Shri Manoharbhai  Patel was born in Nadiad, Gujarat to a poor farmer's family on 9th February, 1906. He was unable to pursue his education beyond standard IV due to financial inability of his parents. He moved to Jabalpur at the age of 15 in search of a better future and started working in a bidi factory, primarily loading and unloading tobacco bags.

In 1930, he moved to Gondia, then in the erstwhile Central Provinces and Berar, to work in a firm belonging to his uncle known as M/s C.J. Patel & Company, which bought tobacco from farmers in Gujarat for sale to bidi manufacturers in Gondia. His uncle made him a partner and he started manufacturing bidis, generating employment for thousands of workers in the Gondia region. By the 1940s his firm had become a major manufactu rer of bidis, with manufacturing center'S in West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh employing more than 60,000 workers.

With no formal education himself, Shri Manoharbhai Patel thought of furthering education when he felt that a time had come to give something back to the society. With that intention he started the Gondia Education Society and, on one single day, he started 22 High Schools and a Degree College in a district, which did not have even one High School till then. The Gondia Education Society today runs about 30 Colleges and 30 High Schools, which impart education to more than 80,000 students in various disciplines such as Computers, Engineering, Information Technology, Architecture, management, Law, Pharmacy, etc. With the same spirit he also started the Nadiad Education Society in Nadiad in Gujarat, which today runs many colleges teaching Engineering, Management, Science and Arts etc. He also set up numerous hospitals and charitable organizations all over the country.

In course of the struggle for India's freedom Shri Manoharbhai  Patel came  in contact with stalwarts  like Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shri Vallabh Bhai Patel, Shri Jaiprakash Narayan and others, he also came to be a close associate of leaders like Smt. Indira Gandhi, Shri Morarji Desai, Shri Y.B. Chavan and Shri Babubhai Patel. A true Gandhian at heart, Shri Manoharbhai Patel always wore khadi, and remained a very committed member of the Congress Party as also a very active Member of the All India Congress Committee, President of the Vidarbha Region Congress Committee and Treasurer of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. Shri Manoharbhai Patel became the President of the Gondia Municipal Council in 1946, and continued to be its President till his demise in 1970. He also became a Member of the first Legislative Assembly in 1952, in the erstwhile State of C.P. and Berar, and then, after the reorganization of the States in 1960 in the Assembly of Maharashtra also. In tribute to his commitment and contribution towards various development projects, the Government of Maharashtra named one of the major irrigation projects of the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra as Manohar Sagar.

"Though a very successful industrialist, his contribution for the cause of the downtrodden, the Freedom Movement, agriculture, education and employment were the hallmarks of a great career which will always be remembered". Thus said late Shri V.P. Naik, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the commencement of the last journey of Shri Manoharbhai Patel, on 17th August, 1970, when he was accorded a State Funeral.

The Department of Posts is proud to release a commemorative postage stamp on Shri Manoharbhai Patel on his birth centenary.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India