Baba Amte
| Baba Amte | |
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Baba Amte in 2005
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| Born |
26 December 1914 Hinganghat, Wardha, British India (present-day Maharashtra, India) |
| Died | 9 February 2008 (aged 93) Anandwan, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | B.A.LL.B. |
| Spouse(s) | Sadhana Amte |
| Children |
Dr. Vikas Amte Dr. Prakash Amte |
| Awards |
Padma Shri, 1971 Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1985 Padma Vibhushan, 1986 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights,1988 Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999 |
| Website | http://www.anandwan.in/baba-amte.html |
| Signature | |
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Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte (26 December 1914 – 9 February 2008) was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from leprosy.
Baba Amte was born to Mr. Devidas Amte and Mrs. Laxmibai Amte in the city of Hinganghat in Wardha District of Maharashtra on 26 December 1914. It was a wealthy family. His father was a British government officer with responsibilities for district administration and revenue collection. Murlidhar had acquired his nickname Baba in his childhood.
He came to be known as Baba not because "he was a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name."
He was among eight children of his father.As the eldest son of a wealthy land owner, Murlidhar had an idyllic childhood. By the time he was fourteen, he owned his own gun and hunted boar and deer. When he was old enough to drive, he was given a Singer Sports car with cushions covered with panther skin. He never appreciated the restrictions that prevented him from playing with the 'low-caste' servants' children. "There is a certain callousness in families like my family." he used to say. "They put up strong barriers so as not to see the misery in the world outside and I rebelled against it. "
Trained in law, he developed a successful legal practice at Wardha. He soon got involved in the Indian struggle for freedom from the British Raj, and started acting as a defence lawyer for leaders of the Indian freedom movement whom the British authorities had imprisoned in the 1942 Quit India movement. He spent some time at Sevagram ashram of Mahatma Gandhi and became a follower of Gandhism for the rest of his life. He followed Gandhism, including yarn spinning using a charkha and wearing khadi. When Gandhi got to know that he has saved a girl from British soldiers who were lewdly taunting her, Gandhi gave him the name – Abhay Sadhak (Fearless Seeker of Truth).
In those days, leprosy was associated with social stigma and the society disowned people suffering from leprosy. There was also a widespread misbelief that leprosy was highly contagious. Amte strove to dispel the misbelief and once allowed bacilli from a leprosy patient to be injected into him while participating in an experimental test aimed at proving that leprosy was not highly contagious.
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Wikipedia