A medico who gave up his lucrative profession to devote himself to social service, Dr Narendra Dabholkar, born on November 1, 1945, was the youngest of ten siblings.

He completed his schooling from the New English School in Satara, went to junior college at Willingdon College in Sangali and finally got an MBBS degree from Medical College in Miraj.

After working as as a general practitioner for nearly 12 years, Dabholkar decided to plunge into social service. In the beginning, he was associated with a few social movements including those run by Baba Adhav.

In 1983, after noticing that society at large was very superstitious  especially the rural masses, he decided to work towards eradictaing such social evils.

In 1989, Dabholkar founded the MaharashtraAndhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS), a social organization aimed at weeding out superstition.

The MANS network has currently has over 180 branches all over Maharastra.

In the past two decades, he openly challenged several godmen and self-styled gurus who he felt were exploiting the masses.

He also led several awareness programmes to free people from the clutches of superstition.

Dabholkar was associated with causes such as environment protection. He was staunchly against animal sacrifice, a ritual which arises from superstition itself.

An acclaimed writer, Dabholkar wrote around 11 books which throw light on different superstitions prevailing in society. They contain a lot of scientific knowledge in order to break down the believer's superstitions.

One of his books, 'Timiratun Tejakade' (From dark toward light) received an award from the state government. He regularly wrote articles for leading Marathi newspapers.

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