Unsung Heroes -- Volume I

Gayatri Pagdi

Gayatri Pagdi is a full-time writer, translator, editor and professional ghostwriter of books related to Indian culture and religion, self-empowerment and alternative healing. She is a published author in the UK and her writing has been included in the South Asian Literary Review brought out by the University of Pittsburgh, USA, as a promising contemporary South Asian writer and poet. She has also received acknowledgment for her work from the prestigious Sahitya Akademi in 2007. Pagdi, who has worked on more than 30 books in the past five years in various capacities, is based in Mumbai.

J V Naik

J.V. Naik taught history first at the Elphinstone College, then at the Govt. of Maharashtra I.Y. College and before his retirement he was professor and head, department of history, University of Mumbai. He was awarded a fellowship of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute for research in Canada. He has lectured at some Universities in Canada and participated in international conferences in India and abroad. He was the general president of the Indian History Congress, and he has delivered several prestigious endowment lectures. He was UGC visiting fellow at the M.S. University at Baroda and at the Shivaji University, Kolhapur. He has authored several books and booklets, including one on national integration for the Central Board for Workers’ Education, sponsored by the Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India. Through his numerous research papers, which are widely cited, he has made a seminal contribution to a better understanding of the nature of 19th century Maharashtrian renaissance and the history of the quest for social justice in India. He has been a member of the Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. He is presently a trustee of Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, and of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.

M V Kamath

M. V. Kamath (1921-2014), eminent writer, columnist and journalist, authored over 45 books. He started his career in journalism in 1946. He was the correspondent at the United Nations for the Press Trust of India, and in Bonn, Paris and Washington for the Times of India. He was also editor of Free Press Journal, and later of the Illustrated Weekly of India. A prolific writer, Mr. Kamath is the author of numerous biographies and books, which include The Pursuit of Excellence, B. G. Kher: The Gentleman Premier, Sai Baba of Shirdi: A Unique Saint, Nani A. Palkhivala: A life, and Narendra Modi: The Architect of a Modern State. In 2004, Mr. Kamath was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He was chairman of Prasar Bharathi, and a director of the Manipal Institute of Communications.

Rohini Gawankar

Prof. Dr. Rohini Gawankar is the retired head of the department of political science of S.N.D.T. Women’s University, Mumbai, Maharashtra. She is the founder president of Maharashtra’s Women’s Studies Association and also Women’s Development Cell of the University of Mumbai. She was the president of Maharashtra Political Association and vice president of Mahila Dakshata Samiti. She is a grassroots activist working for the orientation and training of women members of panchayats in Maharashtra. She was appointed as a central representative of Maharashtra state on central women’s commission. She worked as editor and treasurer of Indian Association of Women’s Studies. She has seven Marathi books and one English book to her credit and is also the co-author of twelve books in English and Marathi. Her book on Rani Jhansi Regiment has been translated into Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, and English. She has received the Rao Saheb Bambardekar Award for her research on the Rani Jhansi Regiment. She was felicitated by Zonata International Indira Gandhi Award for her social work at the grassroots level and has achieved many more awards for her work in this area.

Vishwas Kher

Vishwas Kher is a retired personnel executive. He is the editor of the Digest of Supreme Court Labour Law Cases. A keen student of Gandhism, he has edited for Navjivan Trust, Ahmedabad, seven collections of Mahatma Gandhi’s writings in fifteen volumes including a collection of Gandhi’s search for the Supreme in three volumes. He was a trustee of Shri Sai Baba Sansthan of Shirdi from 1984 to 1989. He is the author of Sai Baba: His Divine Glimpses and the co-author with M. V. Kamath of Sai Baba of Shirdi: A Unique Saint, Devi Ahalyabai Holkar: The Philosopher Queen, and The Story of Militant but Non-violent Trade Unionism: A Biographical and Historical Study.