Ganpatrao Govindrao Jadhav (5 May 1908 – 20 May 1987) was an Indian freedom activist, journalist and writer. He was the founder of

Pudhari ''Pudhari'' is a popular Marathi daily, printed in three centres and distributed in Maharashtra, Goa and North Karnataka. It is the leader in Kolhapur and Western Maharashtra and the third-largest Marathi newspaper daily in the entire state o ...

, a Marathi daily founded in 1937. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

awarded him the fourth-highest Indian civilian honour of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 1984 and issued a commemorative postage stamp with his image on 12 November 2009.

Biography

Jhadav was born on 5 May 1908 at Gaganbavada, a small hamlet in the Kolhapur district of the western Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. His education at the local school did not go beyond the primary levels due to financial constraints, but Jhadav taught himself by reading books. He started his career as a journalist at ''Tej'', a weekly published from Mumbai, then worked for other local publications. During this period, he was involved with

Satyashodhak Samaj Satyashodhak Samaj (''Truth-seekers' Society'') was a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra, on 24 September 1873. The society endeavoured to mitigate the distress and sufferings of Dalits and women. It espoused a m ...

, a social organization founded in 1873 by

Jyotirao Phule Jyotirao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890), also known as Jyotiba Phule, was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including eradication of ...

, in their reformist activities, which gave him the opportunity to interact with several known

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

personalities such as

Keshavrao Jedhe Keshavrao Marutirao Jedhe (''né'' ''Deshmukh'' 21 April 1896 – 12 November 1959) was an Indian independence activist and politician from Pune. He served as a leading figure in the Indian National Congress, and in the Samyukta Maharashtra mo ...

, Dinkarrao Jawalkar, Achyutrao Kolhatkar, Bhaskarrao Jadhav, Bhargavaram Viththal Varerkar and M. G. Ranganekar. Soon, he launched a daily, ''Daily Kaiwari'', with the assistance from Bhaskarrao Jadhav and became its editor. His association with

and

influenced him to participate in the

Dandi March The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of non violent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

in March 1930 and he established the Kolhapur district chapter of the

. During the Indian

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

movement of 1930, he oversaw the information flow between the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

leadership and the frontline and underground activists. When Dinkarrao Javalkar, one of the leaders of the movement in

was arrested by the British government, Jhadav stayed underground and organized the picketing movements at Wadi Bunder and Carnak Bunder. He continued clandestine activities till the

Gandhi–Irwin Pact The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, on 5 March 1931 before the Second Round Table Conference in London. The Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, had announced in October 1929 ...

was signed on 5 March 1931, granting

dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

status to India. During this period, he was also associated with

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...

for the upliftment of the

dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

communities and was involved in the ''temple entry protest'' at the

Kalaram Temple Kalaram Temple, is a Hindu temple in Nashik of Nashik district in Maharashtra, dedicated to the deity Rama. It is a temple situated in Panchavati area of the Nashik. The temple derives its name from a black statue of Rama. The literal transla ...

in March 1930. The latter half of 1930s saw Jhadav getting involved with journalism with renewed vigour and started a weekly by name, ''Sevak'', which was renamed

on 13 May 1937. The publication is reported to have gained popularity and from the New Year's Day of 1939, it turned a daily to become the largest circulated daily in the western Maharashtra and north

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, with an online edition. Around this time, he founded the Journalists' Association of Kolhapur (''Kolhapur Patrakar Sangha'') and became its founder president. He also served as the president of the

and was involved with the

Samyukta Maharashtra Movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, () commonly known as the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Central India from 1956 to 1960. The Samiti demanded t ...

of 1956. His involvement with the farmers led to the establishment of Kolhapur District Agriculturist Co-operative Society of which he was a founder member. His contributions are also reported in the establishment of educational institutions such as

Shivaji University Shivaji University, established in 1962, is a state university located at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. The university, with a campus spread over , is named in honour of Chatrapati Shivaji. It was inaugurated on 18 November 1962 by Dr. Radh ...

, Tararani Vidyapeeth and Mouni Vidyapeeth.

Awards and honours

Jhadav was awarded the ''Kakasaheb Limye Award'' by the Pune Press Club in 1983. The

awarded him the civilian honour of

in 1984. He received the ''Acharya Atre Award'' of the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh in 1985 and the next year, the

selected him for the DLitt degree (honoris causa). On 12 November 2009, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

issued a commemorative postage stamp with his image on it.

Personal life

Jhadav was married to Indira Devi and the couple had a son and six daughters. He died on 20 May 1987 at the age of 79. His son, Pratapsinh Jadhav, is the incumbent head of

and is a recipient of

in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jadav, Ganpatrao 1908 births 1987 deaths People from Kolhapur district Journalists from Maharashtra Marathi people Indian male journalists Indian social reformers Indian independence activists from Maharashtra Satyashodhak Samaj Dalit history 20th-century Indian journalists

Biography

Awards and honours

Personal life

See also

References