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Daily News Analysis

MAHATMA JYOTIBA PHULE                     

12th April, 2022 Art & Culture

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Context:

  • PM pays tribute to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on his 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 the 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 1848in 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 the honorific Mahātmā titleby Maharashtrian social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar in 1888.
  • Phule's social activismincluded 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 Samajto 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.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1815521