President praises Manohar Joshi’s foresight

Qualitative education, technical expertise and dynamic entrepreneurship are keys to the progress of India, which has a 55-crore population, said President Pratibha Patil during her address at Sion on Thursday.

Qualitative education, technical expertise and dynamic entrepreneurship are keys to the progress of India, which has a 55-crore population, said President Pratibha Patil during her address at Sion on Thursday.

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She was speaking at the Shanmukhananda Hall on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Kohinoor Group, founded by Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi.

Joshi founded Kohinoor as a coaching class in 1967 with just four students. Today the group runs its technical institute in more than 80 locations with over 25,000 students annually.

The group has also expanded into other fields like hospitality, health and have now diversified into wind energy.

Other dignitaries at the function were chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and DY Patil, a big name in education.

Patil praised Joshi for his foresight. She said the United Nations had pointed out that India’s population was expected to increase by 30 crore in the next four decades.

Manohar Joshi, while thanking all the dignitaries, highlighted the issue of corruption.

“There is an urgent need to include lessons in nationalism from the primary section itself,” Joshi said.

Chief Minister Chavan appreciated Joshi’s initiative as an entrepreneur despite differing political leanings.