Daily Quiz: On rationalists

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Founder of the Committee for the Eradication of Blind Faith (Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, or MANS) after leaving his medical practice, he was also the editor of the Marathi weekly magazine Sadhana, which promoted scientific temperament and liberal thought. Name this rationalist who took up cudgels against religious superstition and was also assassinated in 2013. 

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Name the Indian philosopher who lived in 6th century BC and is considered the first known proponent of “Indian materialism”, also understood to be the forerunner of the Charvaka school of materialist philosophy. 

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Lokayata philosophy (otherwise known as Charvaka) was propounded by a prominent atheist school in ancient India. Although there has been a loss of original works in the tradition for a long time and it is quoted largely through secondary texts or from critiques, there have been contemporary assessments. Name the Indian Marxist philosopher, a Padma Bhushan recipient in 1998, whose book, Lokayata: A Study in Ancient Indian Materialism is widely quoted. 

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One of the foremost proponents of rationalism in public life and the forerunner of a successful political movement in India, this person led an organisation that is now presided by a nonagenarian leader, K Veeramani. Name him. 

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Another rationalist from Maharashtra who was also assassinated for his views in 2015, this person was the author of a major Marathi work on Chattrapathi Shivaji – “Shivaji Kon Hota?”. Name him. 

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Name this prominent scientist, one of the authors of “A Statement on Scientific Temper” in 1980 and a Padma Bhushan recipient in 1986