Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy. He has received numerous awards and prizes including the Padma Vibhushan, the Dr. Ambedkar International Award, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Templeton Prize and the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. He is also known as the modern Gandhi of India.
Kalyan is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district. Kalyan and its neighbouring township of Dombivli jointly form Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, abbreviated as KDMC. It is a founding city of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Kalyan is the 7th biggest city in Maharashtra and 29th in India. Kalyan also serves as a major railway station for the trains bound to Mumbai and is a large junction separating two routes, one going Karjat and other Kasara.
Thane district is a district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the country, with 11,060,148 inhabitants; however, in August 2014 the district was split into two with the creation of a new Palghar district, leaving the reduced Thane district with a 2011 census population of 8,070,032. The headquarters of the district is the city of Thane. Other major cities in the district are Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayander, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar, Ambarnath, Badlapur, Murbad and Shahapur.
Gajanan Maharaj was an Indian Hindu guru, saint and mystic. His origins remain uncertain. He first appeared at Shegaon, a village in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, as a young man aged 30, probably on 23 February 1878. He attained Sanjeevana Samadhi on 8 September 1910, which is thought to be a process of voluntary withdrawal from one's physical body. This date of his Samadhi is commemorated every year as part of the Shree Punyatithi Utsav. The date of his first appearance is considered an auspicious day and is celebrated as Prakat Din Sohla.
Prabha Atre was an Indian classical vocalist from the Kirana gharana. She was awarded all three of the Padma Awards by the Government of India. She died after experiencing breathing difficulty in the early hours and was taken to Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital. She died from cardiac arrest before reaching the hospital. Atre died on 13 January 2024, at the age of 91.
Gajānan Digambar Mādguḷkar was a Marāthi poet, lyricist, writer and actor from India. He is popularly known in his home state of Mahārāshtra by just his initials as Ga Di Mā (गदिमा). He was awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1951 and Padma Shri in 1969. He has written 157 screen plays and over 2000 songs in his career. He was called Ādhunik Valmiki of current era due to his composition of Geet Rāmāyan as the most notable work. 2019 is celebrated as his Birth Century year. Government of Maharashtra hosts various events and festivals to grace the occasion.
The Gajanan Maharaj Temples are built to honor Sant Gajanan Maharaj, an Indian holy saint widely popular in Maharashtra, India and also well known in rest of the world. Maharaj lived during the late 19th century and early 20th century, spending most of his life in Shegaon, where he achieved Samadhi on September 8, 1910.
Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj is known to most of the people in Maharashtra. He stayed most of his life at Shegaon in Buldhana district in Maharashtra and has taken "Samadhi" there. Therefore, Shegaon has got a special significance for Maharaj and his devotees. Shegaon hosts a magnificent temple. His devotees have constructed many Gajanan Maharaj Temples in different parts of Maharashtra, India. A small temple has also been constructed at Kanhor, Kulgaon, Badlapur, Dist. Thane.
Prakash Gopalrao Pohare is the editor-in-chief of popular Marathi language daily newspaper Deshonnati. He lives in Akola, where the headquarters for Deshonnati are located.
Sindhu Shrihari Sapkal, affectionately called Sindhutai, was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for her work in raising orphaned children in India. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2021 and many other awards in the Social Work category.
Shrinivas Vinayak Khale, fondly addressed as "Khale Kaka", was an Indian composer/music director from Maharashtra, India.
Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation is the governing body of the city of Kalyan-Dombivli, located in the Thane district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The municipal corporation consists of elected members from each municipal ward of the city knowns as councillors, is headed by a mayor and in his/her absence by a deputy mayor, elected from amongst councillors. The municipal corporation administers the city's infrastructure, public services and transport.
Shrikant Eknath Shinde is a member of the 17th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Kalyan constituency of Maharashtra and is a member of the Shiv Sena political party.
Narendra Pawar is a politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Pawar was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Kalyan West in 2014. He is a first term member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
Jagannath Shivram Patil is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Patil was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Ambernath in 1978 and Kalyan in 1995. He was of Tourism and State Excise in Manohar Joshi ministry from 1995 to 1999) in 1990s. He was also member of Lok Sabha from Thane constituency in 1980s.
Damodar Ganesh Bapat was an Indian social worker known for his service to the leprosy patients at Bhartiya Kushta Nivarak Sangh (BKNS) in Janjgir–Champa district, Chhattisgarh, India. In 2018, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work. He was also awarded the Chhattisgarh Rajya Alankar by the state of Chhattisgarh.
Ravindra Kolhe and Smita Kolhe are Indian social activists and doctors working for tribal people in remote village areas of Bairagarh in Melghat region of Amravati district in Maharashtra. Ravindra Kolhe completed his MBBS in 1985 and MD in 1987 from Government Medical College, Nagpur. He has been actively working in Bairagarh area since 1985. He married Smita, also a doctor specializing in Ayurveda and Homeopathy, and together continued their work. They charged a nominal fee of ₹1 (1.2¢ US) for treatment and also run a Government ration shop. Apart from medicinal help, the couple also makes general awareness campaigns for the tribals. The works of Kolhe couple has resulted in reduction of infant mortality rate from 200 per 1000 to 40 and pre-school mortality rate from 400 per 1000 to 100. In 2019, the couple received Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.
Dr. Sudam Kate is an Indian social activist doctor known for his pioneering work in the field of Sickle-Cell Anaemia in India. Working with Maharashtra Arogya Mandal, Hadapsar, Pune; he helped diagnose and later treated over 3000 sickle cell patients from the rural tribal communities of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, working since 1972. In 2017, the US-based NGO Sickle Cell 101 presented him with “2017 Sickle Cell Advocate of the Year”. He was presented with Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian award in 2019.
Girish Y. Prabhune is an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work towards upliftment of the nomadic Pardhi community and their children since 1970. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 2021 in Social Work category.
Namdeo Chandrabhan Kamble is an Indian Marathi-language writer, social worker, journalist and teacher. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1995 for his novel Raghav Vel. He was awarded Padma Shri in the field of literature and education in 2021.
