Jyotiba Phule Jayanti: History, significance and facts about the social reformer

April 11 is celebrated each year as the Jyotiba Phule Jayanti in India in the honour of Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, the social activist, thinker, writer and anti-caste social reformer from Maharashtra. Phule works towards the eradication of untouchability and caste system in India. With his wife, Savitribai Phule, he championed the cause of women's education in India, being the pioneers in facilitating schooling for women.

Phule was born 195 years ago on April 11, 1827. He founded his first school for girls 172 years ago in Pune at the residence of one Tatyasaheb Bhide, called Bhidewada. Jyotiba Phule and his followers created the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth Seekers) which aimed to achieve equal rights for people from exploited castes. He also voiced against female infanticide and launched a large campaign to get rid of the water crisis.

The association welcomed people from across religions and castes to come together and work towards upliftment of the oppressed classes. A pivotal figure in the social reform movement of Maharashtra and India, Phule was bestowed with the honorific title of Mahatma by social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar in 1888.

His contributions in social reform spanned across issues like the eradication of untouchability and the caste system, women’s education and welfare of the downtrodden. He breathed his last in Pune in November, 1890.

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