Laxman Bapu Mane (born 1 June 1949) is a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

writer and a social activist from

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Mane came to sudden fame after publishing his autobiography ''

Upara Upara ( mr, उपरा meaning ''outsider'') is an autobiography written by Laxman Mane, a writer who lives in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is written in the Marathi language. It was first published in 1980. It has been translated into E ...

'', (An Outsider), in 1980. ''Upara'' was considered as a milestone in

Dalit literature and received

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1981 and

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 2009. He is a former member of Maharashtra's legislative council.

Early life

Mane was born on 1 June 1949 in a small village Somanthali,

Phaltan Phaltan () is a town, a tehsil, and a municipal council in the Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The town is about northeast of the city of Satara and about 110 km from Pune. History Phaltan was one of the non-salu ...

(Maharashtra) in a nomadic tribe in India. He wrote his autobiography (Upara) in 1980, for which he received the Sahitya Akadami award in 1981.

After Upara

His autobiography ''

'' (उपरा) brought to the attention of the public in Maharashtra the problems of nomadic tribes arising out of their social and economic conditions. Under a two-year grant from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

for field work among nomadic tribes in Maharashtra, Mane wrote in 1984 his second book ''Band Darwaja'' (Closed door, 1984).

Conversion to Buddhism

Mane converted to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

along with his followers from his community. He received a Homi Bhabha Fellowship during 1986-88 for his continued social work. Mane served for some time in the following capacities: * Acting president of the Indian Institute for research in the developmental problems of nomadic and denotified communities, Satara * Secretary of ''Bhartiya bhatke vimukt vikas va sanshodhan sanstha'' * General secretary of ''Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Samata Pratishthan'' * A senator of

Shivaji University Shivaji University, established in 1962, is a state university located at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. The university, with a campus spread over , is named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Empire. It was inaugurated ...

's administration. Mane is the president of the ''Bhatkya Ani Vimukth Jamati Sanghatana'', Maharashtra, and a founder member of the ''Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan''. ......

Allegations of sexual exploitation

A case was registered against Mane for allegedly sexually exploiting three women employees of a residential school. He is the working president of the organisation that runs this school. He was accused of having sex with them in return of providing them permanent employment in the establishment, or under threats of transferring the employees to another location. This exploitation took place between 2003 and 2010. Subsequent to the registration of this case, three more women registered similar complaints against him. Mane was absconding since 5 March 2013 the day the first two complaints were filed against him. After rejection of his anticipatory bail plea Mane surrendered to the police on 8 April 2013. On 9 April, Mane was remanded to police custody. Mane has appealed to the state's high court seeking that charges against him be squashed, claiming that he has been falsely implicated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mane, Laxman Writers from Maharashtra 1949 births Living people Indian Buddhists Marathi-language writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council People from Beed district People from Marathwada Shivaji University People from Satara district Marathi politicians Indian autobiographers Converts to Buddhism from Hinduism Indian former Hindus 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi politicians