Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil: the man who took education to Maharashtra's villages

Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil is regarded in Maharashtra as the man who carried the light of education to every home, especially in rural areas. Born on September 22, 1887, in Kumbhoj village in Kolhapur, this social reformer showed the Bahujan community a path to a life of dignity. People fondly called him Anna. He spent his entire life fighting wrong social customs, untouchability and inequality. He was deeply influenced by the ideas of Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule.

The foundation of Bhaurao's social and educational revolution was laid in 1919, when he started the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha. He adopted a unique earn-and-learn method that brought poor and needy children into the mainstream of education. In 1924, he built a hostel in Satara, which Mahatma Gandhi himself named the Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Boarding. Anna did not stop at opening schools and colleges; he took education to the lowest sections of society by starting hundreds of self-motivated schools in hilly and drought-prone areas. Chhatrapati Shivaji College in Satara became the first college in a rural area.

In this great undertaking, the sacrifice of his wife, Laxmibai Patil, known as Vahini, was no less significant. To meet the expenses of feeding children of different castes and religions who lived in the hostel, she sold her gold jewellery, including her mangalsutra.

Alongside his educational work, Anna was also at the forefront of social movements. Through organisations such as Satyashodhak Samaj, Harijan Sevak Sangh, the Depressed Class Mission and the Shri Gadge Maharaj Mission, he worked to eliminate untouchability and uplift backward classes. He also always took the initiative for workers' rights and village development. Influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's simplicity, he wore khadi his entire life.

For his unmatched contribution, Pune University conferred a D.Litt. on him and the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan. But it was the title of Karmaveer given to him by the people that remains the true mark of his work. Today, as the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil's ideas and educational work continue to show society the way forward.