His ‘principal forte was social and religious reform. He relied Upon legislation to do away with social ills and worked unceasingly for the eradication of child marriage, the purdah system ..... To encourage consideration of social problems on a national scale, he inaugurated the Indian National Social Conference, which for many years met for its annual sessions alongside the Indian National Congress.’ The reference in this passage is to

The passage refers to Mahadev Govind Ranade. Ranade helped found the Indian Social Conference (often called the Indian National Social Conference) which met annually alongside the Indian National Congress to address social issues and launched initiatives such as the Pledge Movement against child marriage [1]. He was a prominent social and religious reformer who promoted inter-caste marriage, widow remarriage, uplift of women and depressed classes, and was closely associated with Prarthana Samaj and other reform organizations that pursued social change through public advocacy and legislative means [2]. These specific associations and the Conference’s origin directly match the description in the passage, identifying Ranade as the subject.

Sources

1. [1] Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 9: A General Survey of Socio-Cultural Reform Movements > Indian Social Conference > p. 227
2. [2] History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 19: Towards Modernity > The Prarthana Samaj (1867) > p. 300