The Vital-Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience was published by
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Gopal Baba Walangkar
Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first newspaper of the Mahar community and campaigned to have Untouchables taken back into the army.
- ✓ (a) Walangkar, a pensioned soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper, petitioned the British against the closure of army service to Untouchables and appealed publicly to Hindu leaders for better treatment.
- ✗ (b) Jyotiba Phule is remembered for founding the Satyashodhak Samaj and for his book Gulamgiri, not for this newspaper (Zelliot notes that Phule only helped and guided Walangkar in his early petition effort).
- ✗ (d) Ambedkar (born 1891), a distant relative of Walangkar, became a public leader later; Mooknayak was the first of his many newspapers.
Remember · Gopal Baba Walangkar, a retired Mahar army man from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Indian Society, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement (Manohar, 1992/2001), Ch. 3 (background of the Mahar movement) ↗ · reference work “Gopal Baba Walangkar, a pensioned soldier from Ratnagiri, began the first Mahar newspaper, attempted to send a petition to the British protesting against the closure of army service to Untouchables … Mooknayak (Voice of the Dumb), the first of many news- papers … reported that Jotiba Phule, Baba Padmaji and others helped and guided Walangkar in his early effort to petition the British”
- Eleanor Zelliot and Mulk Raj Anand (eds), An Anthology of Dalit Literature (Poems), Introduction ↗ · reference work “The dominant figure in this early period was Gopal Baba Walangkar, an ex-soldier and a Mahar, who started a newspaper, publicly challenged caste Hindu about their treatment of Untouchables”
- NCERT Class 12 · Indian Society, Chapter 3 “In 1873 he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers Society), which was devoted to securing human rights and social justice for low-caste people.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·