Shyamlal Jagadisan T.N. Thakkar Bapa

Madran: Diocesan Press, 1949. — 523 p.Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar, widely recognized as Thakkar Bapa, was a prominent Indian social worker dedicated to the upliftment of tribal communities in what is now Gujarat, India. He became a member of the Servants of India Society in 1914 founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1905. In 1922, he founded the Bhil Seva Mandal. Later, he became the general secretary of the Harijan Sevak Sangh founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932. The Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh was founded on 24 October 1948 on his initiative. When Indian constitution was being framed, Kenvi visited the most remote and difficult parts of India and conducted investigations into the situation of tribal and Harijan people. He was appointed the chairman of "Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than Assam)", a sub committee of the constituent assembly. Mahatma Gandhi would call him 'bapa'. In one of his appeals in 1939 Mahatma Gandhi called him "Father of Harijans".