentially, was orthodox. So the marriage of the young Gujarmal was solemnised at the early age of 13 in 1915. At the time of his marriage with Rajban Devi, daughter of Mr. Goverdhan Das of village Singhana in Rajasthan. He was still studying at the Model School, Patiala. Gauna, the post-marriage ceremony when the bride comes to live with her husband took place two years later.
Marriage did not have any adverse effect on the education of the young Modi. What did, however, disturb his studies was an otherwise minor at school which eventually disrupted his school education. The incident relates to the year 1920 when he was studying in the tenth standard. It was a cloudy day and there was cool breeze blowing all around. The weather outside was extremely pleasant and inviting and the Mathematics teacher, Mr. Chopra, suggested that the students might go on an excursion on that fine day.
The suggestion was met with spontaneous response and the overjoyed students started preparing for an outing. But the principal, who was not on good terms with the Mathematics teacher, came in the way. Taking advantages of the situation, he leveled the allegation that the teacher was inciting the students to go on strike and had, thus, violated the discipline of the school. He also asked the students to apologize. The students led by Gujarmal, opposed this suggestion. They argued that as students they were not to blame and should, therefore, not be asked to apologize. The principal, however, was in no mood to listen. Ultimately, the echoes of the incident reached the Maharaja. There, too the young Gujarmal turned Student leader, argued the case of the students fearlessly and sought justice at the hands of the Maharaja.
While Gujarmal was thus engaged in pursuing the case of the students, the last date for sending the examination fees expired. This meant the loss of a full year for the young Modi. By this time the business of Mr. Multanimal Modi had grown manifold and he felt the need of someone who could help him in running the family business. The father considered this a God-sent opportunity and asked his son Gujarmal to start attending to the family business. The young Modi wanted to pursue his studies, but in the face of the firm opinion expressed by his father, who believed that practical experience in life could impart better education than the routine school education, the son yielded. At the same time, being aware of the son's appetite for learning, the father made arrangements for private coaching at home.
The boy started pursuing privately courses in business management, accountancy and other allied subjects. By 1919 he had started working as Munim (Accountant) and cashier at the family shop. A genius learns in mysterious and strange ways; it runs while the ordinary person crawls. The gifted Gujarmal absorbed knowledge of business organisation rapidly. He acquired knowledge of practical aspects of business management and the intricacies of the trade. He worked very hard, spent long hours of his leisure in reading books on commerce, architecture, engineering and marketing. What he missed by not going in for formal college education, he more than made up by the practical training and the dedicated application he brought to bear on his chosen subjects. The father encouraged him in his studies and provided him with opportunities to gain practical experience.
He build up a vast network of small and big industries in Modinagar, a township which he built from scratch through his sustained personal efforts. He was of the view that the final objectives of the Government and the business community were the same. As he observed in his presidential address at the 42nd annual session of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in 1969: " We both aim at a faster rate of development. We both wish the country to have a better standard of living. We both want full employment for our people".
He built a number of temples in the labour colonies of Modinagar, besides the shrine of Bhagvati Devi at Shukratal in Muzaffarnagar District of U.P. and Lord Shiv Temple at Patiala in Punjab. He also built the magnificent Laxmi Narayan temple at Modinagar. Mr. Modi was also a great philanthropist. He established the R.B. Multianimal Modi Chartitable Trust and Sainik Bhawan at Patiala. He established a Sadhu Ashram at Patiala.
However, his single biggest contribution to the cause of public welfare is the Eye Hospital and Ophthalmic Research Centre at Modinagar to which he contributed Rs. 3 million. It is now working in collaboration with the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. Its foundation ceremony was performed on 26 April 1975 by the late President of India, Mr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. This Research Centre is an integrated centre for promotive, preventive, curative and re-habilitative care backed by education and research.
Mr. Modi promoted the welfare of women by establishing a Samaj Kalyan Vibhag. The Samaj Kalyan Parishad organises tailoring and embroidery classes for women. There is also an adult education centre under its charge. It ensures employment for widows and has also arranged some widow-marriages.
He established a chain of schools and colleges at his birth place, Mahendra Garh, at Patiala and at Modinagar. He supported higher education by giving grants to established institutions like Banaras Hindu University, colleges in Meerut and other places. He established Multanimal Modi Degree College named after his father. A Women's Training College and Nurses' Training Centre at Modinagar in 1965 was also set up by him. All these institution provide education to more than 16,000 students.He also established a High School and a Sanskrit Pathshala at Mahendragarh, his birth place and a degree college at Patiala, also named after his father.
He contributed Rs. 2.5 million for the establishment of the Modi Science Foundation at Modinagar in 1975.
The Modi Group split in the 1989, and the business was divided between the five sons of Gujar Mal Modi, including K K Modi, BK Modi and SK Modi and the three sons of his step brother Kedar Nath Modi. K K Modi, Gujar Mal Modi’s eldest son, owns Godfrey Philips, the tobacco company.[3][5]
His brother K. N. Modi, died in 2005, at the age of 84. His son M.K. Modi is the head of Modipon Fibre, of the K.N. Modi Group, while his other son Y.K. Modi was FICCI president for many years.[6]