Upara was considered as a milestone in Marathi Dalit literature and received Sahitya Akademi Award in 1981 and Padma Shri in 2009.
[2] Mane was born on 1 June 1949 in a small village Somanthali, Phaltan (Maharashtra) in a nomadic tribe in India.
His autobiography Upara (उपरा) brought to the attention of the public in Maharashtra the problems of nomadic tribes arising out of their social and economic conditions.
Under a two-year grant from the Ford Foundation for field work among nomadic tribes in Maharashtra, Mane wrote in 1984 his second book Band Darwaja (Closed door, 1984).
He was accused of having sex with them in return of providing them permanent employment in the establishment, or under threats of transferring the employees to another location.