| Formation | 30 September 1932 Pune, India |
|---|---|
| Founder | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Headquarters | Gandhi Ashram, Kingsway, Delhi (today Rajpath, Delhi) |
President | Prof. Dr. Sankar Kumar Sanyal |
| Website | gandhicreationhss.org |
Harijan Sevak Sangh is a non-profit organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 to eradicate untouchability in India, working for Harijan or Dalit people and upliftment of Depressed Class of India. [1] It is headquartered at Kingsway Camp in Delhi, with branches in 26 states across India. [2]
After the Second Round Table Conference, British government agreed to give Communal Award to the depressed classes on the request of B. R. Ambedkar. Gandhi opposed the government's decision which he considered it would divide the Hindu society and subsequently went on to the indefinite fast in Yerwada Jail. He ended his fast after signed Poona Pact with Ambedkar on 24 September 1932. On 30 September, Gandhi founded All India Anti Untouchability League, to remove untouchability in the society, which later renamed as Harijan Sevak Sangh ("Servants of Harijan Society"). [3] At the time industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla was its founding president with Amritlal Takkar as its secretary. [4]
Harijan Sevak Sangh runs two schools in the state of Tamil Nadu, a residential middle school in Villupuram district and N M R Subbaraman memorial residential primary school in Madurai. The school in Villupuram was set up in 1993 and currently has 180 scheduled caste and 109 other backward classes students. The students mostly belong to migrant labourers. The school has got 9 teaching and non-teaching staff. The Madurai's school was built in 1979. It presently has 5 teaching and non-teaching faculty members. [5]
The Sangh is headquartered at Kingsway Camp in Delhi. It was Valmiki Bhawan within the campus, which functioned as Gandhiji's one-room ashram, Kasturba Gandhi and their children stayed at the nearby Kasturba Kutir, between April 1946 and June 1947, before he moved to Birla House. Today, the 20-acre campus includes the Gandhi ashram, Harijan Basti, Lala Hans Raj Gupta Industrial Training Institute and also has a residential school for boys and girls. [6] [7] Its headquarters, Gandhi Ashram, Kingsway Camp is listed as Gandhian Heritage Site by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.
Complete list of President of Harijan Sevak Sangh
| Sr. No. | Image | Name | Start of Term | End of Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Ghanshyamdas birla | Sept-1932 | April-1959 |
| 2 |  | Rameshwari Nehru | Apr1959 | Nov 1965 |
| 3 | Viyogī Hari | November 1965 | May 1975 | |
| 4 |  | Shyamlal | June 1975 | October 1978 |
| 5 | R. K. Yarde | December 1978 | April 1983 | |
| 6 |  | Nirmala Deshpande | june 1983 | May 2008 |
| 7 | Radhakrishn Malviya | May 2008 | Feb 2013 | |
| 8 |  | Shankar Kumar Sanyal | April 2013 | contd. till now |
| 9 |
The Sangh helped the depressed classes to access public places such as temples, schools, roads and water resources, also conducted inter dining and inter caste marriages. [8] It constructed and maintains several schools and hostels across the country. [9]
In 1939, Harijan Sevak Sangh of Tamil Nadu headed by A. Vaidyanatha Iyer entered the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, with members of depressed class including P. Kakkan despite opposition from the upper caste Hindus. The Sangh led by Iyer organised several temple entry movements in other Parts of Tamil Nadu and in Travancore. [10] [11] Through their movements, more than 100 temples were opened to all sections of the society. [12]
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G. Ramachandhran was a soldier for the Gandhian cause, social reformer and a teacher. With his wife, Dr. T. S. Soundram, daughter of T V Sundaram Iyengar, founder of TVS Group, he started the Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu in 1945. He authored several books. Viswabharati, Rabindranath Tagore's University, in Santhiniketan awarded him the higher title "Desikottama".
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Diwan Bahadur Rettamalai Srinivasan, commonly known as R. Srinivasan, was a Scheduled Caste activist and politician from then Madras Presidency of British India. He is a Paraiyar icon and was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and was also an associate of B. R. Ambedkar. He is remembered today as one of the pioneers of the Scheduled caste movement in India. He founded the Adi dravida mahajana sabha in 1893.
P. Kakkan or fondly known as Kakkan, was an Indian politician and freedom fighter who served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, Member of Parliament, President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and in various ministerial posts in Congress governments in the erstwhile Madras state between 1957 and 1967.
A. Vaidyanatha Iyer, also known as Madurai Vaidyanatha Iyer or Ayyar was an Indian activist, politician and freedom-fighter who spearheaded the temple entry movement in Madras Presidency in 1939.
Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar, popularly known as Thakkar Bapa was an Indian social worker who worked for upliftment of tribal people in what is now Gujarat state in India. He became a member of the Servants of India Society in 1914 founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1905. In 1922, he founded the Bhil Seva Mandal. Later, he became the general secretary of the Harijan Sevak Sangh founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. The Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh was founded on 24 October 1948 on his initiative. When Indian constitution was in process, Kenvi visited the most remote and difficult parts of India and conducted investigations into the situation of tribal and Harijan people. He was appointed the chairman of "Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas, a sub committee of the constituent assembly. Mahatma Gandhi would call him 'bapa'. In one of his appeals in 1939 Mahatma Gandhi called him "Father of Harijans".
Hardas Laxmanrao Nagrale, popularly known as Babu Hardas, was an Indian Dalit leader, politician and social reformer. He was an ardent follower of B. R. Ambedkar and was pioneer of the practice of exchanging the greeting Jai Bhim amongst the Dalits. He was also a prominent labour leader in the Central Province and was the general secretary of the Independent Labour Party in the province. Hardas was also the first Member of the Legislative Assembly to be elected from Nagpur Kamptee constituency in 1937.
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