Thakkar Bappa, Godfather of Tribals
Thakkar Bappa: Shri Amritlal Viththaldas Thakkar alias 'Thakkar Bappa' was born on 29th November 1869 at Bhavnagar in Saurashtra, Gujrat. He had completed his primary and secondary education at Bhavnagar. He passed his matriculation with first rank. He was awarded the scholarship of Rs.10. Though the economical condition of the family was not so good, he was sent to Pune in Maharashtra for further studies of engineering. At Pune he got an opportunity to see Shri Nyayamurti Ranade, the Judge. He knew Shri Gopalkrishna Gokhale and he also knew that Shri Gokhale was the disciple of Shri Ranade. He bowed and greeted Shri Ranade and felt sense of gratitude for he saw and got the opportunity to greet a great person like Shri Ranade. In those days Shri Ranade had his great impact on the scholar students. They were impressed by the simple living and high thinking attitude of Shri Ranade. In 1890 he passed his L.C.E. degree of Engineering. Due to the ...