Kaka Kalelkar Biography 
Kaka Kalelkar’s real name is Dattatreya Balkrushna Kalelkar. He was an independence activist, Gandhian, social reformer and journalist from Maharashtra. He also spent a few years in Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat. As a journalist he was actively involved with Hindustani Prachar Sabha, which promoted Hindi language. For popularizing Hindi as the national language, he has been associated with many journals and organizations and has travelled extensively. He also served as a member of Rajya Sabha for twelve years. He was fondly called Savai Gujarati.
He was born on 1 December 1895 in Belgundi Village of Belgium, Karnataka. After graduation from Fergusson College in Pune, he started his professional career as a journalist. He served as the editor of Marathi daily named Rashtramat, before starting his journey as a school teacher. He taught at Gangadhar Vidyalay in Baroda which was forced to close by British for its nationalistic spirit. Drwan towards Gandhian principles, he spent some time at Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat before resuming his journey as a journalist. While at Sabarmati he served as the editor of Sarwodaya that ran in Ashram premises.
He played a vital role in the establishment of the University - Gujarat Vidyapith, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. He served as its vice-chancellor for some years. For establishing Hindi as the National Language of India he travelled several miles by foot and later wrote travelogues in Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi. After Indian independence, in 1953 Kaka served as one of the members to establish Backwards Classes Commission. He served as the chairman of the committee and concluded that reservations should be provided to all classes of people irrespective of caste, if their annual income is below 800 rupees. He also expressed his disagreement to reserve government jobs for backward classes.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 06, 2016
