Jyotiba Phule

Description

GS PAPER 1: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.

Context: Governor of Andhra Pradesh paid tributes to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on the occasion of his 195th birth anniversary.

About Mahatma Jyotiba Phule:

He was the first to establish an orphanage for the underprivileged.
He was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
His work extended to many fields, including eradication of untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and exploited caste people.
He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women's education in India.
Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide's residence or Bhidewada.
People from all religions and castes could become a part of this association, which worked for the upliftment of the oppressed classes.
Phule is regarded as an important figure in the social reform movement in Maharashtra.
He was bestowed with honorific Mahātmā title by Maharashtrian social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar in 1888.
Phule's social activism included many fields, including eradication of untouchability and the caste system, education of women and the Dalits, and welfare of downtrodden women.
On 24 September 1873, Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj to focus on rights of depressed groups such women, the Shudra, and the Dalit.
Through this the samaj he opposed idolatry and denounced the caste system.
Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for priests.
A Pune-based newspaper, Deenbandhu, provided the voice for the views of the Samaj.