Monday

Navalmal Firodia

-Mahavir Sanglikar

Navalmal Firodia was a noted freedom fighter, an industrialist, a staunch Gandhian and a Philanthropologist. Born in 1910, he was sent to prison by British Government in 1932 and 1942 for taking part in freedom movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi.

As an industrialist, he gave two unique vehicles, Auto Riksha for carrying passengers and Tempo for carrying goods. He worked with Bajaj Auto and in later period he founded his own company, Bajaj Tempo which is now known as Force Motors.

His contribution to promotion Jainism is also outstanding. He was founder of the famous institution Veerayatan. He also founded Sanmati Teerth, an institution for promoting Prakrit language and Jain philosophy. He donated a huge amount for the Prakrit Dictionary Project at Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute at Pune.

As a philanthropologist, he donated to various institutions working for Rural Development, Education, Empowerment of Women, Poors, and Orphans etc.

He was a progressive Jain and many of his thoughts were indigestible for orthodox Jains.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have great respect and regard for Sh NK Firodia.

Unknown said...

Yes firodias have done a lot in automotive industry. They have a high respect in the Indian automotive industry.

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