US Born Dalit Scholar Dr. Gail Omvedt Passes Away At 81 In Sangli

Dr. Omvedt's last rites shall be performed on Thursday morning at the Krantiveer Bapuji Patankar Sanstha campus in Sangli.

Dr. Gail Omvedt was a renowned researcher, writer on Ambedkarism and Dalit movement. (Image Source:Twitter/@Neelam_Culture)

New Delhi: Renowned researcher, writer on Ambedkarism and Dalit movement US-born Dr. Gail Omvedt passed away at Kasegaon after suffering from a brief illness early on August 25, 2021.

She was 81 and is survived by her husband Dr. Bharat Patankar, a daughter Prachi, son-in-law Tejaswi and granddaughter Nia, who have settled in the US.

Dr. Omvedt was born in Minneapolis in Minnesota, US, as a university student in the US, Omvedt was part of the anti-war movement. She came to India after completing her higher studies and plunged herself into the various social movements for the Dalits, poor and downtrodden, farmers, women, and other public causes.

Omvedt has been involved in Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental, farmers' and women's movements, especially with rural women. Her dissertation was titled Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Western India, 1873-1930.

She co-founded Shramik Mukti Dal along with her husband and activist Bharat Patankar in the early-1980s. She became an Indian citizen around 1983.

She authored several books on various social subjects, taught in colleges and universities and penned columns for various newspapers, worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Oxfam NOVIB, and other international bodies.

Dr. Omvedt's last rites shall be performed on Thursday morning at the Krantiveer Bapuji Patankar Sanstha campus in Sangli, the aide said according to IANS.