Modern Indian History

The two political leaders who fought against caste inequalities were Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, several social reformers fought to create a new social system based on freedom, equality, brotherhood, human dignity and economic justice. Periyar E.V. Ramasami Naickar was such a social reformer from South India. He is known as a rationalist and the leader of the lower caste movement in South India. He aroused people to realise that all men are equal and that it is the birthright of every individual to enjoy liberty and equality.

Sri Narayana Guru, born in Kerala, preached brotherhood for all and fought against the ill effects of the caste system. He led a quiet but significant social revolution and gave the watchwords One Caste, One Religion, One God for all men. 

Jyotirao Govindarao Phule also known as Mahatma Jotiba Phule was a social reformer from Maharashtra. Jotiba Phule and his wife Savitri Bai Phule were pioneers of women's education in India. In 1873 he founded the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth Seekers Society), which was devoted to securing human rights and social justice for low-caste people.

The Indian Negotiable Instrument Act was formed in the year 1881.

The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to enter into such an alliance. Tipu Sultan of Mysore refused to do so, but after the British victory in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Mysore was forced to become a subsidiary state. The Nawab of Awadh was the next to accept the Subsidiary Alliance, in 1801. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the Maratha ruler Baji Rao II also accepted a subsidiary alliance. several states like: Hyderabad (1798 and 1800), Tanjore (1799), Awadh (1801), Bhonsle (1803), and Indore(1817) adopted this system.

Hyderabad was the first state to enter into a Subsidiary Alliance with the British in 1798 under Lord Wellesley.

The Subsidiary Alliance System was introduced by Lord Wellesley. Satara was annexed later under the Doctrine of Lapse, not the Subsidiary Alliance System.

Shivaji born at Shivneri Fort in Maharashtra, India. Near the city of Junnar in Pune District on 19 February  1627. Jijabai his mother named him Shivaji in honor of the god Shiva, to whom she had prayed for a healthy child.

Several social reform movements were formed in pre-reformative Kerala to tackle social evils. Ayyankali was a reformer who strived for the uplift of the depressed classes. He recognized that education is an investment in resolving social inequalities and to improve the social status of the depressed classes.
He was born at Venganur in Thiruvananthapuram district. Sadhujana Paripalana Sangham was the organization he founded for his reform activities. The aims of the organization were:

• The right of Avarnas to walk freely along the public roads,
• School admission of the students from depressed classes and
• Better wages for labourers.

Evil customs and practices existed in all parts of India and the social reform movements that were organized to eradicate them. Vaikunta Swamikal was one of the earlier social reformers in Kerala. He was born at Shastamkoyil in Kanyakumari.
He also:

• raised voice against the evil custom of preventing women of the so-called lower castes from wearing upper cloth.
• protested against the prohibition on temple entry.
• formed Samatwasamajam, an organization for carrying out social reforms.

Vaikunta Swamikal expressed his contempt towards the British government by referring to it as 'ven neecha bharanam' (the rule of white devils).

The activities of Swamikal inspired the Channar Revolt (otherwise known as Upper Cloth Mutiny) that fought for the right of the Channar women to wear upper clothes and knee-length garments.

Vakkom Abdul Khader Maulavi was a reformer who had mastered various languages like Malayalam, Urdu, Arabic, Sanskrit and Persian. He collaborated with the activities of Muslim Aikya Sangham established at Kodungallur. He founded the magazines Muslim and Al Islam and the newspaper Swadeshabhimani to spread the light of knowledge.

• Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is an Indian geneticist and international administrator, renowned for his leading role in India's Green Revolution a program under which high-yield varieties of wheat and rice seedlings were planted in the fields of poor farmers. 
• Swaminathan is known as the "Indian Father of Green Revolution" for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India.