Nominations for 27th Mahaveer Awards is closed
Shri N.Sugalchand Jain belongs to a unique enterprising family of hardworking, forward looking clan. Shri Sugalchand Jain, a native from Siyat village Sojat Road in the Pali District of Rajasthan, came to Chennai with his father, Shri Nathmal Jain, and has been living in Chennai for the past 80 years.
In one of his discussions with late Dr. Shanta and late Dr. Krishnamurthy, it emerged that there is a shortage of Palliative care centres in our country. His empathy towards the sufferings of the terminally ill and the suggestions of Dr Shanta, resulted in the establishment of Mahaveer Ashray, a palliative care facility for the terminally ill persons in Sri Perumbudur. This state-of-the-art Palliative Care Centre was inaugurated by Shri Narendra Modi, Honourable Prime Minister of India on 12/04/2018.
The Ashray, situated in 5 acres of land is 50 bedded care centre housed in a well-planned aesthetic building with equipment, furniture and patient-comfort ambience. The Ashray focuses on diminishing the pain of the terminally ill patients, relieve sufferings of the inmates and assist them to spend their remaining days with dignity and comfort.
The altruistic desire of Shri N.Sugalchand Jain for human welfare led to the establishment and donation of the BhagwanAdinath Jain complex in the year 1984 in which the general OPD runs in Cancer Institute. He also donated the Oncology block in 1982 and Bhagwan Mahaveer VishrantiGraha in 2011.
He holds positions in the following prominent institutions rendering health care services
He donated a patient block to Voluntary Health Services, Chennai and Smt.JadavbaiNathmalSinghvee Glaucoma service to SankaraNethralaya.
Shri Sugalchand Jain supports and has initiated numerous philanthropic initiatives in the fields of education. He holds positions in the following educational institutions
The charitable instincts and philanthropic initiatives of Shri SugalchandJain led to the donation of 10 acres of land to Rajasthani Educational Foundation for the establishment of Mahaveer Rajasthani International School, Goodapakkam, Chennai in the year 2008. The School is established to enhance the standards of educational excellence at the intellectual, social, emotional, physical, spiritual and aesthetic level.
The welfare of the animals is very close to his heart. He has leased 18.4 acres of land in Uthukottai, near Thiruvallur to People for Animals, and established the animal shelter, JinendraJeevdaya Kendra.
Shri Sugalchand is a multifaceted personality. With humble beginnings, he tried his hand in trading, small industry, pawn brokering, pen selling, mehndi (Heena Powder) selling, travel, money changing, gold and diamond jewellery and lottery. No field is too small or too big or too difficult for this highly talented and persevering individual.He created a very successful business empire in lottery.
He spends his time in reading. He also distributes literature to his associates and friends. He got translated and reprinted many works of Upadhyay Amar Muni ji, like Bliss (Aparigraha Darshan), The Nuances of Truth (Satya Darshan), Distilled Essence of Non-Violence (Ahimsa Darshan), Equanimity, The Ideal Girl (Adarsh Kanya) etc. He published the book Holy Thirthankaras and sacred trees in Tamil.
He edited fortnightly newsletters the Sugal Times, Lottery market report, weekly newsletter Raffle Results – about lottery, quarterly newsletter Empathy Times etc. useful for general public in their daily life.
He succeeded in almost all his ventures and decided that time had come for him to give back to society and he began to very actively assist the weak and the voiceless and participate in philanthropy from 1974.The love for humanity, the intention to serve the less privileged of the society led to the establishment of the following charitable Trusts.
The Jains India Trust was established in 2002 to help needy members of Jain community. The Trust grants scholarship to deserving students of Jain community, provide stipend to students pursuing higher studies in Jainology and providing financial assistance to needy Jain women.
Till October 2023, scholarship worth Rs. 14.42 crores has been given to 11700 students, Rs.3.89 crores has been given to 2319 needy women and Rs. 23.50 lakhs given as stipend to 408 students.
For more details visit the website: www.jainsindia.org
Echoing Bhagwan Mahaveer’s universal philosophy of “Live and Let Live”, the Singhvi Charitable Trust was established in 1974. Shri Sugalchand Jain identified that health care lacks due to poor medical facilities in remote areas. The Singhvi Charitable Trust started conducting free dental, eye and health camps in remote rural areas of Chennai. The Trust continues to conduct the camps for the past 45 years. The Trust has conducted 5957 camps benefitting 6.40 lakh needy people. The activities are as follows
Camps in rural areas:
For more details visit the website: www.singhvi.co.in
Vidhya Jyothi Trust was established in 2000 with the aim of providing education at an affordable cost. The Trust also focuses on developing new institutions for imparting higher education.
The Trust believes a strong education improves the lives of young people which is vital to have a better tomorrow. Vidhya Jyothi Trust is committed to excellence in education. No capitation or donation is collected by any of the educational institutions established by the Trust.
