The Government of India on April 11, 2026 launched a nationwide two-year commemoration of the 200th birth anniversary of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, the 19th-century social reformer, to run from April 11, 2026 to April 11, 2028. The formal launch took place at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment through an inaugural programme titled "Phule Across India" held under the Inter-State Cultural Diversity Programme. For the first time in history, Parliament House also hosted a commemorative tribute to Phule on his 200th birth anniversary. A high-level 126-member national committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been constituted to guide and oversee the commemoration. The committee includes former Presidents Ram Nath Kovind and Pratibha Patil, former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, Governors, Chief Ministers, MPs, academicians, jurists, spiritual leaders, cultural figures, and social activists. The programme will unfold through cultural events, exhibitions, seminars, youth outreach and academic discussions across Central Ministries, State Governments, educational institutions, cultural bodies and civil society groups. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (1827-1890) pioneered the first school for girls in Pune in 1848, founded the Satyashodhak Samaj in 1873, and authored the influential anti-caste treatise Gulamgiri. His lifelong campaign against caste oppression, for women's education, and for widow remarriage makes him one of the foremost architects of modern Indian social reform.