Achyut Yagnik (1 February 1946 – 4 August 2023) was an Indian journalist, academic, political analyst and activist based in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Early life

Yagnik was born on 1 February 1946, in

Dharmaj Dharmaj is a village in Petlad taluka, Anand district, Gujarat, India. As of the 2011 Census of India, the population was 10,429. The village is nicknamed the "village of NRIs" (Non-resident Indians Overseas Indians (ISO: ), officially Non ...

village in Charotar region (now in

Anand district Anand District is an administrative district of Gujarat state in western India and whose popular nickname is Charotar. It was carved out of the Kheda district in 1997. Anand is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is bounde ...

of Gujarat). He was a native of Sojitra. He had studied anthropology in

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

but dropped out. He prepared a catalogue of a Sanskrit library as part-time work during his stay in Delhi University. During this period, he came in contact with poet Sundaram, linguist Prabodh Pandit and socialist political leader

Ram Manohar Lohia Ram Manohar Lohia ( 23 March 1910 – 12 October 1967) was an Indian political activist of the Indian independence movement and a socialist politician. As a nationalist, he worked actively to protest against colonialism, raising awareness of th ...

Career

In late 1960s, he returned to

and joined ''

Gujarat Samachar The ''Gujarat Samachar'' is the leading Gujarati-language daily newspaper published in India. Its headquarters are in Ahmedabad with a branch in Surat. It is distributed from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Mumbai, Mehsana, Bh ...

'' where he worked for a decade. From 1970 to 1980, Yagnik worked as a journalist. He worked closely with several poets and writers as well as sociologists and historians during this period. He became specifically interested in medieval

Gujarati literature The history of Gujarat, Gujarati literature () may be traced to 1000 AD, and this literature has flourished since then to the present. It is unique in having almost no patronage from a ruling dynasty, other than its composers. Gujarat Vidhya S ...

. He edited a Gujarati magazine called ''Gurjar Bharati''. In 1981, he became a founder editor of a Gujarati research journal called ''Arthat'' published by Centre for Social Studies,

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

.'''' He served as the correspondent of the ''

Economic and Political Weekly The ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (EPW) is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all social sciences, and is published by the Sameeksha Trust. In January 2018, academic Gopal Guru was named the new Editor of the journal. Guru will be ...

'' and the state coordinator of the Lokayan project of the

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) is an Indian research institute for social sciences and humanities. It was founded in 1963 by Rajni Kothari and is largely funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

as well as the state general secretary of the

People's Union for Civil Liberties People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is a human rights body formed in India in 1976 by Jayaprakash Narayan, as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCLDR). Background Indian emergency Jayaprakash Narayan was ...

from 1982 to 1984. He opposed the anti-reservation agitations of Gujarat in 1981 and 1985. In 1982, he founded the Setu - Center for Social Knowledge and Action in Ahmedabad which worked for the marginalised communities. He served it as head for the rest of his life. He worked with the

Maldhari The Maldhari is a occupational term or title used by several herdsmen or animal husbandry castes. Most Maldhari live in Kutch district in Gujarat and the Maldharis are spread over 48 hamlets that are organized into 19 Panchayats. Their popul ...

community of Gir.

Medha Patkar Medha Patkar (born 1 December 1954) is an Indian Social activist working on social issues for tribals, dalits, farmers, labourers and women facing injustice in India. She is an alumna of TISS, a premier institute of social science research in ...

worked for SETU and during that time became the leader of

Narmada Bachao Andolan ''Narmada Bachao Andolan'' (NBA, , 'Save the Narmada River Movement') is an Indian social movement spearheaded by native tribals (''adivasis''), farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across ...

. He worked for the tribals under Vishamata Nirmulan Samiti. He also founded Forum 21 with lawyer Girish Patel. Yagnik taught at the Centre for Development Communication of

Gujarat University The Gujarat University is a public state university located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The university is an affiliating university at the under-graduate level and a teaching university at the post graduate level. It is accredited A+ by NAAC ...

for about 10 years. He also taught journalism students at Bhavan’s College in Ahmedabad. He was a Fellow of and Consultant to the

United Nations University The is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve list of global issues, global issues related to Human development ...

in 1986-87. He also served as a Fellow of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

in 2005-06. In 1995, he wrote a book on Ram Janmabhoomi movement. In 2005 and 2011, he published works on history of Gujarat and Ahmedabad respectively.

Personal life and death

His wife Bharati Patel is a retired professor from B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad. His son Anandvardhan Yagnik is a lawyer in the

Gujarat High Court The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State. The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. Establ ...

. Achyut Yagnik died following a cardiac arrest at his home in Ambawadi, Ahmedabad, on 4 August 2023. He was 77. Yagnik was cremated in V. S. Antimdam.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yagnik, Achyut 1946 births 2023 deaths Journalists from Gujarat Indian activist journalists Indian activists Indian academics People from Ahmedabad Indian writers People from Anand district 20th-century Indian historians Indian social scientists Indian anthropologists Dalit activists Delhi University alumni Gujarati-language writers Indian columnists