The Vidhya Jyothi Trust has established:
1. SJNS Jain Group of Schools
The Vidhya Jyothi Trust runs 2 primary schools and 1 higher secondary school in Chennai in the name of SJNS Jain Group of Schools. The schools are providing quality education to less privileged children since the year 1984. The Schools are providing education from classes L.K.G to XII in English Medium.
The Schools are full-fledged operational schools with sound infrastructure and a dedicated and qualified Teaching Staff. Apart from having 100% success rates in the examinations, the school ensures that the students also be given value based education. There are 1200 students studying in the schools.
2. Mahaveer Institute of Technology &Science :
MITS Group of Institutions with the current strength of 560 students in both Engineering & Degree college has become a brand synonymous with quality affordable education in the region.Mahaveer Institute of Technology & Science offers B.Tech. in Computer Science, Electrical, Civil & Mechanical and is affiliated to Rajasthan Technical University & Bikaner Technical University for the program.
MITS Science Arts & Commerce College started in session 2018-19 is affiliated to Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur The college is the first English medium college in the region. Special emphasis is laid on communication and over all grooming of the students. Students are also encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities. The programs offered are B.Sc.(PCM), B.Sc.(CBZ), B.Com, B.A. & new courses in offing are B.B.A & B.C.A.
Other activities of the Trust are:
1. Provide scholarship to deserving students The parent organization Vidhya Jyothi Trust offers merit scholarship to every student and since the inception of college in 2014, Rs. 5.6 crore scholarships have been given in terms of fee waiver to the students of engineering.
2. Adopting Schools and providing infrastructure to government schools The Trust has assisted Government schools in rural areas in and around Pali district with an aim to improve educational facilities in these rural areas. The following schools were supported:
Activities like painting the school buildings and upgrading the basic learning facilities by providing ceiling fans, almirahs, staff chairs, daripatti, water motors etc to these schools are undertaken benefitting more than 2600 poor students.
3. Swachh Bharat Mission - Improving Sanitation
Students should be inculcated healthy personal hygiene habits and prevent spread of diseases. To ensure clean environment, the Trust has constructed toilets in the following schools
4. Choupal installation programme
Under Mukhya Mantri ChoupalYojna, the Trust has installed 55 choupals in Jadan, Siyat, Dhundla, Bagawas,Sojat Road etc for community welfare.
Shri Sugalchand motivated his partners to contribute towards charitable activities and philanthropy. The outcome was the establishment of Empathy Foundation in 2005 as the CSR initiative of M/s Sugal and Damani. Empathy Foundation is a Public charitable trust with its base in Mumbai. It works mainly in the field of providing educational infrastructure and in providing Healthcare services in rural Maharashtra and in the slum areas of Greater Mumbai. Apart from these two main activities, the other activities done by Empathy Foundation are:
The Foundation has constructed more than 214 school buildings in 16 districts of Maharashtra, like Raigad, Ratnagiri, Thane (Navi Mumbai) Beed, Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune, Satara, Sindhudurg and Solapur.
Foundation conducts free health, Eye and Dental camps, distributes spectacles, and has tied up with Raigad Zilla Parishad under Rural Health Program called Manav Vikas Karyakram.
GanadipathyTulsi’s Jain Engineering College (GTEC):
Shri N.Sugalchand Jain is the Managing Trustee of GanadipathyTulsi’s Jain Engineering College (GTEC). Situated in Kaniyambadi, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, GTEC provides students from rural areas an opportunity to excel in the field of engineering. The college emphasizes core competence, professionalism, and ethical values.
The College has an impressive infrastructure encompassing expansive land, well-constructed buildings, advanced equipment, state-of-the-art laboratories, and a highly dedicated faculty. The College offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate courses spanning across six disciplines: Artificial Intelligence & Data Science, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Information Technology, and Mechanical Engineering and postgraduate programs, including Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Computer Applications (MCA).
A noteworthy achievement is the College's permanent affiliation from Anna University, Chennai, for three of its undergraduate programs: Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), and Mechanical Engineering.
Inaugurated in 2019, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, a component of the GanadipathyTulsi's Jain Engineering College, has been established to provide high-quality schooling. Affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the school is situated on an extensive land area of approximately 6.56 acres, with a substantial built-up area spanning around 27,000 square feet. Presently, the institution accommodates a student body of 251 learners who benefit from the comprehensive and enriching learning environment provided by Maharishi Vidya Mandir.
Shri Sugalchand Jain, through these charitable Trusts, is serving the weak, voiceless and the underprivileged. His modesty, sincerity, integrity, involvement and humility in the field of philanthropy have not gone unnoticed. Presently he has retired from active business, but is continuing to give guidance. He is the Chairman Emeritus Sugal&Damani group and mentor of Sugal Group.
Shri Sugalchand Jain was awarded the Rao Jodhaji Award and MarwarRatna Award by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in 2022. He has also received Rajasthan Sri, Rajasthan Ratna, Jain Ratna award, SevaRatna Award and many other Awards and felicitations. He was conferred Honorary Doctor of Literature from Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun.