Renowned Dalit scholar, Human Rights activist Gail Omvedt passes away
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Sangli (Maharashtra): Dr Gail Omvedt, a famous writer on Ambedkarism and Dalit movement, passed away at the age of 81 following a brief illness at Kasegaon early on Wednesday.
She is survived by her husband Dr Bharat Patankar, a daughter Prachi, son-in-law Tejaswi and granddaughter Nia, who have settled in the US.
Born in Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, Omvedt was part of the anti-war movement there during her college days. She visited India during her doctoral research work to study social movements here and studied the work of Mahatma Phule. Her thesis was on 'Non-Brahmin Movement in Western India'.
Later she plunged herself into the various social movements for the Dalits, poor and downtrodden, farmers, women and other public causes in India. She also co-founded Shramik Mukti Dal along with her husband and activist Bharat Patankar in the early-1980s, while she became an Indian citizen around 1983.
Omvedt has authored over 25 books, including In Colonial Society – Non-Brahmin Movement in Western India, Seeking Begampura, Buddhism in India, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mahatma Phule, Dalit and the Democratic Revolution, Understanding Caste, We Will Smash the Prison and New Social Movement in India.
Besides having undertaken many research projects, Dr Omvedt has served as a Dr Ambedkar Chair Professor at NISWASS in Orissa, a professor of sociology at the University of Pune and an Asian guest professor at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen.
She was a senior fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and research director of the Krantivir Trust. She has also worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Oxfam NOVIB, and other international bodies.
Quoting an aide, reports said that Dr Omvedt's last rites shall be performed on Thursday morning at the Krantiveer Bapuji Patankar Sanstha campus in Sangli.