Gail Omvedt (2nd August 1941- 25th August, 2021)- a prolific Writer, Researcher, and Activist was born in Minneapolis. She went to Carleton College, and came out to Berkeley only after first year in India, in 1963-64, returning to India in 1970-71 to do her Ph.D. and then, she finally ‘settled’ in 1978 in India. She has taken something of the ‘great years’ of the 60s from Berkeley to India and vice versa! When she tried to combine living in India and teaching at San Diego, didn’t work. She quit and went to India. She married into a middle caste (‘Bahujan’) ‘rich peasant’ farming family in western India and have ‘settled’ in the large ‘village’ of Kasegaon (her daughter calls it a ‘town’ in her poems but by Indian definition it’s a village) in southern Maharashtra, with Bharat and other members of an Indian joint family. She have been an Indian citizen since 1983. She was an American-born sociologist who has intensively worked for human rights of the socially marginalized sections of the society in India. She was one of the intellectual voices of the Mulniwasi Bahujan movement in India. Omvedt was involved in anti-caste movements, environmental, farmers, Dalit and women’s movements, especially with rural women. She was a prolific writer and has published numerous books on the anti-caste movement, Dalit politics, and women’s struggles in India, (i) Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The NonBrahman Movement in Maharashtra (Scientific Socialist Education Trust, 1966)(ii) We Shall Smash This Prison: Indian Women in Struggle (1979); (iii) “Violence Against Women: New Movements And New Theories In India” (Kali for Women, 1991; (iv) Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements in India (M.E. Sharpe, 1993); (v) Gender and Technology: Emerging Asian Visions (1994); (vi) ‘Dalits and the Democratic Revolution-Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (1994); (vii)Dalit Visions: The Anti-caste Movement and the Construction on an Indian Identity (1995); (viii) Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India (2004), (ix) Growing Up Untouchable: A Dalit Autobiography (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000); (x) Buddhism in India : Challenging Brahmanism and Caste (SageIndia, 2003) (xi) “Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India ” (Penguin, 2005); (xii) Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals (New Delhi, Navayana, 2009) (xiii) Understanding Caste: From Buddha-To-Ambedkar And Beyond (2010), (xiv) Omvedt’s dissertation was on ‘Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930 (reprint of 1976 book) (New Delhi, Manohar, 2011), (xv) Songs of Tukoba with Bharat Patankar she has published (translations) (Manohar, 2012) (xvi) Mahishasur: A People’s Hero (Eighth Edition- 2016) and (xvii) Jotirao Phule and the Ideology of Social Revolution in India. Thus, Gail Omvedt 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. She has a great contribution in understanding the social conditions of the socially marginalized society in India. She co-founded Shramik Mukti Dal. Gail Omvedt has been awarded with numerous awards including Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1964–65; Fulbright Fellowship as Tutor in English in India, June 1963-March 1964; Fellowship for research on “Women’s Movement in India,” January–December 1975 American Association of University Women; Savitribai Phule Puraskar, Padmashri Kavivarya Narayan Surve Sarvajanik Vacanalay, Nashik, 2002; Dr. Ambedkar Chetna Award, Manavwadi Rachna Manch Punjab, August 2003; Matoshree Bhimabai Ambedkar Award (2012); ABP Majha Sanman Purskar, 2012 and Vitthal Ramji Shinde Award, April 2015.
Gail Omvedt was inspired by the social movements, particularly BAMCEF, and other social outfits Moolniwasi Sangh, in India. Gail Omvedt, who was a great person and has an exemplary contribution for the liberation of the socially weak and helpless persons of the society, and she would be remembered by the weakest persons in the society for her contribution
DR K S CHAUHAN
Advocate Supreme Court &
National Vice President, Peoples Party of indie (Democratic)
