Essel Group celebrates 90 years; PM Modi hails social initiatives Saarthi and DSC, talks about family values

Delhi: The prestigious Essel Group celebrated 90 years of its existence on Sunday at a mega event held at Indira Gandhi stadium attended by President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and host of other dignitaries. 

The Essel Group is managed by the fifth generation of its founders, giving it a unique charm, since most of the businesses in India, have never lasted beyond two to three generations.

What Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra said:

Speaking on the occasion, Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra said, "40,000-strong Esselites are powering the group to fulfill its vision. It has six-and-a-half lakh shareholders in addition to scores of well-wishers in India and abroad. Today, Zee News and Zee Entertainment have their presence in 172 countries with over 120 crore viewership."

"We have launched many pioneering and successful projects in the country. One motivation behind our success is my grandfather Jagan Nath Goenka's counsel - Never be afraid of difficulties and never compromise on your promise and honesty - These are two motivational quotes that alone helped us climb up and registered success in six of the nine projects," he said.

Dr Chandra further said, "We have had many challenges in the last 90 years of Essel Group. Power thefts have been a major concern, but we have managed to bring down the losses from 39 percent to a single digit in Bihar. In the near future, we hope to expand our power supply to 50 cities and 20-25 thousand villages. Municiapal solid waste has been a major concern in cities. We also plan to work in this area as part of our PM's Swaatch Bharat initiative. We have already signed MoUs with the municipal corporations in 20 cities and the work would soon start. This would be our another milestone when completed. Our waste-to-energy plant in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur town has been a success. The plant is pollution-free."

"We also have plans for housing for poor. Our Asha 2022 initiative is a low-cost, affordable housing scheme. However, the work is still in progress. Asha means Affordable Shelter and Houses for All. One of another future initiative is #armybehindarmy. As part of this initiative, we plan to highlight and promote the causes of Armymen's wives through our organisation," he pointed out.

Talking about Saarthi and DSC initiatives that were launched by PM Modi today Dr Chandra said, "Our Saarthi initiative is aimed at social upliftment of people through education, health, women empowerment and social justice. We have launched two pilot projects in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The initiative also endeavours to provide reservation for poor students in private schools. Our projects have been planned and designed with an eye on social empowerment."

Saarthi is a people’s empowerment programme on subjects such as education, health and employment and the DSC Foundation with a corpus of Rs 5000 crore, is to empower people in need. 

PM Modi hails family values of Essel Group:

On his part, PM Modi said that social entrepreneurs can benefit from Swachh Bharat programme as it has huge business element, while stressing on the need to convert waste into wealth.

A large number of youth, in the role of social entrepreneurs, are coming forward to partake in Swachh Bharat and the mission provides opportunities for a large number of social entrepreneurs to emerge, he said.

"Waste to wealth is a belief that is gaining momentum. Lot of social entrepreneurship is being devoted towards this," PM Modi said.

At the same time, Prime Minister described the commemoration of 90 years of Essel Group as an illustration of Indian traditions. He said that India has had a tradition where successive generations take family values forward and contribute to the family by adding their capacities and capabilities. 

He recalled his earlier meetings with Shri Nandkishore Goenka and said the family has always been open to new ideas and has taken every challenge as an opportunity, to create a presence in a range of initiatives from 'soil to satellite'. 

President Pranab Mukherjee appreciates 'Young at 90' spirit:

Speaking on the occasion, the President congratulated Essel group on completion of its 90 years and on the launch of new initiatives such as WION-World is One News and Saarthi.

He appreciated the spirit of the celebrations - 'Young at 90' and said that one should always remain young and look at issues with fresh new perspectives.

Unlike 90 years ago, the situation in the world is very different today, he said.

Information Technology and communication has brought about major changes, President further said, adding, that although technology always has a disruptive impact but if society is ready to accept challenges, it can utilize it well.

President Mukherjee pointed out that media had a far reaching impact and influence on people.

"While facts and news remain one, views may be different. It is important to maintain objectivity and truthfulness in news. Media must take note of the positive things taking place in day to day life," he said.

The journey:

Over 40 generations ago, the forefathers of Dr Subhash Chandra, Shri Laxmi Narain Goel, Shri Jawahar Lal Goel and Shri Ashok Kumar Goel migrated from Agroha to Fatehpur, to earn a living and find a place to settle down. Forty generations later, in the year 1926, three brothers, led by the eldest one Shri Jagannath Goenka, grandfather of Dr Subhash Chandra and his brothers, worked hard to raise a business in Fatehpur. To enhance the business further, the brothers decided to move to Bhadra, a small place in Ganganagar district, and then to Okara Dukaan, which is now known as Mint Gumri.

Not satisfied with the trading options there, in 1926, the brothers moved to Sadalpur, a small village close to Hisar, to set up a grain market, in a place called Mandi Adampur. This is where the journey of Essel Group began.

An eventful journey, from the 'A' of Adampur to 'Z' of ZEE.